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Sales force automation (SFA) software is a great way to drive sales productivity by handling repetitive tasks.
If you’re wondering, “what is sales force automation?” you’re not alone. Sales force automation (SFA) software is a great way to drive sales productivity by handling repetitive tasks. These repetitive tasks, like tracking client interactions and data entry, support value-productive tasks but aren’t worth employee time. Those value-productive tasks, like direct client interactions, are a better place for sales representatives to focus.
Keep reading to learn more about what sales force automation software is and what it can do for sales processes.
While you learn what sales force automation software is, consider the potential value of automating portions of your sales force.
In any business, automating non-value-productive tasks is a great way to streamline operations and save money. Ideally, you want employees to be working on things that are actively making money as much as possible.
Through studies, we’ve discovered that almost 20% of sales representatives spend upwards of two hours daily on manual daily entry. For a full-time employee, that’s a quarter of their work week spent on data entry. That’s an entire work week a month that sales representatives could refocus on driving sales.
This is just one example of how SFA could improve your sales process. Where else could automation transform your sales process?
To expand on the question of “what is sales force automation software?” we should talk about its benefits. Instapage has some great statistics on the benefits of implementing sales force automation.
Companies have seen a 14.5% boost in sales productivity and a 30% increase in deal closures. More than half of SFA users feel that implementing sales force automation improves the quality and quantity of their work. Companies have doubled their volume of prospects to sales conversions.
Automation makes room for your sales teams to focus their time and energy on doing their jobs.
No conversation around “what is sales force automation software?” would be complete without discussing customer relationship management (CRM) software. It’s easy to mistake sales force automation for CRM, so it’s no surprise that people have questions.
The short answer is that sales force automation can be a part of CRM. Customer relationship management revolves around customer satisfaction and retention. On the other hand, sales force automation is focused on driving the efficiency of sales processes.
Customer relationship management software streamlines relationships between companies and their customers. It can involve contact management, data collection from interactions, and various other services to improve relationships and sales.
Ideally, sales force automation dovetails nicely into CRM. Your SFA software will streamline your sales process while your CRM manages your customer relationships. These two systems should be symbiotic to be most effective.
Over automation and implementing automation in the wrong areas are the most significant risks when implementing sales force automation.
Personalization can be lost when these things happen and can have a major effect on client relations. Imagine you’re contacted by a sales agent pitching you on a software as a service (SaaS). While the message they sent you explains how their offering works in your industry, it doesn’t take your business and its needs into account.
That isn’t going to build your faith in the company and its services, is it?
You shouldn’t just ask yourself, “what is sales force automation software, and how can my company use it?” You also need to consider where implementing it could be damaging thoroughly. What aspects of the sales process benefit from a human touch?
So, what is sales force automation software? SFA is the software you implement to automate select areas of your sales process. Here are some sales force automation software and tools to give you a better idea.
Implementing a tool that lets leads schedule directly is a huge time-saver. Think about the weeks of email back and forth that it could replace. Embedding a scheduling tool in your website or app lets sales calls fill your representatives’ calendars with minimal effort. Added tools could automatically send reminders for appointments to avoid no-shows.
Lead scoring can help your sales reps prioritize leads. Interactions with your company have different scores. For example, viewing the pricing page could be 5 points while browsing FAQs might be 3. All the actions can be tallied up and give your sales representatives a better understanding of who’s ready to buy and can focus their attention there.
Let’s go a step further than asking, “what is sales force automation software?” and look at some clear examples. Here are some ways SFA can be integrated into inbound and outbound sales processes.
Surveys and quizzes on your site can help you find your leads' soft spots, directing them to the best landing pages. Better yet, they can capture contact information so you can send targeted emails to your leads over time.
Automated prompts to the right members of your sales team are a great way to keep the sales process on track. Any action by your leads can lead to a prompt for someone to follow up, and everything can be stored for effective analysis.
Here are a few things to keep in mind as you get started with your sales force automation.
1. Sales automation handles administrative tasks so that sales representatives can focus on closing sales.
2. SFA is focused on streamlining the sales process, while CRM is focused on improving client relations. Sales force automation and client relationship management can work together.
3. Sales force automation is only as good as the implementation. If it’s integrated in the wrong area, it can cost more than it solves.
4. A wide variety of sales automation tools can help improve your company's sales process.
Are you ready to learn what sales force automation software can do for your company? Automated Revenue wants to help you unlock your earning potential. Schedule your free consultation today.
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