Crafted Not Cobbled.

Hey Friends! ??

Those HubSpot reps will recognise this title! When talking about deconstructing competitors, one of HubSpot main advantages is that the tools are built by them for their customer. ??? They have not grown by acquisition like some competitors. As we know, there is no right or wrong way. However, when talking about crafted, not cobbled, from a tech stack perspective, there is absolutely a right way, and here's my two cents. ?? But first, let me blow your mind with a few facts. ????

Welcome to reality.

• Sales teams use an average of 10 tools to close deals94% of sales organisations plan to consolidate their tech stack in the next 12 months.
• Random Fact*** if you are back in the office stats reckon that if you sit next to a high performer you likely increase your performance 15% however if you sit next to a low performer it can decrease your performance by 30%! It really highlights the importance of you are an average of the 10 people you associate yourself with.

?? Leaders, I am talking to you here, revenue operations teams you too. Have any of you sat down and worked through the workflow you expect your reps to be using to prospect, book meetings, update notes, move a deal through a pipeline and ultimately closed won/lost the deal in the CRM? Have you workshopped it with some champions across teams to get buy in before rolling out yet more changes? ????

Im hedging my bets here to say I am guesstimating at least 60% of you haven't.... why you might ask? Probably one of these reasons

1. You haven't closed a deal in years so why would you ??♂?
2. The tech is new since you have been a leader so you let your reps show you ????????
3. Why would I, I have more important things to do, its the reps job???
4. Tech isn't your strong point ????(please comment on any other reasons I may have missed in the comments section)

My feeling is as you can see from the facts the likelihood is that businesses are slashing technology instead of slashing you (sorry to be brutal but 2023 is a cost saving year) so you as a rep and leader need to know the most effective way of working. Below is what tools I think are the most effective for a sales reps in a B2B environment that should not be cut!

1. CRM (Obvious one) but one that will be utilised. I worked at HubSpot therefore I know that it is incredible as I have seen it used to its full potential, I work alongside ex SFDC people all the time and they say they same SFDC is AMAZING as they've seen it optimised effectively for their teams. Essentially the right CRM is one that is used effectively across the org. Do you agree?
2. Prospecting tools, keep it simple. LinkedIn Sales Navigator Training is my all time favourite to pull quality insights about the business and the type of "show my you know me" conversations. Next up I have loved working inside Cognism especially in APAC, I have used Zoominfo, both have their advantages but for those SMB / MM spaces Cognism plays incredibly well.
3. Intelligence tools to level up with, we of course have Gong , my go to 1% better every single day tool. Listen to yourself, the high performers, get rid of those buzz words and even sync up to your CRM to ensure deals are kept on top of but just ensure as a business you know which is your source of truth (aka CRM!)
4. Ok we are ready to get some contracts out, I used the tool inside HubSpot to send payment links and could watch my prospects open every activation link, drove me mad but was just so good for a proactive person to win! Aside from that I am sure Docusign is your choice of weapon as can be just as effective.
5. Finally, lets be real I want to know how much commission I have earnt. My favourite here was Xactly Corp

So all up thats a total of 6 tools. As a leader ensure you know how your reps move from each tool to another, could you optimise the workflow, Sales reps spend only 28% of their week actually selling so you should be helping them increase this. Crafting your tech stack with the end user in mind is imperative in crafting your tech stack not cobbling it together!

Ready to revolutionize your sales game? Let's craft, not cobble if you need support in any of these areas Book Some Time With Me! ????

Lucy :)