How to Boost Revenue with New Platforms
Far too often, companies stall their own growth due to a fear of learning new platforms that can help boost revenue. You may have a lot of questions like whether the platform is right for your team and business. Hesitation about learning new software may also stem from a concern about maximizing billable hours. After all, they say that ‘Time Equals Money’ and there is never enough of either.
But, industry leaders are quickly learning that taking advantage of new platforms and investing time into training employees is paying off now more than ever before. And, you alone don’t have to figure which platforms will work best for your team. Instead of surprising your team that they will be learning a new platform, involve them with the process. Collaboratively explore new platforms and discuss ideas with them before investing the time and money to implement them company-wide.
Create an Action Plan for Integrating New Platforms
Depending on your company’s structure, it may be advantageous to delegate the task of creating an action plan for a senior employee, such as a Chief Innovation Officer. The steps involved in the process may vary from team to team, but they should include several elements of the following:
- Routinely elicit feedback from employees regarding what they perceive as barriers to growing revenue and if they have ideas for improving processes.
- Review feedback and key company data to find possible connections.
- Research the issues to find new platforms that could help solve them.
- Gather a list of platforms and have a select team or CIO research them more in-depth. If the platform offers free trials or demos, document the experience with screen recordings and notes. Be sure to ask a representative of the platform targeted questions of how the platform can help solve your specific issues.
- Refine the list of platforms and present the information to the entire team. Ask them to rate how each platform may help them be more efficient.
- Utilizing team feedback, further refine the list of platforms, and check if new issues were discovered. Some issues may include:
- Software/Hardware incompatibility
- Bandwidth limitations
- Whether to utilize the platform in-house or outsource the tasks
- How comfortable employees are with the user interface
- Cost-effectiveness and the ability to track ROI
- Present the data and recommendations to senior management. Once a final determination is made on which platform(s) to implement, create a detailed action plan for training the team.
Top Sales Platforms for Boosting Revenue
To get you started with identifying new platforms that may have a positive impact on revenue, we’ve compiled a short list of innovative platforms:
- Salesforce Cash-Per-Quote (CPQ) Software helps match customers with the perfect products and services you offer.
- Cincom CPQ is very similar to Salesforce and offers a sleek design and interface for easy employee training.
- LeadCrunch utilizes AI to help boost lead quality.
- Zoovu (formerly SmartAssistant) helps you integrate your existing platforms into a single application to streamline your reports.
- Discern was created to help your sales team with up- and cross-selling, boosting repeat business.
- Autodesk Configure One CPQ boasts some of the most robust integration solutions available.
The key takeaway here is to focus on working together to find creative solutions to some of the toughest issues facing your company. These steps might not result in discovering a new platform to integrate, but they will always boost morale and inspire your team to reach higher. In a way, it can also serve as a type of ongoing education for employees and senior management by keeping everyone up-to-date with emerging platforms.
