The Rise of Sales Force Automation (SFA)
Sales Force Automation (SFA) is the magic potion businesses swear by to improve Sales functions. Think of it as Lean Six Sigma, but only for Sales. Organizations nowadays use software tools to automate select processes of Sales teams which otherwise deprive sales personnel — on the field/at the office — of valuable time. These are mostly repetitive tasks that are non-revenue generating. In effect, the time saved can be spent more productively on further SELLING.
Is Sales Force Automation a relatively new construct? No.
History of Sales Force Automation
Conceptually, SFA has been around since the times of ancient trade. Traders, back in the day, had their own mechanism to track every sale, identify repeat customers and find ways to sustain engagement with them. After all, it is easier to sell to an existing customer than someone new. This also forms the core of another popular automation tool — Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Both were designed as an offshoot of primary business functions involving selling and the customer. They have a shared history.
In the 80s came the digital rolodex from ACT! that allowed efficient storage of customer information, crucial for any business. It was an extension of the traditional Rolodex — an address book with index cards to write down customer details. By the mid-90s, SFA had somewhat ‘arrived’ as it resembled modern CRM software. It became a standalone product with different vendors offering different features. Then came along electronic-CRM that enabled integration of all web channels (intranet, extranet, and internet) for internal functioning and customer-facing purposes. By the 2000s, Cloud-based CRM including the Software as a Service (SaaS) solution found its way into many companies.
Today, thanks to easily-customizable Cloud-based SFA solutions, many businesses are welcoming field force automation (i.e., automating sales processes related to on-ground salespeople) and innovations such as a mobile sales app and a sales employee tracking app.
The ultimate goal being: keep the focus on selling.
Why Business Needs Sales Force Automation (SFA)?
Tom Siebel, who founded Siebel Systems, believed that an independent product for internal sales application was necessary for any organization’s growth. The potential he saw led him to start a company (Siebel Systems) of his own in 1993 after his idea was rejected by this then-employer Oracle. That faith in SFA holds true till date, as is proven by companies of varying sizes who have adopted it into their working. In fact, several companies rely on sales force automation beyond the CRM.
SFA helps in client acquisition whereas CRM is effective post-sale, for customer satisfaction and retention. While there is crossover between the two, organizations focussing on reaching more new customers cannot do so with just CRM. It is imperative to deploy exclusive tools that help sales personnel hold key information in hand, utilise time on revenue generating tasks and close deals quickly. This is where the SFA with its vast features becomes indispensable for business.
Key Features
- Notifications/Activity tracking
A sales person’s interaction with a prospect could be in different stages. Imagine a mobile sales app that could share real-time updates of what’s next in line for the prospect — a follow up call or maybe the meeting itself! This is also useful for a dynamic Sales pipeline wherein the team knows about next steps as a prospect moves down the pipeline.
- Automate Repetitive Tasks
Sales personnel, off-site and onsite, may find it irksome to do time-consuming but necessary tasks such as consolidating prospect details, filing notes on the previous meeting, sending follow-up emails etc. SFA including field force automation can be helpful in accomplishing these tasks and establishing real-time communication between various teams. Capturing leads from phone calls, setting up meetings, sharing live meeting updates, and sending follow up emails can be automated to save time.
- Automatically Assign Leads
Salespeople can be assigned relevant leads automatically based on predefined criteria such as area, product, demand etc. This would reduce response time and improve sales prospects.
- Scheduling
A recent Sales Insights Lab research says that 41.2% of sales staff feel that the phone is the most effective sales tool at their disposal. The same report also says that only 15% of salespeople reached out to over 1,000 prospects in 2019. That means if a sales rep fails to make a phone call at a time agreed with a prospect or forgets a follow-up call, the lead turns cold. Scheduling calls could be a lifesaver in such situations, couldn’t it?
- Identifying Right Leads
2020 Sales Insights Lab research says that at least 50% prospects aren’t a good fit for what’s being sold. Thanks to SFA, this problem too gets sorted. Once the stakeholders ‘define’ what a good lead is, those parameters can be set up in the automation tool such that it analyses all leads to identify good leads worth pursuing.
Benefits of Sales Force Automation
- Process Automation
The foremost benefit is that automation frees salespeople from mind-numbing repetitive work; increases personnel productivity and improves process efficiency. Time saved through automation can be spent on selling more or on activities that lead to selling.
2. Streamlining Sales
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With sales force automation, the process of selling is more streamlined. This facilitates identifying bottlenecks that include monotonous tasks to bulk paperwork or manual errors. By reducing manual intervention in tedious tasks such as follow up calls, or preparing paperwork, sales people can simply focus on selling.
3. Widening the Funnel
A 2020 LinkedIn State Of Sales report says that 60% salespeople anticipate a decrease in closing deals and 44% expect a decrease in responsiveness to outreach. A measure to counter these challenges would be to widen and saturate the top of the funnel. This can be done effectively with a sales force automation tool that can perpetually send business leads to the top of the funnel (which can then be viewed on a mobile sales app).
4. Insights for forecasting/growth
As per the above LinkedIn report, 56% salespeople are using data to target accounts. With SFA tools, real-time data can be used for predictive analysis. Imagine a simple dashboard on the web or a mobile app where reports of all sales personnel, and clients can be found, real-time! Wouldn’t it help an organization make better decisions at all levels? Businesses can improve their sales forecasts, find growth in micro markets and invest in future growth accordingly.
5. Upselling/Cross-selling
As the dashboard showcases all data, it’s easy to identify repeat customers and those with the scope for upselling or cross-selling. Email marketing automation via SFA can help deepen the engagement with such prospects.
6. Efficient team management
Coordinating with field staff can be particularly difficult. With field force automation, sales managers can examine elaborate reports real-time to oversee activity on the field. They can know who a sales rep is meeting, which areas are being covered that day, how much sales has happened overall in the day and so on without micromanaging. A sales employee tracking app offered as part of the automation tool makes it easier for managers to coordinate with the team.
Business significance of sales force automation
Sales Insights Lab research from 2020 states that 61% salespeople are finding it much harder to sell now than in the past years while 54% say that it’s now much harder to get in front of prospects. Only 24.3% of salespeople actually exceeded their quota in 2019, the research confirms. That being said, it is no surprise that sales professionals are relying a lot on data to drive sales. The LinkedIn report on sales mentions that 55% salespeople anticipate a decrease in pipeline. This means businesses need to provide salespeople with adequate tools to access available data and ease their work.
A study by Mckinsey & Company on sales automation suggests that more than 30% of sales tasks can be automated. And that this can reduce the cost of sales by freeing up time spent on administration and reporting. In addition, it also boosts revenue by automating outreach to customers. The move towards sales force automation has shown an increase in customer-facing time, higher customer satisfaction, efficiency improvements by 10 to 15%, and sales increment potential of up to 10%, the study says.
Sales Force Automation Trends To Watch Out For
New technological advancements can be seen every now and then in SFA. Some of the trends that are set to expand include:
AI (Artificial Intelligence)
Several companies have taken to AI along with automation to ensure that leads generated stay warm for months. AI-based salesbots will help curate personalized content for an organization’s email database.
Smart chatbots
Smart chatbots that can handle customer queries, along with human salespeople, can ensure great customer experiences.
Voice technology
A Voice-based mobile sales app can minimize turnaround time for sales enquiries and improve customer delight.
Advanced Analytics
Organizations have begun to understand the need to use a data model that can predict the actions of their customers based on previous dealings. This can be done with big data and other advanced analytics.
Marketing Automation
From sending automated emails to customers, curating custom content (with the help of AI) to offering discounts to select customers, marketing automation will be key to improving sales in the coming years.
Getting Started With Sales Force Automation
SFA is now offered in the form of easy-to-adopt Cloud-based solutions such as Happisales.
With different vendors offering a range of features, choosing the right partner for implementing Sales Force Automation can seem overwhelming. Talk to vendors on specific business’ needs, and the scale of business to identify which features are non-negotiable. More importantly, check if the vendor provides a mobile sales app or a sales employee tracking app (like Happisales does!) so that real-time updates are handy.
Get in touch with the Happisales team now to know how we can help your business.
