6 recommendations to support your sales tech buying decision

Now that you’ve chosen a supplier for your sales tech solution, it’s time to learn how to get the most out of it.

During the process, you’ve identified the problems you want the system to solve, researched solutions, built a list of your requirements, and then, finally, selected a supplier. In supporting your purchase decision it’s important to ask the following questions:

  • What are our jobs to be done?
  • Will the solution make our CRM more effective?
  • Can we consolidate some of our point solutions?
  • Will the solution integrate with how and where our people work?

Introhive and Constellation Research have the following recommendations to support your sales tech buying decision.

1. Clearly identify needs and priorities

There are a few factors that will determine the most important capabilities and interface options for your sales tech solution. Key aspects to consider include:

  • Sales priorities – Growth/new business versus account development.
  • Sales structure – If your organization has sales development representatives; what the partnership model looks like; whether there’s a dedicated sales team; what channel sales are used, etc.
  • Maturity and experience of sellers.
  • Sales philosophy.

2. Work within the context of existing systems, particularly email and CRM

Some companies have, over time, achieved such a poor relationship with their CRM that they’ve effectively stopped using it. That said, your solution needs to work with the existing CRM since that offers the lowest barrier to entry, which significantly increases the adoption rate.

3. Determine which interface, or user options, is most likely to drive adoption

Ask yourself: Where do sellers spend most of their time today? Are there any good enough reasons to change that? An effective kick-off strategy for incorporating this new tool can be giving the users a number of options to choose themselves. This makes the tech seem more customized to the way they work and makes them feel you value their input.

4.Consider a combination of tools

Your sales tech stack may need more than one new tool. The size of an organization and the nature of its needs, the jobs to be done, and how everyone works will determine what kinds of tools are the best fit. It very well could be a combination of a few. Although typically there’s a little overlap when you’re using multiple tools, integrations and coexistence often don’t pose any serious threat.

5. Start with a pilot

An initial pilot for new sales tech increases early buy-in and adoption, while simultaneously creating a solid proof of concept. Demonstrating success with an initial pilot team leverages the innate competitiveness and imitation of successful strategies within sales teams.

6. Create a virtuous circle among sellers, managers, leaders, and customers

All of the stakeholders involved—everyone who will be using the tech—need to have input on whether or not it will meet their needs. This is critical for effective implementation and adoption. Include customers in that list of stakeholders. Where they see the benefit of better coordination, improved communication, and closer attention to their needs and priorities, they have a vested interest in the health of the relationship.

If you’re looking to learn more about how a seller enablement tool like Introhive can allow your CRM to support and improve sales efforts across your organization, we’d love to show you more. Book a demo today, or watch the on-demand webinar on adapting the shifting landscape of B2B selling with sales tech.