Sales teams in the year 2021 have so much technology at their disposal to help eliminate the manual and mundane part of the job, and the best part is that sales force automation software can do it better than the sales person.
In this article we will answer the question of what is sales force automation software, and the meaning of it. I will also explain what sales force automation software does behind the scenes, and what it can do for your sales department. We will also explain which sales teams need a SFA system and who does not, and how much sales force automation software costs in the year 2021.
Table of Contents
What is Sales Force Automation Software (SFA)?
Meaning of Sales Force Automation (SFA)
What Does Sales Force Automation Software Do?
Do I Need Sales Force Automation?
Cost of Sales Force Automation Software
What is Sales Force Automation Software (SFA)?
Sales Force Automation software refers to a cloud or on-premise system that automates many parts of your sales process, and lets you build sales workflows into your selling process. The SFA system will help your sales people continue moving their opportunities through the sales cycle, reminding sales people when they should call or contact a prospect next.
Sales Force Automation software can also log notes, create tasks, send follow-up emails and sms messages, alert the sales manager about critical developments in the sales cycle, and even update the opportunity record for the sales person.
Meaning of Sales Force Automation (SFA)
Sales Force Automation is a type of software that automates your sales process, helps move deals through the sales workflow, and eliminates manual tasks that take your sales team away from selling.
Every sales process involves communication, such as sending emails, leaving voicemails, and sending calendar invites. Sales Force Automation software can automate these type of activities. The type of communication SFA software is best at automating is the type of outreach that is built into your sales process but a chore for your sales people to remember to do. Some examples include sending a thank you email after a meeting with a customer, or sending an email to a customer or prospect that failed to return your call. These types of communications can be automated with sales force automation software.
What Does Sales Force Automation Software Do?
Communications, tasks, and workflow movement are the primarily functions of Sales Force Automation software (SFA). It performs and automates these three critical sales duties, so the sales person can focus their time on selling.
Communication
SFA software uses the data within the system to know when to communicate with the prospect or customer. If you tell the system to always send a follow up email after 72 hours of no callback from the customer, the SFA system will do that. This way your sales team looks punctual and persistent without needing to drive themselves crazy with sticky notes and to-do lists. The SFA software takes care of these required messages automatically, leaving your sales team time to actually do what they are best at, selling.
Emails, sms messages, and voicemails that you want to send either on a schedule or based on some other data point, the system will send on behalf of the sales person.
Tasks
Sales teams rely on tasks as a way to remind the sales person on things they need to do. Sales force automation software allows sales people to manually schedule tasks for themselves and other sales people at their company, but can schedule and complete tasks automatically as well.
Sales Workflow
The sales workflow is a process the sales team follows from the start of the deal process to the close. As each stage of the workflow arrives the sales force automation software can automatically schedule a series of tasks or follow-ups that the sales person needs to complete.
Do I Need Sales Force Automation?
All organizations that are selling products or services can benefit from using a sales force automation software. Most CRM software comes with SFA included, if your company already has a CRM ask your CRM provider to help you configure the sales force automation features into your sales workflow. If you do not already use a CRM, Snapforce offers a full suite of sales force automation features as part of it's default feature set.
Cost of Sales Force Automation Software
Sales Force Automation software can range in cost depending on the provider. Snapforce CRM pricing starts at only $12 per user per month and includes full SFA functionality.