6 min read
8 Essential Metrics to Manage a High-Performing SDR Team
An elite sales development team is the engine that powers predictable revenue growth. SDRs generate qualified pipelines...
12 min read
Introduction
Quality salespeople are in demand, now more than ever. Companies are reviewing their teams and making hard choices. Keep the best, say goodbye to the least productive. But keep in mind that salespeople are making choices, too. The best people are demanding the support of the best tools. No longer will a new laptop and a dedicated phone line be enough for the stars to want to stay with you or come to work for you. For many salespeople who have experienced success with the right technology at their disposal, they will never go back to “the old way.”
And who can blame them? The right tools in your sales tech stack can help an account exec do the work previously done by 3-6 people. Talk about keeping that star shine!
That’s right: three to six people can keep pounding the phones week after week the old way… or one good employee who knows how to communicate well can use the technology available today to reach even more prospects and have more conversations, discovery calls, demos, and closed deals.
Augment your team with LESS capital outlay while driving MORE revenue. Instead of begging the C-suite for more personnel dollars, invest in the right technology, attract the best talent, and do more with a smaller team.
Your Sales Tech Stack 👍
Winning sales organizations use tech stacks that enable the full sales function from creating pipeline to closing deals. Three of the most important types of technology to layer:
1. CRM, of course:
The base point of every sales technology stack is the CRM. Salesforce is the leader but there are many options. Many companies use Salesforce augmented by other CRMs, such as HubSpot, Outreach and Salesloft have big fans. Other CRMs getting buzz lately include Pipedrive and Monday.
Each of these CRMs have specific functionality that is appreciated by certain teams. Regardless of your workflow, every sales organization needs a CRM they can count on. But CRMs cannot do it all – they aren’t even designed to do it all.
2. Pipeline & Conversation Intelligence:
Tools like Avoma and Gong are great for aiding sales teams to understand what is being not just said to prospects, but how it’s understood. Also, get revenue intelligence here: see how deals are moving through the pipeline.
3. Power Dialers:
We’re not saying Koncert is the only game in town when it comes to dialers. In fact, there seems to be another dialer competitor arriving on the scene practically weekly. Koncert is the only one with four different dialers in our platform, along with Cadence software. And we’re the only dialer💪 provider recognized by Forrester for our reporting capabilities. We’ve got an incredibly strong Caller ID Management program and Remote Coach®, too. Just saying.
Dialers need to lay within your sales technology stack for this most important reason: they will increase your outbound sales calling ability by multiples.
Invest in the People Who Can Deliver
Really good sales talent all want one thing: the tools to do their job in such a way that boring, manual tasks are kept at a minimum while conversation time with prospects and customers is expanded.
With a good dialer platform within your sales stack, syncing automatically with your CRM and supplying great data to your conversation intelligence software, this is exactly what you will be providing them.
Shakey Economy? Now More Than Ever
Companies are nervous right now because no one knows what is in store. Some economists are predicting recession. Some say we’re already in one. Many technology companies are streamlining their organizations, cutting out personnel they added during the pandemic. Does this mean tightening across the budget board? Well, yes. We’ve all seen that prospects are balking on investment in new technologies and products. So every dollar is harder to come by; every deal is negotiated a little tighter; every dollar is postponed just a little further.
This means your top sales talent is worth more than ever. The ones who can get past the logjam and settle that negotiation to close that deal.
Are YOU that Talent? Be Your Own Champion
Maybe you are the sales leader that can see how much more efficient and effective you (and the rest of the team) can be with the right technology tools, but you’re a little nervous about asking for it right now. That’s OK, we get it!
Remember to point out to your own leadership that the data that resides in your tech stacks are a pathway to lead your front-line sales reps to tremendous success.
How to Choose the Right Set for Your Top Talent 👍
Key considerations in choosing the right sales tech stack for you team include these:
1. Setup Time
Slightly counter-intuitive here: while many companies want to be up and running in minutes with their software, pick the one that has the feature set to grow as you grow. This may mean a slightly longer set up and on-boarding time, but it is worth it when those features make the difference in your sales analytics, coaching and closed sales metrics.
2. Ease of Use
Everything needs to work together seamlessly – or it won’t be used. People are too sophisticated now to put up with clunky interfaces. Use tools with automated syncing capabilities so that salespeople are freed up to sell, while the software takes care of many workflows.
3. Support
Make sure you bring on Saas-based technologies with solid Customer Support and a dedicated Customer Success team so you can get any issues solved quickly throughout the life of your contract.
4. Price
Most sales technologies offer a free trial, to help your team evaluate the tool at no cost. Again, pick the one that requires a little more thought to set up, because the simplistic programs will only get you so far. Sales technology ranges in price from “pennies per seat” to “high-ticket enterprise sales” – there will be ones that work within your budget.
5. Add-ons
Look for tools that integrate easily with each other. The experience should be seamless for your sales team while supplying all the rich data and actionable information that leadership needs.
6. Customer Service
Look for a support team accessible in your time zone that provides more than simple ticket support. An assigned Customer Success team is also a strong indicator that the software provider will make sure that your team is able to use all the functionality as they need it. Sophisticated sales engagement products can require time to grasp the advantages of all the functionality.
Drive Your Outbound Business with Koncert
Koncert dialers are designed to work intuitively with CRMs and integrate easily with other sales technology software platforms. In fact, we partner with several, including Gong and Avoma, and offer native integration with Salesforce, as well as a best-in-the-market integration with HubSpot (according to our HubSpot customers). We also have partnerships with SalesLoft and Outreach.
Perhaps more importantly, we regularly hear from salespeople who have used our dialer platform that they will never go back. SDRs, Account Representatives, and Sales Team Leaders who shift jobs, call us and say “we need you.”
So, what are you waiting for? Give those sales stars the dialer they need and save your company money while doing so. Ask for a free trial of Koncert’s AI Dialers, and see for yourself.
