The benefits of sales management software are many from the sales person's perspective, as are the ways to tap in to SFA with wireless access, interactive voice recognition programs, and online SFA accessible from anywhere.
Even though sales management software is powered by some of the most powerful business technologies on the market, the software lets sales people spend more time connecting with clients on a human level. With SFA automating many of the sales person's mundane tasks, the needs, desires, and general worldview of the client can be better understood.
The tasks that the SFA components of a CRM system can automate are many, but below are some of the highlights that research shows sales people appreciate the most:
Sales Scheduling Tracking with reminders that can be either preset or that come up automatically if there hasn't been communication with a particular prospect in a set amount of time
Sales Reporting is much less of a burden and is nearly automatic. Sales progress reports are generated using information the sales person has already entered during their time with the customer.
Sales Coaching and prompting is possible because the best CRM systems today are modeled on the techniques and practices of top sales performers. This means that a new sales person has a built-in training tool and experienced sales people, always eager to improve their numbers any way they can, can tweak their habits to become the best of the best.
Sales Lead Routing is much more fair and transparent with an SFA/CRM system. Leads can be assigned in a number of ways: by geography, workload, sales person's area of expertise, or completely at random. Regardless of how the leads are distributed, there's a clear system that everyone's aware of, and this makes for better morale and a better working environment.
Lead Management tools let sales people can know exactly who they are calling, and how the lead was generated. This avoids time-wasting, and potentially embarrassing, questions, and gives the sales person a heads up on who they are calling, and why.
Customized Quotes can be quickly generated that meet the customers needs and fit within their past buying patterns.
Simple & Easey-to-use is something that sales people are often surprised and pleased with when they first use a Sales Force Automation system. At many organizations, technology initiatives that will supposedly save the frontline troops time are rightly viewed with suspicion. Too often, managers latch onto the latest technology or best-selling management philosophy as a quick fix. Software programs can't fix lackluster leadership, but sales people consistently say that CRM/SFA implementations are one of the few top-down initiatives they are thankful for. This might be because SFA tends to give management a clear picture of what's going on while freeing the sales person from paperwork, office politics (especially when it comes to lead distribution), and bureaucracy.
The bottom line is that SFA helps people sell more by quickly identifying what the customer needs, and, on a deeper level, what makes the consumer tick. Although the differences in products and services between competitors is important, customers are people too. In other words, like all human beings, customers gravitate towards situations where they feel comfortable, appreciated, and understood. Sales Force Automation tools in a CRM suite empower sales people to create a customer's ideal buying environment. It's not the latest trend or technology, but a new take on an old problem keeping customers happy with a minimum of fuss.
