Did you know sales reps spend only 37% of their time actually selling? 😧

If you're keen to free more of their time to spend on revenue-generating activities, we hear you.

Enter Sprinklr's Steffaney Zohrabyan, who took on our community's questions on giving time back to your sellers by helping them to better navigate their tech stack.

Q. Technology is great, but an overload can be counterproductive! What are your tips for keeping it streamlined?

A. I completely agree that it can be overwhelming. I just went through onboarding at a new company and while it was incredible, Zoom and screen fatigue can be real.

Sellers should be focused on understanding the product, honing their communications skills, and learning how to sell with empathy. To take away the need to learn so many processes on these technology platforms, I've implemented WalkMe at several different organizations.

Using a tool like WalkMe that automates processes, guides a user step by step, or launches them straight into the next process or platform after completing a step. (ie. after prospecting in ZoomInfo, going straight to the CRM or the sales enablement platform to add the prospect to sequence or cadence).

Taking away the guess work and removing friction from initial onboarding with a tool like this can really reduce ramp time, get people out of training webinars, and increase productivity! I could talk for days on this one...

Q. What are some of the biggest frustrations you find sales reps have with their tech stack? Too much? Difficult to navigate between? Changed too often?

A. The biggest issue is always removing friction when it comes to helping sales navigate their tech stack. I've seen custom $$$ solutions built in Salesforce completely ignored in favor of OneNote and I've seen sellers keeping their leads and opportunities in spreadsheets so they weren't held accountable for their progression in Einstein.

I think the best way to fish this out is to make changing and adopting new technology as frictionless and as attractive as possible. Championing others who are early adopters, and providing in-app guidance to take users from one platform to another (ZoomInfo to Salesforce to Outreach to Salesforce Einstein) is a really great way to streamline processes, remove friction, and potentially automate processes to reduce clicks.

Q. Communicating value across a range of customer-facing teams with varying priorities, expectations, etc. can be a tricky process. Any tips to share?

A. The more I learn about change management, the more impactful my communications among various sales, implementations and customer success teams seem to be. Once of the top principles of the Prosci ADKAR change management model is using a preferred sender. When establishing priority, ensuring that the message is coming from someone with authority to make it a priority is key.

Q. What platform do you see as the ‘hub’ for sellers (where they should spend more of their time), the CRM?

A. I think it definitely depends on the type of seller.

SDRs and BDRs should really be spending the majority of their time in their prospecting tool, like LinkedIn Sales Navigator or ZoomInfo to prospect and find leads and contacts, and their Sales Engagement Platform like Outreach or SalesLoft where they will be working through a cadence or sequence.

I think Account Executives should spend most of their time in their CRM where they can view opportunities and analytics and their enablement platform where they can find playbooks and demo decks.

Q. How you get buy-in for investment in new sales technology - and get people actually using them?

A. In terms of getting buy-in for your projects, I've always found it important to pitch to your internal decision maker's pain or passion!

For example, I've gotten buy-in to expand our WalkMe program by pitching to my former Sr. Director's pain of being stuck in webinars and just reading through documentation. I've also gotten buy-in to invest time in gamification by pitching to a sales leader's passion for fostering a competitive spirit among sellers.

At my current org, we're lucky to use Highspot for our sales enablement platform, which tracks usage and how many users are sharing pitch decks or marketing documents with prospects. I haven't done this yet, but it would be really easy to pull that data and create a leader board of sorts for those who are pitching consistently, and who's pitches are resulting in converted leads!

With gamification, it's important not only to tie it to completion, but tie it to success.

Q. Is sales training take-up more difficult in the world of Zoom?

A. It's important in a virtual world to provide several touch points for learners. For me, if my camera is off, I completely zoom-out during a Zoom session. So I would never just rely on a one-hr webinar to teach a new platform or process.

When it comes to a seller's tech stack, having a highly organized and attractive enablement space where they can find pitch decks and playbooks is key.

Hungry for more good sales enablement content? We’ve got a buffet of exclusive reports and original research to make your mouth water 😋 👇