Sales Operations

Buying Sales Technology in 2021? Start with This Simple Guide

Richard Harris

Founder of The Harris Consulting Group

Table of contents:

The art of selling comes naturally to some and feels like second nature. This was the case for me, but in fact, my true passion has always been teaching. I often see my role as teaching salespeople how to earn the right to ask questions, which questions to ask, and when. It actually doesn’t stop at teaching salespeople. The goal is for you to educate your customers about the true value of what they’re buying.

To achieve this goal, we must be patient, use technology to our advantage, and always ensure that we are empowering the teams around us.

Patience is key in team development

Intent and integrity are the soft skills that every modern sales leader needs to have, above all. The next generation of CROs is going to look for talent that is inherently curious to learn. They will

Be intentionally patient and give their team the ability to fail

Coach their team on becoming great conversationalists because they know that conversation invites integrity across all activities surrounding any deal

There is no efficiency without technology

As the buying process becomes more and more digital and the ability for prospects to “ghost” their sales contacts gets easier, salespeople will have to become both more conversationally and technologically savvy. There are 45 categories of sales technology and 1000s of tools inside them. Each leader must dig deep and identify in what step of the sales process their team needs technology to make them more efficient.

Don’t buy technology for the sake of buying it, instead attach KPIs that are associated with the new tools you purchase. Make technology do the hard work, so you can focus on motivating and driving your team to be more effective.

Here’s my handy guide on identifying your pain points and needs before you buy anything from technology to training.

Fill in the blanks below. Any time you say buzzwords like, “efficient” or “effective” or “faster”, ask yourself what that buzz word means in your specific use case. Keep digging until you strike oil.