How to Get Your Sales Team to Adopt New Technology

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Do your homework
Change is hard and often requires convincing. Your sales team has become accustomed to acquiring new business a certain way, for better or worse. If you are considering adding a new sales tool to your team’s arsenal, particularly a field sales management tool, it is best to shop around and find the product that has the best features, price, and functionality needed for your sales activities. Having a clear understanding of how the product works and how it will improve sales success is essential to getting your field staff on board.

Try an early adopter
Select a few employees with different technical capabilities and, if possible, marketing database of rv owners from different divisions to test the new application to assess ease of functionality and overcome any difficulties, issues, or challenges. This may require a lot of communication with the software support team to resolve specific challenges and get guidance on proper and efficient use of the application. After early adopters have successfully completed the pilot, they should continue to be involved by helping to train other staff members on its use.

Implement a mandate for use
Once the right application has been chosen, purchased, and implemented, a senior manager should instruct employees that adoption of the new technology is mandatory in order for the transition to be as smooth as possible. It is imperative that staff members who expect to use the new sales software understand that it is a directive from leadership for the benefit of the company, individual team members, and customers alike, and that those benefits cannot be realized if everyone is not on the same page.

Train hard and check in frequently
Recruit early adopters and the executive team to influence and train the sales force on the new app or software. Use success stories to demonstrate how the app saves time, resources, improves efficiency, and increases revenue. Communicating wins such as “Angela saved 5 hours of office time last week by processing payments with on-site mobile billing and will therefore receive her commission payments faster.” Incentivize your team by highlighting successes they can directly relate to and benefit from by utilizing internal evangelists. Have sales managers check in with them to see how using the new app works, interact with the software’s customer support, and train as needed.