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3 Effective Tools Sales Teams Need Now

  • Written by Angela Earl, RFPIO
  • Published in Demanding Views

AngelaFor sales teams across the country, the shift from in-person to online work during to the Covid-19 pandemic (along with uncertainty that came with it) represented some of the most difficult challenges their companies ever faced. And although challenges still remain, sales executives have good reason to believe the future of the industry looks bright, especially as 73% of Chief Sales Officers expect sales budgets to increase in 2022, according to a recent Gartner Survey.

B2B customers are no longer simply invested in the final product or service; rather, they expect an efficient and seamless experience throughout the entire sales process. This includes everything from engaging and informative sales demonstrations to instantaneous responses about product, service or business questions. And while these increased demands may seem overwhelming at first, client loyalty, improved reputation and overall revenue increases are just some of the rewards successful sales teams can achieve.

Meeting the wants and needs of the modern-day customer will largely be dependent on the tools and technology sales teams prioritize. But with so many products and services available for organization, how do they know which ones to invest in?

Below are three effective tools that sales teams should embrace to improve internal team efficiency, cater to the contemporary needs of customers and businesses and increase overall productivity and profitability.

1. Conversational Intelligence

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The ability to quickly and effectively capitalize off every aspect of client conversations is essential. This becomes even more important when dealing with clients who may have to make tough decisions due to the economic outlook — that’s where conversation intelligence software is effective.

The tool uses AI to analyze speech or text, providing data-driven insights from conversations between sales agents and customers. When used correctly, this product can improve current relationships with clients, increase conversion rates and ultimately drive more revenue.

For example, the most basic conversational intelligence software allows sales teams to monitor all communications with clients to ensure that all conversations are not only all recorded and accounted for, but also verified that compliance standards were met, caught and corrected. This benefits both employees and clients.  

Specifically, this conversation intelligence allows managers to analyze the words, strategies and questions the best sales agents are utilizing and help identify areas of improvement. This provides sales teams with the opportunity to share valuable feedback and insights to workers, which can lead to increased sales, revenue and retention.

2. Response Automation

Response automation software is a tool that all successful sales companies are beginning to embrace because it can significantly increase productivity and streamline efficiency across the entire workforce. Response automation helps sales representatives communicate internally and externally by utilizing all available knowledge to generate, manage and share answers.

When choosing which response automation software to invest in, make sure to prioritize one with extensive centralized knowledge library capabilities. Those features can help sales representatives access and share information easily while also increasing uniformity and accuracy, which can lead to better client retention and conversations.

Improving the communication and collaboration process is another important feature that sales teams should value when choosing response automation software. Investing in technology that helps sales employees keep track of tasks, both externally and internally, is needed now more than ever in the age of hybrid work. Notifications about when questions are asked, responses are filled out and when tasks and documents are completed help drive organizational efficiency and reduce setbacks.

3. Sales Demonstration Software

Companies are looking at their budgets more closely, as 20% of business leaders said they are planning to cut costs during the next few months, according to Gartner. For a sales team to leave their mark during a pitch and win the prospective client, they need to go above and beyond in showcasing how their product or service is beneficial.

In other words, they need sales demonstration software, which is used to meet extensive sales demo requests, make it easier to create presentations and enable increased effectiveness during the demo to win the customer.

Sales demonstration software is technology that enables easier and more effective presentations during the sales process with the ultimate goal of improving conversion rates. When making purchasing decisions, sales teams should choose demo software that prioritizes the ability to quickly and effectively make the sales pitch personalized to the buyer, with specific content focused around their persona, vertical and any other aspects that directly relate to their industry. In addition, choosing a software that utilizes independent demos instead of live product helps ensure no bugs or problems pop up.

Finally, effective sales demo software usually has extensive research and learning capabilities, helping build presentations quickly resulting in more demos and sales conversions — ultimately driving increased ROI for the organization.


Angela Earl is the VP of Global Marketing at RFPIO, a response management platform.