Salesforce automation, often abbreviated as SFA, is a business technique designed to increase a business’ sales volume by use of software that automates business sales tasks. By automating business sales tasks, a business is able to operate more efficiently thus leading to better customer relations.
The Benefits of Knowing What Is Salesforce
Some of the tasks that are automated include:
Order processing
Information sharing
Contact management
Sales forecast analysis
Inventory monitoring
Customer management
Order tracking
Employee performance evaluation
What is Salesforce … Sales automation software helps organizations and firms manage their sales activities. For individuals, this sales automation helps and individual manage his accounts, business opportunities, leads and customer interactions. It is also very important for business management as it helps business managers make more accurate sales forecasts.
More advanced Salesforce automation software will include more detailed modules such as proposal and quote generation, marketing automation, order processing and management, collateral management, computer telephony integration, scripting and social media integration.
Salesforce.com and other sales best-of-breed databases such as Sage ACT are mostly implemented as stand alone system as they are capable of running the sales department of a business on their own. At times you can have them combined with other marketing automation software as well as lead management software.
Some buyers opt to implement SFA software as a module of the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) suite. You too can implement this SFA software as a module of ERP (enterprise resource planning). You are at liberty to choose any of these strategies as you will be driven by the need for your SFA software to integrate and share information with other ERP and customer management systems. You will too want to find out whether the SFA system in your vendors will sort out your needs.
What Type of a Buyer Are You?
Before considering going for salesforce automation software, you need to know which software is suitable for you and what is salesforce. There are over 100 software available for your sales automation. However, this software is made for different niche and you therefore need to know which one will work for you best. Knowing what type of a buyer you are will help you make right decision.
90% of buyers are believed to lie in the below categories. Each category has got the most ideal software to use. So, in which category do you lie in?
Direct sell buyer: these buyers deal with organizations that do their selling via telesales teams, field reps or both of them. These buyers are comfortable with a variety of software available in the market as their requirements are straightforward.
Channel selling buyer: these buyers deal with organizations that do their selling via a network or channel of partners. They need special software to enable them get leads, register deals and track and evaluate partner performance.
Enterprise buyer: these are the buyers working for large and spread organization that have a wide variety of selling models. The buyers are charged with unifying the activities in the channels as well as integrating their Salesforce automation with the rest of the enterprise systems.
Small business buyer: these ones deal with small businesses where they track product capabilities as well as add other capabilities such as deal tracking, leads, and reporting.
Buyer-Software Compatibility
Most of the buyers are believed to be in the above categories. Each category has got the software that are made with the buyer in mind. You therefore need to find out the salesforce automation software that are compatible with the category you are in. this SFA landscape appears confusing due to the many fragments it is divided into. These programs are designed to let you understand SFA better and know the specific software you need to go for.
Direct buyers: direct buyers can use the following systems, salesforce.com, sage ACT
Indirect buyer: oracle CRM on demand, SAP
Enterprise buyer: this buyer can opt for any of these system, Oracle CRM, SAP, Salesforce.com
Small business CRM buyer: this buyer can choose from Sage ACT, Salesforce.com, SugarCRM
Market Trends You Need To Consider
Markets keep on changing and for you to remain relevant in the market; you need to change with the changing markets. You need to check what is salesforce and some of these software comparisons before embarking on your Salesforce automation.
Software as a Service (saas)
Software as a service from Salesforce.com has gained popularity among users and has contributed to approximately 50% of all the new purchases. The low costs incurred in this software such as no hardware requirements are some of the reasons this software has grown so popular. This service boosts increased accessibility as you can access it through a PC or Mac.
Mobile Applications
The availability of mobile SFA applications has made automation easier and faster. The attractiveness and efficiency of these applications will determine your staff’s attitude towards them. If your team finds them attractive and efficient then there will be fast adoption. You too can access them even through Mac as some of them are Mac based.
Social Media
Top SFA vendors are embracing the social media as a real marketing partner and are capitalizing on the latest developments that are putting social media as a real business partner. Facebook is one of the leading social media platforms that are useful in salesforce automation.
Benefits of Salesforce Automation
There are many benefits that you will realize by embracing SFA. Here are some of the benefits that salesforce automation has realized on business
Reduced Cost
With SFA businesses are recording a reduction is cots of sales. This reduction can be attributed in reduced time between contact and sale which is as a result of automated sales.
Rep Accountability
This SFA software has made accountability a reality. Now sales rep can see clearly what they are to present to their managers as they have a clear view of the sales. Documentation also makes them more informed thanks to SFA software.
Accurate Sales Forecast
By use of sales contact software you can track useful data like metric conversion rate, leads and closed deals. This gives the company a clear cut in accurate forecast thus is very beneficial to the well-being of the company.
High Client Retention Rates
SFA system will help you keep your clients by ensuring they are contacted for instance before contract expiry dates. The SFA can do this through sharing of information with other systems. It can as well relay useful info to reps concerning their clients thus facilitating good company-customer relation.
Salesforce automation is therefore a key aspect of proper functioning of a business. It integrates with the rest of the software in the company leading to a better running of the organization.
