Without the insights needed to distinguish between genuinely interested prospects and those who are just window-shopping, sales teams spend valuable hours chasing down low-potential accounts that are unlikely to convert.
This leads to frustration, wasted time, and missed opportunities with higher-potential accounts. But the missed opportunities don’t end there. Sales reps have to rely on manual processes, too. From hand-sorting through lists to manually scoring leads, these tasks are not only time-consuming, but also error-prone.
The great news: Many tools and platforms exist that are designed to relieve these specific pain points for revenue teams and help them achieve efficiency while reaching revenue goals.
The bad news: Convincing leadership to invest in change can be a challenge. That’s where this guide comes in. Read on to learn how to make the most compelling case for investing in new tools that will boost revenue team efficiency and drive long-term revenue growth.
Why This is a Problem
The reluctance to invest in new technology when budgets are limited is understandable, but leads to a vicious cycle:
- Outdated tools are incapable of keeping up with market demands, or they lack the functionality to properly support sales teams.
- Sales teams with inadequate tools are left with an uphill battle, trying to maximize revenue with inefficient processes.
- These inefficiencies cost more than they save by reducing the effectiveness of prospecting and, by extension, revenue growth.
What’s the Solution?
To break out of this cycle, sales teams need tools that help them target high-potential accounts effectively and efficiently. A list of prospects isn’t enough — sales reps need rich insights into which accounts are ready to convert and deserve their full focus.
By investing in prospecting tools that provide these insights, teams spend more time engaging with the right leads and less time spinning their wheels with low-quality prospects.
Making the Case for a Better Path Forward
The first step to building a compelling business case for new tools is to assess your current tech stack and the tools your team already uses, especially for
- Prospecting
- Lead scoring
- Account targeting
Often, companies find that they’re relying on a patchwork of solutions that may overlap in functionality, leading to redundancy and unnecessary spending.
For example, it’s not uncommon for sales teams to use separate tools for account engagement, intent data, and lead scoring, each with its own cost and learning curve.
This is where a comprehensive revenue platform like 6sense can be a game-changer.
6sense can reduce the need for multiple subscriptions, simplifying your tech stack while delivering greater functionality and efficiency, and reducing costs and complexity.
Demonstrate Efficiency Gains and Time Savings
When evaluating a new tool, efficiency and time savings are key metrics to communicate to leadership. With a streamlined tech stack, sales teams can spend less time on administrative tasks, and instead focus on what they do best: engaging prospects and closing deals.
These efficiency gains don’t just improve day-to-day operations; they also provide a competitive edge. By reaching the right accounts faster, sales teams can shorten sales cycles and engage prospects before competitors even get a chance. This agility is particularly valuable in today’s market, where timing is everything, and the ability to act quickly can make or break a deal.
When championing a prospective solution to decision-makers, it’s best to come with proof of these gains in the form of case studies, especially from companies in your industry.
For example:
Time savings, efficiency boosts, and increased pipeline velocity all add up to short- and long-term cost savings that help justify the upfront and ongoing costs of adopting a new solution — not counting the harder-to-quantify ways organizations save money when revenue teams are less overwhelmed by busywork and more empowered to drive growth.
Quantify Potential Revenue Gains
Finally, it’s essential to present decision-makers with the most important factor : the revenue impact that a new tool can bring.
To make the financial case clear, calculate the potential revenue gains by examining how much can be gained by:
- Reducing inefficiencies,
- Improving marketing and sales pipeline conversion rates, and
- Accelerating sales cycles.
For example, if each sales rep can save 10 hours per week by focusing on high-intent accounts, those hours translate to increased productivity and revenue-generating activities. Multiply this by your team size, and it becomes clear that the investment in the right prospecting tool pays off in quantifiable terms.
Many solutions offer revenue calculators that help prospects estimate their potential revenue gains, based on their unique characteristics like their average win rate, deal size, and cycle length. Showing the results to decision-makers — or better yet, having them plug in the numbers and see for themselves — makes the potential impact and benefits more tangible and convincing.
Companies make strategic assets even in budget-conscious times. By demonstrating the tool’s impact on key revenue metrics, you can build a powerful case for how an investment in a new solution not only improves day-to-day efficiency but also supports long-term revenue growth.
Addressing Common Objections
Here are a couple of the most common objections, and how to deal with them.
“We’ve Already Invested in Tech”
While this reasoning is understandable, it overlooks a key advantage of adopting a new solution, especially a comprehensive one like 6sense: reducing overall spending by consolidating multiple single-function tools into one comprehensive platform.
Consider the tech stack your team may already use for prospecting, lead scoring, and account engagement. With each tool typically carrying its own licensing fees and training requirements, the total cost can quickly add up.
By investing in a versatile platform, you’re not adding more tech, you’re simplifying and optimizing your existing stack. Integrating several functions into a single solution eliminates redundancies, streamlines workflows, and significantly reduces the overall tech budget.
Let’s break it down with a quick comparison, using 6sense as an example:
| Before 6sense | With 6sense |
| Multiple tools for account targeting, lead scoring, and engagement | One comprehensive tool for all these functions |
| Costly licensing fees across several platforms | Lower overall cost by consolidating into one platform |
| Time spent training on and working in different tools | Streamlined training and use of one integrated solution |
By replacing point solutions with an all-in-one platform, you’re able to cut out unnecessary expenses, reduce training and adoption challenges, and ultimately improve ROI on your tech investments.
“Let’s Wait Until Budgets Are Better”
When budgets are tight, it’s tempting to defer new purchases and wait until the financial picture improves. However, this approach can end up costing more in the long run.
The inefficiencies caused by outdated or fragmented tools translate directly into lost revenue opportunities, as sales teams spend precious time on manual processes and ineffective prospecting.
Waiting to invest means allowing these inefficiencies to continue, and the costs can be substantial. Imagine the impact of every wasted hour on ineffective outreach and how that time could be better spent engaging high-potential leads.
The right tool can shift that time back into productive, revenue-generating activities, which can help your team meet quota faster and more consistently. In tight markets, being able to engage the best prospects first is a significant competitive advantage that should not be underestimated.
Another thing to keep in mind about handling objections from leadership: Addressing objections from decision-makers works the same as addressing objections from prospects — except you have a better understanding of your decision-makers’ perspective.
As a member of the same organization, you’re aware of the struggles, the inefficiencies, and the consequences of sticking to the status quo. And you’re aware of the reasons why leadership will say no to a proposed solution. That likely makes you more empowered to handle objections as an internal champion of a solution.
Conclusion
Securing investment in new sales tools can feel like an uphill battle. However, by focusing on the ways a new solution can streamline workflows, consolidate costs, and drive revenue, sales teams can make a compelling case that even in lean times, the right tools are worth the expense.
Ultimately, sales leaders who champion the adoption of powerful tools like 6sense position their teams not only to meet quotas but to thrive, even when resources are stretched thin. In challenging economic conditions, being proactive about efficiency and revenue growth is key — and the right tools are an essential part of that strategy.
