How Digital Adoption Solutions Increase Sales Productivity

After the new category of Digital Adoption Solutions was named by Gartner in May of last year, digital adoption has taken off.

In light of COVID-19 where most organizations were forced to go remote, many companies recognized the benefits of implementing digital adoption solutions, especially to enhance sales productivity. 

Gartner report “Increase Sales Productivity With Digital Adoption Solutions“*, authored by Gartner analyst Melissa Hilbert, is an interesting look at the impact of digital adoption on sales teams.

Too many systems, too little time

Salespeople are constantly on the ball, continuously looking at ways to better connect with clients, increase revenue, and sell their product. All the while, they are working with multiple applications, including CRM and other software to complete daily tasks.

Sales reps are oftentimes interacting with as many as 13 digital tools, which can be quite overwhelming and time-consuming.

Naturally, if every app was easy to navigate fully, then sales reps would be in a good place. But unfortunately, that is not usually the case. Oftentimes sales applications have varying and complex interfaces, resulting in confusion and time wasted trying to troubleshoot and figure out the next step.

Gartner states that “a digital adoption solution will help guide a new user who isn’t in the software every minute of every day to do important tasks with confidence.” Also, Gartner provides recommendations for application leaders, including, “if sellers are required to learn more than three to five sales applications to do their job, consider adopting a digital adoption solution to increase time to value.”

Sales have gone remote

Traveling to meet clients, once such a major part of a sales rep’s professional life, has gone digital. Today, sales reps are securing deals and embracing virtual selling with clients throughout the world. For example, the cybersecurity giant Check Point has seen a significant decrease in expenses since travel has been curtailed, with their marketing and sales budgets shrinking by $3 million in the last quarter.

With travel and hospitality expenses waning, there will be a greater dependence on software as the conduit for securing deals. Companies will be turning to software solutions to give their sales personnel a competitive edge.

A greater emphasis on software underlies the need for digital adoption solutions. A digital adoption platform (DAP) can ensure that software is indeed used and adopted, as well as ramp up sales reps on new workflows with minimal friction.

Onboarding may be over, but training still continues

An emphasis on new hires and providing comprehensive training is key to determining an employee’s longevity in a company. But training doesn’t stop after a new hires’ first 90 days. In fact, ongoing training is imperative to keep employees informed and up-to-date, especially in fast-moving companies.

Experienced salespeople always have room to improve their existing skillsets from better messaging to contract negotiations or objection handling. But salespeople are busy, and squeezing extra hours into an already packed schedule to sit through classroom training can prove to be difficult.

As part of the COVID-19 reality, many companies employees’ aren’t back in the office full-time. There are different workplace models, but a number of employees are combining remote work with coming into the office.

To accommodate salespeople wherever they may be, a digital adoption solution can be used anytime and anywhere. It streamlines the training experience, incorporating new workflows or instructions within the app. On top of that, sales leaders can collect analytics to better understand where within the training or app flow users are dropping off or require more clarity. Analytics can also be helpful to automate processes and reduce a 10 click process to less than 3 clicks. 

Empower productivity in your sales organization

In WalkMe’s report on sales trends based on social media insights, 60% of sales reps commenters said that the focus on CRM data reporting detracts from their job. This reinforces the need to give sales reps more guidance and in-app assistance when using CRM or other applications necessary to their jobs.

Salespeople need the necessary tools to do what they do best, especially since the scope of their work has turned remote. As Gartner states, “Utilizing a digital adoption solution can decrease the amount of steps and ensure consistent and higher-quality data entry. It can eliminate the noise and distractions and let the rep focus on closing deals.” 

As more companies are recognizing, with the right technology and the right strategy, a digital adoption solution is key to actualizing the full potential of software investments and employee capabilities.

*Gartner Increase Sales Productivity With Digital Adoption Solutions, Melissa Hilbert, 21 May 2019. (Gartner subscription required).