QUESTIONS YOU NEED TO ANSWER BEFORE INTRODUCING NEW TOOLS TO YOUR SALES TEAM

PRESENTED BY

9

What specifically are you trying to improve or gain?

1. What stages of your deal flow?

2. Who can impact deal flow? Sales, Operations, Finance Executives?

Clearly identify what you want to achieve. Saying that you want to streamline your deal flow is not good enough.

1

How is it being done currently?

1. Will you be replacing an existing tool?

2. Is it a manual process or are you creating something entirely new for your organization?

2

How will you measure success?

1. How will you know that it’s delivering results?

2. Will success be visible to everyone, or only to the management team?

Decide at the very beginning how you will measure success of the new tool.

3

Which roles will be using the tool?

1. Will it be for salesperson use only?

2. Is the tool being selected for management?

3. Is the need being driven by the sales team or sales management?

4. What role will Finance, Sales ops, Marketing, or Customer Service have in the tool’s use?

Make sure that whoever will be leveraging the tool is involved in the decision process.

4

How will the sales team be trained?

1. Will there be a formal training session?

2. Can it be trained online or does it require in-person training?

3. Does the vendor provide tutorials or certified trainers?

4. Does the vendor have a curriculum available? 5

Where will it be used?

1. Is this a tool that will be used at a desk, on a laptop?

2. Is this a tool that will be used in the field, in a mobile setting?

6

Do you need an app or web-based tool?

7Some tools come with both options available and can provide additional benefits if available.

Even if you have not yet deployed tablets into yoursales process, now is a good time to plan for that possibility.

How will you manage the tool and data?

81. Will you manage the tool and data centrally or on an individual basis?

2. How and where is the data stored?

3. If it is an individual tool, how can it be shared and aggregated to view the data from the aggregate view of the company?

Will there be an impact on the customer?

9Some tools will require customer agreement to implement.

Electronic signatures are effective productivity enhancers, but if your customers will not participate, it is a waste of time.

Other questions that may need to be answered

Bonus

Budget - What are you willing to spend to get the desired results?

Timeframe to implement - Is this a tool that can be rolled out immediately, or is there a rigid timeline to install and deploy?

Customer testimonials - What do others have to say about their experiences and the results obtained?

Thanks to Miles Austin for sharing these 9 key questions to ask BEFORE introducing new sales tools to your team.

See more here, and follow @milesaustin and @getbase on Twitter.

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