Sales automation is the tool used for streamlining and optimizing the sales process.
It helps track the progress of leads at each stage in their buyer journey, automates communication across the organization, and encourages collaboration between sales and marketing.
In this post, we’ll cover the essential criteria you need to look for in sales automation software and how to choose the best for your business goals.
How Does Sales Automation Software Help?
Sales automation software allows you to automate repetitive manual tasks like sending emails and making phone calls. It can dramatically increase the productivity of your sales team and reduce the amount of time spent on menial tasks that don’t directly contribute to growth.
More than 60 percent of businesses using automation exceeded their revenue targets. With that in mind, here are some of the factors you should consider when choosing your sales automation platform.
sales force automation tools may have plug-and-play functionality, the usability of most solutions will depend on your current marketing technology stack. A few tools require minimal configuration, but some degree of manual work is still needed. If you’re expecting to just log in, press a few buttons, and start getting sales, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.
Also, if you use other tools, you’ll need to integrate the sales management software with them. To reduce the set-up time, evaluate your integrations carefully and find a sales management system that integrates seamlessly with your current tech stack.
Training is another cause for the delay. When you implement new software, you’ll need to train your employees to use it, which could take a few weeks.
So, when adopting a new sales tool, expect some disruption in daily operations. It’s crucial to plan the implementation and transition properly.
SFA automates administrative tasks, so sales reps can invest that time in revenue-generating activities. Sales managers shouldn’t expect their teams to be self-sufficient. The agents will still need sales training to become proficient sellers.
Once they’re on board, they’ll need months of assistance to become productive. And once they start contributing to company goals, they’ll need constant recognition from you to keep performing. In fact, 76% of employees quit due to lack of appreciation, according to Lifeworks.
8 Factors To Consider When Choosing The Right Sales Automation Software
1. Automate And Personalize Communication
According to Mckinsey, nearly a third of sales-related tasks can be automated. You can set up a sales automation tool to send automated emails and SMS to your customers.
It is a great way to start a conversation, but it will not be effective unless you personalize the message based on what you know about the customer.
It can include information such as their name, any previous interactions they’ve had with your company, or if they have an upcoming birthday.
2. Ease Of Use
A sales automation program should be as user-friendly as possible. The more buttons and controls it has, the more complicated it will be to use.
Even if you are an experienced web developer, it’s best to stick with tools that have simple drag-and-drop functionality or templates that allow you to create your landing pages without too much effort. As we know SFA app works on real time basis and tracks all the field activities of sales personals. Thus, the management of food and beverage companies can easily keep track of the market activities.
Suppose, the chocolate manufacturing company is supplying their product to any market and some contingencies occur in the way the management can get immediate information regarding that and decided to fix the issues can be instantly taken. This will help in preserving the quality of the product as well as facilitate timely delivery of the product lot to the respective market.
3. Pipeline Management
The average B2B marketer has found that sales automation contributes 10% to their sales pipeline. So, you have to make sure that the sales automation software you choose has a vital pipeline management feature.
The pipeline management feature allows you to keep track of all your leads from the moment they enter your system to become a closed deal.
It would help to see where you’re in the pipeline, which stage of the sales process, and what is required to move to the next step.
4. Lead Management
Leads are the lifeblood of any business, big or small. So how you manage them is vital. Sales automation tools can make this process simple and easier to automate.
They can help you organize contact details, automatically capture visitor activity on your website, record phone conversations, send email campaigns, etc. The right tool will help your team close more leads by streamlining these processes and saving time on manual data entry.
5. Sales Reporting And Analytics
Many sales software platforms come with robust reporting and analytics capabilities. These tools allow you to capture data from all aspects of your business, including leads, pipelines, contacts, accounts, and more.
With this data, you can create custom reports to gain insights into your sales process, identifying improvement opportunities.
6. Customer Support
If you encounter any issues, your sales automation software should have customer support 24/7, 365 days a year. It’s also helpful if they have a live chat or phone support where someone can walk you through problems as they come up instead of waiting.
7. Integration With Other Software Tools
Choosing software that works well with third-party tools such as email marketing, social media marketing, and website analytics tools is good. Some of the most popular integrations include Salesforce, MailChimp, and QuickBooks.
8. Pricing
When selecting a solution, find out what pricing packages they offer.
- Do they have a free trial or free version?
- How much does their monthly or annual subscription cost?
- Is there a limit on how many users can access the system?
Ensure that the software you choose answers all of these questions.
To Wrap Up Things
It’s important to note that the ultimate goal is to improve sales no matter which solution you choose. The best sales automation software should be able to increase your sales and close deals that you have never closed before.
However, not all products are built the same. These are a few things you can look for to narrow down the list of options.
