CRM has some of the highest failure and lowest adoption rates of any software category. Customer Relationship Management software is famous for complex implementations, confusing features, and the killer--requiring lots of data entry to make it useful. These are the characteristics that make soles force automation so critical to your CRM success.
Customer Relationship Management
As marketing channels become increasingly diverse simple to use CRM becomes increasingly important. Your customers are expecting speedy responses, unique experiences, and the right person every time.
Marketing on the Internet and social media, in this Web 2.0 world, are increasing the challenges of information overload on sales forces. Sales people don't have time to figure out software, set-up confusing processes, or feed a system data.
This is where sales force automation can save your CRM implementation from a costly disaster. Sales force automation is the digital assistant every sales associate or call center agent wished they had. Simple, intuitive, consistent systems that move deals forward and inherently tracks your leads is the magic of good sales force automation.
Lead Capture
It all starts with lead capture. Helping a sales person get leads or load up there own is the first step in a full and productive sales pipeline. Sales force automation should have a simple, but robust lead capture suite. An agent flush with leads is typically a motivated asset to your team. A sales person struggling to figure out how to get precious leads into their sales management system or forced to type them in is an anchor on your sales production.
The most basic lead capture methods your sales force automation should include are:
Spreadsheet imports
Web form integration
Outlook, GMail, Yahoo!Mail imports
Increasingly, your sales force automation should allow you to connect in your social networks and Web 2.0 applications. Some important examples include:
LinkedIN
Plaxo
Twitter
Getting leads into your sales pipeline and fueling your sales force automation needs to be a one-click process.
Contact Management
Now you have leads. Let's start calling. It seems like the logical next step, but many CRM software even makes this process challenging. Many sales force applications leave the sales person wondering:
Who do I call next?
What are the best leads?
When was the last time I call this lead?
Which leads are close to closing?
Which leads need follow-up?
Basic stuff, but often neglected. Sales force automation puts contact management into an intuitive flow. Prioritizing and queuing for follow-up are key components to simplifying the sales process. The sales force can then concentrate on the sale, not figuring out who to sale to.
Sales force automation also improves the rate and consistency of follow-up. It is amazing the percentage of leads that never get a second call or contact. Charging your contact management with a set of automated follow-up routines will increase you deals immediately.
Sales Lead Tracking
Are you making your sales force update reports on their sales activities? Are they spending their evenings going back and annotating customer records? If so you have the makings of inaccurate reporting at best and no reporting at worst.
Sales force automation can turn sales lead tracking a simple and passive activity.
Simplifying lead tracking starts with lead statuses. Your sales management software should have intuitive sales statuses that can be assigned (automated and/or manually) to leads as they move through sales processes.
By making sales lead tracking easy you can see specific areas to improve. Your marketing analysis and sales processes tuning becomes a snap. And, individual sales reps are not spending their time typing reports or entering data.
Here are some common sales actions you want to know about in your sales force automation:
Attempt
Contact
Proposal
Withdraw
Disqualified
Do Not Call
Closed
Using simple statuses like these can give you additional opportunities. Incorporating the status data in your marketing automation system will enable you to give each customer a unique experience.
Sales ForecastingUnderstanding where and when your revenue is coming can be a messy art in any sales force. But, it shouldn't be. Sales force automation can allow you to quickly see where leads are throughout the pipeline, facilitating real-time forecasting and roll-ups.
Using a lead management software with sales force automation can give you the flexibility to forecast and drill into answers. Find out who and how your sales force is producing revenue by viewing:
Individual quotas
Team and division production
Territories and product segmentation
The consistency of sales process, provided by sales force automation, makes setting quotas, benchmarks, and forecasts easier and more accurate.
Sales Accountability and Consistency
Once you have efficiently captured, tracked, and analyzed your leads, you know what works! But, nothing is more frustrating than individuals on the sales team not adopting best practices. With sales force automation you can drive basic compliance with proven sales processes.
Enforcing best practices is not only an accountability issue, but one that simplifies sales persons' challenge with establishing their system and getting into a productive process. With sales force automation the process is there, and it will get results.
Bill Rice is a leading authority on lead management and the lead generation industry. He is a frequent writer, sharing insights on sales at BetterCloser.com, providing commentary on the lead generation market on Lead Marketwatch and speaker, featured at venues like Leads2007, LeadsCon, Ohio MBA, and Online Lead Quality Summit.
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