Are your sales reps drowning in a sea of different sales tools that need them to do a bunch of different things? These days, it seems like there’s a tool for everything – a customer relationship management (CRM) tool, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) tool, a digital asset management (DAM) tool and virtually any other acronym under the sun. The question that gets lost is, how much time should be my sales rep be spending in these tools?
The answer: almost none. The reality: they are spending way too much time bending and breaking these tools to fit their needs, and that’s not counting the tedious data entry they do on the backend.
So, before you add another tool that operates in a silo, figure out how you can use the tools to make your sales reps spend more time selling face-to-face.
Step 1: Identify Each Tool’s Purpose
Each sales tool has its own unique purpose. CRMs help you manage relationships and interactions with customers and prospects, but reps shouldn’t waste their time manually updating every little action. ERPs manage and automate core business activities, from accounting to procurement – not much need for them here. DAMs organize, store and retrieve digital assets, but they sure aren’t friendly to use when you only have five minutes to make your pitch. And the list goes on.
By identifying the purpose of each tool, you can give reps what they need to stay focused on the task of selling.
Step 2: Streamline
Having more tools doesn’t mean better ROI. In fact, acquiring too many tools can have a negative impact by inundating your sales team. And when reps feel overwhelmed, they’re less likely to use the tools you’ve provided.
As you figure out the purpose of each tool, look for a way to streamline all the different systems into one interface that works they way they do while passing along the data everyone else needs.
Need Help? StorySlab Is Here to Lend a Hand
StorySlab is helping businesses, like yours, tie together their sales tools. Book a consultation and during your 30-minute time block, we’ll listen to your concerns, learn your setup and use our industry experience to make recommendations that can help you integrate your sales tools to improve efficiency once and for all.
Sound too good to be true? Take us up on our offer – we only need a few minutes of your time.