What is sales automation? How can small & medium businesses leverage it?

Leverage sales with automation:  Find out how Sales automation can help you grow your small & medium businesses

It does not matter how experienced or talented a sales manager is; executing multiple tasks becomes impossible without making any mistakes. Managing customers, generating leads, creating sales records, identifying the reasons behind the fall in sales, creating sales reports, etc., are among those tasks that a sales manager has to perform. 

The Sales department performs different functions to keep the business running. Some are important, some are not so important. The frequency of these tasks depends on their nature and scope of work. However, no matter how minor or significant these tasks may be, all of them must be completed within a stipulated period. 

All these tasks are done to achieve a common goal, i.e., increase sales. For this purpose, companies appoint sales managers who have to perform and manage different tasks to boost their organization’s sales. The common hurdle faced by them is the redundancy of tasks.

It is rightly said, “To Err is Human.” No matter what, humans will make errors. This is one of the reasons why automation has come as a boon for businesses. By automating business processes, the chances of mistakes made in repetitive tasks are curbed, also the team can focus on performing tasks that require greater attention.

Sales Automation – A Boon for Businesses

Sales automation is indeed an advantage, not just for the sales department, but for the entire company. Using an automation system will reduce the time you spend doing manual tasks. Also, you don’t need to have a great deal of technical expertise for operating the system. 

Businesses have so much to focus on, like: 

• Increasing their sales
• Pricing strategy
• Increasing market share
• Converting Leads into Sales

In such a case, sales automation proves to be of great help. It is a concept that has revolutionized the way companies manage their sales process. No matter what the task’s frequency is; a sales automation system is designed to focus on sales-oriented tasks than concentrating on other time-consuming activities. 

Such a system can greatly improve the performance of the sales department of a company. Right from keeping a note of the number of sales to taking feedback or communicating with the potential customers, sales automation software streamlines the entire sales process, which otherwise requires often long, dedicated manual hours. 

Also Read: Reshape sales strategy

What can be automated? 

Here are the activities that can be automated through a sales management system: 

Lead Generation

You may have a long list of people that you think might buy your products or services; however, not all of them will convert. Most small and medium businesses find it challenging to filter out such leads. But with the help of the right sales automation software, you can easily filter all your leads based on their interests and all those factors that affect your business’ sales.  

Lead prioritization

Sales automation lets you prioritize your leads based on the leads’ interests, as well as how closely they fit your target audience. You can use sales automation to identify the leads that have the best chance of converting into sales. You can, thus, focus more on those leads and establish a healthy relationship. 

Alerts

A sales automation system keeps you informed when a lead takes any action. This may involve spending time on your checkout page or searching for a product manufactured by your company. This way, you could schedule your outreach accordingly and connect with your leads either by email or text after some time.

Sales reports

This is perhaps one of the best functions of a sales automation system. It allows managers and the sales team to create sales reports consisting of the performance status of thousands of leads or customers with just a click. The total number of calls made, messages sent, deals closed, not-connected calls, etc. are all included in these reports. 

Benefits of sales automation

Now that you know what sales automation is, let’s move to the benefits that come with it. 

Identifying potential customers

By creating a comprehensive report of leads and prioritizing them based on their interests, sales automation helps businesses to identify their potential customers. This, in turn, helps them focus on building fruitful relationships with them for the long run.

Understanding customers

When businesses know which leads to focus more on, they can work more towards understanding the likes, dislikes, and search interests of their target customers. Thus, it helps businesses focus more on them by catering to the particular demands and needs of their target customers. 

Staying connected with customers

Sales automation further helps businesses by enabling their sales executives to take feedback for the calls they make and having that information ready at all times. It helps the sales department understand what a customer wants and what the company should provide. Then, the sales manager can work on different strategies to fill the gap.                                                                                                                                        

Simplifying the reporting process

Sales automation software enables sales managers to create accurate reports on the sales process and the sales team and all the other required details during a particular period. It helps them to keep track of the falls and rises in their sales. 

How small and medium businesses (SMB) can leverage sales automation? 

The automation of processes doesn’t have to be limited to just the larger corporations. As a result of the pandemic, it has become essential for businesses, regardless of their size, to have a certain level of automation in place.

Fortunately, there are so many sales automation systems available today that make it easier for businesses to manage their sales processes. NeoDove is one such sales automation software that helps businesses streamline their sales process. 

This platform helps you seamlessly automate the tasks that once consumed a heavy amount of time. Its assorted features make it a one-stop solution for sales teams to digitize their sales and customer communication.