Sales Enablement Tools: It’s Time To Invest

In the last 5 years sales enablement tools have flooded the market all promising to help sellers more effectively engage with their customers. As seen in this Sales Technology Landscape visual by CedarCone, there are dozens of sales solutions and product offerings that all promise to improve your sales programs. These choices can be overwhelming.

In spite of the many technological advances that have improved the effectiveness of sales programs, many companies remain hesitant to adopt new tools because of lack of understanding, fear of change, risk of investment or internal barriers. Given the continued and rapid changes in technology, sales leaders must be proactive and learn how to effectively address the changing landscape and the role these tools plays in their overall sales strategy.

Here are some helpful questions when considering sales enablement tools:

Deciding to invest in a sales tool:
Many sales leaders need to provide a business case and show projected ROI before purchasing sales technology. The sales tool should support larger business objectives and directly support sales goals. Additionally, understanding which part of your sales process will be impacted from the technology is important. Sales tools that are deployed as part of the overall sales strategy are more successful than those that are an isolated tactic.

• How does this tool support business goals?
• What is the projected ROI?
• Who will benefit from this tool?
• How would this tool help overall sales effectiveness and efficiency?
• How would this tool help improve the customer experience?

Deciding the best sales tool for your company:
Consider strengths and limitations of the tool and prioritize based on your business objectives. Before signing on the dotted line, bring in marketing leaders for buy-in and support. Sales and marketing teams that are aligned and have joint accountability typically have better results.

• Does it need to integrate with existing tools, for example, your company’s CRM?
• Which part of the sales process will be supported by the tool?
• Which part of the sales process will not be supported?
• What other departments would benefit from this tool?
• What key performance indicators (KPIs) need to be measured?
• What are the reporting capabilities?
• What is the ongoing support model after implementation?

Ensuring sales adoption and success:
The single biggest challenge for sales technology adoption is ensuring the solution actually helps sellers in closing deals and being more efficient—designing for TOP down doesn’t work. Sales leaders must ensure that the tool can be easily incorporated into the sales process and have full utilization in order to see results.

• Is the tool easy to use?
• Is sales training included the purchase?
• How long does it take for the tool and sales teams to become fully operational?
• Is there a user certification process or requirements?

Sales enablement tools can help marketing and sales teams be more aligned, increase seller productivity and efficiency, and improve the overall customer experience.  When done right, these tools can provide your sales team with the right information, at the right time in the sales cycle to move a sales opportunity forward—maximizing your ROI on the sales tool.

Interested in learning more about improving your sales strategy? Learn the top five factors for sales optimization, including segmentation, customer journey, sales metrics and more by downloading Building a World-Class Sales Team.