What is Sales Technology?

Sales technology refers to the digital tools, platforms, and software solutions that help sales teams streamline processes, improve productivity, and drive revenue growth. At Revenue Grid, we empower sales operations leaders to turn today’s tech disruption into predictable growth. These technologies range from customer relationship management (CRM) systems to artificial intelligence-powered analytics platforms, all designed to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of sales activities.

Revenue Grid’s Take: As a recognized leader in the sales technology landscape, Revenue Grid empowers sales operations teams to unify their stack, automate data capture, and drive consistent forecasting accuracy—capabilities that set us apart from generic CRMs and point solutions. See how our platform leads the way.

Benefits of Sales Technologies

For sales operations leaders and RevOps in mid-market and enterprise organizations, implementing the right sales technologies delivers measurable business outcomes:

• Increased Efficiency: Automate repetitive tasks and streamline workflows
• Enhanced Productivity: Enable sales reps to focus on high-value activities
• Data-Driven Decision Making: Access real-time insights and analytics
• Improved Collaboration: Better alignment between sales, marketing, and customer success teams
• Predictable Revenue Growth: Better forecasting and pipeline management
• Enhanced Customer Experience: Personalized interactions and faster response times
• Overview of the Sales Technology Landscape
• Adoption and Investment Trends in Sales Technologies
• The Rise of Virtual Selling in Sales
• Content finally gets its due as a revenue driver
• Account-targeting tools are on the rise
• Demand generation still leads over value creation and retention
• Sellers still have trouble mastering the CRM

The 2024 sales stack looks significantly different than it did four or five years ago.

Sure things like marketing automation, email, and the trusty CRM remain sales rep staples but the latest sales tools indicate we may be on the brink of a major breakthrough.

Emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the internet of things (IoT) have evolved beyond the hype cycle and into a prerequisite for competing in a challenging environment.

I took a deep dive into several reports including Nancy Nardin’s annual sales tech survey, LinkedIn’s post-outbreak State of Sales report, and the latest insights from Salesforce to learn about the tech trends of the moment.

Overview of the Sales Technology Landscape

At Revenue Grid, we see the sales tech universe expanding rapidly—offering sales leaders new ways to drive measurable revenue impact through smarter, more integrated technology.

To get a sense of just how crowded this space is, check out Nancy Nardin’s Sales Technology Landscape, a visualization of the best-in-class sales tech clustered together by category.

(By the way, Revenue Grid is part of the 2020 roster).

Nancy’s vendor list gets pretty granular and includes predictive scoring & ABM software to content repositories, prospecting tools and e-signing platforms.

Types of Sales Technologies

The following table outlines the main categories of sales technologies and their primary functions to help you understand the comprehensive landscape:

This comprehensive breakdown shows how different technologies work together to create a unified sales ecosystem that drives results.

That said, here’s a quick look at some of the more “general” categories that qualify as sales tech.

• CRM
• Account-based marketing
• Sales & marketing automation
• Video conferencing
• Sales engagement
• Sales enablement
• Lead generation
• Prospecting
• Content management
• Document automation
• Coaching & training

As pictured in the infographic, the sales tech space is so crowded; there’s something for every niche and pain point there is.

This means sellers in every sector, from finance to e-commerce, logistics and even mining can create custom solutions via APIs and integrations.

Revenue Grid’s Take: Our customers see the most success when they focus on integration over proliferation. Rather than adding more point solutions, Revenue Grid’s unified platform eliminates data silos and provides the single source of truth that sales operations leaders need.

Adoption and Investment Trends in Sales Technologies

Sales tech adoption is growing: more sales teams are using more tools as embracing technology is no longer optional. LinkedIn’s State of Sales 2020 found that 43% of salespeople say they use sales intelligence tools—up by 54% since 2018.

In addition to adding more tools to the tech stack, organizations are spending more on monthly subscriptions.

Per the Smart Sales report, 66% of respondents reported spending less than $150 per user per month on sales tech in 2017. In 2019, 65% spent more than $150 per seat each month.

Futurum’s 2019 B2B Digital Buyers’ Journey attributes the uptick in spending to three main factors: digital transformation, the cloud and a widespread effort to slash IT spending.

Another factor is the rise of big data, AI, cloud-native apps and the IoT. Emerging technologies, ever-growing data sets and the need to maintain a competitive edge are likely driving adoption, as well.

What This Means for Sales Operations Leaders: Budget allocation for sales technology is becoming a strategic imperative. Organizations that invest wisely in integrated platforms see 25% higher pipeline visibility and more predictable revenue outcomes. See how our customers achieve these results.

The Rise of Virtual Selling in Sales

The Futurum report revealed that 60% of B2B buyers said there’s no reason for reps to visit them in person, as vendor relationships can now be managed digitally with minimal effort.

77% of buyers say they’re now holding more virtual meetings than they did prior to the outbreak. While sellers can easily share content and clock-in face time from home, the move did introduce a few new challenges.

44% of sellers reported that buyers were less responsive and sales cycles were getting even longer.

According to Gartner, sellers need to adapt their strategies to the current situation.

They recommend that reps make an effort to showcase company branding during video calls to reinforce brand recall. The effort is pretty minimal–we’re talking branded Zoom backgrounds or screensavers, not company-sponsored decor.

More importantly, Gartner advises sellers to get straight to the point during virtual calls. Where small talk is great for building rapport in person or on the phone, it can feel awkward in cyberspace.

Instead, focus on providing value ASAP. Lead with customer-specific benefits to capture their attention, discuss features and answer questions.

From there, if you can segue into something more interactive like an AR demo or a screen share training session you’ll likely find it easier to keep buyers interested.

Revenue Grid’s Take: Virtual selling success depends on having the right data at your fingertips. Our revenue intelligence platform ensures sales reps enter every virtual meeting with complete context and actionable insights, turning remote interactions into revenue opportunities.

Content finally gets its due as a revenue driver

Content marketing has evolved.

Content has evolved from simple blog posts to sophisticated, data-driven assets that build trust and loyalty with consumers, presenting solutions that speak directly to the buyer.

Demand Gen Report’s 2020 B2B Buyer Behavior Study points toward the shift in how buyers think about content as it relates to their sales strategy.

Buyers keep getting better at researching solutions themselves, and often prefer evaluating benefits, features and pricing on their own time–no rep required.

The independent buyer has become a key factor in every sales strategy. Buyers are becoming more research-driven and self-sufficient.

Because the buyer’s journey now begins with a Google search, content become the driving force for moving deals though the pipeline–but only if it’s good stuff.

70% of participating buyers stated that content relevant to their company’s unique needs was a “very important,” part of the buying experience, while 96% said it was important that messaging reflected industry-specific challenges/needs.

That said, if the buyer feels you lack competence or don’t have their best interests at heart, earning back their trust will be a challenge.

2020 Edelman Trust Barometer found that only 40% of buyers believe the sales profession, on the whole, is trustworthy. Even worse, another 25% believe salespeople are, their words, “morally and ethically challenged.”

Sales organizations must rise to the occasion and make sure they’re sharing valuable insights that buyers can’t find anywhere else. With face-to-face meetings off the table, content becomes the primary vehicle for building trust and demonstrating expertise.

Account-targeting tools are on the rise

According to Nancy, account targeting tools are on a major growth trajectory. In fact, the benchmark report revealed that the category grew by 1175% between 2017 and 2019.

The LinkedIn report also saw growth in this area: 56% of respondents say they already use data to identify and target qualified accounts, while 49% rely on data to determine which industries and markets to pursue.

These tools are often used to support ABM strategies and help brands target buyers that check all the right boxes.

Demand generation still leads over value creation and retention

Nancy found that “top of the funnel” sales tools accounted for most sales tech investments, even though it’s more cost-effective for brands to focus on upselling existing customers.

That said, I’m not sure how meaningful this is. For example, social selling was included in the “TOFU” mix, though the strategy covers more than just prospecting.

In any case, it seems that the current crisis has shifted the focus away from demand gen, as sellers look for ways to engage buyers unable to purchase.

LinkedIn’s 2020 data revealed that organizations are starting to pay more attention to KPIs that measure long-term value like retention, attrition and satisfaction over short-term metrics like win-rate and conversions.

Survey respondents also revealed that they’re changing their tune on how rep performance should be measured.

Customer satisfaction (43%) and retention rates (40%) were rated most important, followed by two shorter-term KPIs, team quota met (37%) and individual quota met (37%).

Sellers still have trouble mastering the CRM

The Sales Tech survey also revealed that many respondents struggle with their CRM.

According to a joint report by Forrester and Salesforce, there are a few reasons for this. 57% of survey respondents reported that CRMs are at least somewhat fragmented across their organization—in other words, they’re dealing with a silo problem.

Researchers found that in many cases, departmental buyers purchased a CRM platform in isolation to solve a single business problem—which meant, eventually, you’d find multiple CRMs in one location.

While CRMs promise a unified source of interaction data, that transparency doesn’t exist when every department keeps separate records. Unfortunately, poor CRM use means brands miss multiple opportunities throughout the customer lifecycle.

With AI, machine learning, and the internet of things (IoT) inching further into the mainstream, CRM struggles and silos could turn into much bigger problems later on.

Best Practices for CRM Implementation and Integration

To maximize CRM effectiveness and avoid common pitfalls, organizations should focus on these key areas:

The report recommends taking the following steps to get ahead of this problem:

• Place the customer at the center of everything you do. In other words, if you’re not practicing sales enablement yet, it’s time to hop on the bandwagon.
• Capture as many customer insights as you can. According to Demand Gen Report, building out your customer profile is becoming more important than ever thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, as buyer journeys and behavior are changing.
• Arm all customer-facing employees with unified CRM access. Alignment, context, communication—more sales enablement staples that set the stage for successful engagement and more efficient workflows.
• Think outside the CRM. Despite the fact that the sales technology landscape is both very crowded and very diverse, many users still believe the CRM is the only sales tool sellers should care about.
• Get AI on the case. Artificial intelligence has proven capabilities when it comes to turning massive, unrelated data sets into actionable insights. Give your people a break and look toward AI-enabled analytics platforms, business intelligence tools and an upgraded sales and marketing stack.

How to Choose the Right Sales Technology

Selecting the right sales technology requires a strategic approach that aligns with your business objectives and existing infrastructure:

• Assess Current Needs: Identify specific pain points and gaps in your current sales process
• Evaluate Integration Capabilities: Ensure new tools work seamlessly with existing systems
• Consider Scalability: Choose solutions that can grow with your organization
• Calculate Total Cost of Ownership: Include implementation, training, and ongoing maintenance costs
• Test Before Committing: Use trials and demos to validate functionality
• Plan for Change Management: Ensure adequate training and support for user adoption

Challenges and Considerations in Sales Technology Adoption

While sales technologies offer significant benefits, organizations must navigate several common challenges:

• Integration Complexity: Connecting multiple systems can be technically challenging
• User Adoption Resistance: Sales teams may resist changing established workflows
• Data Quality Issues: Poor data hygiene can undermine technology effectiveness
• Vendor Lock-in: Dependence on specific platforms can limit flexibility
• Security and Compliance: Ensuring data protection and regulatory compliance

What’s on the horizon for the sales technology landscape?

Because we’re in the midst of a crisis, it’s hard to imagine what’s about what’s in store for the sales landscape—or really, the world at large.

Salesforce’s Enterprise Technology Trends report revealed that IT leaders are bracing for major innovation in mobile, AI and voice suggesting that mobility and remote work is here to stay.

83% of respondents predict that the most successful organizations will transition from desktop-first to mobile-first development by 2025, and 69% believe we’ll have universal mobile standards at that point.

5G should be hitting the masses soon, which could mean mobile disruption will happen closer to 2020 than 2025.

In looking at the reports, we found that a few key themes kept showing up. Data. AI. Expert-level content.

While most organizations are aware that big data is becoming essential for doing business, it’s clear that brands need to focus on data literacy, integration and accuracy before introducing new tech to your stack.

Ready to Transform Your Sales Technology Stack?

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“Revenue Grid enabled us to achieve 25% higher pipeline visibility within 3 months.”

– Emerald Scientific