"We Bought the Tool... Now What?"

We’ve all been there: you buy a shiny new tool with high hopes... only to watch it collect dust in a forgotten browser tab.

Was the tool overhyped? Or did we simply not put it to work?

Buying tech without a plan is like hiring a top performer and giving them no 30-60-90 day ramp. Even the best tools fail without direction.

It’s not the tool. It’s the lack of vision for how it fits into your current strategy — today, with your existing team and workflows. Too often, tools are handed over with endless features but no translation of how to apply them to the bigger picture.

Why Tools Fail (and It’s Not the Tool)

Let me share a quick story.

A company eager to modernize their GTM motion invests in a leading AI-driven outbound platform. The pitch was strong: intent signals, automated workflows, real-time visibility.

Of course the company could use all of that. Their outbound coordination was a mess.

The deal closed. Excitement was high. The GTM team logged in.

Then... silence.

Why?

Because no one knew…

• What specific task the tool was replacing — “You no longer need to manually research accounts and generate because the tool handles that now."

• Where it fit into daily workflows — "This is our overall ABM strategy. Step 3? That’s where the tool opens up visibility into intent and shows you the strongest path to engagement"

• Who owned rollout and adoption — Think of this like internal CS. It’s not the tool’s job to succeed in and of itself. It’s the process that the tool (and humans using it) support.

• What success looked like — Not just logins or vanity metrics. Think program outcomes like sales touches per account and meetings booked. Keep it simple with identifying a few key metrics that tie to actual revenue and efficiency outcomes.

Without these core strategic components defined and clear to everyone involved, even the most feature-rich platform becomes shelfware.

Tech Should Support Your Strategy — Not Be the Strategy

Too often, companies buy tools hoping they become the solution.

But a tool is only powerful when it accelerates a clearly designed plan.

Just like a new hire, your tool needs a roadmap. You need to visualize where it falls in your customer journey, which metric it influences, and what system, data, and workflow changes need to happen to ingest it. Without clarity here, tools quickly become added noise.

A good place to start is with a thorough internal discovery process. I wrote about the four key steps to discover here.

Your 3-Stage Tech Rollout Plan

To drive ROI in RevOps, every tool must be considered as a part of a strategic initiative. When engaging with a new vendor, make sure you slow down and hit these 3 checkpoints.

1. Leading up to Purchase

• Define the problem and tie the opportunity to a business priority

• Map out the desired workflow and identify where and how the tool accelerates it

• Get stakeholder buy-in on how the overall program, and how the tool will be used to drive it forward

2. Hand-off to Implementation

• Assign a rollout lead and build a launch timeline

• Prep your data and systems for integration (MIRO and FigJam help here)

3. 30-60-90 Day Execution

• Train teams with full program workflows, explaining the greater WHY, not just showcasing feature demos

• Track program adoption (not tool logins) and outcome-based success metrics

• Establish feedback loops and optimize continuously

Final Takeaway

Tech doesn’t fix chaos. It amplifies it. Build the strategy first. Then layer in tech to accelerate your efforts.