What is sales process automation all about?
Companies are still trying to transform tedious, time-consuming and repetitive, but also necessary, peri-sales activities into much more efficient ones. They want them to happen on their own (but under supervision). Sales automation helps them do this. What might be its purpose?
- freeing up human resources so that sales specialists can perform more complex, more relevant tasks,
- Reducing the cost of processing and handling orders,
- Higher efficiency in sales processes.
What tasks can be automated?
There are already a number of processes that we can optimize thanks to increasingly developed automation, especially in e-commerce. The plethora of tools available on the market means that online stores can almost completely dispense with manual tasks such as:
- scheduling and emailing,
- order management,
- Segmentation and qualification of leads,
- tracking leads,
- opportunity management,
- notifications and status changes regarding shipping,
- Reporting sales and other sales activities,
- Control and update of inventory.
The above list is not closed – work on making automation more efficient is constantly underway, and in the near future companies may get access to more advanced tools.
Automation is also partly applied to many other processes, such as lead acquisition and sales analysis.
Sales automation – what benefits can it bring?
Automation can be understood as part of the optimization process and, like conversion optimization, can bring tangible benefits. It helps achieve the goals we mentioned in the introduction to this article: freeing up staff time, savings and greater efficiency in operations. However, that’s not all.
After all, many companies, although they want to grow and thus generate more revenue, suffer from a lack of time or resources to carry out strategic tasks. Automation solves a large part of these problems and takes over the aforementioned tasks. The results can be:
Ability to redirect human resources to more relevant areas of the business
The people deployed in the company’s operations, previously engaged in various tasks – including tedious and repetitive ones – can begin to achieve goals that will have a more pronounced impact on the company’s performance. With sales automation, salespeople will have more time to build relationships with customers, instead of performing repetitive, mechanical tasks related to customer acquisition and service.
Reducing the burden on employees
However, it is not always a matter of adding work to those employed. Fewer tasks will undoubtedly have a positive impact on the quality of the work performed, which is particularly important when complex, multi-stage projects are being implemented.
Allocate the time saved to creative work and strategy improvement
Company employees sometimes complain about insufficient time they can devote to creative work or strategy development. Implementing widespread automation driven by artificial intelligence tools can make room for such tasks. The effects of such an approach won’t be immediately apparent, but they can be very beneficial in the long run.
Scaling up sales
This is, so to speak, a continuation of the previous point. An important feature of a company’s scalability is for the vendor to develop a long-term strategy at an early stage of the business – so that it is prepared for dynamic growth when the right conditions come along or its goals are achieved. Automating some tasks can be one of the milestones of such a strategy.
Reducing costs
This is one of the most obvious benefits that automation can bring. While not absolutely foolproof on its own, automation significantly reduces the risk of human error in some areas – it just requires supervision and proper configuration.
Sales automation – disadvantages
Like any tool, a sales automation system can be extremely useful, but it also has its problems (and can create a few more).
No personalization
Just as dynamite in the wrong hands can do more harm than good, automation can bring plenty of benefits, as long as we don’t overdo it. The simplest example of overdoing it is 100% automation of communications. Machine-sent messages make a lot easier, but they can also make it harder to build relationships with customers. If your company cares about creating a relationship, relying entirely on pre-prepared messages can effectively scare away customers who are looking for understanding and authenticity.
The lack of personalization and the human element in the big picture could prove to be a more powerful problem than the time spent writing tailored messages to a specific recipient. The Next in Personalization report released at the end of 2021 by McKinsey & Company shows outright that as many as 71% of consumers expect personalized communications, and 76% say that receiving mismatched recommendations and communications is a frustrating experience.
Message oversaturation, potential roadblocks
Once again, we’re talking about exaggeration, albeit in a slightly different angle. The ability to automatically send messages makes it extremely easy to succumb to the temptation to inform people about everything (and nothing). Sending too many messages to your customers can only have negative consequences, including: loss of trust, unsubscribes or a deteriorating opinion of your company.
Cost increases
Barely a few paragraphs earlier, we wrote about cost reduction as a potential benefit provided by automation. However, before we can reap the financial benefits, a cost is necessary. Automation requires appropriate software, which is unlikely to come in free form (not counting trial periods or very limited versions). However, the purchase of the software itself is only part of the cost. Implementing automation solutions will certainly consume a lot of man-hours.
Sales automation – how to implement it in your company?
Now that you know what the strengths and weaknesses of sales automation are, it’s time to try to implement the right processes in your company. To do so, you will need to follow three important steps.
Step one: select the processes you want to automate
First of all, you need to conduct an internal analysis of your company’s sales process, break it down into smaller steps and select from among them those that have the greatest potential for automation. Take a look at how the people employed in your company work. Analyze repetitive tasks that take a lot of time to perform, but could easily or with little effort be automated.
The next step is to rank your selected processes in the order in which you want to implement automation. You will have to decide for yourself whether you prefer to deal with the most essential ones first, or whether to implement automation of those tasks that are easiest to replace in a relatively short period of time.
It’s easy to say: select those sales processes that are worth automating. However, the selection itself can be tricky, so a good idea is to consider the company’s KPIs. Find out which processes directly affect the goals set for your team. If one of your main expectations for the coming year is to reduce customer service time, focus on processes related to that.
Step two: find the right tools, including a CRM system
Having already known what processes you want to automate in the first place, you can now start looking for the right tools to enable your company to achieve its goals.
When searching the Internet, pay attention to what functionality specific tools offer. You’ll certainly find the most extensive capabilities in CRM systems such as Salesforce or HubSpot, but this comes at a significant cost. If your company’s needs are not that great, look for smaller, more specialized tools focused on just automating processes for – for example – customer service or deliveries and returns.
In the future, you can also use data integration platforms (iPaaS – Integration Platform as a Service) in automation tools. This way – when your company’s requirements increase – you won’t have to make new contracts and abandon your previous tools.
Step three: start automation
This is the stage where you are faced with configuring the chosen tool, integrating it with your company’s sales solutions, training your team and many other activities directly related to the upcoming changes. This step will vary significantly depending on the selected application.
Step four: regularly check the effectiveness of automation
The moment when sales automation is launched in a company is certainly a milestone, but it is not the end of efforts to optimize processes. The next step must be to carefully and regularly analyze the effects of the changes made.
However, give the new tools and the employees who oversee them some time before you start to see how the company is doing with the new processes. The results won’t be visible right away – sometimes it will take several weeks or even months.
If you have previously decided to link automation to specific KPIs, it will now be much easier to determine whether the changes have had the expected effect. Consider two periods of similar length – before and after automation – and then measure the growth rate.
Remember, however, that while such a test is a good introduction to in-depth analysis, it should by no means serve as the only indicator. Automation, too, can (and should) be optimized ( using A/B testing, for example) – in order to eliminate configuration errors and get even better results.
Summary
Sales automation carries powerful potential, but it needs to be properly prepared and set up to start working as expected. Follow the steps we’ve discussed in this article: first, choosing your processes, then looking for the right tools, getting it up and running, and finally verification. With this simple scheme, you’ll make fewer mistakes at the beginning of your company’s automation journey, and over time you’ll begin to achieve the results you expect.
