Your CRM Isn’t Cutting It; How to Prepare for the New Wave of Analytics.

It’s Crunch Time – the Beginning of Q4

Are you going to hit your 2018 number? What’s your forecast for 2019? Do you have the heads, processes, and funding to ensure a successful 2019?

Only a handful of Sales Ops leaders can convincingly answer these questions with data. The reason why is because the average enterprise sales stack consistently fails to deliver the foresight for proactive decision making. Until recently, ROI on sales tools beyond CRM was difficult to measure. Today’s technologies deliver measurable return in the form of: automation, decreased sales costs, increased revenue per head, and improved forecast accuracy.

Data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence bring a new wave of capabilities and are here to stay. Aligning these capabilities to your people, processes, and go-to-market strategy is your foremost priority before investing. Once you’ve found the best solution for your team, use the outputs in our 5 Steps for Successful Tool Integration for a successful launch.

You Might Be Thinking – I’ve Got a Good CRM, Can’t I Get by on That?

It depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. Everyone needs a good CRM, that’s your starting point. It could suffice for some organizations, however – large, complex organizations will demand more sophistication from their sales stack if they expect to gain an edge.

Your CRM is analogous to the foundation on which your house (i.e. – sales stack) is built on. The stack’s potential is 100% dependent on the trustworthiness of your CRM. Before investing in your sales stack, evaluate your CRM’s credibility. If there are credibility concerns, address those first before investing in your stack. The only way to have an informed opinion of the tools you need, is to understand the foundation you’re building on.

The antiquated approach to hitting your number is reactive and requires brute force. Poor forecast and pipeline accuracy forces reps to make more phone calls, send more emails, knock on more doors, etc. Equipped with a modern sales stack, your organization will be positioned to sell more, quicker, at optimal prices, and with fewer heads.

The Sales Technology Landscape Is Large and Fragmented. What’s Trending?

This infographic shows the immense array of platforms at your disposal. The sales technology market is relatively immature, meaning a strategic approach is required to determine the best tools for your objectives. Our technology evaluation tool can help you get an understanding of the best framework for your unique challenges.

Data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence are the latest breakthroughs transforming the sales technology landscape. These are not buzzwords that fade with time. Going forward, these disciplines are going to evolve more sophisticated capabilities; you can inform yourself with the generalities here.

The table below highlights the three disciplines, what they produce, and a few applicable use cases (there are countless). 

Asking this question is the first, and most important step before investing in a new platform. Adopting and integrating a new platform will consume resources. If a platform is misaligned to the existing people, processes, and go-to-market strategy – low adoption, wasted money and capacity, and an unhappy boss will be the result.

Once you’ve selected the best platform for your organization, you need a comprehensive implementation plan to drive adoption and use. Download our to see the key required outputs for a successful execution.

A Successfully Implemented Sales Stack Will Enable Your Organization to Sell More, Quicker, at Optimal Prices, and Fewer Sales Heads

Transforming your team into a data-driven sales organization is one of your key priorities. Investing beyond the CRM will advance a diverse array of capabilities that benefit both your organization and your customer’s experience. You will benefit from better forecasts, insights, and higher outputs with less inputs. Your customers will appreciate the automation and tailored experiences. Leverage the technology evaluation tool to guide your decision making in today’s fragmented marketplace.

Data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence bring a new wave of capabilities and are here to stay. Aligning these capabilities to your people, processes, and go-to-market strategy is your foremost priority before investing. Once you’ve found the best solution for your team, use the outputs in our 5 Steps for Successful Tool Integration for a successful launch.

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