In all the hype and excitement around new sales technologies and tools, it’s worth remembering something important:
The technologies are only part of the equation…and they may not even be the biggest part of the equation. Yes, the capabilities are impressive. Yes, the potential is real. But the success and efficacy of these tools in practice depends on much more than the tools themselves.
That’s because there are at least two other variables that tend to matter just as much…and maybe even more.
Now, neither of these variables will get much attention in vendor demos or conference presentations. They’re not new. They’re not particularly sexy. And frankly, these variables complicate the tidy little narrative that the technology alone will transform your commercial performance.
The first variable is the human component…
In most commercial environments, sales outcomes are the culmination of a group effort. While the Sales team is responsible for covering the last mile, there are a lot of other people and teams involved in getting to that point. So almost everything we do…and everything we want to improve…likely involves a number of other groups, contributors, and stakeholders.
And all of these different people can have incentives, priorities, and perspectives that may not align…or may even conflict…with ours.
A sophisticated revenue optimization engine might produce detailed pipeline insights and actionable assessments. A data-based forecasting system might generate far more accurate projections than the “gut feel” spreadsheets many teams still rely on. And an AI-based enablement tool might recommend the next best action for every deal in the funnel.
On paper, the logic and analysis might be totally airtight.
But once those recommendations run into a regional VP trying to protect a commit number? Or a frontline manager who prefers their own pipeline inspection routine? Or a sales team that hasn’t updated CRM fields in three weeks? Well, then things tend to get a lot more complicated.
While technology can do incredible things, it’s all the humans involved that will ultimately determine whether those things actually survive contact with the rest of the business. That’s just the reality of sales operations in the real world.
Which brings us to the second variable…the power of the status quo.
As we’ve highlighted many times before, we humans are biologically wired to resist…and to some extent, even fear…change. After all, to our ancient ancestors, change was rarely for the better. So being collections of human beings, our organizations are already naturally inclined or predisposed to just keep doing what we’ve always done.
But on top of that, almost everything about how our sales organizations operate is purposely architected to reduce variability, maintain consistency, and resist change. Over time, we’ve designed, defined, and implemented all manner of processes, systems, procedures, policies, and rules that all work together to not only reinforce but effectively codify “how we do things here.”
As such, any new sales technology won’t be dropping into a vacuum or onto a blank canvas. Instead, it’ll be landing in the middle of a whole network of legacy systems, established processes, standing expectations, and organizational habits. And regardless of whether all these elements of the current “status quo” still make sense today, they will nevertheless be working against any new initiative, like white blood cells attacking a virus.
This is how sales technology initiatives stall out even when the technology itself is stellar and works exactly as advertised. And this is precisely why experienced Sales Operations leaders devote a lot of time and attention to things that seemingly have little to do with systems or software:
- Influence and persuasion
- Strategic change management
- Organizational dynamics
- Cross-functional collaboration
- Data-driven storytelling
Obviously, we’re not going to find these sorts of things listed as features of any sales tool or technology. But in most commercial operations, these are exactly the sorts of things that will ultimately determine whether any given sales technology or toolset will actually succeed…or fail miserably.
Now, I say none of this to diminish the value of new sales tools and technologies. The latest AI-enabled generations of these solutions can indeed accelerate insights, surface hidden opportunities, improve forecasting accuracy, and help organizations develop capabilities that were previously out of reach. And from my perspective, the use of these advanced sales tools represent the height of best practice in Sales Operations today.
My point is that the tools alone are almost never enough. And to maximize our odds of success, we have to acknowledge and address the other huge variables in the equation. They aren’t sexy; nor do they get much attention from the business press or industry pundits.
But without them, the technology is…at best…only half-baked.
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