Where Does Sales Execution Software Fit in the Sales Funnel and the Sales Tech Stack?

Where does Sales Execution software fit in the sales funnel and the sales tech stack?

After spending billions to generate Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) why do companies underinvest in Sales Execution Software to help their enterprise sales teams close the deal?

All Leads are Not Created Equal

In 2020, companies spent $21.6 billion on marketing automation software and just over $2.0 billion on sales enablement software in 2021. The joint annual spend on these two software market segments will exceed $40 billion by 2024.

The primary deliverable from Marketing Automation software and Sales Engagement software is a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL), or a first meeting for enterprise sales to follow up. After spending billions to generate an MQL or an initial meeting, why do companies underinvest in digital tools to help the enterprise sales teams close the deal?

Front-line enterprise sales teams require something more… a new type of software called Sales Execution Software. Sales Execution Software is proactive, real-time, and focuses on the processes that start once the MQL is delivered to enterprise sales teams, and end with closing the sale. Sales Execution Software creates a proven real-time playbook for every opportunity. 

What About CRM?

The primary digital selling tool provided to an Enterprise Sales team is Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

Although the recent annual spend for CRM software was $42 Billion, these tools primarily support revenue operations and executive sales management. CRM software is not sufficient as the only sales productivity tool provided to front-line selling teams.

Front-line enterprise sales teams need a new type of software called Sales Execution Software. Sales Execution Software is proactive, real-time, and focuses on the processes that start with qualifying an MQL to an SQL and continue until the opportunity is closed. CRM provides valuable functionality like contact and records management, but it does not provide functionality for real-time sales process automation and qualifying. Sales Execution software extends CRM software with the functionality that helps sellers to convert a lead into a sale.

Since a qualified lead is a sales team's rarest asset, it makes good business sense that companies should invest in software to help the enterprise sales team to better work the deal from MQL through to close. Otherwise, those billions of dollars spent on marketing automation and sales enablement may be wasted. A qualified lead is a terrible thing to waste!

It is All About Sales Execution

The diagram below lays out a generalized view of the market position of the three categories of software – Marketing Automation, Sales Engagement, and Sales Execution, in relation to the sales funnel.

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As you move further down the sales funnel, each stage becomes increasingly more critical to the overall sales process as increased resources are allocated to each opportunity. The missing piece in this process today is near the bottom of the funnel. This stage requires a sales execution component to help the enterprise sales executive follow a plan for every opportunity, thus increasing the likelihood of that opportunity converting into a closed sale, producing revenue for your business.

It is critical that every B2B company’s marketing and sales tech stack include software for marketing automation, customer relationship management (CRM), sales engagement, conversational intelligence, sales execution for enterprise sales, as well as revenue forecasting and reporting. Our point is that B2B companies must apply the right software tool for each selling challenge.

While building a comprehensive sales tech stack for your team may sound expensive, your competition is already making the investment in sales tools and the necessary software to improve the productivity and competitiveness of their sales teams. Justin Michael and Tony Hughes note in their book, Tech Powered Sales: Achieve Superhuman Sales Skills, that Silicon Valley companies are spending up to $5,000 on sales tools for each seller. Investing in training, coaching, and sales software for your sales team is essential in an increasingly competitive market for Information Technology and Medical Devices.

To see how SalesPath+ would work in your environment, contact sales@advancedsales.ai for a demo and opportunity to qualify for a limited time, no cost, no obligation, test drive of SalesPath+ in your Salesforce environment.

Authors:

Kevin O’Keefe, CEO, AdvancedSales.ai

Greg Plum, CMO, AdvancedSales.ai

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