5 Reasons for Low Sales Tech Adoption (And How to Fix It)
5 Reasons for Low Sales Tech Adoption (And How to Fix It) RevOps 10 min With so many tools getting added to sales tech stack, why are adoption rates so abysmal? Get to the root of it in this blog. The sales tech stack is getting taller. The average virtual selling technology stack today has as many as 13 tools! The “shiny object syndrome” is very real. Businesses add sales tools to their tech stacks to treat the symptoms of sales problems. But rarely do they identify the underlying cause of these problems. Leaders deploy multiple tools to resolve multiple issues. The consequence is The Great Revenue Disconnect – when revenue teams are left to deal with disconnected software with disconnected data that leads to revenue leakage. And reps feel discouraged about adopting new tech. The result? Companies have wasted $313,000, on average, on sales tools that weren’t fully adopted by reps. Why haven’t reps warmed up to sales tech despite having so many tools in their basket? Let’s find out in this blog. What is Sales Tech Used For? Here are a few ways leaders are deploying sales tech: 1. Boost Sales Performance 93% of reps feel that sales tools help build better relationships with buyers. That’s owing to intent and signal-based features that come with most sales software for correctly identifying leads and their needs. 2. Gain Deeper Insights into Prospects 56% of buyers want to communicate with a salesperson five or more times before finalizing a purchase. It means that sales reps need to have more touches per lead. And each interaction should be relevant and personalized if reps want to stay ahead of the competition. 3. Drive Faster Sales 75% of B2B buyers say that the buying cycle has become longer in the last two years. The buying process is more complex and involves virtual selling. Therefore, reps use sales tech to anticipate future needs and leverage multithreading to close deals faster. A byproduct of the process is improved sales productivity. Reasons for Low Sales Tech Adoption (and How to Fix Them) While the benefits of sales tech are noteworthy, sales and RevOps leaders are still facing adoption challenges over the years. We discuss 5 key reasons for low sales tech adoption and how you can fix them. 1. The Problem: Multiple Tools Lead to Mixed Priorities With so many tools available, selling doesn’t get easier. 86% of sales reps get confused about which tool should be used for which task. For example, if the head of sales asks for a specific report, your customer-facing teams might have to traverse through multiple tabs to get the latest report. Multiple tools trapped in silos only complicate a sales rep’s job, making it difficult to focus on their main task – selling. Adding to the issue, on average, only 28% of sales tools are integrated within organizations, despite the large sales tech stack. The result is disconnected systems between sales and other functions, leading to missed opportunities and revenue leakage from the sales pipeline. It’s no surprise that multiple tools end up stunting growth. As much as 52% of sales leaders report that their CRM costs potential revenue opportunities because the system doesn’t meet their needs. The Fix: Unified Data Solution for Better Visibility Across the GTM Team A unified data solution automatically captures data – including contact, activity, and intent – which is otherwise spread across multiple tools. Without a unified data platform, reps have to toggle between several apps to dig out insights, miss quotas, and spend more time on training and other non-sales tasks, increasing costs. But with a unified data solution, reps can build the leads pipeline more contextually, close more deals and avoid revenue leakage. 46% of salespersons spend less time looking for information with a one-stop data platform. An added advantage of a unified dashboard is that reps access granular-level insights and consolidated leading indicators for current performance and future potential. They also have complete visibility of stakeholders within a buyer group, which helps them customize each interaction. Multiple sales tools could also cause an information overload. A unified data solution prioritizes speed with real-time insights across the pipeline. 2. The Problem: Reps Aren’t Involved in Sales Tech Purchase For 76% of companies, poor adoption of sales tools is a top reason they miss sales quota attainment. That’s because most of these tools are purchased based on buyer needs compared to user needs. Generally, leaders (who aren’t involved in day-to-day sales) make the purchase decision for a sales tool. And consequently, vendors tailor the tool to leaders’ or managers’ insights. This also drives leadership-related reporting, analytics, forecasting, and pipeline visibility. Features that make reps’ lives easier – meeting scheduling, buyer behaviour tracking, automatic contact capture – aren’t considered. This disconnect between managers and the frontline is so wide that 42% of managers say it’s clear which tool reps can use for a given task, but only 32% of reps agree. As a result, sales tools don’t mirror how sales reps function. Your team may feel discouraged when they can’t figure out a successful way to make the tools work, resorting to conventional and slower ways. The Fix: Make Sales Tech Work for Reps and Not Vice Versa Trust goes a long way in managing changes in the sales process. To start with, you can include reps in the sales tech evaluation process by gathering their inputs and understanding their day-to-day tasks. You can use these insights to choose a tool that works for them, not against them. Here’s a comprehensive list of questions you can ask the reps: What challenges do they face in the sales process? What’s inhibiting them from selling better? How much time do they spend on sales versus non-sales tasks? Do they feel stuck in mundane tasks like CRM data entry? Are they confident in their sales pipeline, including visibility and opportunities? Are they successfully multithreading with buyer groups? If not, what difficulties are they facing? Is the tool sales-centric or marketing-centric? Are they effectively aligned with marketing? How much training would they need to learn the new tool?