The current B2B landscape is ripe with sales technologies and tools, making it essential for companies to avoid tool overload, and instead focus on the right solutions for their objectives. Buyers have become more informed and empowered thanks to increased access to information online and expect personalized and seamless buying experiences. On top of these evolving customer expectations, the amount of data available to sellers has increased exponentially, making it challenging to manually process and analyze information. B2B sales technology tools are now often used as a solution to these challenges – leveraging advanced algorithms and machine learning to extract valuable insights from vast amounts of data and enabling sales teams to make data-driven decisions and personalize customer experience.
But, while there is an abundance of new tools and data sources available, these investments can only be successful if they’re paired with the best data to action on and effective training. We’ll outline how you can use strategic tools, enablement and data sources to drive revenue and explore the growing need to understand customer intent to help inform sales strategies.
Defining clear goals for your sales technology investments
It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the abundance of SalesTech options on the market. Before implementing any new tools or technologies, it’s important to return to the “basics” of go-to-market (GTM) strategy. It’s particularly common for early and mid-stage companies to turn to new systems as a fast fix before fully laying their foundation. Without a crystal-clear understanding of your ideal customer profile (ICP), value proposition and sales processes, no tool is actually going to help you reach your objectives. Too often, businesses turn toward technology to resolve poor sales basics, but this approach won’t help you reach your revenue goals.
Many organizations also fall victim to “tool creep,” where an excessive number of new tools are added without a clear strategy in place. The intention behind adopting new sales tools is often to enhance productivity and efficiency, but without a clear understanding of how these tools align with the team’s goals and processes, tool creep can result in confusion, inefficiency and wasted resources. Sellers may find themselves overwhelmed by the sheer number of tools in place, leading to a fragmented workflow and difficulty in mastering each tool’s functionality. Failure to utilize each tool to its full potential can also hinder data sharing and collaboration, further impeding productivity.
Building a successful training and sales enablement program
While it’s critical to get the right sales tools in place, the importance of training and sales enablement cannot be underestimated. An effective program will ensure that your sales team has access to up-to-date and relevant content, sales collateral and training materials. This equips them with the necessary information and skills to address customer pain points, overcome objections and deliver compelling value propositions to close more deals, and to close them faster.
One way to build a successful enablement program is to actually mirror how your go-to-market teams strive to engage customers. Take an omnichannel approach that caters to different team’s needs and content consumption preferences. We do this at TechTarget by providing self-guided, online training content through a learning management system (LMS), leveraging call recording software to promote knowledge sharing across the entire sales organization and encouraging regular peer and leadership-level coaching on scenarios that are uncovered during recorded calls. The LMS helps us provide a consistent onboarding experience for new sellers and educate the entire sales organization when we roll out a new process, tool or product. Call recordings allow us to extract highlights from different scenarios like product demos or check-ins with customers that we can share with the entire organization to help standardize our messaging. These recordings also allow sales managers to listen to real conversations sales reps are having with customers and prospects and help coach them when needed.
Once the foundation for your sales enablement program is built, having dedicated resources to continuously evolve and adapt your training to the changing needs of the sales organization will help ensure ongoing success.
The growing need for relevant data and intent in Sales
The right tools and proper training can get your sales team up and running, but understanding your customers on a deeper level is crucial to improving sales outcomes. Intent data helps you better understand customer behavior, preferences and interactions so your team can gain valuable insights into customer needs as well as how to more effectively engage the unique buying teams at their priority accounts.
Armed with intent data, sales professionals can engage in more personalized and targeted conversations, offering relevant solutions and addressing specific concerns. This not only enhances the experience for existing customers, but also increases the likelihood of closing new deals. Additionally, these insights allow sales teams to prioritize leads based on their level of interest and readiness to buy, enabling them to focus their efforts on high-value opportunities.
Buying teams have also evolved over the last several years, with more members from different organizations taking part in the buying process. As buying teams expand, sellers are likely to come across titles that might not fit into a pre-defined notion of their ideal buyer. Access to accurate and up-to-date, contact-level intent data allows sellers to know exactly who is researching in their market, regardless of title or organization.
With buyers completing more independent research and customers expecting a more personalized experience, companies must leverage sales technology effectively to meet these evolving needs. By approaching the adoption of new tools and data sources strategically, aligning them with the organization’s goals and the specific needs of the ideal customer profile, sales teams can ensure successful deployment and prevent tool creep. An effective sales enablement program is also essential to provide comprehensive support for sellers and allow your organization to drive the most ROI from your SalesTech investments. By embracing these principles, businesses can enhance productivity, deliver personalized experiences and drive revenue growth in today’s competitive marketplace. For more insights on how to increase revenue with technology, enablement and intent data, watch Tools, Training and Enablement: How to Maximize Revenue Potential.
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