The Right Time to Automate Your Sales Process

Samuel Karkassoni
Jul 26, 2017 · 3 min read

I am a big believer that everyone should use technology to run their sales process efficiently. To date, organizations (medium and large scale) owe a great part of their success to the ever-evolving sales technology stack that has streamlined sales processes and techniques. It has also played a significant role in growth. So, why would you not use technology to complement your sales process the same way? You can use it to increase the number of touch points with your customers through automated communication, intelligent selling, and eliminating (or decreasing) manual outreach. In addition, you get powerful analytics and data driven insights which make it easier to steer clear and stay ahead of your competition. But, how do you know when the right time to automate the sales process is? Is there even a right time? What other benefits can you get from the automation?

Basics of Building a Systematic Selling Mechanism

Sales leaders should know the basics of building a systematic selling mechanism. Such mechanisms should allow them to dig deeper into their customers and prospects. Gaining visibility into how customers think, make decisions, what motivates them, and what keeps them awake at night will help reps reach their ultimate goal of adding value in all communications. There are multiple ways to engage and better understand customers including asking the right questions, listening to objections, pinpointing deeper concerns and learning from customer feedback, etc. As a rep’s accounts grow, his/her time is spent visiting the more important customers and touching smaller accounts less often. Reps can easily get overwhelmed by the sheer size of their territory and all the relationships they need to manage. This is a sign that it is time to consider field sales automation tools. A customized sales automation process will lay out territories in such a way that market coverage is expanded, and customer service is enhanced across all accounts.

Right Opportunities

Start by focusing on the right opportunities. Use a Customer Management Tool to track reps’ activities and customer touch points. Remembering the number of phone calls a rep made, visits he/she made to each account and conversation details is impossible. Streamline your contact management and invest in a CRM to manage it for you. Another key to effective sales automation is streamlining rep communications to customers via e-mail. Having integrated CRM and email automation platforms ensures data exporting and importing is not necessary. For the most part, this email automation tool would allow reps to create email templates and send them out en masse. The ability to track opens and click-throughs is also a vital component in moving conversations forward.

Automation Benefits

Other areas where automation can be beneficial: lead prioritization, lead generation and reporting. As an experienced sales rep, you know who your top contacts are, and you are probably doing a great job at staying on top of them. It is no surprise that you spend time every morning prepping on who to call and visit, but this can exhaust more time and mental energy than it needs to. There are tools that use lead scoring and predictive analytics to help reps effectively prioritize. Some rank prospects based on the likelihood they will convert while others enable you to build out lead scoring rules using the factors that matter to you most. Reps are more successful when they can filter through their contact list, gain a clear understanding of account history and past communications before each call/visit. This insight is a game changer for your team! Delete dull spreadsheets that do not talk back to you. Reporting is crucial to your ongoing success and continued improvement. To effectively track your sales process, the CRM you choose must provide charts, graphs and reports detailing team appointments, reminders, revenue, deal amounts, email opens, calls picked up, and more. You can even schedule the reports to be sent to your email on a daily basis. That way, you will have a daily recap of your team’s progress.

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