At the end of the day, those of us in sales feel one of two ways:

1. We are mentally worn out, to-do list unfinished, and the burden of knowing that the emails, proposals, presentations and follow-up calls that you were supposed to make will be piled on to the following days activity. You were BUSY all day, buried in the myriad of activities and actions that you, your boss or your customers have of you. You were on fire, going from meeting to meeting, responding to emails and phone calls, fighting traffic or being placed on hold, and even tried to keep up with all your social media projects.

2. We feel exhausted, yet pleased to look back over the day and see that your pre-determined calls, emails, appointments and follow-up calls were all completed and the next day’s opportunities are clearly lined up for you. You were PRODUCTIVE, completing each task and responsibility, having everything you needed, when you needed it.

Which one do you experience most frequently?

I think we all will agree that the expectations and opportunities for salespeople have never been greater. There are those in every company and every industry who are achieving results way beyond expectations. Yet there are many more that are struggling to meet the basic expectations.

Technology and tools can be a way out. Or they can be the weight around our ankles that will end our sales career. There are two key factors in determining if web tools can improve your sales results.

1. Core Sales Training. A proven sales methodology, approach and process, customized for your industry and company and fully-supported by your entire leadership team is THE most important factor in your success. Ongoing training, conversation and learning should always be the cornerstone of the sales effort.

2. Strategic Tool Selection. Tools for tools sake is a recipe for failure. There are over 5,000 web tools (via Cloudbase3.com) available to select from. Each varies in its purpose, complexity, quality and price. Most are not appropriate for you or your specific industry. What criteria are used to select the tool(s) most fitting for your needs? Specifically which part of your sales process do you want to improve? What is the budget? How will you learn how to install, deploy and train on effective use of each tool?

During a recent sales webinar, the following question was asked of the audience of salespeople and sales leaders:

“How many sales tools are you currently using during your sales day?”

The options were 0, 1 to 3, 4 to 6 or 7 or more.  Just shy of 50% of the audience responded with 7 or more, clearly the largest section of the audience. That surprised most of the presenters on the webinar and got me wondering about that question. How many tools are you using? What are the most popular tools? Which area of the sales process is most in need of tools and help? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

About the author

Miles Austin is a Sales and Marketing Technologist. Known worldwide as “The Web Tools Guy”, he guides organizations through technology changes and implements, trains and measures powerful new tools that deliver enhanced results. He shares his expertise on his blog FilltheFunnel.com and provides guidance on tool selection as an owner/executive of Cloudbase3.com.