Our Accelerating Innovation in Revenue Intelligence ebook looks at five trends shaping the revenue intelligence market in the coming year. These predictions span the growing impact of AI and machine learning on accelerating sales and revenue generation, the increasing consolidation of the sales tech stack, the role of activity capture across channels, the evolution of CRM from systems of record to systems of action, and the critical importance of security across end-to-end sales and customer interactions.
The third prediction—the sales tech stack consolidation will accelerate—stems from the challenge sales teams face in juggling multiple tools, each promising to be the silver bullet for success. Yet, instead of streamlining operations, too many tools often lead to confusion, inefficiencies, and a longer sales cycle.
According to research, 66% of sales reps express that they’re overwhelmed by too many tools, and on average, sales teams use about 10 tools to close deals. This not only leads to redundancies, with multiple tools performing overlapping functions, but also inflates operational costs and creates data silos, which lead to inefficiencies and inaccurate pipeline forecasting.
In the year ahead, we predict that sales tech stack consolidation will hasten, as organizations will aggressively simplify and optimize their sales technology landscape and as revenue intelligence platforms deliver enhanced capabilities that can increase win rates. Here are some of the key benefits and best practices around sales tech stack consolidation.
Benefits of Sales Tech Stack Consolidation
Reduce costs: By eliminating unnecessary or overlapping tools, sales teams can save on software licensing fees, maintenance costs, and integration expenses. For example, Grubhub made the decision to consolidate point solutions and saved over $1 million.
Improve efficiency: A leaner tech stack means less time spent on managing and switching between different tools, and more time spent on selling. Sales teams can also benefit from seamless data integration across platforms, eliminating data silos and offering access to consistent, up-to-date information for strategic decision-making.
Enhance performance: Sales tech stack consolidation can also boost sales performance by leveraging the power of AI and data. By consolidating data sources and tools, sales teams can gain more accurate and actionable insights into their pipeline, forecasting, and rep performance. They can also use AI to automate repetitive tasks, prioritize opportunities, and coach sellers to quickly anticipate buyers’ needs.
Increase customer satisfaction: Ultimately, sales tech stack consolidation can lead to more satisfied customers, as sales teams can focus more on nurturing customer relationships and delivering value, rather than on application maintenance and troubleshooting. Sales teams can also use data and AI to personalize interactions, offer relevant solutions, and anticipate customer needs.
Best Practices for Sales Tech Stack Consolidation
Audit your current tech stack: The first step to sales tech stack consolidation is to evaluate your current tools and software, and identify any gaps, overlaps, or inefficiencies. You can use a framework to map out your tech stack and assess its alignment with your sales goals and processes.
Define your core functionalities: The next step is to determine the core functionalities that your sales team needs to succeed and prioritize them according to their impact and urgency. You can use various frameworks to rank your tools and software based on their value, usability, and integration.
Choose your consolidation strategy: It’s important to choose the best consolidation strategy for your sales team, based on your budget, timeline, and objectives. Key strategies to consider include:
- Replace: This strategy involves replacing multiple point solutions with a single, comprehensive revenue intelligence platform that covers all your core functionalities. This approach can offer the most benefits in terms of simplicity, efficiency, and performance. For example, you can replace your email marketing, analytics, and AI tools with an AI-enabled revenue intelligence platform that serves as a unified hub for sales activity capture, engagement, and forecasting.
- Reduce: This strategy involves reducing the number of tools and software in your tech stack, by eliminating the ones that are redundant, outdated, or underused. This approach can result in some trade-offs in terms of functionality and customization. For example, you can reduce your email marketing, lead generation, and prospecting tools with a revenue intelligence platform that automates and guides outreach campaigns.
Sales tech stack consolidation is not a one-size-fits-all solution, but a strategic and customized process that requires careful planning and execution. By following these best practices, you can achieve sales tech stack consolidation that suits your sales team’s needs and goals, and ultimately, boosts your revenue performance in 2024.