Build A Good Enough Sales Tech Stack for 2022

Let’s start the discussion on the sales tech stack for sales teams in 2022 with two clarifications.

1. We don’t want to stress the best sales tech stacks for 2022 because we don’t want you to waste another moment searching for the best in the market. Gather the good enough and start your journey.
2. And why should you prepare the sales technology stack for 2022 in 2021? To buy time for you to settle and get used to the automation and changes.

Sales stack companies build incredible tools to turn your non-core sales activities into core selling activities. Why?

Because according to Forbes, “Sales reps spend 35.2% of their time selling and 65% on everything else, but not selling.”

Hard to digest, right?

Indeed. But now that we have learned the reality. Let’s get a hold of the situation and start constructing a sales stack plan for you.

What is a sales tech stack?

Sales tools that cut down a sales team’s time on administrative and non-selling tasks making more time for selling and strategic work.

These sales tools successfully automate tasks, organize data, and streamline processes.

To name a few- CRM, Call recording software, Leade generation tool, etc.

With the help of the above sales tools, you and your time can focus more on revenue-generating tasks such as conducting sales calls, following up with the prospect, etc.

What tools should comprise your sales tech stack?

You and I can agree that every organization is unique, and so are the sales teams’ requirements.

On that note, we’d like to admit that a few tools can come in handy to all salespeople in every corner of the world in any landscape- whether B2B or B2C.

So, let’s visit the sales tools one by one and create a sales stack for you.

Customer Relationship Management(CRM)

Whenever people change hands and switch jobs, there’s only one reliable source of data that keeps the relationship with current and future customers intact- A CRM tool.

CRM is the one true source of data that collects all kinds of data of existing, old, and new customers.

If you are planning to invest in one, here are a few good recommendations:

1. Pipedrive
2. Freshworks
3. Zoho one
4. Call Recording Software

If you have software that records the call and sends across the recording for listening, then that’s not what we are talking about.

A call recording software is much more than that.

With call recording tools, you can digitally record the sales calls- phone or video conferences via voice over the internet protocol (VoIP) or Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).

The software also records calls, transcribes them, stores and shares them, and analyzes them.

If you are planning to change or upgrade your traditional call recording tool, here are a few good recommendations:

1. Convin.ai
2. CallTrackingMetrics
3. Modjo
4. Lead Generation software

Risking to let go leads to the competitor is not advisable in today’s cutthroat competition. You can either do nothing or automate the lead generation process entirely. There’s no gray area to it.

A lead generation tool supports the prospecting process and uncovers information of qualified leads to help sales teams contact them.

If you’re interested in building a lead generation channel, then here are a few choices for you.

1. Linkedin Sales Navigator
2. Leadfeeder
3. D&B Hoovers
4. Sales analytics and reporting

If you and your team blindly chase accounts and leads without any measurable parameters and targets, you’ll soon hit the wall.

Moreover, without a sturdy analytics tool, it’s hard to keep up with the progress and areas of improvement.

You’ll need a sales analytics tool that uses the data to analyze, track, and identify sales trends. The tool’s capability must also comprise comprehending existing patterns, forecasting customer behavior, and modeling the sales strategy to win more customers.

If you feel sales analytics is a serious addiction to your sales stack, then you can use a combination of call recording software and CRM that performs both purposes.

Product demo platform

We aren’t expecting a lot of slack on the demo platform area. The majority of organizations keep up with this technology and perform well.

However, if you are planning to switch to a better platform for product demonstration, then you can scout around:

1. Google Meet
2. Microsoft Teams
3. Cisco Webex
4. Sales collaboration

Collaboration is usually the last and least important of all sales tools. But that’s not the case here.

You’ll be astonished to know that most sales teams find collaboration a core challenge. And by collaboration, we mean internal and external. But we’d like to focus on internal collaboration first.

Unless the sales teams are correctly engaged with all internal teams(marketing, product, customer service, etc.), customer experience is hampered.

Unless you want to create a ruckus in your customer experience process, you can choose from any of the following sales collaboration channels.

1. Slack
2. Microsoft Teams
3. Intercom
4. Project Management

Project management tools are not just for the project teams, and they are equally relevant and essential for sales teams.

Your requirements in sales will be different from a delivery or product team, but you’ll need

• Deal tracking,
• Work assignment,
• Task Management,
• Record sharing,
• Scheduling tools,
• And Reporting.

Besides all the above requirements, your project management solution must integrate with other sales technology in the stack.

Here are a few good tools in the market:

1. Zoho Sprints
2. Basecamp
3. Trello
4. Email Marketing Solution

The last but equally important tool that completes the sales stack is the email marketing tool.

“According to Spotio, email marketing has 2x higher return than cold calling.”

Isn’t that mind-blowing?

g2 states that email marketing tools help marketers send a commercial message to a group of people via email. Email marketing engages existing customers and partners and lures potential customers.

Today, email marketing is best defined by tools that allow marketers to personalize and tailor the email to the farthest.

If you haven’t started using one yet, here are a few recommendations for email marketing tools.

1. Mailmodo
2. Mailjet
3. Mailchimp

How to build your sales tech stack?

Building your sales stack is not a single-day event.

We know the complications involved.

There are a couple of steps involved in finalizing a sales stack.

However, there are a few best practices that you must remember before planning ahead.

• Don’t try to implement all the sales tools at once. Prioritize and conquer.
• Ensure integration between the sales tools. You may face difficulties and inconvenience in reporting and getting a comprehensive picture.
• Check your current requirements thoroughly before planning and evaluating.
• You may want to ensure the sales tool are scalable and flexible. Unless it’s so, you won’t find it helpful in the future.
• Try and look for solutions that require less ramp-up time and quick training.

We can’t ensure that the sales stack we helped you build is the best for you and your team, and nobody can guarantee that. However, you need to decide the tool smartly and measure the results periodically. Without frequent review and reporting, you can’t gauge the sales productivity received from the tool.

So are you ready to build one?

Don’t forget to share your 2 cents on what sales technology must be added to the sales stack.