72% of Companies Are Investing in their Sales Technology Stack in 2015

The sales technology stack has arrived! According to TOPO’s Sales Development Technology Report, which interviewed more than 130 sales leaders across a variety of industries, a whopping 72.4% of companies plan to invest in technology that makes their sales development team more successful this year.

What is the Sales Technology Stack?

72% of companies are investing in their sales technology stack this year!

For the uninitiated, the sales technology stack refers to the composite of solutions that sales organizations use to sell more. The stack might include tools that:

• Make it easier to email prospects
• Dial leads faster
• Connect with prospects more efficiently
• Provide prospect data in the context of calls or emails
• Log data automatically in systems of record
• Enhance collaboration
• Improve managers’ insight
• Improve reps’ overall productivity

Why a Sales Technology Stack?

So why are more companies investing in sales technology solutions? To put it simply, it’s getting harder and harder to reach prospects. TOPO’s report shows some alarming trends. According to TOPO:

• Only 23.9% of sales emails are opened
• It takes 18 dials to connect with a buyer
• Call-back rates are below 1%

In order to compensate, sales organizations are investing in technology that makes it easier to connect with and have meaningful conversations with prospects. Companies are cobbling together their sales technology stack, comprised of multiple tools that can help accelerate sales. In fact, high-growth sales organizations have an average of five sales acceleration solutions in their technology stack.

Adding Inbound Sales Technology to the Equation

While outbound-focused sales reps are investing in tools that help them dial and connect with prospects. Inbound-focused reps are also discovering the value of sales technology. Customers are conducting more and more research prior to reaching out to Sales. Having real-time access to data about products and prospects delivered within the context of calls can make the difference between winning and losing a deal.

As an example, last week I was talking to a sales rep at a major music retail store. I was interested in learning more about an amplifier and had a few questions. It quickly became clear that I knew more about the amp than the sales rep. I walked out as a result. And that was an relatively inexpensive transactional sale! If you’re selling high ticket systems to businesses, it becomes even more important to be informed about what you’re selling and who you’re selling to.

Sales technology can give inbound sales reps unprecedented insight. With Revenue.io, for example, reps can instantly know who is calling and what to sell them before even answering the phone. Once a rep is on a call, they can view intelligent talking points about products (including specs, cross-selling opportunities and more). And then, every call is automatically logged in Salesforce, so managers can ensure that hot leads are being followed up with.

Revenue.io offers a variety of sales tools for outbound and inbound sales reps. For help evaluating your sales technology needs, check out our Sales Acceleration Buyer’s Guide.