How to Build a Flawless Sales Tech Stack in 7 Steps

You wouldn’t give a Major League Baseball player a wiffle ball bat when they come up to the plate. So why give your all-star sales team mediocre sales software that doesn’t let them perform?

When it comes to picking the right sales tech stack for your team, the sheer amount of software out there can be overwhelming. That’s why I’ve outlined seven easy steps that can help you choose the software that can give your team the tools they need to shine.

But first, it’s important to keep in mind that you should never choose software just for their features. You need to map out the features you need from sales software, and then, and find the apps that fit your demands.

1. Remove potential for human error.

Let’s face it, pobody’s nerfect. So when it comes to repetitive sales tasks, your team is bound to make a few mistakes along the way. 

But fortunately, aside from Siri pulling up meatloaf recipes for me when I’m just trying to call my wife, AI doesn’t make mistakes. That’s why it’s important to automate as much of your sales pipeline as you can. 

For example, if your team relies on email marketing to generate most of your leads, use an app like Process Street to send the first email for you once you find a new contact. Or if you use cold calling, Gong uses pattern recognition to measure your client’s interest during calls so you can iron out the kinks in your script.

Once you can minimize the human error on your end, you can speed up your sales processes, and keep your retention rates consistent.

2. Define your buyer personas.

Before you make a sales tech stack to connect with your clients, you need to know who they are first.

They say “you never know someone until you walk a mile in their shoes.” But the issue is, they don’t always fit, mainly because they’re someone else’s shoes.

You can’t build a stellar buyer persona with assumptions and a pair of worn-down Dockers. Instead, ask your buyers to walk a mile in their own shoes, survey them on how the journey was, and pay them for their time.

Interview your most successful clients on some crucial info that can help you define a clear buyer persona. How did they find out about you? What led them to choose your product/service over your competitors?

By understanding who your clients are, you can design a tech stack that appeals to their pain points. Now you just need to bring them in.

3. Break down your lead generation process.

Good leads don’t grow on trees. Well, unless you’re marketing to coconuts in which case, I’d really like to see your blog sometime.

Once you know who you’re marketing to, it’s time to figure out how they’re going to learn about your products and services. This is where lead generation tools like ZoomInfo or LinkedIn Sales Navigator come into play.

By using their filters, you can find clients that fit your buyer persona, and learn more about what you can offer them. You can even connect with them directly if you use the LinkedIn platform.

When you can find exactly who you’re looking for, you can focus your efforts on prospects who can offer you results.

4. Strategize the best way to present your demos.

However, the results aren’t guaranteed. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him buy into a 12-month contract.

Luckily, your clients aren’t horses, so you need to determine exactly how you hope to present your product or service. As I’ve mentioned it’s crucial that you find software that fits your sales strategy, rather than using a big-shot app that promises results.

If you prefer online one-on-ones to give your pitch some “oomph,” you can use Calendly to schedule a Zoom meeting. Or if you want to present a slideshow to their company’s strategy team, use Outreach to organize your presentations.

5. Research your most successful closing tactics.

Now it’s time to keep that ball rolling. 

Once your clients have the information they need, figure out what sources of closing your team excels at. Do you have an email marketing chain that just can’t be beat? Are your cold calls personal and compelling enough to keep your prospects on the hook? Then it’s time to take those processes up a notch.

Use software like Salesforce to keep track of your leads and make actionable statistics to keep your team moving. Keep an eye out for key info with retention analysis software like Chorus.

But too much information can overload you and your team.

6. Focus on your ideal sales metrics (KPIs).

Trying to make sense of your sales statistics is like making pasta, and pouring it over the sink without a strainer. Without a way to filter it, you end up wasting potential that you’ve worked hard for.

Every team has their own way of measuring success. So when you want to measure your team’s performance, it’s important to know what you’re looking for.

When you narrow down your KPIs, you can use sales analytics apps like HubSpot to make reports on those specific metrics. You’ll be able to avoid sifting through dozens of sales reports that won’t tell you a thing.

7. Don’t leave your team out of the conversation.

Arguably the most important step in the process is to build your sales tech stack around your team’s strengths. They’re the ones who are going to be interacting with the software after all. 

Make sure that your team always has the opportunity to perform at their best. Otherwise, you’re just dumping money down the drain.

But don’t be afraid to try new sales tech.

It’s a bad idea to lock your team into a decision when it comes to software they’ll be using all of the time. For the most part, sales tech companies have free versions of their products so you can give them a try before you make a decision.

You never know when some hot-shot software developer makes sales tech that aligns with your business goals perfectly. So keep an open mind.