What is a sales stack?

A company’s sales stack comprises the technology and tools that help it handle and keep track of its sales process. This could be a single CRM system for small businesses with five to ten workers. On the other hand, enterprise businesses often need a more complete set of tools because their sales processes are more complicated.

A business sales stack might include a customer relationship management (CRM) system, marketing automation software, a lead scoring system, an email tracking tool, a spreadsheet for keeping track of deals, and even custom-built apps for handling rebate programs or contract terms.

What sales stack a company uses depends on its size, how complicated its sales process is, and the tools it can access. Businesses can use more and more tools that can help them improve their sales processes as technology keeps improving.

When businesses use sales tools, they can see how well they’re doing in all areas of their business and make everything as efficient as possible.

 

Synonyms

• Sales Software Stack: The collection of software and automation tools a company uses to optimize its sales process and performance.
• Sales Technology Stack: All the technology sales managers and reps use to track their progress and success, such as CRMs, marketing automation software, lead scoring systems, etc.
• Sales Enablement Stack: A set of tools and technologies that companies use to help sales reps become more effective and efficient in their jobs, including in-meeting collaboration tools, sales intelligence software, and content management systems.
• Sales Tools: The individual software applications within a sales stack that perform specific tasks.

Why would you want to make a sales stack?

Every business already has some sales stack, even if they don’t know it. They depend on it to run their sales process, whether a single CRM system or a complicated web of tools.

That being said, businesses that don’t have an efficient stack probably miss out on chances to grow. Tracking with pen and paper and entering data by hand can slow down sales cycles, making it harder to get new customers. Furthermore, businesses can’t keep track of success or study customer behavior without a way to gather customer data.

By building a sales stack, companies can improve their processes, make their sales teams more productive, and get more out of them. Companies can learn a lot about their customers and sales success with the correct tools and technologies. They can use this data to find fresh ways to market, sell, and talk to prospects and clients.

Companies can cut down on administrative costs, boost productivity, and get a better picture of their sales success by putting together a modern sales stack. They can also eliminate jobs already being done and spend more time and energy closing deals.

Thoughts on the Sales Stack

Businesses should keep a few things in mind when looking for software and other business tools.

What tools will the sales team need to reach their goals?

Companies should think about how an app or software will help their sales process before buying it. When an application doesn’t help the company reach its goals, buying it might not be worth the money.

Some of the most common goals for salespeople are:

• Making things better for customers
• Getting customers more involved
• Getting more quality leads and speeding up the sales cycle
• Learn more about how and why customers act and connect with you.
• Sellers should have more information
• Make their internal processes more efficient
• Faster start-up times for buyers and salespeople

Besides these goals, many platforms are made to fit specific business and industry types. Others work in any field. For example, Salesforce is a platform that can be used by almost any business, and Bullhorn is a CRM that is made explicitly for staffing firms and recruiters.

The people in charge of sales need to list all the tools they can use and then choose the ones to help them reach those goals.

Is the cost of the tool reasonable?

Software systems come in many shapes and sizes and cost various amounts. Many programs have price models based on subscriptions, so businesses need to know how much each tool costs monthly or yearly.

Discovering any extra costs that might come with the platform, like connection fees or changes, is essential. Set a budget and then look at the costs of different classes to see which ones are best for them.

The time sales leaders will save from sales automation should be considered when they compare prices and make a company budget. Automating more than 30% of sales tasks is possible, and the time saved is usually more than enough to cover the program’s cost.

The best sales tools should be able to do everything and not cost too much. Performance problems can happen when there aren’t enough features, but companies that buy software with too many features waste money and don’t use it enough.

Is it simple to use the platform?

The user experience should be taken into account when making a sales stack. Many businesses buy complicated systems that are hard to learn and take too long to get used to. This makes hiring new employees and getting new users used to the system slow.

The sales stack should be simple and easy to understand so that everything works well. This can help get more people to use the app and ensure that sales teams make the most of its features.

How does the tool work with the other technologies?

Almost all businesses spend money on business-wide solutions like customer relationship management (CRM) systems and tools just for teams. It is essential to check the compatibility of new programs before adding them to the sales stack to ensure they work with current systems and don’t cause problems.

Also, the tools should be able to talk to each other easily so that no data is lost or copied during the move. Some platforms are open source and can be changed, while others need to be connected to other systems by third parties to work as a whole.

The following are some things that companies should keep in mind when they are looking for more business tools:

• Open APIs and add-ons
• Companies that help you connect different tools and offer integration services
• Vendors that work with software providers that are already in the company’s tech stack

Having all of your data in one place (like customer information, leads, and sales actions)

Luckily, most modern business tools come with hundreds or thousands of other apps ready to be integrated. This makes finding the right one for your company’s setup easy.

Is the tool safe to use?

The safety of data is essential to sales teams. The chosen platforms should have a safe system that uses the most up-to-date encryption and authentication methods to keep customer data safe from people who shouldn’t have access to it.

Also, companies should think about spending money on extra safety measures like identity protection systems, two-factor authentication (2FA), and multi-factor authentication (MFA). These safety features are already built into some software tools, and they can help lower the risk of data breaches, which can cost businesses a lot of money.

Things You Should Have in Your Sales Stack

The sales stack is the set of tools and apps unique to each company, working together to get the best results. Often, the way they can improve things to make more sales than their competitors is a trade secret.

To get the most out of their platform, businesses should look for tools with features that help them reach their goals.

Some essential tools to think about are

CRM stands for “Customer Relationship Management.”

Software for managing customer relationships helps sales teams keep track of and handle relationships with customers through the sales funnel.

Essential parts of CRM tools are:

• Seeing the sales pipeline
• Keeping track of and managing leads
• Storing data, analyzing it, and making reports
• Automation of marketing
• Email programs run automatically
• Keeping track of and scoring leads
• Information about sales

Scalability is another important feature of a sound CRM system. This means businesses can add or remove people as needed without paying extra licenses.

CPQ

Configure, price, quote (CPQ) software helps sales teams quickly make quotes and offers that are specific to the customer’s needs. It speeds up the quote process for customers by doing calculations automatically, lowering the chance of pricing mistakes, and showing goods or services visually.

CPQ software also has the following features:

• Rules for changing prices
• Catalogs of goods
• Integration with CRM
• Being able to connect to eCommerce platforms
• Analysis and reporting of data

Companies that offer complicated goods and services and need accurate quotes can benefit the most from CPQ software. When sales workers use bundle pricing, they can also use CPQ software to make dynamic, custom packages as quickly as possible.

Making sales possible

Sales support software is a group of tools that give the sales team the information and resources they need to close deals. It’s like a private library for sales reps, where they can find information about customers, products, training materials, templates, and more.

Software for email marketing

Companies can use an email marketing tool to connect with customers and potential customers, keep leads interested, and turn potential buyers into paying customers. These are some things you should look for in email marketing software:

• The ability to segment (to target specific groups of people)
• Personalization tools (for making texts look different)
• The ability to work with other platforms
• Tools for reporting and analytics
• Automatic alarms

81% of small businesses use email marketing to contact possible customers. This kind of software can also help keep customers coming back. Email automation can help a sales rep stay in touch with a new customer after the sale, build relationships, and cross-sell other goods or services.

Plan smartly

Innovative scheduling tools eliminate the need to email and chat back and forth with leads in business-to-business (B2B) sales. Customers don’t have to try to find a time that works for everyone; these tools let them book times to meet with salespeople.

Software for making smart schedules has features like

• Meetings that can happen right now
• The ability to connect to calendar apps (like Google Calendar or Office 365)
• Email confirmations and alerts are sent automatically
• Being able to change the time without calling customer service or the other party involved

People who use self-service tools have more power, making them happier and more accessible for salespeople to do their jobs.

Talk to someone live.

Live chat is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) tool that people can use to talk to help or customer service teams immediately. Customers can easily ask questions, get help with their accounts, and quickly solve problems this way.

Most live chat platforms have a lot of tools that customer success teams will find helpful, such as

• Messages that can be changed and pre-written replies
• Notifications in real-time
• The ability to connect to other tools, such as CRM
• Analysis of data

Businesses that sell to consumers (B2C) use live chat to help website visitors buy things, check on their orders and shipping progress, and ask questions about customer service. In addition to live chat, they use it to get leads because it lets them give potential customers specific suggestions.

Businesses that sell to other businesses use live chat as part of their sales technology to improve the selling process. PPre-qualifying incoming leads based on set criteria and sending prospects to knowledge base resources makes it easier for sales reps to close the deal on the call.

These automated functions also make it easier to buy things. When an inbound lead tells the sales rep about their business size, specific needs, and budget, the sales rep can use a consultative method to find the best solution for the customer.

Automation of Sales

Sales automation software is a type of sales technology that automatically takes care of repetitive jobs to speed up the sales process. Automation can speed up the completion of some jobs, such as data entry, lead management, and proposal writing.

A lot of steps in the sales process are made better by sales automation:

• Lead Nurturing: Sales automation software helps nurture leads by sending them follow-up emails and educational content and encouraging them to look at older goods or services.
• Lead Management: Automation makes lead management easier by sending leads to salespeople in a well-organized way.
• Lead Management: Sales automation platforms keep track of all customer interactions through different modes, like chat, email, and the phone, so sales reps know when to follow up with the customer again.
• Demonstrations of Products: Content suggestions, tours of products, and video demos can be sent immediately to prospects at set times.

Sales reps can spend more time closing deals and less on boring jobs when using sales automation. It also helps businesses be more efficient while giving customers a more tailored experience.

Sales Reach Out

Sales outreach is all about reaching out to possible customers or prospects to get leads and build relationships. This word refers to many marketing activities, such as email campaigns, cold calling, direct mailers, and sharing information.

Getting leads and prospecting

Several manual chores can be part of sales prospecting:

• Looking into possible leads that fit the description of the ideal customer.
• Calling, emailing, or messaging possibilities without being asked to.
• I am getting back in touch with leads that have already been reached.

You can make it easier to reach out to prospects by using sales tech tools like lead scoring systems and automated email routines. By sending follow-up emails at set times, automated email loops help keep customers interested. Lead scoring systems help put leads in order of importance based on funding, industry, and location.

Getting Social

According to LinkedIn, 78% of social sellers sell more than their peers. The apparent reason for this is that social networks are used by hundreds of millions of people, and sales reps can use their brand to connect with possible customers and build relationships with them.

Sales reps can interact with customers, gain their trust, and share their ideas on LinkedIn and Twitter. These networks also offer a lot of information that can help people decide what to buy.

Social selling tools help sales teams keep track of contacts and conversations across multiple platforms. In addition, they use them to find new customers and keep in touch with old ones.

Social selling is also becoming increasingly crucial for study because it gives information about what customers want, how they use products, and how competitors are positioned.

Engaging with Sales

To move leads and customers through the sales funnel, keep them interested as they buy. Sales interaction helps reps stay in touch with prospects through the sales process.

There are different kinds of these tools, and they are used for different things, like

• Email Automation: Reps don’t have to check their inboxes for messages every time an automated email series goes out, so they never forget about a lead.
• Content Tracking: Tools for content tracking help sales reps figure out what content customers like and don’t like as much.
• Personalization: Making emails, texts, and other notes more relevant to the prospect goes a long way toward building relationships with them.
• Chatbots: You can find leads, answer customer questions, and set up meetings.
• Surveys help you understand what customers are saying and determine their satisfaction.
• Content syndication: This method shares content on many different outlets, like blogs and social media sites, which makes the brand more visible.

Sales interaction is an integral part of any company’s sales technology stack. But every company will need different features, so before buying a sales engagement tool, you should research.

Scores for Contact

Contact scoring is different from lead scoring because it looks at current customers’ engagement. It helps sales reps sort contacts into groups based on how much they connect with the brand and what they do.

Different factors, like the number of emails opened, page views, clicks, and page visits, can be used to set up the scoring system. Customers are more likely to want to buy something if their touch score is high.

With this technology, sales reps can focus on the leads most likely to become customers quickly.

Sharing your screen and showing off

Reps use demoing and screen-sharing tools all the time to show possible customers how the product or service works. These tools let reps give personalized demos and record meetings to be reviewed later or used for training.

There is AI and automation software that takes these tools to the next level and makes them better for sales. Automation tools that analyze sentiment, suggest content, and record and transcribe screen shares and demos make them more useful in real-time and easy to look back on and comment on later.

Coaching and training for sales

HubSpot says the usual turnover rate for salespeople is 35%, almost three times the rate for all other jobs. To keep reps interested and driven, you must provide them with the proper training, onboarding, and ongoing management strategies.

Sales reps can learn the skills they need to be successful, get along better with leads and customers, and make better use of their sales stack with the help of training tools.

Intelligence in Conversation

Artificial intelligence and sentiment analysis are used in conversational intelligence to find patterns in customer talks.

The software listens to talks, figures out how people feel about things, sorts information into groups, and gives reps helpful information they can use to tailor their approach.

This technology also lets sales teams compare how well different reps are doing and set goals for success. It gives reps detailed recordings, transcripts, and analytics from talks with customers so they can look back at their work, see how well they did, and find ways to improve.

Coaches and teachers can use the technology to ensure that reps stay on track with their goals and train them. If a sales rep has trouble hitting their KPIs, the mentor can use conversation intelligence to determine what’s going wrong.

Management of Performance

Many sales CRM and enablement systems have built-in tools for reporting and analytics. Metrics like “new meeting booked” or “customer converted” that reps enter are used to give each person a performance score.

These reports can help you find and reward top workers, show reps where they can improve, and give them feedback on their goals and key performance indicators (KPIs).

They also help managers keep track of progress toward important goals, like sales goals, every month or three months.

Managers can look at sales statistics for one rep or the whole team. They can also examine various sales situations and efforts to determine which works best. This knowledge helps managers see how their team is doing and figure out what they need to work on.

Starting up

During sales onboarding, new workers are introduced to the company, shown how to make sales, and given clear instructions on how to do their job.

Most of these tasks can be done automatically in some way.

• New employees can get their first papers via email or text message, and onboarding checklists can be made to fit each job.
• Scheduling tools make it easy for trainers and managers to give training lessons when they have time.
• Videos and tutorials for new employees can help reps get up to speed quickly on the company’s goods and services.
• A sales playbook can walk you through every step of the sales process, from making the first contact to finishing the deal.

By setting up automated alerts, managers and sales reps can be reminded when essential tasks must be done.

Companies can simplify the onboarding process, save time, and boost performance by putting these tools together in a good sales stack.

System for managing learning

A learning management system, or LMS, is software that helps businesses teach and train their employees. It lets them make courses for their workers, organize them, and keep track of them.

An LMS can set up organized learning paths for reps to follow, ensuring they learn what they need to know to do their jobs well. Making interactive and exciting material with instructional videos, quizzes, and simulations is easy.

LMSs also let managers monitor their reps’ progress and see how well they meet their goals. This information can be used to find places to better, change the training program, or honor the best workers.

Most of the time, only big businesses will have their own LMS because making a program from scratch takes a lot of time and money. On the other hand, small businesses can gain from using a third-party platform, like an online learning provider or a ready-made product.

Analysis and prediction of sales

Sales forecasting is integral to sales management for investors, managers, and salespeople.

• Sales Reps: Forecasting helps sales reps set attainable goals and determine which customers to seek out. It also allows them to change your plan if it’s not working.
• Managers: Forecasting can inform leaders early on when sales are about to slow down or don’t meet goals. You can use this knowledge to make backup plans and encourage reps to do better.
• Investors: Correct sales forecasts can help investors figure out how the company will grow and decide if they want to invest in it.

It can be hard to make accurate sales predictions because you have to collect data from many sources, analyze it, and then make predictions based on the results.