Your Tool Stack: How to Right-Size and Right-Choose It

When I was a VP Sales and VP Sales Enablement, I could count on getting at least 5 sales pitches for sales tools, every single day. Now, with AI become ubiquitous, every sales tool has AI built-in. It's difficult to separate the hype from reality.

The Dilemma

I've seen CROs make the worst decisions for their teams, spending $80K on software that is disliked and unused by the sales team. The promise of magical inbound leads never came to fruition, and reps spent hours every week poring through reports to never find the unicorn.

On the other hand, I've also seen tools deliver ROI far more than we paid, saving reps precious hours and helping sales leaders solve new challenges rather than answer the same tired, old questions.

A Few Ideas

• If you're considering a tool that is in a fairly mature category, e.g. sales content management, find out if the tool is too old and not only looks tired, but has an ancient codebase supported by a crew of developers desperately trying to keep it alive.
• If you're considering something that has become available only recently, ask the tech experts whether the technology would be superceded by something else. For example, I saw an AI role playing tool that had such a cheesy animated avatar for the "prospect" that I simply couldn't take it seriously, nor could my reps.

If exploring new tools or consolidating your current tool stack is on your mind, let's talk. As a tech geek who writes code and understands sales reps, I can help you separate hype from reality and not get duped by slick demos and fancy slides.