Things to ask yourself before investing in new sales tech

When looking at investing in new sales tech, many businesses start by looking at the features and costs of the available platforms. But jumping in at the deep end in this way isn't going to result in the best solution for your business.

For a successful implementation of new sales tech that helps your business grow, you need to start by looking at your businesses priorities. These can be determined through preliminary questions like: 

• What are you trying to achieve within the business? 
• What are the overarching goals of the business? 
• What is currently getting in the way of those goals?

Once you've got your priorities straight, I'm willing to bet you'll have identified a few problems that are stunting your growth. And that's great. Because once you know the issues your business is facing, you know what you need to do to overcome them, and that's where new sales tech comes in. You can now direct your search with your problems and priorities in mind making for a much more efficient research process.

But it doesn't stop there! Here are 7 things we think every business should consider before investing in new sales tech:

You'll never have success with new sales tech if your salespeople don't want to use it. Make them part of the process from the very beginning. Find out their pain points and challenges and work with them to find out how new sales tech could fix their problems. You also need to make sure there is adequate training in place so every member of the team feels empowered to use the platform and has a real understanding of how it can help them in their everyday lives. For high adoption rates and long-term success, it's important to keep this relationship going before, during and after implementation so that your salespeople feel comfortable and invested throughout.

Assessing the return on investment of your new sales tech is extremely important. Remember that revenue is a key indicator of growth and no business wants to implement a platform that is going to lose them money. Make sure you consider all the costs associated with the technology including:

• The initial cost
• Training costs
• Ongoing support costs
• Any additional costs that may arise

You also need to consider the impact on your revenue if you don't invest. What is the opportunity cost of not investing in this sales tech? Once you've considered all these options you should be able to work out if the solution will improve your bottom line�which, after all, is the ultimate goal.

3. Implementation

It can be a substantial job to implement new sales tech into your business. You'll need to make sure you understand what will be required and ensure you have enough time and resources to make it work. Consider the time it will take to train your team and make sure you've accounted for this across the business so you aren't losing that all-important revenue.

This is where you go back to the start. What was the big �why' you identified at the beginning of the process that spurred you on to invest in the new sales tech? With every platform you consider and every sales rep you speak to, you should be asking how and why this platform is the solution to your problem. Because no matter how shiny the software, if you're not solving the problem your business is experiencing, then this sales tech won't help you reach your goals.

Measuring the success of your sales tech is essential for establishing your business growth. Now you might be thinking, doesn't this part come after the investment? And you'd be right. You can only measure your success with data and analytics after you've started using the platform. However, it's important to consider how you will measure your success in the early stages so you can ensure all the relevant processes and technical features are in place for once you get started.

It's important to think about the other platforms your business uses and how the new sales tech will integrate with your current tech stack. You need to make sure that all the technology you use works well together so your data, team, and processes are aligned.

Sales tech doesn't just impact your sales team. If your teams are all well-aligned (as they should be) the implementation of new technology will affect everyone across the business. So before you invest, you'll need to take a step back and look at it holistically. Ask yourself what company-wide processes will need to be adapted with this new technology on the scene? Ensure open communication and cross-department alignment for the best results.

Now you're ready to invest in your new sales tech and you can do it confidently knowing you've considered all the aspects that impact the overall decision.