Just what is Sales Force Automation? Commonly abbreviated SFA, it's a powerful software strategy that streamlines sales-force management tasks into a cohesive whole. Using SFA, sales teams can see everything that's going on with each sales prospect-from the first contact with your company through to becoming a customer. SFA helps sales teams save time, increase capacity and maximize productivity. Will the following strategies help your team achieve greater sales success? We think so-and we're confident you'll agree.
Go for e-Sales
Make your team more effective by automating the tedious aspects of selling. Far too often, time is wasted setting up repetitive emails, tasks and appointments. Imagine instead a world in which each time a new lead is created a welcome email goes out, a task is created for a sales rep to call a prospect, and a follow-up email with a brochure is sent a few days later-all automatically. The right SFA tool lets you create an entire set of activities that can be triggered to run automatically, saving your reps countless hours of boredom each week.
Go for e-Practices
Standardize your most successful sales practices across your entire sales organization. Look for a Sales Force Automation solution that offers a built-in sales checklist to guide reps through the sales process modeled after the process used by your most successful sales people. This capability increases the chances that reps will bring in business more routinely.
Go for e-Direction
Eliminate lead sources that don't produce revenue. A powerful Sales Force Automation solution can identify where good, bad and mediocre leads come from. This helps you strengthen your investment with productive sources and stop wasting money on sources that don't bring in business.
Go for Mobile
In a competitive environment, sales reps can't afford to be disconnected from prospects. Look for vendors that offer a mobile SFA solution. This will give your team instant access to all sales information on their mobile phones. They can work deals even when away from their computer.
Go for e- Competition
Successful sales executives know that "time kills deals." Sales Force Automation immediately routes leads from any source to the sales rep best suited to close the deal. It can also be set up to ensure that no single rep has too many or too few leads to work on. As a result, leads stay warm, increasing the odds a deal will materialize with you instead of a competitor.
Managers to e-Managers
Some sales reps prefer to sell cheaper products because, frankly, they find it easier. The right Sales Force Automation solution can help by giving managers visibility into product quotations so they never have to wait to correct sales rep behavior. In addition, the most powerful SFA solutions include a sales knowledge base that you can load with valuable tips for up-selling and cross-selling.
e-Business
Businesses and consumers shop online, so you gain revenue by maximizing the lead-generation potential of your Web site. Sales Force Automation generally includes "Web forms" that Web site visitors can fill out. These can be automatically routed to the most appropriate sales representative. The sales rep is able to see immediately both the prospect's contact information and interests, and follow up quickly while the prospect is showing interest.
Place your business in the most positive light by giving your team standardized email templates that offer a clean, professional look, with a personalized touch. Plus save your reps the time and trouble of crafting them.
