Apple’s iPad — essentially a tablet-sized version of the iPhone — is finding its way into quite a few business and professional environments. One of the latest examples is the British Army’s use of iPads to help train artillery gunners before they head off to Afghanistan. The troops learn faster because they can practise on the iPad rather than just listening to classroom instructions.
The device will find its way into quite a few face-to-face sales encounters, too, according to Nick Oulton, CEO of m62 visualcommunications and author of the book Killer Presentations. His company specializes in creating slideshow presentations that help close complex business sales propositions, and has seen a big jump in customers asking for Keynote slidedecks for use on the iPad. “It’s going to be huge,” he told me recently.
The advantage of using an iPad rather than a standard laptop is that the prospect is able to hold the iPad and use the touchscreen functionality to advance the slides. All of this contributes to their engagement with the presentation. Meanwhile the salesperson can sit alongside, which helps build empathy….
