10 Tips on How to Select Your Sales Stack

In the ever-evolving landscape of sales and marketing, selecting the right tools can make all the difference in achieving your goals. As marketing and sales leaders, your mission is clear: drive sales performance, boost pipeline generation, and maximize revenue creation. However, the path to success is often marred with challenges such as wasted spend on tools and low user adoption rates, negatively impacting team efficiency.

To help you navigate this complex terrain, we've compiled 10 essential tips that should guide your decision-making process when it comes to selecting sales tools. These insights will empower you to make informed choices that not only address your concerns but also drive your team's success.

1. Identify Your Source of Truth

Before diving into tool selection, pinpoint your organization's "source of truth." Where does your most accurate and reliable data reside? Ensure that the tools you choose align with this source to maintain data integrity across your organization. Typically this would be and should be the CRM, like Pipedrive, Salesforce or Hubspot. You may use your Sales Enablement platform, a powerful one like Salesloft, Lemlist or Outreach, to have a clear distinction between prospects and customers however your customer facing teams then need to have very efficient communication with sales.

2. Centralize Data and Prospect Tracking

Efficiently tracking data and prospects is paramount. Invest in tools that provide a central hub for tracking, helping your team stay organized and collaborate seamlessly. As with our point above, the seamless collaboration between teams is why the CRM is usually your best option for centralising all data and information. You also want to make sure you are using the correct data. If you are in a unique vertical, the best and widest data set from ZoomInfo or LeadForensics may not be as valuable as a more refined tool like Engagetech that speicalises in IT contact data.

3. Evaluate Prospect Channels

Determine your most effective prospecting channels. Understanding which channels yield the best results will guide your tool selection process, ensuring you invest wisely. There is very little point in investing in the best email prospecting, like Apollo, and automation tool for the SDR team if they all prefer to cold call. This will cause low user adoption and negativity toward a solution you've acquired, and give an unfair evaluation of that tool. Making it harder to add that prospecting string to the bow in the future.

4. Take Inventory of Existing Tools

Before adding more tools to your stack, assess the ones you already have. Are they being fully utilized, or are there untapped functionalities and use cases? Streamlining your current stack might be the key to better efficiency. User adoption will be much higher when using a new function within an existing tool, rather than introducing a totally new solution they have to learn. According to Salesforce, "66% of Sales reps say they're drowning in tools."

5. Explore Use Cases

Maximize the potential of your existing tools. Explore various use cases and functionalities to get the most out of your investment. Training and education on tool capabilities can significantly impact user adoption rates.

6. Assess Hindrances

Ask yourself if your sales team is hindered by the tools or by their own approach. Sometimes, internal processes and workflows can be optimized without acquiring new tools. Take stock of your own teams process, again user adoption is a huge barrier to ROI from purchasing tools. If their internal mindset or process is the issue then new tools will not have the desired impact on revenue.

7. Define Key Metrics

What metrics are you currently using to measure performance? Establish clear, quantifiable key performance indicators (KPIs) to gauge success and identify areas for improvement. There are plenty of metrics to measure, up to 60 according to Highspot simply around Sales Enablement, so before purchasing and building on your sales stack determine which are the 3-5 you care about. Prioritise and work through improving them stage by stage.

8. Set Expectations for New Tools

When considering a new tool, define your expectations. How do you expect or want it to affect your performance metrics? Having a clear vision will guide your decision-making process. Share this mutual plan with the vendor you are considering buying from, they will then be able to better make sure their tool actually helps positively impact these metrics. In turn this will reduce low user adoption, and therefore wasted spend.

9. Consider Internal Structural Changes

Instead of solely relying on new tools, evaluate if there are internal structural changes that can enhance efficiency. Sometimes, a well-thought-out process change can yield substantial results.

10. Pilot and Iterate

Once you've selected a new tool, don't simply implement it and forget about it. Start with a pilot program and gather feedback from your team. Be prepared to iterate and fine-tune your approach based on their input. "Onboarding doesn't stop when someone's onboard," is a strategy for CS teams, but as the buyer you also have a stake on the user adoption as this impacts your ROI.

The process of selecting sales tools is a strategic one. With these 10 tips, you can make more informed decisions that align with your organization's goals. 

Remember, it's not just about acquiring shiny new tools; it's about using them effectively to drive sales performance, enhance pipeline generation, and increase revenue creation. This will help you understand if you even need to make changes to your sales stack with new tools.

With a clear roadmap and a focus on user adoption, you can overcome challenges and set your team up for success in the dynamic world of sales and marketing.

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