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    When sales strategy and technology get married, we all win

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    If you’ve ever talked to someone who has been happily married for many years, you have probably heard them call their partner their “better half.” There’s a reason for this. The right marriage makes both people feel like they are more than they were alone.

    This is true in business as well. Good business partnerships make all parties better than they were alone. It should also be true in the many internal “marriages” inside your organization, especially in the marriage between strategy and technology. Unfortunately, many organizations do not do an adequate job of wedding these. Generally, this is due to one of two mistakes:

    • They buy sales technology without first establishing their sales strategy.
    • They focus on sales strategy without adequately supporting it with sales technology.

    In the former case, they end up with technologies that don’t produce the results they were hoping for, or that have to be modified substantially in order to serve their needs. In the second case, they end up with sales strategies that sit on a shelf gathering dust without producing results for the organization.

    In order to wed the two and reap the benefits of a happy marriage, organizations must follow three simple steps.

    One: Start with strategy

    The world is full of sales technologies, and continuously getting fuller. Many of these technologies promise to increase sales velocity, automate the role of the SDR, or improve your ability to monitor salespeople, among many other things. It’s easy to get excited about the potential for a new technology, without slowing down to look at strategy.

    Process and methodology are only as effective as the skillsets of the people implementing them.
    George Brontén

    Leading sales organizations do the opposite. They start with understanding their customer’s needs and buying processes, and develop a sales strategy that makes sense, before they invest in technology. Many hire consultants to help them develop this strategy and to match it with effective process and methodology. Organizations who start with strategy consistently outperform those who buy a patchwork of technologies hoping they’ll help.

    Two: Design your training

    Process and methodology are only as effective as the skillsets of the people implementing them. The right sales training isn’t produced in a vacuum and delivered in a day-long workshop, but rather lines up with your organization’s strategy based on the needs and habits of your buyers. The training must also be delivered effectively, and reinforced by coaches with access to useful metrics, as well as by the sales technology itself.

    Three: Execute strategy with technology

    With a clear strategy and aligned training, sales leaders can choose technology that helps to reinforce the right behaviors to execute on the strategy. The right technology will let you build your strategy-aligned process into the salesperson’s workflow, provide valuable insights for their coaches, reinforce the right behaviors, and serve up content and training in a relevant and timely fashion.

    At Membrain, we have always believed that strategy and technology should walk hand in hand. That’s why we have always partnered with leading consultants and sales strategy firms to help sales teams become more effective.

    This year, we’ll be announcing several new and exciting strategic partnerships that will help us continue to deliver game-changing value to Membrain users. In this way, we continue to marry theory with practice, and art with science.

    Because we believe that when it comes to your investments, 1 + 1 should always equal more than 2.

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    George Brontén
    Published March 14, 2018
    By George Brontén

    George is the founder & CEO of Membrain, the Sales Enablement CRM that makes it easy to execute your sales strategy. A life-long entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in the software space and a passion for sales and marketing. With the life motto "Don't settle for mainstream", he is always looking for new ways to achieve improved business results using innovative software, skills, and processes. George is also the author of the book Stop Killing Deals and the host of the Stop Killing Deals webinar and podcast series.

    Find out more about George Brontén on LinkedIn