Change can be scary. We as humans are preferential to the status quo. However, what’s needed to push us to change is when the cost of doing the same thing, or doing nothing, becomes too high. If any of the following 8 struggles hit home for you with your existing sales enablement platform, it may be time to explore other options.
- You can’t easily pull custom reports
One of the biggest benefits of a sales enablement platform is finally being able to tie data to sales content usage. These insights are invaluable when it comes to determining best practices, ROI, and where to focus your efforts. However, if the reporting available isn’t powerful, and it isn’t easy to pull custom reports, those insights can be hard to glean. If you have a sales enablement platform deployed right now, but are struggling with reporting, it may be time to take a look at some others in the space.
- It doesn’t integrate with existing systems / It requires a rip-and-replace
There’s nothing more frustrating than a siloed tech stack. Except maybe a sales enablement platform that requires you to rip-and-replace your current investments. A true platform should allow integrations with your existing systems, and drive additional value from those systems as opposed to requiring massive change management and cost to put it in place. Stick with what works for your business and your processes, and just add on what’s necessary.
- You’re not able to utilize interactive content
Interactive content is transforming the way we do business. Interactive content delivers not just information, but a true experience. However, if you’re looking to dive into interactive content, but your sales enablement platform can’t render or deliver it, it’s a costly venture and the content is unlikely to get used. Content needs to be at the fingertips of your sales team at a moment’s notice - and that includes interactive content.
- Your needs don’t match the product innovations
A true partnership between a solution provider and buyer comes from working together to design a system that drives value. However, too often, we see technologies delivering “innovations” that aren’t the ones that are business critical for you, the end user. A sales enablement platform should evolve as you evolve, and those building the technology should be in constant contact with customers to make sure their roadmap is aligned with your initiatives.
- It hasn’t helped you achieve your KPIs
There are thousands of technology solutions out there - many that drive tremendous value. But are those technologies helping you achieve your KPIs? Just because a technology has value doesn’t mean it’s valuable to you. If one of your KPIs is to reduce time spent searching for content by x%, and your existing platform hasn’t gotten you there, it’s time to take a look around.
- You can’t determine your ROI
No executive worth their salt will bring a new technology into their stack without expecting it to create some kind of ROI. The good news is that sales enablement platforms can help you prove ROI in a number of areas - we have outlined several in this eBook. However, if you aren’t able to show ROI from your deployment, it’s either time to take a look at your processes, or take a look at a new platform.
- If you’ve purchased it, but after a significant period of time, you haven’t deployed it yet
Dormant technology is nothing but a budget suck for companies. Most organizations have at least one technology that they’ve paid for, but for whatever reason, haven’t deployed it. Often times, a technology like a sales enablement platform won’t get deployed because it’s too complicated to get it running. Thankfully, Bigtincan is easily deployed, sometimes in as short as a week.
- No one uses it
Even if your sales enablement platform is deployed, if no one is using it, it’s useless - just a line item on a budget sheet that could be used for something else. Maybe the platform doesn’t solve the pain point of the end users, or is too difficult to maintain, or doesn’t integrate well enough with other systems to be useful. Regardless of the reason, if no one uses the platform, try to do some digging as to why, and if it’s the technology that’s the problem, start shopping around for a solution that is built to encourage user adoption.
Want to learn more about the key players in the sales enablement industry? Download the 2018 Gartner Market Guide.
