iPad vs iPhone for field sales: which actually wins?
iPad looks nicer in demos. iPhone gets used. Here's why the phone almost always beats the tablet in field sales.
Every vendor wants to demo on an iPad. The big screen, the pen support, the premium look — it photographs well. In practice, the iPad sits in the back seat while the rep does actual work on their phone.
The case for the phone
A phone is in your hand before you unlock the truck door. You can capture a voice note with one thumb. You take photos with it anyway. You text the buyer from it. The friction of pulling out another device is real, and reps avoid it.
If your CRM's best experience requires pulling out a tablet, your CRM has lost.
The (limited) case for the iPad
Tablets are genuinely better for two things: reviewing a complex pipeline on a Monday morning, and running a formal proposal review at a buyer's desk. Neither of those is daily work for most reps.
For sales managers, a tablet or laptop is probably right. For reps doing site visits, the phone wins by default.
What this means for tool choice
Pick the CRM with the best phone app, not the best iPad app. If the iPad version is a slick version of the phone app with more room to breathe, that's fine. If the iPad version has features the phone can't do, you've bought the wrong product.
The phone is where field sales actually happens. Everything else is a convenience.