5 tactics to get the most out of your #SalesTech platforms

Over the past few months, I have had the privilege of offering my Go-To-Market (GTM) perspectives to several companies as a management consultant. It has been rewarding to pull from my 20+ years of sales, sales operations and marketing experience to help solve business challenges. Additionally, I’ve been intrigued by how these companies invest and deploy time and resources in revenue generating operations and the varying efficacy of efforts.

GTM organizations are always being asked to do more. Whether it is related to scaling the business to meet growth objectives or delivering more productivity with less field selling cost, the operating models deployed are constantly under review. For me, an operating model is composed of the people, processes and technologies needed to accomplish a business objective. Each component is equally important to achieving goals and significant value can be generated by improvement initiatives. Since SalesTech is a popular focus area, I wanted to share some thoughts on maximizing its impact.

Nancy Nardin’s 2021 Enterprise Sales Tech landscape has over 45 distinct categories and 1078 solutions listed. https://smartsellingtools.com/vendor-landscape/  It’s quite the list and helps illustrate the investment explosion in the SalesTech category.  With the proliferation of vendors and solutions I think we should all ask the question, “What are the adoption rates of my current sales tech platforms?” Simply put, how many intended users are actively using the platforms already in place?

I find that a lot of organizations need to improve adoption of their current SalesTech platforms. Why? The typical roll out of a solution follows a rigorous config, test, deploy and change management process. However, there is not the same level of rigor and investment in ongoing activities to ensure adoption across the organization over a sustained period of time. If you factor in the impact of turnover and new hires the issue is compounded. So, what should be done? Here are five tactics to drive immediate improvement.

1.      Lead by Example. Make sure the leaders of the revenue generating operations are actively using the tool and it is an organic part of the sales management process. Each level of leadership should inspect their direct reports for compliance. No manual processes based on spreadsheets saved to local PC hard drives!!! Additionally, a core part of leadership communications should be a recurring focus on highlighting best practices and pointing to training materials.

2.      Train, Train, Train. I’m a big believer in training, especially if it is situational. The NFL is famous for this approach. Coaches dedicate a significant portion of practice time to preparing the team for certain situations in an upcoming game. Whether it is CRM, Account Business Planning, Social Selling or Outreach Management your training modules should focus on real situations and force the organization (using the tool) to do the associated work.

3.      Turn Usage into Currency. Help your Sellers connect the dots between usage of these platforms, better performance and higher earnings. You can easily reinforce this during the cascade of weekly Plan & Reviews by equipping your sales managers with simple sales rep earnings calculators that allow them to model more activity, better win rates and larger deal sizes.  Additionally, organizations can amp up the importance of adoption by converting usage of the tool into a qualification threshold. For example, set a certain usage threshold for a special excursion during President’s Club. If the threshold is not met, then the Seller does not qualify to participate in the special excursion while at President’s Club regardless of performance.

4.      Leverage Super Users.  Do you have a group of super users or early adopters? If so, give them a stretch assignment (with a mission bonus) to drive peer adoption. I have used this tactic before and always see good results. This is especially true in organizations with a younger demographic who are generally comfortable with group challenges and creatively solving these types of problems.

5.      Make the Experience More Meaningful.  Don’t be afraid to add adjacent functionality to the core platform that drives more cycles and processes into the tool. With today’s App markets, Add-ons, APIs, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence you can efficiently and cost effectively expand the value proposition of your original investment. Don’t know where to start? Invite your vendor to host a planning session with you and several of the key end users. You can then cross reference your organization’s needs to current and future capabilities in the Vendor’s ecosystem.

SalesTech can play a huge role in driving revenue performance. I am convinced that ongoing focus on adoption can be THE difference maker. I wish you the best in getting the most out of your SalesTech platforms and ultimately overachieving your growth goals!