Any mobile phone can help your sales team stay in touch with the office, colleagues and customers. However, with a smartphone--and a mobile video chat app, such as Google Talk, Skype or Tango--you can hold virtual meetings and video chat with decision makers around the globe.

"File sharing [apps] make it possible to send large sales presentations or relevant whitepapers without slowing down your email client," says John Golden, CEO and president, . "Our global teams use Dropbox to share files across continents," he notes. Another piece of advice: "Make sure your smartphone allows you to create and make changes to presentations on the go."

"A short video can demonstrate more advantages of your product" than, say, a standard PowerPoint presentation, says Katie Meurin, senior marketing manager, Zco Corporation, an app development company. Need or want to create a mini movie from the road via your smart device? Meurin recommends , which is available for iPhones (and iPads) via the AppStore.

"Mobile access to your company's CRM system, to obtain or record prospect info (activity, status, financial, etc.), is invaluable," says Jonathan Block, vice president and practice director, technology, , a B2B sales and marketing research and consulting organization. "Mobile access to customer data is critical to field sales teams," concurs Mike Snyder, principal, , a business process consulting services company and Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner. "Sales representatives are inherently more effective if they can access information about their customers or clients in real time, even without Internet access."

[]