As the sales process gets more complex, and as reps are expected to manage an increasing volume of leads, sales-efficiency tools — which are the basis of Sales Force Automation (SFA) are becoming all but mandatory. Here's a list of the benefits SFA brings; if three or four address pain points in your company, then you're probably ready to bring SFA into your organization.
1. Improved collaboration: SFA allows sales teams, managers and other departments to easily swap up-to-date sales information, from price lists to products specifications.
2. Better managed territories: Having your West Coast-based reps manage New York City-based clients is an exercise in geographic mismanagement. An effective SFA solution can automatically route leads to the right sales reps based on territory.
3. Detailed reports: Collecting and integrating data is only the first step to improving the sales pipeline. SFA's reporting capabilities allow you to analyze revenue, forecast opportunities, rate sales-campaign effectiveness and track each sales rep's success.
4. Empowered sales managers: Allow sales managers to carefully track their sales force's activities. By identifying areas of weakness, lost opportunities and undeserved territories, managers can better coach and bolster individual sales performance.
5. Enhanced sales productivity: Improve efficiency and drive revenue by better managing leads. This also helps you identify leads that may have otherwise fallen through the cracks.
6. Strengthened field sales: By ensuring anywhere, anytime access to data, including client account information, inventory availability and delivery schedules, road warriors are better equipped to respond to customers' questions, concerns and special requests.
7. Increased opportunities: Get a leg up on your competitors by tracking their pending deals and strategically highlighting competitive trends and looming threats.
8. Better-educated partners: Don't leave your channel partners to fend for themselves. Instead, automate your partner recruitment, training and planning processes to build more mutually beneficial relationships.
