Selling With Technology: is Newer Always Better?

If the newer technology can strengthen relationships or make connecting with others easier, then it is worth considering. If not, don’t waste your time; you won’t recoup potential dollars from wasted hours and distractions.

When considering a new CRM, ask yourself some of the following questions: If you spent the same amount of money the transition would cost, could you better train and develop your staff? How many key indicators are truly needed and, if more time was spent verifying the data, could you make it work? Will this change distract and/or demotivate your team, creating the exact opposite of the desired effect? There are times change makes sense, but is changing worth the risk of later realizing your shiny new toy might as well be a rotary phone?

It’s a Numbers Game

If we make more phone calls we will get more visits. If we get more visits we will get more deposits. If we get more deposits we will make more sales. Now rinse and repeat (and rinse and repeat). The basics of selling today are the same in principle as they were in the past. Learn your customers’ needs and figure out how your product or service can meet them.

Simply taking more actions will not necessarily net results or more sales. New technology can give you better cross sections of your business in real time, but how you use that data to manage your team after you get it is critical. If you tell your team to increase their closing percentages without providing them with a roadmap on how to do so and expect greater success, you will probably be disappointed. (You may even find yourself looking for a new salesperson in this strong economy; they probably have another job option).

You need to set clear goals, making sure the teams understand how the new data is collected and measured, that their main goal is closing business and how these subsets will give them areas to focus on to be more proficient. These metrics in the hands of a strong manager can make the difference between meeting your quotas and falling short. In the hands of the wrong manager, they can set you back further than before you ever saw the new information.

What now?

The developments in technology and getting detailed data quickly are only going to speed up with time.

All we can do is adjust how we respond to this external stimulus and make decisions giving us the best return on our investments, as we use the power of person-to-person connection. Some closing advice: before you convince your CFO to write that check, make certain the technology you’re buying can solve your problem or it could create a bigger one that technology cannot fix.