Sales Force Automation (SFA) is a game-changer for businesses of all sizes, helping plan and automate functions to increase win rates. By boosting sales win rates, shortening sales cycles, enhancing productivity, and improving revenue, sales automation becomes indispensable. Numerous surveys highlight that SFA tools streamline the sales process, removing inefficiencies and accelerating deal closures by up to 36 percent. If optimizing sales processes and driving growth are your priorities, then SFA is your essential tool for achieving sales efficiency and success. Welcome to the future of streamlined sales operations!
Just in case you wonder how this happens, let’s take you on a short walkthrough of the five main benefits that the sales automation tools offer to any business
Business Data Research suggests that on average a sales rep spends close to 50 percent of his time on administrative tasks namely – scheduling sales appointments; following up with leads through emails, tracking contacts, and updating sale opportunities.
Post the implementation of the SFA program; most of these mundane tasks get automated. Sales reps get plenty of time in hand to interact with the leads and prospects. Without a doubt, when sales reps reach more prospects, it culminates in more deal closure for the company and higher profits.
The Sales Force Automation module functions as a centralized repository of all sales activities. Instead of manually gathering the sales statistics from ten different applications, sales managers get immediate access to each salesperson’s activities, sales opportunities lying in the pipeline, sales figures, customer complaints, and other metrics.
In a stroke – sales leaders can gauge the monthly/weekly sales revenue. Added to this, they can proactively act quickly on real-time information.
For instance, in case of problematic areas, such as an underperforming sales representative or a bunch of cold leads clogged in the pipeline, they can proactively make adjustments to fix these issues.
Sales automation tools store customer order details which benefits up-selling and cross-selling activities. For instance, using this module, sales staff can determine:
• Customers Order pattern
• Customers’ preferences
• Most profitable customers.
Equipped with these metrics, sales professionals can perceptibly be in a better position to upsell or cross-sell to customers. They can get an exact idea of the most relevant products or services and pitch in those subtly during conversations with the customers.
All the customers’ basic details (which includes name, address, telephone, email, etc.) along with their related contacts, purchases, cases, and opportunities are stored in a compact way. This provides clear visibility to all contacts through a centralized repository. For obvious reasons, scheduling appointments and follow-ups happen easily with the SFA program. The sales team finds it hassle-free to
• Track every customer interaction
• Track the status of all sales opportunities
• View complete sales history.
Surprisingly, all these metrics consolidated in one section improve customer service too. So if a customer enquires in with a salesperson regarding the stats of his last complaint, sales reps do not give the timid reply.
Customer service is a different department where the customer needs to call in.
It just takes a few minutes for the sales rep to check the support ticket status and intimate the customers about the same. Not only does this improve the entire customer experience but also saves the sales professional from bearing the brunt of the customer. If required, the sales rep can easily capitalize upon this favorable situation to pitch in for an upsell or cross-sell.
Secondly, it also eliminates the whole concept of sales reps taking away the client’s post a switchover. In any case, if a sales rep leaves the company, the new replacement gets all the lead information streamlined neatly in the SFA module. So basically, there is a low ramp-up time for the new rep.
Maximum of the sales automation modules come with easy lead mapping in the sales process. They extract the generated leads from multiple sources such as email campaigns, website visits, trade shows, and outbound calls. Once done, they prompt the sales manager about the new leads available who then assigns them to respective sales agents.
Sales managers can set rules in relation to lead mapping which means that when leads get generated from one particular source (say for example website visits), they get automatically assigned to an XYZ sales rep.
When new leads get assigned, sales reps can quickly and easily view them and schedule meetings or calls.
In a nutshell, sales automation tools are a transformative technology that can revolutionize your business operations. This automation tool can empower companies to achieve impressive win rates and sustained growth simply by streamlining processes, boosting productivity, and enhancing customer satisfaction. Embrace sales automation to unlock your business’s full potential and stay ahead of the competition.
