Why Sales Reps Don’t Actually Adopt Your Sales Tech

Technology fundamentally transformed sales over the last 20 years and as a result the sales tech industry has gotten extremely crowded. It seems like almost every week sales teams are given new tools to play with, however almost none of them ever get adopted. Whether it is a new forecasting template, new email cadencing software, or even a new phone system, adopting technology is time intensive and often confusing.

To give a parallel example…

How many of us are guilty of not updating our cell phone operating system because we fear the learning curve?

I mean… what if the “I” character becomes a ? emoticon forever?!

Humans are surprisingly willing to use a dysfunctional system or an outdated tool because change seems ENORMOUSLY difficult. After being burned by a few tools that don’t work the way that they should, sales tech has lost its luster for many reps.

But… why should a VP of Sales care so long as her team is hitting their number?

Well… do you like to light money on fire? You must have used a business case to invest in that new tool and without full adoption, your investment is ultimately wasted (on top of the productivity costs of using the old approach).

For example, say your reps used to manually log calls and call notes to Salesforce. So, you purchase a dialer to automatically log the data but it is glitchy or confusing so your reps don’t use it. The end result is that you wasted money on a tool no one will use and your team is still wasting time manually tracking their calls (if they are tracking them at all).

Sound familiar? Replace dialer with any other sales tech gadget you have tried and the anecdote rings true.

So, what can you do to minimize these risks?

1. Invest the time upfront:

Sales management should spend time researching new technologies and be in the room for buying decisions.

• Read reviews of existing platforms online (G2 Crowd is a great place for candid feedback from users)
• Test the product with a pilot team before buying
• Don’t be afraid of new, unfamiliar software but make sure you are working with a partner will onboard your team thoroughly
• Measure out (in dollars) the impact of this new tool on the bottom line, if it is trivial then don’t do it
• Most importantly: use the tool yourself! If you don’t enjoy the experience, why would your team?

2. Repetition is key to adoption

Change doesn’t happen overnight. Sales leaders need to keep reminding their teams the “why” and “how” of this new technology so reps feel like the tool guarantees simplicity and success. If reps do not use it every day, adoption will fail.

• Explain why you are adding this new tool and how it works (this is a great opportunity to partner with your vendor)
• Create metrics and targets for tool usage to keep your team accountable
• Spend time providing a live demonstration of the tool
• Use early adopters of this technology as trainers for the rest of your team and acknowledge them publicly for their success

3. Get rid of the training wheels

Don’t just remind your reps to update their contacts in Salesforce, cut off their access to Google Sheets. If you want to ensure complete adoption, limit the alternatives.

• Be prepared for an uproar — people don’t like to be told no so make sure your “Why & How” is extremely clear to everyone.
• Give people time to adjust. Provide a runway of a few weeks with frequent warnings that their old system will be sunset.
• Have a plan for when the new system breaks. This is software we are talking about so make sure you plan with your CSM ahead of time in case something goes wrong.

Back to our earlier example…

When customers think about adding a dialer to their Sales Tech stack, they should start with a deep discovery phase where you look critically at what systems would need to change and identify the critical business problem to be solved. Insist on a pilot to get Sales Leaders and critical early adopters using the tool. Sometimes great tools spread like wildfire but other times you learn critical things during the pilot that informs the on-boarding and set up of the broader team. Anyone who tells you that implementing their new tool will be “easy” has never implemented an enterprise-level business technology before (that is why Truly has a success practice because in order for software to create meaningful change it needs to be set-up right from the beginning). Finally, ditch the old system completely so you don’t find any people left on Windows 95 in 2018.

In sum, use the golden rule… give your team the sales tech that you would want to be given.

Learn more about Truly and our dialer.