If you’re in the business of selling products or services you need to have a strong sales team. That’s a given. However, in some cases, regardless of how great your team is they simply cannot meet your expectations for some reason. If you take a closer look as to why sales have stagnated lately, you will notice that it’s not a matter of capability but rather the lack of the right tools.
So before you go ahead and blame your sales team for their sub-par performance you should ask yourself whether they have the right tools for the job.
The best sales technology for the vast majority of sales teams was the customer relationship management software. Gartner estimates that this type of software is currently a $20 billion market. Moreover, it is believed that it will expand to become a $36 billion market by 2017.
So what’s in store for the sales technology? What exactly is the next essential sales technology? Almost all sales teams have more expectations from customer relationship management software. First, it has arrived as a category of cloud-based software named “sales enablement” and “sales force automation” tools. Nowadays, it is known as sales-acceleration technology. If you haven’t had any contact with it yet, make sure you take notes. It is very likely that some of your competitors are already using it.
The sales-acceleration technology is designed to boost sales by aiding reps identify all the hot prospects, connecting with them more successfully and increasing the productivity within the sales process. No matter how small or large your sales department actually is, the team will need some sort of sales-acceleration technology within the next three years to ensure that your company stays competitive.
Here are the three main reasons why:
1. Nowadays, customer relationship management tools will not suffice. While in the old days businesses used spreadsheets, contact databases such as Microsoft Outlook or even Post-it notes to run their business, nowadays even customer relationship management software has become less efficient than it used to be. Sales acceleration tools can create a bridge between customer calls and sales intelligence data, by offering representatives the right information in the desired context.
2. In today’s business time is money. That is why most customers are not really all that willing to meet sales reps. Nowadays, most customers prefer to avoid in-person meetings. Moreover, Gartner predicts that by 2020, 85 percent of customer relationships will be managed without actually talking to humans, given the fact that sales is becoming more and more objective. Prospects prefer to buy from representatives who can offer the right answers in a matter of seconds.
To ensure that the customer experience is pleasant for your prospects, connect them instantly with the most suitable representatives. Moreover, the reps need to be up-to-date with all the necessary data and information so that they can build a quick rapport. This way, they will be able to solve pain points and even close deals faster and more efficient. All these functions can be accomplished with the help of sales-acceleration technology.
3. Maintain your competitive edge. According to The Bridge Group, the demand for sales representatives is up. As a result, companies tend to recruit sales reps with less experience. Having the proper sales-acceleration technology will turn your less experienced representatives into A players.
For more tips on how to improve your sales go HERE.