A recent study conducted by InsideSales.com has revealed that sales reps spend only 37% of their time selling. 14.8% of their time is spent on administrative tasks and about 33.2% of their valuable time is spent on email communication.
It’s then no surprise that so many sales teams seem to always be under great pressure to meet their targets. Business leaders and sales managers are constantly faced with the daunting task of increasing sales efficiency.
The simple answer to their dilemma may actually be found in technology, or more precisely – Workflow Automation. If workflow automation and sales enabling apps are integrated with CRMs, the resultant systems will find better adoption and help improve sales performance.
So let’s look at three significant sales processes which, if automated, could help improve the overall efficiency of sales teams.
- Opportunity Management
Problem
When a business opportunity is identified, you may find your sales force spending time on administrative tasks like manually writing out meeting notes, coordinating with legal teams for contract drafting, and updating information in the CRM.
While paperwork and mundane tasks related to this single opportunity occupies their focus, there is a danger of the sales team missing out on other potential sales opportunities.
Solution
Opportunity management workflows can be designed to automatically record entries, trigger alerts to internal stakeholders with multiple follow-ups, and issue auto-generated documents at various stages of the sales process.
You can develop
- Custom forms and native mobile applications which capture data and notes from any device and update them in CRM’s
- Integrate email tools with CRMs to capture all the communication
- Auto-generate custom documents directly into Word, Excel or PDF files with data dynamically pulled from CRM systems and other sources
- Use metadata for auto-routing, allocation, and tracking of leads
- Set up alerts and follow emails for all cold leads through newsletters, which can assimilate content automatically from websites, blogs, and other sources.
- Discount Approvals
Problem
Pricing and discounts can make or break sales deals. Does your organization offer discount coupons to dealers and customers to promote products?
Collecting and accounting for coupons is a labor intensive and time-consuming exercise. Effective distribution of coupons and tracking their demographics is another challenge. Some customers may not receive coupons and result in inconsistent end-user experience and customer dissatisfaction.
Solution
Replacing the printing of coupons with QR coded on-line coupons can automate the accounting and payments process, reduce errors and duplicate processing of handled coupons. Accounting and payments can be automatically triggered providing a real-time view of how the discounts are generating sales. Discounts can be disabled as soon as a intended limits are reached. It can notify multi-level approvers and integrate with CRM.
You can develop
- Automated workflows issue discounts coupons and track discounts issued and coupons returned
- Alerts when coupons distributed reach targets
- Keep an audit trail of discount coupons returned against that were issued to evaluate the success of the campaign
- Integrate discounts with marketing channels like the website and mobile apps
- Contract Renewals
Problem
Recurring business increases the profitability of a client engagement, and is, therefore, the desired outcome. However, in this competitive world, simple errors and time-consuming processes can make customer retention a Herculean task.
Common errors in contracts, drafts or contract renewals like pricing differences, mismatched line items, conflicting terms & conditions can occur and could hamper continued business.
Solution
Organizations can devise workflow to automate repetitive steps in the contract renewal process. These can be integrated with the CRM for proper documentation.
You can
- Auto-generate documents required for contract renewals like legal documentation, product information, line items, cover letters, etc.
- Automatically retrieve essential information from past contracts
- Notify managers when exceptions occur in the renewal process
- Set auto reminders for renewals well in advance to maintain continuity of service
