But those days are gone. Today most small and midsize companies face an environment of margin squeeze and sharper competition. Not only sales managers but salespeople themselves need sharp and effective tools for selling and tracking if they hope to compete and produce results.
What Is Sales Force Automation? What Can It Do?
Many software platforms advertise one or more elements of sales force automation, or SFA. The genuine article, however, is a system that integrates all information about prospects, leads, customers, events and resources into a single tool, and puts that information at the hands of those who need it.
For salespeople, a well-designed SFA system provides all the tools they need in an intuitive, easy-to-use format, and it makes these tools accessible for productive use online or off. It relieves salespeople of time-consuming, repetitive tasks, freeing them to focus on the content of their work rather than administrative chores. Ultimately, SFA can help unleash sales creativity.
For management, a robust SFA system provides a two-way interface with all territories. It integrates day-to-day sales with the company s sales and marketing programs. It also tracks performance data at a detailed level, down to calls and e-mails, without obstructing or intruding upon the sellers themselves. And it delivers the fresh, accurate, complete and understandable information that managers need in order to lead and align the troops in the field.
SFA can save money, too for example, in sales force turnover. When an employee leaves for any reason, the company must spend money to hire and train a replacement. When the departing employee takes with them their inside knowledge of the company s leads, prospects and customers, the long-term price can be enormous.
By moving all this information automatically onto a territory- or product-based system, SFA software puts it at the disposal of the company. Transition to a replacement is less expensive the new hire can be up and running quickly and, most important of all, the company maintains its hard-earned customer information.
What To Look For in SFA Systems
An SFA system should make a salesperson s job easy. Some of the most important features are these:
Easy incorporation of lead, prospect and customer information, whether scanned from business cards at a trade show, uploaded from a central-office list, or updated in an order
Automatic dialing, a simple but proven sales booster
Simple editing and search functions, so information can be changed and brought up quickly and easily
A way to view all relevant local and national events
Uncomplicated procedures for scheduling events and follow-ups, synchronized with Microsoft Outlook
A resource area that permits addition of territorial and regional resources (e.g., directories, news articles, links), and also provides instant access to training and management communications
At the same time, an effective SFA system should help management keep the sales force on track, by providing these features:
Immediate transmission to the field of messaging designed to keep the force aligned with overall marketing strategy and current campaigns
Integration with the company s email and print marketing efforts, so management can drive business to the sales force
Background tracking that requires no special effort by the salesperson. For example, a scheduled meeting with a prospect is automatically logged by the system.
Automatic, non-intrusive delivery of tracking results to management.
For both field and management use, the most useful SFA systems are those that are easy to use and carry a short learning curve. Those features are best delivered by systems that present an intuitive interface modeled on Microsoft conventions.
The Difficulty of Getting Information
A central obstacle to effective sales force management has always been the difficulty of convincing sales employees to record their daily results. Virtually all the data they have is useful for one thing, it s fresh, which makes it considerably more accurate, and some of it is pure gold. That s because managers can use it to replicate success (or avoid failure) in other territories.
But much of this fresh information is lost to management entirely. Unfortunately, certain SFA software reinforce the obstacle. A hosted SFA system that relies on an Internet connection in order for the employee to work is a good example. When the very simplest action say, recording the notes from a telephone call requires finding a wired or wireless connection, accessing the Internet, and logging on to a home server, employees aren t much inclined to do it.
Throw in a few dropped connections, and many stop trying entirely. Maybe they ll jot something down later, or maybe not.
The Occasional Internet
One of the most important advances in SFA systems is the adoption by some of a concept called occasionally connected computing, or OCC.
Email clients offer a good illustration of OCC. On the road, a user might be able to log in only once a day to upload and download new messages. But the ability to read and answer messages that is, to work doesn t depend on the connection. The user can perform those tasks anywhere, without regard to network availability.
Similarly, an OCC-enabled application permits employees to make use of their computers, applications and data even when they re off the grid. No connection is needed, so no connection is dropped. The company saves money on wireless cards and on-air fees. And the salesperson s laptop, fast or slow, can do the job.
Later, whenever an Internet connection is established at the hotel, or back at the office an OCC-enabled application automatically synchronizes, transmitting field information to the office (e.g., notes from a prospect meeting) and management communications to the field (e.g., changes in price schedules, a video of the weekly sales talk). No effort by the individual salesperson is required.
All this takes place transparently, in the background, requiring no special action by users and leaving them free to focus on tasks.
You Can t Automate Sales
Sales force automation doesn t mean automating your sales force. The opposite is true: Properly used, an SFA system can turn a sales force loose to concentrate on what it does best.
And sales force automation software doesn t guarantee more sales. It equips a company with tools that open the way to improving sales. Above all it should provides a company with current, accurate information from its forces in the field, which is the bedrock of effective sales management.
In that way, SFA can help a company realize a higher return on its marketing investment.
Our firm knows sales force automation. If you d like to discuss how SFA might help your company, please contact us. 1-866-DEV-7766 or visit us at http://www.knovial.com
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