We all get into business for a major purpose, and that is to make profits. However, whether you’re dealing with a certain set of products or you’re offering a range of services, profits cannot be achieved without sales. This is why for any startup or a significantly established business or company, the sales department is one of the most important departments. If you have a sales team in place, their performance will be a key determinant of whether your business makes profits or not. Their performance will be reflected in the overall growth of the company.
Technology has brought about impacts in almost all professions and industries. It came to make work easier and to some extent, replace manpower in workplaces. In the world of sales and business, there are new tools, techniques, and resources, which, of course, comes with its challenges as much as it has made things a way lot easier.
Below are some of the impacts of technology advancement in the performance of sales teams.
Finding and Connecting with Buyers
With the help of technology, salespersons do not always have to go out looking for clients. The power of social media, for instance, has made it easier for buyers and sellers to interact, negotiate and even pay for goods and services via the internet. Nowadays, it doesn't really matter where you are, once you identify an item and want to buy it, it’s just a click away.
With technology, it is easier for a sales team to make follow up with their clients or even create new clients through referrals. In the course of a team interacting with different audiences, they can be in a position to exchange contacts where they can be able to connect on social media and probably sending resources. This is a sure way of increasing sales and definitely generating more profits for the business.
Sales Training Is Easier and Cheaper
Thanks to the internet and other advances in technology, you can easily learn just about anything without having to leave the comfort of your home or office desk. And needless to mention, the sales workforce requires regular training from the point of recruitment to equip them with skills that will allow them to perform at their best.
Unlike in the past where trainees had to attend a physical classroom to learn, tech resources have made that easier. This can be done through webinars, PowerPoint files, videos, and even written material that the trainee can access from wherever they are. Brady Anderson from SalesRabbit says that one way to make training more efficient is to do mobile training so that trainers and trainees don’t need to travel to be able to meet together. Technology has made training for sales teams easier and cheaper, both of which are a plus to organizations.
Discovering information and new trends
In sales, for one to be in a position to make profits, you need to be informed about what you are selling. You also need to be current and abreast with the industry trends as far as sales and marketing are concerned. And with most businesses promoting their products and services online today, getting such information mostly takes only a few clicks.
Performance Tracking
The only way to know how your sales team is doing is to keep a record of the performance of each and every individual. In the past, this was rather cumbersome, not forgetting the higher possibility of errors and cheating by dishonest salespersons. Today, there are many sales performance tracking systems that organizations can take advantage of. They help in knowing each salesperson’s metric and this information can be used to fix team members effectively according to their performance.
Data-Backed Sales Process
With technology, businesses do not always need a large team to perform different tasks. Sometimes just a small team is all you need to accomplish tasks with the help of devices. What’s more, you can easily see a salesperson’s work progress just by checking on the account statements, their account history and also help in identifying the most effective strategies to boost sales. This also enables information sharing and when you identify the salesperson with the highest sales, you can get them to share insights with other team members on how to increase their sales.
Despite the high possibility of technology replacing manpower with automation and AI, from the above information, you can see that its impacts are more positive. In business, it is good to embrace technology and advance with it since it also enhances the overall business output. As far as Sales is concerned, technology is a dire necessity in today’s world.