The Big Sell: Boosting Your Sales and Marketing Teams

Each company has a goal for the New Year.
If you still don't have a goal this year, why not try living with less while getting the most results?

This year and age of technology make everything dependent on the Internet. This is especially prevalent in specific units in an organization. Take a firm in Ayala Land Offices for instance. Their sales and marketing team rely on apps and tools that help them organize their contacts, schedules, and targets.

However, depending on a bunch of apps can result in confusion and inefficiency between users. It can also become costly to purchase apps with the same functions. You can improve your sales and marketing teams without training them. Here are two ways to do them.

1. Rethink technology.

Often, businesses and firms look for solutions on the Internet to tap into its vast library of apps. Sure, there are thousands of applications that cut the work in half and offer solutions to the problems in your daily process and organization. Thus, the company ends up purchasing and spending the budget on apps that may neither be beneficial or productive to departments and units.

Before betting on an app or two, it best for management to consider if they are need-to-have. These tools must not come with additional people and resources to implement and integrate with existing systems. It is counterproductive to the desired result of streamlining workflow.

If possible, come up with solutions the organic way. Through the process, the company can point out which of its units requires tools and other intervention to become more productive in their work.

2. Conduct a technology audit.

The levels of activity and daily grind of companies and their constituents leaves them with less time to keep track of their inventory. It eats up their time to catch up on their list and stock of tools. Hence, an audit once or twice a year keeps them on top of their technology.

Managers and leaders can use these questions to identify which apps aren't conducive to their business process.

• Does the sales and marketing teams access the tools frequently? Which tools have been dormant?
• Which tools help the teams achieve their individual or group success metrics?
• Which tools are less accessed compared to the last audit?
• Are the new tools on the market surpass the functions of the existing ones?
• Which tools have almost or mostly similar features in your technology stack?

Each question is necessary and vital to determine which piece of technology must go. The rapid advancement of technology makes a lot of sales and marketing apps obsolete. You need to identify which tools have the same functions to maximize each one's use.

Removing the unused and underutilized tools minimizes inefficiency and confusion for end users. It helps to invest in apps and platforms that address various hurdles instead of expanding your sales and marketing stack of apps.

Here are examples of technologies to purchase according to Matt Heinz, President of Heinz Marketing and part of the "Top 50 Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management" as well as "Top 50 Sales and Marketing Influencers".

1. CRM system - Salesforce
2. Marketing automation platform - Marketo
3. Attribution platform - Bizible, Full Circle, and Allocadia
4. Predictive intelligence platform - Mintigo, 6Sense, and CaliberMind

Attribution platforms help companies determine the relative impact of different campaigns in influencing customers and generating revenue. Companies engaged in the B2B buying process can benefit from such apps. Meanwhile, predictive intelligence platforms gather and monitor intent signals and trigger events that indicate a customer's buying propensity towards an offering. Customers with high levels of buying propensity activate the features of the app.

Organizations don't need more than one CRM and marketing automation platform. However, a firm or corporation can benefit from several predictive intelligence and attribution platforms.

It's essential for organizations to become decisive of the technology in their sales and marketing teams. You should separate those that seems fancy and nice-to-have from the must-haves. It minimizes your capacity to become a hoarder and maximizes each tool's utility. Most of all, it gives you a clear view of what influences the success of your business.