Sales Force Automation Inside Outlook

What is Sales Force Automation (SFA)?

Sales Force Automation (SFA) is one of many newer buzz-words in business today. SFA is essentially a system of managing and tracking the sales activities for an individual or for a group of sales professionals. This system allows easy review and retrieval of sales related activities and communication for a specific person, company, or even a specific transaction. The system itself is an established series of steps or business rules designed to provide a structured, repeatable process for managing sales. In the grand scheme of business processes, Sales Force Automation typically falls between Contact Management (the managing of contacts and related information) and Customer Relationship Management (managing all customer information including ordering, invoicing, accounting, support, etc.). When talking about Sales Force Automation you will often find the discussion moves directly to software programs designed for the purpose. In our business environment today Sales Force Automation and Sales Force Automation Software are so closely linked they often become the same topic.

Why use Sales Force Automation for my business?

Sales Force Automation provides your business the ability to review all the sales related activities and communications for the sales professionals you employ. A good SFA system will allow you to review this history for a certain Company account, a specific customer, or even for an individual transaction or deal. SFA gives you a look at your complete sales history as well as a granular look down to a specific deal for a specific salesperson. For a Management team this can be vital in reviewing sales trends, forecasting future business, planning Marketing strategies, and evaluating successes and failures. Sales Force Automation provides a repeatable process for a sales team, allowing the salespeople to easily track the deals they have going with their clients. This typically involves the creation of steps, or Sales Stages, in your sales process which can be followed through to completion of the transaction. There are often action items related to the Sales Stages of a SFA process. All this together creates a familiar and repeatable process which can be refined to improve and streamline sales. For the sales professional it makes tracking the sale easier, and provides a framework of logical "next steps" as they work with their clients. It also allows both the sales professional and Management to analyze each sale to see where it may have gone wrong, or how it went right.

What makes a good Sales Force Automation Software?

There are literally hundreds of products on the market that provide Sales Force Automation functions. Some are designed specifically for that task, while others provide SFA features as part of a larger or associated program. Many companies go in search of Sales Force Automation Software, and find themselves looking at products that do much more than what they need. When looking for SFA software, keep in mind what your goal is: to automate and optimize the sales process. Good Sales Force Automation software focuses on the functions related to this goal, and leaves out the fluff. As mentioned earlier Sales Force Automation software includes more than Contact Management, but is not as overloaded with function and feature modules as Customer Relationship Management.

Managing contact information is an important part of SFA; you must be able to review a history of communication and activity at both the company and contact level. Sales Force Automation software provides advanced Contact Management and focuses on the features and functions related to daily sales activities such as opportunity management, tracking Sales Stages, journaling sales activities, creating follow up actions, and reporting on the Sales Pipeline. Many companies get involved with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) when they are really looking for SFA. The complexity and vastness of many CRM programs quickly becomes overwhelming, and the salespeople stop using it. In order for a Sales Force Automation program to work, the salespeople must be willing to use it. Perhaps even like using it.

How do I choose a good Sales Force Automation Software?

Keep in mind your goal: managing your sales and the related information. Sales Force Automation software should allow you to organize and track your customer information at the individual contact level and at the Company level. It should create a relationship between your contacts and the companies they work for. Reviewing a history of the communication and activities (such as appointments and follow-ups) should be easily done for the contacts and companies. This is all part of good Contact Management, which is part of a strong SFA program. The most vital part of Sales Force Automation Software is the ability to track your sales opportunities. A SFA program should track each deal, the contacts and companies associated with that deal, and all the related communication and activities. When reviewing the emails you sent to a client, it can be very important to know which deal it relates to, and to have a history of the deal when working with the client. This is particularly important if you have multiple sales occurring with the same contact and/or company.

Most importantly, a good Sales Force Automation Software should be easy to use and familiar. As Microsoft Outlook is the default email and calendaring program in business today, those SFA programs that are integrated in Outlook are often the most successful. These programs are similar in appearance and layout to Outlook, offering an immediate familiarity with the application. The ability of a program to use the existing Outlook forms (email, appointment, and task) shortens the learning curve for users and makes acceptance of the new functions much higher.

Creating an effective Sales Force Automation system can be an ever evolving process. Many companies find their SFA system in a constant state of small change. In a constantly changing business environment, this is often a very good thing. Using a well designed and easy to use Sales Force Automation Software can make the development and evolution of this process a much more organized undertaking.

Many of today's most successful large and small businesses have chosen Avidian's CRM Software as their sales management and contact management software.

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