Sales is inextricably tied to MarTech—and what a crazy landscape it has become! If you look up the definition of "MarTech," you'll see:
"Tools that are used to automate or otherwise streamline marketing processes, collect and analyze data, and provide various means of reaching and engaging with your target audience/customers.”
This sector is meant to help marketers and salespeople be more efficient and effective in their jobs—but are we overcomplicating things?
MarTech has grown drastically—from a mere 150, to a whopping 8,000+ solution providers over the past 10 years, in fact! The technology ranges from web technology to analytics, CRM, marketing automation and beyond. And multiple departments are leveraging the technology—it’s not just the marketing team anymore—but also Product teams, CMOs, Ops and Sales. Everywhere you turn, you’re being told you need MORE, MORE, MORE to ensure you’re aligning your sales and marketing teams, gathering the right data, adjusting, and effectively engaging buyers.
If the image below encompassing the providers in this space gives you the same twitch it gives me, maybe you’ll agree that it’s time for some things to change. You see, more is just not always better. (Didn’t your parent tell you that as a kid?!)
Source: chiefmartech.com
With all these solution providers vying for your technology spend, and adding to your ever-growing tech stack, maybe this isn’t the right approach? In fact, the same business problems from 10 years ago are still there today—some even increasing. Here are a few we’ve heard from customers:
- 65% of content created by marketing is going unused by sales.
- Reps spend even less time selling than they did before having all these fancy tools.
- Sales has difficulty reaching today's self-service buyers and gaining their trust.
You see, marketing teams need tools to help them get the content they create USED by their sales counterparts. Sales needs tools to help them better ENGAGE modern buyers. But many companies are making some expensive mistakes, falling into the trap of over-purchasing and over-complicating. When your sales reps have multiple platforms to learn and toggle between, their productivity decreases—and revenue growth is stunted.
Uncover the Pain Point
It's easy to diagnose the problem you’re trying to fix, but finding the right solution is often much more difficult. No doubt, there are a number of providers who’ll say they have the solution. Some will try to "boil the ocean," delivering all the whiz-bang features you could possibly imagine (although many of these overwhelm reps and often go unused). At first, you might believe all your problems will be solved. Even after rolling-out said technology, you may get good signs that it’s working. Reps may say they’re excited and using it.
But then you log in to view the reporting...and low and behold...there’s nothing there. How can this be? Everyone was so pumped up, and this was supposed to be the end-all, be-all to make our sales soar! Turns out, busy reps have little time to learn complex new platforms—especially if they don’t see the value.
These tools/technologies only save money, and improve processes and operations when they’re both adopted and leveraged. In fact, many companies over-buy and overcomplicate things for the very teams they are trying align and keep focused. 60% shared with Gartner they are planning moderate to severe MarTech budget cuts. Where to go from here?
Make Sure You're Solid on the Basics
Ultimately, you want technology that enables you to meet the needs of your prospects and customers better. Find the solution that provides better experiences AND helps your sellers engage their buyers. Make sure it helps deliver the right content at the right time. Features like digital sales rooms, where sellers and buyers can collaborate, and receive data on buyer intent, just-in-time learning for reps, simple follow-up - are the basics you need to get right.
Navigating the MarTech space, and trying to help your reps understand and effectively reach modern buyers, is pretty darn overwhelming. Solving that business challenge that’s a thorn in your side should be something that makes things better and easier for you—not harder.
Oftentimes, the solution is much simpler than you might think. You only need a few tools to increase sales efficiency and effectiveness. And for good ROI, you need your teams to adopt and use the technology. Make it easy for your reps to sell with something they want to use—and that easily fits into their sales process—to reach your overall revenue targets.
