What is Sales Force Automation? Definition, tools, & how to start
When you think of a typical sales team, you may not think technology is at the core of how sales teams deliver the best results possible. However, sales force automation is changing how sales teams work, to bring in more sales for their organizations.
Sales force automation helps sales teams gain valuable insight on customers and prospects close deals and increase company profits. By automating routine tasks, salespeople can focus more on building relationships and less on paperwork.
What is Sales Force Automation (SFA)?
Sales force automation (SFA) uses software to simplify and improve the sales process. SFA acts like a digital assistant, that handles repetitive sales tasks automatically so salespeople can focus on closing deals and building relationships
Sales force automation typically manages customer contacts, tracks interactions, generates sales forecasts, and schedules follow-ups. It can also automate follow-up messages.
Unlike traditional sales methods, which often store information in separate places like spreadsheets, or other software, SFA centralizes all this data in one platform. This single software creates efficiency in the sales process and makes sure that all sales team members are on the same page about the progress of deals. SFA tools often integrate with customer relationship management (CRM) software, offering a complete view of the entire sales pipeline.
Sales force automation transforms the sales process from a manual, often disjointed effort into a data-driven strategy. SFA makes sales teams work smarter, not harder, increasing productivity and sales.
What kind of sales teams should adopt sales force automation?
Sales force automation (SFA) is particularly beneficial for sales teams in industries with complex, high-volume, or lengthy sales cycles. Businesses with large sales teams that need to manage lots of customer data, track multiple leads, and send timely follow-ups will find SFA beneficial. Typically, companies in technology, pharmaceutical, and financial services can benefit from SFA.
Businesses that rely heavily on data and analytics to drive sales strategies are also well-suited for SFA. Sectors like retail, real estate, and manufacturing, where understanding customer behavior and market trends is crucial.
SFA is not a good fit for industries or niches where sales processes are highly personalized and relationship-driven. In these areas, the sales cycle often relies on deep personal connections and tailored, hands-on approaches that would not benefit from automation. Small businesses with straightforward sales processes and limited customer interactions occasionally find SFA to be an unnecessary expense, as their needs can usually be managed manually with simpler tools.
The 5 Main Benefits of Sales Force Automation
Sales force automation (SFA) helps sales teams operate more efficiently, and allow sales teams to do what they do best: sell!
1. Increase Close Rates with Highly Qualified Leads:
SFA directs sales teams to leads most likely to convert. Sales force automation tools use analytics to score and prioritize leads based on their buying potential. This process helps sales teams quickly identify and focus on the most promising prospects increasing their chances of closing deals.
Sales force automation tools often integrate with customer relationship management (CRM) software, providing a full view of each lead’s interactions and engagement history. Sales reps can then personalize their approach and communication to meet each lead’s specific needs and preferences, further improving conversion rates.
2. Improve Sales Team Productivity with Task Automation
Administrative tasks often take up a large portion of a salesperson’s day. Sales force automation tools can automate these administrative activities, such as data entry, follow-up scheduling, and report generation. This frees sales reps to spend more time engaging with leads and closing deals.
By reducing the manual workload, sales force automation software saves time and minimizes human error. Automated systems make sure that no important tasks are overlooked and that all customer interactions are recorded accurately.
3. Enhance Customer Relationships with Personalized Interactions
Sales force automation tools help sales teams to deliver more personalized and timely interactions with customers. With a full view of each customer’s history, preferences, and past interactions, sales automation tools allow sales reps to tailor their communications and offers to match individual customer needs. This level of personalization helps build stronger, more trusting relationships with customers.
Sales force automation tools automate follow-ups and reminders, ensuring leads receive consistent and timely communication. This not only improves the lead experience but also keeps the sales process moving forward smoothly.
4. Gain Valuable Insights with Advanced Reporting and Analytics
Sales force automation software comes with reporting and analytics tools that provide deep insights into the sales process and performance. A sales team accesses insights on various metrics such as lead conversion rates, sales cycle length, and revenue forecasts. These insights help sales managers spot sales trends, track progress towards goals, and make data-driven decisions.
Sales teams can also find bottlenecks in the sales process and areas for improvement. By refining sales strategies and tactics based on this information, teams can achieve better performance and higher sales.
5. Create Consistency and Compliance with Sales Team Processes
Sales automation software helps create consistent and compliant sales activities. By standardizing processes and automating compliance checks, sales force automation reduces the risk of sales professionals not complying with processes. This is particularly important in highly regulated industries like healthcare and finance, where following standard process is crucial
Standardized processes make it easier to onboard new sales professionals and get them up to speed quickly. With clear guidelines and automated workflows, new team members can easily follow established protocols and start contributing effectively in less time. Consistency and compliance lead to a more professional and reliable sales operation, which enhances the company’s reputation and trustworthiness.
How to Adopt Sales Force Automation
To successfully adopt sales force automation, companies should follow this 5-step process:
1. Identify your sales process needs
Start by assessing your current sales processes to identify areas that need improvement. Look for repetitive tasks that could be automated, data management challenges (is my data accurate?” and Is it entered in a timely fashion?”. Interview your sales team to understand their pain points and gather feedback on what features they find most beneficial.
Clearly define your goals for adopting SFA. Examples include increasing lead conversion rates, improving customer relationships, or raising sales productivity. Defining your goals helps you choose the right sales force automation software.
2. Choose the right sales force automation software
Research various sales automation software to find the one that best solves your sales process pain points. Look for software that is easy to use, integrates well with your existing systems (like your CRM), and the specific features.
Try out free trials or demos to see how the software performs. Involve your sales team in the selection process to make sure that the chosen software meets their needs and is user-friendly.
3. Train your sales team
Once you have selected your sales automation software, provide training for your sales team. Make sure they know how to use the software effectively and are aware of its benefits. Training should cover all essential functions for an individual’s role, such as managing leads, automating tasks, and generating reports.
Develop regular training sessions to keep your team updated on new features and best practices. A well-trained team will be more likely to embrace the new software and use it to its full potential.
4. Integrate sales force automation with other systems
To make the most of sales force automation, integrate your tool with your existing business software like your CRM, email marketing platforms, and customer support tools. The best CRM platforms with email marketing are already good starting points for sales force automation.
Work closely with your IT team or external consultants to create a smooth integration process. Address any technical issues quickly to avoid disruptions to your sales process.
5. Monitor your sales force automation implementation
After setting up your sales force automation, continuously monitor its impact on your sales process. Use the software’s reporting and analytics features to track key metrics like lead conversion rates, sales cycle length, and overall productivity.
Gather feedback from your team regularly and make adjustments as needed. Staying informed about how the system is performing helps you make necessary improvements and make sure it continues to benefit your sales process.
What is the Difference Between Sales Force Automation and CRM?
Sales Force Automation (SFA) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems share a common goal: improving the efficiency of sales and customer service processes.
Both SFA and CRM aim to simplify workflows, manage data effectively, and support better customer interactions. They often overlap in functionality, as many CRM systems include SFA features such as lead management, opportunity tracking, and sales forecasting.
However, there are key differences between the two.
- SFA is focused on automating and optimizing the sales process. It includes tools to handle routine sales tasks, manage sales pipelines, and generate sales reports. SFA software is designed to help sales teams increase productivity, close more deals, and improve overall sales performance.
- CRM covers a broader range of functions. It manages all aspects of a company’s interactions with both current and potential customers. This includes sales, marketing, customer service, and support. CRM systems provide a complete view of customer interactions across various touchpoints, helping businesses build stronger, long-term customer relationships.
Check out our guide about sales funnels to learn what it is, the stages of a funnel, and how to create one.
5 Recommended Sales Force Automation Software
There are many sales force automation software options available, with most being part of a large software suite that combines CRM and sales automation tools.
Each tool has pros and cons, with different pricing models that fit different business types and sizes.
1. ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign helps sales and marketing teams grow by managing sales processes and improving customer relationships. It has over 900 pre-made automation templates to help you get started quickly. It also connects with more than 900 software platforms.
Pros
- Sales automation “recipes” help businesses quickly automate repetitive tasks without being an expert.
- Improves contact management across all plans with tools that sync emails from your inbox to ActiveCampaign.
- Bundle sales force automation tools with marketing tools.
Cons
- Custom pipeline management reporting only available on the Enterprise plan which is the most priciest.
ActiveCampaign has a 14-day free trial, with pricing starting at $19 per month. The Starter plan includes a marketing CRM, email marketing automation, a drag-and-drop email editor, basic forms, reporting and analytics, and site tracking.
On Plus, Pro, and Enterprise plans, you can also buy CRM add-ons. The ActiveCampaign CRM includes sales automation triggers and actions to automate your pipeline. You also get sales reports including deal forecasts.
Try ActiveCampaign today or read our full review
2. Hubspot Sales Hub
Hubspot Sales Hub is Hubspot’s sales force automation software. Sales Hub integrates well with other Hubspot products, including Marketing Hub and Service Hub to provide a single platform for managing customer relationships and business processes
Sales Hub is user-friendly for beginners and offers advanced features for experienced users through free courses on Hubspot Academy.
Best of all, Sales Hub is free to start. Paid plans offer enhanced analytics, tracking, and customization options.
Pros
- Easy onboarding process allows anyone to get started on Hubspot quickly.
- Great education and customer support resources included in every plan at no extra cost.
- Includes a sandbox environment to allow your team test changes before pushing to all users.
- Task management process is simplified and easy to assign tasks to sales users.
Cons
- Once upgrading to a paid plan, all plans are billed annually (no month to month contracts)
- There’s a steep learning curve once you go beyond the basics of sales force automation.
Best of all, it’s free to start using Sales Hub (yes, free!). Paid plans include goal tracking, forecasting, custom objects for sales data, automation tools, and predictive lead scoring.
Try Hubspot for free today or read our full review
3. Pipedrive
Pipedrive is an easy-to-use, powerful sales force automation tool. It helps businesses plan sales campaigns, monitor sales performance, predict sales, and generate reports.
It’s very easy to pick up and is suitable for small businesses.
Pros
- Pipedrive is customizable to fit various sales processes
- User-friendly interface makes it quick and easy to learn.
- Reporting features include custom fields and dashboards.
Cons
- You would have to pay extra for lead generation, email marketing and web tracking
- Limited features on the startup plan
Pipedrive has a 14-day free trial, and pricing starts at $14 per user per month. Paid plans include advanced reporting, advanced sales automation, and customization options for managing pipelines.
Get started with Pipedrive today
4. Keap
Keap is an automation platform designed to help businesses to power not just their sales force but also their marketing. It has sales pipelines to organize deals, track progress, and improve sales efficiency. You can automate tasks like sending follow-up emails or assigning tasks. Keap also offers tools for lead capture, appointments, tracking pipelines, generating quotes, and processing payments.
Pros
- Built for small businesses to automate sales and marketing workflows.
- Drag-and-drop functionality helps sales reps quickly manage sales opportunities.
- Includes tools for lead generation, landing pages, and multi-channel communication.
- Automated quotes and invoices.
Cons
- Keap may be too complex for smaller businesses.
- Reporting is more limited than expected, given the large amount of data generated in the sales pipeline process.
Pricing starts at $249 per month for 2 users, making it the most expensive option in this review. Higher-tier plans add more users and include advanced features like detailed reporting, lead optimization, and expanded marketing tools such as eCommerce, landing pages, and affiliate management. A 14-day free trial is available.
5. Salesforce Sales Cloud
The Salesforce Sales Cloud has been helping businesses of all sizes manage sales processes for over 20 years.
While Sales Cloud isn’t as user-friendly as other options, it can be customized to fit the needs of almost any organization. Trailhead, Salesforce’s learning community, provides lots of education to help businesses get the most out of Sales Cloud.
Pros
- Highly customizable for small businesses or enterprises, and everything in between.
- Training community available through Trailhead and Salesforce help center.
Cons
- Out-of-the-box functionality is overwhelming and complex for small businesses.
- Requires advanced training to fully customize Sales Cloud to fit your organization’s needs.
Salesforce Sales Cloud has a 30-day free trial and then starts at $25 per user per month. Pricier plans include advanced analytics and automation tools to help businesses gain better insights into the sales pipeline and deals.
Check out our review of the best sales funnel software for more details about sales force automation tools.
Sales Force Automation: Conclusion
Sales force automation centralizes data in one platform, improves sales productivity and keeps all team members aligned. Integrating with CRM changes the sales process into a data-driven strategy, increasing productivity and driving more sales.
To successfully adopt sales force automation, companies should follow a 5-step process.
- Identify your sales process needs
- Choose the right sales force automation software
- Train your sales team
- Integrate sales force automation with your business tools.
- Continuously evaluate your sales force automation approach
Frequently Asked Questions about Sales Force Automation
Does sales force automation replace sales reps?
Sales force automation helps sales reps improve customer relationships with personalised interactions. By providing a full view of each customer’s history, preferences, and previous interactions, sales automation tools allow sales reps to tailor their communications and offers to match individual customer needs. Also, sales force automation handles repetitive sales tasks automatically.
How can sales automation improve sales productivity?
By automating these tasks, sales force automation software saves time and reduces the risk of human error. These systems make sure that important tasks aren’t overlooked and that all customer interactions are accurately recorded.
What are common mistakes when adopting sales force automation?
- Implementing sales automation programs without defined goals or metrics.
- Failing to provide sufficient training for sales teams on how to effectively use the new system.
- Choosing a system with too many unnecessary features that overwhelm users instead of simplifying their tasks.
- Failing to budget for all costs, including implementation, training, and ongoing maintenance.
- Migrating inaccurate or incomplete data into the sales automation tool
- Not tailoring the sales force automation tool to fit the specific needs and processes of the business.
What are the downsides of sales automation?
Another downside is the dependency on technology, which leads to problems if the automated systems fail or encounter technical issues. Over-reliance on automation also results in a skills gap in teams, as they might become less proficient in performing manual tasks and engaging in traditional sales activities.
What can sales force automation tools help teams accomplish?
- Increase close rates with highly qualified leads.
- Improve sales team productivity with task automation.
- Strengthen customer relationships with personalised interactions.
- Gain valuable insights with detailed reporting and analytics.
- Create consistency and compliance with processes.