3 Ways Technology Helps Modern Sales Teams Sell More, Better

New trends in technology have the sales industry working more efficiently than ever. Gartner recently published a research report detailing the top strategic technology trends from the last year, and they found that businesses increasingly rely on technologies such as cloud computing, mobile content, and advanced analytics.

This combination of powerful tools converges to transform the sales process, enabling your team to access timely information, get the latest updates on your products, and conduct smooth dialogue with your prospects without pausing to find answers. The world of sales is more competitive than ever, and only companies who arm their teams with the “new normal” in technology will continue to succeed and profit.

#1: Modern sales teams have what they need, when they need it.

Just-in-time content allows your reps to avoid overloading themselves with information that they won’t need by giving them the means to instantly locate the content that they do need. A 2013 CSO Insights report showed that 65% of sales reps’ on-the-job time was non-client facing. This is time spent poring over content in preparation for calls; time that could be better spent connecting with prospects. Rather than spending weeks in training to memorize every detail about your product line, just-in-time content lets your reps spend their time more productively by building connections and allowing their product knowledge to develop more naturally.

#2: Modern sales teams have the most up-to-date information at all times.

No one wants to hear that a prospect is dissatisfied with his experience because he received an inaccurate product description, or that she received three different price quotes from three different reps on the floor. Products change and evolve so often that keeping your sales team in-the-know about the most recent version can be a nightmare. Eliminate the possibility of inaccurate quotes and outdated product descriptions by giving your team access to a single source of information–one that’s always updated.

Cloud technology lets you provide always-fresh information to your team and instantly make updates available to everyone who has access to the document. Cloud-based content management is cost-effective compared to outdated alternatives such as static PDFs, since there’s no need to re-publish every time you’ve added new information.

#3: Modern sales teams have the ability to respond to questions quickly.

Mobile technology allows sales teams to access reference materials from wherever they are, which then allows the sales dialogue to continue organically without interruptions. In years past, a sales rep would have stopped the conversation to go speak to the IT team or a product engineer in order to find the answer to a tricky question about product pricing or features. Stopping mid-conversation to scramble for material isn’t very conducive to successful selling: according to a 2014 Qvidian study, more than half of all sales conversations come to an end due to haphazardly presented information. Keep the sales cycle rolling by having mobile reference content at the ready for your team so that there’s no need to stop the dialogue.

The time is right to take advantage of the vast collection of tech advancements available to savvy modern sales teams. The right arsenal of technology and valuable tools keeps your team on track and competitive. When nearly half of all CSOs are worried that they might not meet projected growth targets each year, it’s time to act by integrating tech trends into your day-to-day sales operations.