Efficiency is one of the most vital aspects for a company to run without any hesitation. Imagine you assign a sales member for a particular sales sector in your company. What amount of work will he be able to cover up? Will he be able to cover up a heap of work by the end of the day without getting stressed? or will he be just slow as a “sloth” who takes hours to process the sales?….
OR if the answer is complicated, the simpler method of making things much more efficient is to integrate an SFA system! we assure you, there will be no sloth-like work anymore!
What is sales force automation?
Sales force automation or SFA is an automated process which is used to carry out different functions or parts of the sales processes. Instead of having a sales member for the particular task, the SFA software will be used to increase the efficiency of the streamlined sales process. Thus, reduces the time and increases the revenue of the company as the sale team members will be able to contribute to non-repetitive tasks throughout the process.
Example.
As an example, envision that you are a bookaholic and visit a website in which you can purchase books. And, yes then to clarify some of your heuristically doubts you decide to send an email. Then they decide to reply to your e-mails and clarify your doubts in the essence of thinking that you will purchase on the same specific day. Yet, you did not and the next day you get another e-mail asking to purchase the book, again, your stubborn self won’t allow you to purchase it. And then on the next day, you receive an email, stating a heap of discounts!
Who might have clarified your doubts? the sales member…..Who might have followed you up and made you buy the books? Sales Force Automation Software.
What are the types of sales force automation software?
When we consider the types of SFA software we can divide it into two main sections based on their installation process,
SFA software on the vendor’s server
This kind of SFA software is a platform which run’s on the vendor’s server and has to make payments monthly. The owner of the business won’t have to install or update the software.
SFA software on the client’s server
This kind of SFA software is covered up with a single license and is expensive since it needs to be integrated and the hardware installation might have to be done regularly.
What are the pros of sales force automation software?
The more you know about the pros, the more you will get the maximum benefit out of it. To mention a few,
Increased efficiency.
As it was mentioned previously, efficiency is one of the most vital aspects in whatever field a person works in. The more efficient the team is, the more revenue the company will incur. Yet humans cannot work all 24 hours of the day and there will always be a time that sales members are not efficient in the same way as on a previous day. As humans, they might get fatigued and work less efficiently at times, even though they might cover up the day’s work. Also, repetitive work like sending follow-up emails may create some amount of boredom, which will again, decrease the sales member’s efficiency.
Therefore, having a sales force automation software would probably help in increasing efficiency as sales members could engage in other sales tasks while the SFA software would engage in repetitive and energy-deprivation tasks.
Minimize misinterpretations.
The ability of sales forces automation software to provide accurate details that are reliable and consistent is one of the greatest advantages the company would ever have.
Humans when extremely exhausted and having to be engaged in the same type of work can lead to a lack of accuracy and reliability at some points due to misinterpretations and minor faults leading to huge consequences. Therefore, through SFA software, you can assure that small errors won’t get added up and the tasks done will be much more accurate.
Important tasks focused.
Since the SFA software is handling the repetitive tasks which are going to bore the members of the sales, they will be able to focus on more important non-repetitive tasks. While the SFA software handles a part of administrative tasks the members of the sales would be able to handle the multiple calls by customers and set up meetings.
Moreover, the employees could also give more attention to learning new skills and enhancing their knowledge to enhance their workability on behalf of the company they are working for.
Greater insights.
Sales Force Automation software provides analysis and reporting tools which will help the members of the sales team to analyze and get a deeper analysis of the states of the sales processors and in turn to get a better outcome.
SFA software will help in checking up on flaws and errors and help in making clear adjustments on the specific errors or improve what needs to be improved and eventually leading to increased sales in future
Cost-effective.
Since sales force automation software can reduce human labor and aid in managing time effectively, the cost-effective feature of SFA would be a great advantage for a company. Moreover, without having a proper system if certain errors occur again it will be a loss for the company as well.
What are the primary components of sales force automation?
Primary components of the SFA software can be divided into 3 main categories,
- Sales contact management
- Pipeline management
- Sales and activity tracking
Let’s move into a depth analysis of each section,
Sales contact management.
Sales contact management refers to the process where customer details are stored and managed in a specific database. With this feature of the SFA software, you will be able to have a highly organized data collection which is also safe and secure.
You will definitely not have to be worried about losing data as it will never be like documenting the details down on a sheet of paper and getting your cup of coffee spilled on it. Moreover, your sales team members would have easy access and be efficient in all their tasks pertaining to dealing with the customers. And yes, you will definitely not need a whole other room to file your documentation regarding your customer details as it is all inside one system!
Pipeline management.
SFA software’s pipeline management can be considered a visual and systematic representation of the sales process in the company. It involves recognizing what needs to be adjusted, involves in managing and tracking deals and mostly dealing with the financial aspect of the company. Moreover, having the pipeline management component, you will be able to get better insights on your sales processes and the teams will not have to get exhausted making reports manually, indulging in better forecasting and managing the sales prospects more efficiently.
Sales and activity tracking.
In order to direct customers to purchase from your sales you need to be having an excellent tracking and management system. This will aid in guiding your customers timely and in a much more organized manner.
Other components in SFA software.
Other than the primary components SFA software also helps in scheduling appointments, assigning leads, and even producing up to date reports.
How to choose the best sales force automation software?
Choosing the best SFA software might be quite a hassle, yet here are a few tips to get you out of the taunting hassles,
Your needs.
When you are about to choose the best SFA software which is needed for your company it is crucial to analyze and evaluate the needs of your business so that you can properly check up on the right software to get the most needed features. If you are a beginner to the SFA software, prioritize the features which you will need the most and the wants can be upgraded later on. In addition, make sure the software you are going to purchase will assist in growing up your business in pace.
Finances.
The cost that is needed for the SFA to be implemented is a vital aspect to be considered. It does not mean, just because it is indeed cheap and cost-effective that you should integrate the software into your system because that might not really have the features that you are seeking.
Imagine that there are two different SFA software and consider the cheap one as A and the more expensive one as B. If software “A” does not take off much of the workload of the employees and “B” take-off a heap of the workload while helping to increase the revenue, what would you decide to buy? The best solution would be to go for option B since that is one of the main benefits that we try to gain from SFA software and even though it is quite more expensive than the other, it will surely be worth it and give the best value for money.
Reviews and rankings.
Reviews and rankings of a certain SFA software matter a lot when it comes to choosing one of the best options for your business. Check out their portfolios on how they have managed to impress previous customers through their platform. The better the reviews, you can consider buying it. Yet, make sure that you don’t hasten while buying the product since it is not the only factor to be considered. Reviews and rankings would give you an idea, but it might not be always the 100 % accurate result that you might be needing.
Free trials.
Most SFA software provides free trials for about 14 days which you can check out on them before purchasing the software. You can either sign up or email for a free demo so that you have a particular idea of the SFA software that you will be using. In this way, if you have few of the best choices, you can take on trials and choose what best suits your business.
User friendly.
The software needs to be user-friendly. It does not mean that everyone in the company should be able to use it, but the sales team should be able to manage it swiftly and should not be a muddled-up process than working on it manually.
Moreover, since most employees might not be used to the SFA software, the software should be able to give some sort of relief so that they can be easily trained for the software process.
Examples of how sales force automation software is used.
Here are a few examples of the ways how Sales force automation system is used,
E-mailing purposes.
A client lands on your website and decides to email you for a certain pdf document which needs to be paid later for full access. Yet, after the client receives the partly accessible pdf, the client does not seem to be purchasing the full pdf. Therefore, as a reminder the SFA software will automate an email to the client asking her to purchase the full pdf and even if that does not work, SFA software will lead her with an email saying about several discounts the client will have and most probably the client will try to purchase the pdf if she is thoroughly in need of it.
Latest metrics.
Knowing the latest metrics which include the latest sales numbers and how the sales have been carried on on daily basis is extremely important. The latest metrics shown on SFA software will help the business as well as it will lead to motivation of the sales team to do their work more precisely and delicately. As the latest metrics are a whole report, they can be used to do certain adjustments which are required to enhance sales and provide customers with the best facilities possible.
Calendar.
Scheduling our tasks and assigning each task meaning is one of the things that any business should be prioritizing. Having a proper schedule with a calendar is essential for both the business and the client and yes, the SFA software is used in that perspective as well. Imagine the client requests a meeting with the sales manager and after the meeting, if the client has more to be discussed an automated link will be sent to the client and the client would be easily able to set the date.
Fun fact-SFA+CRM
Ever heard about CRM? or simply, Customer relationship management technology? Integrating Sales Force Automation Software along with CRM would possibly help you up in boosting your business to another level!
Better try it out!
