Sales technology is constantly evolving and offering new opportunities to boost your revenue. But how can you leverage the latest tools and trends to optimize your sales operations and performance? In this article, we'll explore some of the ways you can use sales technology to increase your revenue, such as:
One of the benefits of sales technology is that it can help you automate your repetitive and tedious tasks, such as data entry, lead generation, email marketing, and follow-ups. By using tools like CRM, AI, and chatbots, you can save time, reduce errors, and focus on more strategic and creative aspects of your sales process. Automation can also improve your customer experience, as you can provide faster and more personalized responses, recommendations, and solutions.
In general, technology can do two things: save time by taking away steps in the process and it can make quality consistant. If you are starting with adding sales tech focus on the saving time first. This part is usually easier to do.
While automation in sales processes offers numerous efficiencies, it is essential to maintain a balance between automated and human interactions. Research shows that customers still value personal touchpoints, especially in complex B2B sales cycles. Therefore, companies should strategically implement automation to handle routine tasks while empowering sales representatives to engage personally with prospects at critical moments in the sales journey. This approach can significantly increase conversion rates and customer satisfaction, leading to higher revenue.
Another advantage of sales technology is that it can help you collect and analyze your data, such as customer behavior, preferences, feedback, and satisfaction. By using tools like analytics, dashboards, and reports, you can gain insights into your sales performance, identify your strengths and weaknesses, and measure your ROI. Data analysis can also help you optimize your sales strategy, as you can segment your audience, target your ideal customers, and tailor your offers and messages.
With the growth of your tool stack, focus on where all the data is and bring it all to one place. Your CRM is usually the best place to do that or if you want, a BI tool. You really want to go for a single source of truth.
A third benefit of sales technology is that it can help you enhance your communication with your prospects and customers, as well as with your team and partners. By using tools like video conferencing, messaging, and collaboration platforms, you can communicate more effectively, efficiently, and conveniently. Communication technology can also help you build trust and rapport with your audience, as you can showcase your personality, value proposition, and social proof.
There is a wide variety of tools to use to bring in the personality and value. But time did tell us that you might want to have an idea how to reach a high level of quality. Not every one feels good on camera and is able to create compelling videos. Some training and guidelines are absolutely needed. Usually you can find the knowledge for it in your marketing department.
With the majority of decision-makers using social media to research potential vendors, sales technology that capitalizes on social selling becomes crucial. Tools that integrate with platforms like LinkedIn can streamline the process of identifying and engaging with prospects. Sales teams can use these technologies to track interactions, automate connection requests, and personalize outreach at scale. By engaging with potential customers through content sharing and thoughtful interaction on social media, sales professionals can build credibility and trust even before the first direct conversation.
A fourth benefit of sales technology is that it can help you learn from your competitors, such as their products, prices, promotions, and reviews. By using tools like competitor analysis, market research, and social listening, you can monitor and benchmark your competitors' performance, strategies, and reputation. Competitor analysis can also help you differentiate yourself from your rivals, as you can find your unique selling proposition, gaps in the market, and opportunities for innovation.
Now everything is on the internet, finding out what your competitor is up to is a piece of cake. Take at least half a day a month to dive into everything your strongest competitors are doing. Use the tools that are available or go old school and just have checklist to help you browse the internet.
A fifth benefit of sales technology is that it can help you experiment with new channels and platforms to reach and engage your audience, such as social media, podcasts, webinars, and blogs. By using tools like content creation, distribution, and management, you can create and share valuable and relevant content that showcases your expertise, solutions, and stories. Content marketing can also help you generate leads, nurture relationships, and increase conversions.
It's like being a kid in a candy store. There just is so much you can do. If you want to define the best new channels: go find where your customers are. Where do they go, what do they read. Add one or two new channels. And do one more at a place where they are but not at office hours. Think TikTok or Instagram, or big public events. Remember, Salesforce is advertising at Formula1.
A sixth benefit of sales technology is that it can help you adapt to changing needs and expectations of your customers, market, and industry. By using tools like feedback surveys, customer service software, and trend analysis, you can stay updated and responsive to your customers' pain points, desires, and feedback. Adaptability can also help you improve your customer retention, loyalty, and advocacy, as you can deliver consistent and exceptional value and service.
The key is not to rely only on self reported surveys but to look at the actual behaviour. This becomes especially important for a Product Leg Growth (PLG) company. There it is crucial to get product signal to convert freemium user to paid user. Route paid users to sales for further upsell. Another use case is to understand user behaviour to determine a custom health score. In the end it is combination of various data points that are complemented with more subjective data. Like user reported data.
Tech is the tactic, behaviour is the strategy. Throwing tech at a problem will not resolve the issue, it will just automate what is already bad. You need to run proper planning and identify the needs of the various teams and their priorities to be able to design effective processes. Only then will you have a clear picture of which technologies can potentially solve your issues and always be mindful so select them on a broad range of issues to solve. Hyper specialising your tech stack can bring friction, confusion and subtract focus rather than creating it.