Top 10 Sales Tech Trends of 2021

As the SalesTech industry rapidly expands, more and more businesses are looking to find ways to automate their sales processes. But what is SalesTech, and how does it differ from Sales Automation and Sales Enablement?Sales automation is a subset of SalesTech that deals with automating repetitive and mundane tasks in the sales process.Sales enablement, on the other hand, is the term used for tools and techniques that help empower sales reps to sell more effectively.And finally, SalesTech refers to all technologies that help sales reps work more productively. In this blog post, we will explore each of these concepts in more detail![toc]

What Is Sales Tech & How Is It Different from Sales Automation and Sales Enablement?

The last few years have seen an increase in popularity for terms such as sales automation, sales technology, and sales enablement. What is sales tech and how does it differ from sales automation and sales enablement?A sales technology is a set of tools that helps salespeople use their time and customer knowledge as efficiently and effectively as possible by allowing them to automate repetitious and tedious tasks.Sales automation, on the other hand, is a type of sales technology in which routine and monotonous activities may be automated for greater efficiency and more effective utilization of the employee's time.The growth of Sales Enablement is a result of two main things:1) the popularity of sales tech as we recognize the power of content as a tool in B2B marketing and sales; and2) our improved ability to use technology to assist with buyer engagement during the buying process.The goal of sales enablement is to provide the right content at the right time in order for the sales force to assist engage and nurturing prospects through the buyer's journey.Sales tech is growing in terms of categories (i.e., tools and vendors), with a lot more to come, as evidenced by the number of software providers entering the market and consumers adopting various tools.The most essential fundamental need is to know who to sell to and why.

1. How to engage and when to do so?
2. Why spend money and time on something that someone else can provide?
3. How to cancel, up/cross-sell, and renew your subscription?
4. How to handle, acquire, and enhance your skills?

Each type of sales tech solution represents a distinct need in the sales tech 'hierarchy of needs.' It's up to you to figure out what's most essential for you at any one moment!Technology is changing the way sales professionals do business: new categories, more tools, and even more advancements are on the horizon.Let's look at some of the specifics behind these 10 sales tech 2020 trends:1. The sales technology sector is expanding at a rapid paceSince last year, the number of tools has risen by roughly 10%, and there are now 570 sales tools available under 43 categories.

Categorization is always the most challenging part, and it's getting more difficult as many stand-alone solutions offer functionality on a path to becoming bigger platforms.”2. Sales tech adoption is increasing: more tools are being employed by more sales teams.Sales stacks are made up of four pillars, each of which is used by a significant number of businesses. Our 2017 study identified four pillars of the sales stack, that is, four solutions used by a clear margin above the rest.They were as follows: CRM, Online meetings, Lead list/database, eSignatures"Sales intelligence" was the fourth most popular category, accounting for approximately 20% of respondents."Customer relationship management" and "CRM/contact center software" were the fifth and sixth most common categories, respectively, with about 18% of respondents each.The remaining 22 solution types that we polled for only accounted for around 22% of users. However, in 2019, 47% or more of respondents are using 10 solutions or more.Perhaps even more telling is the fact that all but 5 options were used by at least 22 per cent of survey participants."3. Spending on sales-related technology is growing by the month for each user

Nancy was most surprised by the rise in per-user monthly spending, according to the survey. “In 2017, two out of three respondents spent $150 or less per user each month. In 2019, that reversed itself.Two-thirds of respondents now spend $150 or more each user every month, clearly seeing greater value in the investment and ensuring that more employees within the company have access to these tools to increase productivity”.4. CRM is still a problem for usersEven though CRM is the most common or deployed sales technology tool among the majority of respondents, it continues to sit at the bottom of the satisfaction and perceived value rankings.

Even though no tools were judged to have a score below 7, 22 other categories were chosen ahead of CRM in these criteria. However, people are frustrated with CRM.They have great expectations for it, but when they get there, they discover that things aren't so simple. Awareness of your competition is the first step toward determining who you want to keep up with.Some CRM solutions, for example, require customization if they are to be genuinely beneficial for each distinct firm. AloreCRM is a particularly strong CRM solution, but it comes with complexity.To drive the point home, performing a LinkedIn search for individuals with CRM administrators in their title returned 445000 results5. Growth in the use of top-of-funnel sales technology toolsA focus on top-of-the-funnel tools implies a focus on ‘nurturing'” a prospect deliberately, interacting with them during their journey beginning at the top.Marketing organizations have a significant portion of the sales tool budget and begin with tools that connect marketing activities to the sales funnel. As a result, increasing at the top of the funnel makes sense.Sales leaders like top-of-funnel because you can't close deals that haven't entered the pipeline incorrectly. It's an obvious place to start."6.‘Social selling' has found its niche, moving up to the top 5 of ‘top-of-funnel' toolsSocial selling was mentioned a lot several years ago, but it never quite became as popular or institutionalized in the sales organization as many people had hoped.Getting prospects to respond to salespeople is more difficult than ever. You have six times the number of SDRs who can make 10 calls7. Account targeting is also on the riseFrom 2017 to 2019, the proportion of marketers using account targeting technologies grew by 1175%, from 4% to 51%. This was the most substantial increase seen in our research.Why has this area grown and what factors are contributing to the expansion?Prioritizing sales efforts has always included separating leads into target markets (for business B2B sellers) but it's usually done as a static spreadsheet that salespeople refer to once in a while.The increase in usage is probably due to the fact that purchase intent data has become available, as well as the creative solution improvements at businesses.8. The growing acknowledgement of content as a driver of interaction, backed by the rise in sales enablement toolsSales enablement tools, which help manage and leverage content to engage and convert prospects (especially in the B2B context) grew by 5X.What does that say about the use of the content, the larger enabling environment around content creation and personalization of content experiences, and sales embracing content as a real way to drive value in the consideration phase?Marketing organizations have paved the way. They are well aware that content is queen. It's also an extremely expensive process. If the material isn't "findable," "trackable," or "measurable," it's of questionable value.That implies it's unknown. There's also a lot of pressure to be more relevant to each buyer persona due to the difficulties of getting buyers to interact with your company.9. Demand generation continues to outpace value creation and retentionWhen it comes to sales technology spending, top-of-funnel (TOFU) tools come first, followed by middle-of-funnel (MOFU) and bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) technologies.Despite everything we hear about the need to retain, engage, and optimize lifetime value through the creation of value, does this imply that the emphasis stays on TOFU and lead/demand gen above conversions, value generation, and retention?The vast majority of marketing organizations have a poor track record in growing revenues, and their focusing on new business and the formation of a new pipeline is to blame.I believe that as profitability rises to equal importance with booked revenue, the need to optimize customer lifetime value will become more apparent among marketing & sales professionals.10. Sales performance management and reporting solutions are still finding their stride

When looking at which management and reporting tools are used by firms with a high increase in conversions.We discovered that close to 40% of respondents don't utilize any management and reporting tools that assist them in approaching conversion and retention more strategically.Despite the fact that all four categories of management and reporting software saw excellent growth, and ‘renewal/revenue management' witnessed a 6X rise.What can we infer from this about company leadership?Despite the fact that sales operations and sales executives still rely on their CRM system's inherent capabilities to deliver the reports they require, they have created makeshift reporting using CRM and spreadsheets.As well, it's difficult to break away from one's familiar surroundings.