Technology has always impacted the business. Much of technology has either been created or adapted to help businesses in some way – from businesses being able to gather data that can help them reach their audiences to freeing up time and adding convenience to the lives of customers and employees alike.
Automation technology is a part of modern business. Automation is really nothing new – ATM machines, for instance, have helped drive bank business and offered better solutions to customers and are fully automated. Much has been made of how modern automation software has affected the areas of HR and marketing for many organizations. But how will automation affect the future of sales?
How automation will impact salespeople
Salespeople are the driving force of sales. They are the people responsible for calling on accounts to engage in conversations that create new or repeat business, answer questions, ask about a business or individual’s needs, and offer solutions. Because of the importance of sales to most businesses, salespeople are incentivized with bonuses, trips, and more to encourage them in their sales efforts.
Automation doesn’t mean robots calling people and a lack of a human sales force. Automation is meant to help expedite and simplify the overall processes that keep sales from progressing Automation makes some people think that it will automatically eliminate a sales force and force people to do business with AI software, but it can actually help create better business-to-business relationships and can be a positive part of the future of sales.
How is automation affecting the future of sales?
Automation helps with:
- Following up with prospects to help close a deal
- Automatic upload of customer information to a customer management database
- Allowing salespeople to know who in their lead queue is the most important to prioritize to help connect you with a real opportunity, rather than just mindlessly going through a list
- Better, faster access to client information and supportive communicative assets like testimonials
- Gives you better insight into missed opportunities to help improve processes.
Uses of Automation in Business
What you need to know about the future of sales. Here are some specific ways that businesses are using automation:
1. Creating contracts and proposals
Automated sales programs help move contracts through various stakeholders faster. They also help populate proposals with key information for the client, such as customer information, product details, and price that can be automatically uploaded from CRM programs.
2. Email campaigns and follow-ups
Not only does sales automation software allow you to create templates of the kinds of emails you regularly send out to clients, but you can also set up email workflows that will automatically send out follow-ups, product updates, and more.
3. Scheduling meetings
Automated meeting scheduling allows you to send a link to a client that gives them the ability to see your calendar and pick a time rather than send half a dozen emails back and forth trying to get a time set on the calendar that works for everyone.
4. Lead scoring
AI lets salespeople know who to prioritize on their leads list. As not all leads are created equal and there are only so many hours in the day, having insight into which business connections are likely to pay off is a valuable insight.
With more sales processes automated, salespeople have the ability to spend more time personalizing their approach to clients and working to better understand their needs. This ultimately can lead to more sales and more closed deals, as salespeople have more time, energy, attention to give to their customers.
Automation helps eliminate time-consuming, repetitive tasks and empowers sales teams and businesses with more data and insight about their customer and sales process. But automation software is only one tool – salespeople still need to be proactive, savvy teams of people who connect well with people to help bring the best results to any business.