Tools FAQs

What exactly is a sales tool?

Sales tools are any instruments that enable the sales process.  They may institutionalize identified sales best practice.  They may provide salespeople with critical information at key points in the sales cycle.  They may help salespeople communicate more effectively with prospects.  They may improve the efficiency and speed of selling activities.  Regardless of how they do it, sales tools support salespeople and make them more effective and efficient at moving prospects through the sales process.

Aren’t sales tools just Sales Force Automation or Customer Relationship Management?

While information systems such as SFA and CRM are certainly sales tools, they are by no means the only tools that salespeople need to be successful.  In fact, some would argue that these are some of the least useful sales tools, since they have almost no impact on the actual customer interaction.  Sales tools can take almost any form – electronic, paper, products, etc. – as long as they support the salesperson’s activities.

What are some examples of sales tools beyond SFA and CRM?

Some of the most meaningful sales tools are low-tech items such as call planning checklists, opportunity qualification guidelines, white papers, client reference stories, industry term glossaries, competitive positioning data, return-on-investment calculators, product demos, responses to common objections, pricing tools, product configurators, etc.  Amazingly basic things can be incredibly powerful when applied properly.

How can we get salespeople to use the tools we have given them?

We often hear this question from managers who are frustrated that their salespeople do not keep customer and sales opportunity data current in their information systems.  Our response to this question is simple:  If salespeople are not using the tools you have provided them, it is because the tools do not help the salespeople do their job.  If sales tools are well-designed and based on the needs of your salespeople and your clients, salespeople will use them.  Why would they not?  If the only tools provided to a sales force are really reporting tools, then you face an uphill battle.

What is the best type of sales tool?

There is no ‘best’ type of sales tool.  The types of tools that your sales force needs are wholly dependent upon your company’s unique sales processes and your sales force’s specific weaknesses.  At a general level, transactional sales forces typically need tools that increase efficiency, while consultative sales forces require tools that improve effectiveness.  Beyond that, determining which tools are the best for your salespeople is an exercise in identifying where they are struggling with their customers. Are your salespeople not following up on leads?  Is their transaction volume too low?  Are they unable to communicate the value of your products to their prospects?  Are they offering the wrong solutions to your customers’ problems?  Every ailment has its own remedy.  The most difficult task is actually isolating where your sales force needs the most support.  The types of tools to develop will then become apparent.

Whose responsibility is it to develop sales tools?

Depending upon how your company is organized, the job of creating sales tools could be split between sales and marketing.  Many sales tools should be developed based on customer research and intimate familiarity with a company’s products and services.  Often this information resides with marketing.  Other sales tools are necessarily dependent on a sales force’s specific skills and processes.  These tools cannot be developed by anyone but sales.  In an ideal world, sales and marketing would collaborate to construct smart, customer-focused sales tools that support the sales force’s unique needs.

What is the relationship between sales tools and sales training?

Both sales tools and sales training are critical to maximizing the efficiency and effectiveness of your sales force.  However, there can be somewhat of a trade-off between the two.  Many things that are trained (product knowledge, industry information, sales best practices, basic communications, etc.) can be imbedded in sales tools.  Where you place your emphasis, sales training or sales tools, depends upon your business reality.  If you have high turnover and a large sales force, then sales tools are an excellent way to leverage and preserve institutional knowledge.  If you enjoy low sales force turnover and a relatively small sales force, then investing more heavily in training may be a good choice.  As always, balance is key.