The sales stack is the new black.
Each year for the past decade, 20 new companies have come to life with new solutions for sales organizations. Think about that.
Sales leaders like yourself are attending sales conferences with 500+ exhibitors, yearning for all of that technology, and asking, “What the heck do I really need for my sales team?”
We get it. Building a sales stack can feel like an overwhelming task. Here are a few basics that will get you started.
4 Essentials for Building a Sales Stack
1. Don’t follow the crowd.
Some people think there’s a perfect sales stack, but every company operates very differently. Even your direct competitors could have a drastically different sales stack.
Try not to make quick or rash buying decisions based on what your competitors use. And stay away from choosing technologies simply because they are the newest, shiniest or coolest on the market.
Ask yourself what you want to see your salespeople doing every day, and then figure out which technologies will help them do that. Do plenty of research on what’s available, and definitely test out the tools that seem to fit with your needs.
2. Get early sales team buy-in.
When going through the research and evaluation process, make sure to bring in all of your team members. Don’t wait to bring them in after you’ve purchased the technologies and want to start training.
In doing this, leverage your early adopters — there will always be sales reps who adopt faster than others, so have them in on product trials to test out the technology.
Find little wins with the technology, too. Demonstrate initial successes with something that really matters to reps for each piece of the sales stack you add, and they’ll get on board with adoption
3. Re-evaluate frequently.
Whether it’s every quarter or every year, you must re-evaluate your sales stack on a regular basis.
For one, many providers are constantly expanding and evolving their platforms. Make sure to keep up with the solutions you use, and watch for overlap between technologies.
At the same time, your sales organization will obviously also go through changes — those in messaging, pricing, buyer profile…the list goes on. You know you need to stay aware of the impact those changes have on your business, but what many leaders don’t think about as often is the fact that your sales stack should align with those changes, as well.
4. Prioritize the fundamentals.
Last, but certainly not least, you must not forget the basics.
This is the most important tenet of building a sales stack: Thou must not forget the basics of selling. As much as you may want to, you cannot automate the entire sales process, and you cannot layer even the best technology on an inadequate sales process and expect it to get you more revenue.
Sales is a human-to-human interaction, and your salespeople still need to pick up the freaking phone and talk to people. Do not try to fix everything in your sales organization by continuously piling on technologies.
In other words, you still need to engage in training and activity management, while your salespeople must continue to engage with prospects to learn they’re challenges and educate them about potential solutions.
Now that you know the essentials, find out what top sales influencers are saying about sales stacks by downloading our new eBook:
