When considering the investment in a sales force automation
(SFA) tool, sales management
should define their goals for the integration of customer relationship
management. Instead of cumbersome spreadsheets and checklists, your sales team
could be moving forward with automatic tracking functions that show where each
rep should focus their attention.
Among the many jobs that SFA
can do for your organization are streamlining your sales cycle, increasing your
close rate, improving customer service and qualifying leads. These are all
functions that should drive up your sales and retain good sales reps. However,
here are a
few more specific things an SFA
will do for your organization:
Improve Territory
Management
From lead management to refining your sales process, a good SFA will provide a multitude of benefits for
managing your sales territories. Your reps will save time when a nimble system
provides leads that are warm and are assigned based on a set of rules that you
enter in the system, eliminating questions of lead ownership. Automatic updates
are another bonus with the latest SFA
solutions, giving your reps the information they need at the time they need
it to close a sale.
Look for the Weak Spots
in Your Sales Process
Your SFA can
not only track the behaviors that lead to sales, but you can also measure the
actions that lead to lost opportunities. You can track which deals ended up
going with your competitors and figure out where your competitors may have an
edge on a particular service or product line.
Forecast Based on
Good Data
Gone are the days where sales reps toss out a number that
they hope will allow them to grow and make their plan. With a good SFA, your data will provide you with accurate
forecasting tools. Your forecasts will be based on excellent data using past
orders and new opportunities, while still allowing for input from sales team
members wanting to add to the mix with their ideas about where growth might be
expected.
Improve Order Management
From start to finish, your order process will improve.
Communication across all departments is a key feature for all of the latest in SFA systems. Your sales reps will appreciate
knowing about a problem in customer service before they walk into a meeting to
talk about expanding services, and your operations team will appreciate knowing
that the sales rep has promised express delivery on every order.
Maximize Opportunities
With Existing Customers
From analyzing purchase history to managing social media
data, your SFA should be able to
tell you which customers are prime opportunities for increasing sales.
Your sales team will enjoy better data, an improved sales
process and precise forecasting when you implement an SFA
tool. Call on Front Row Solutions
to provide you with the right tool to grow your sales as well as attract and
retain talented sales professionals.
