Today, the amount of time customers have to give to sales reps can be measured in seconds, not minutes. So why are your reps still using laptops instead of mobile and tablet devices to demonstrate features and benefits?

In the time it takes for a laptop to boot up, a sales opportunity can disappear. That's troubling for sales teams. Trends revealed during the March 2011 Sales 2.0 Conference indicate that the visual component of selling, enabled by handheld devices that can play video, has an enormous impact on how information is received: rates for retaining information shoot from 10 percent if the information is shared verbally to 65 percent if viewed in a video.

One example from the medical field where reps are employing such techniques is Olympus America's medical and surgical products group. Opting to go even smaller and more portable than the iPad, Olympus reps use the video function on the pocket-size iPod touch to engage busy doctors when and where it is most convenient for them - even while prepping for surgery. "If physicians are unfamiliar with a piece of equipment, I can show them at the scrub sink how it functions," says Christopher Yax, an EndoTherapy (ENT) sales rep.

Another Olympus rep, Trent Compton, says he has shown demonstrations to a nurse as they rode the elevator together. It's all about becoming a seamless part of the physician's workday, rather than an interruption to it. "Being mobile and moving with my customers allows them to multitask and gives me more opportunities to interact in a meaningful way," Compton says. On those rare occasions where doctors can sit down one-on-one, Compton says he often just hands over the device. That way, "they can focus on the product aspects that are of the most importance to them, rather than listen to me rattle off a list of features and benefits."

So why use the iPod touch specifically? "We needed a visual medium to communicate complex features and benefits of our advanced medical and surgical optical equipment," explains ENT senior marketing manager Karen Norris. Sales reps can download all applicable videos and marketing materials, even without Internet access. And they can keep it in their hand or pocket as easily as a set of keys.

That's exactly why tablets and handheld devices have become a must-have tool for sales teams who want to successfully engage with prospects and customers in the field. According to industry analyst firm Gartner, worldwide sales of tablet devices are predicted to top 290,000 by 2015. And in a report from last year, Gartner analysts called tablets (the iPad specifically) "well-suited to a sales or information-sharing environment" and a "valuable companion device" to notebooks.

The iPod touch approach is delivering solid results for ENT. Jorge Alcala, a clinical ENT specialist at Olympus, says the first time he used the iPod touch to demonstrate a product, the doctors placed an order on the spot. Shortly thereafter, he demonstrated another product to a different physician; when the doctor saw it in action, he gave Alcala an order.