Today, most firms utilize some sort of sales automation or CRM software to help organize sales data and increase efficiency. However, most firms do not realize the full capabilities of their CRM software or do not utilize them properly and in turn still have inefficient sales processes.

 There are three major problem areas for firms using sales automation software: First, customizing your sales automation software and tailoring it to your company’s specific needs is crucial in order for your sales process to be as clean and efficient as possible. Also, how data and/or sales intelligence is integrated into your CRM is important to keeping the sales process streamlined. Finally, getting your users to adopt a particular process and to accurately record data when using your sales automation software is critical for allowing information to flow freely.

 Tailoring your sales automation software to your company’s unique needs is paramount. In addition to integrating the CRM system into the culture of your firm, the system itself needs to reflect the needs of your company. Defining which metrics are important, integrating the information your company needs, and creating custom reports detailing critical information/metrics are the most important things to customize. Adjusting the interface and making customized dashboards, and even managing phases of the sales cycle and implementing work-flow rules that help increase productivity are also necessary. Effectively designing and implementing these facets of your firms sales automation software will dramatically increase efficiency. The graph below depicts a number of different solutions and the percentage of companies who currently have them in place. Best in class companies represent the top performing companies of those that were surveyed. All of these solutions are customized to fit the company who is employing them.

 Integrating data or sales intelligence into your CRM system not only gives sales reps contextual information and contacts, it also reduces the amount of time reps spend searching for this information. Whether this means the sales reps reaching out to others through email or searching on the internet for this information, without integrated sales intelligence the sales process typically slows to a snails pace.

 Creating a culture in the workplace that revolves around your sales automation software is also vital. Meaning, the sales automation software needs to be the primary way that sales reps record data and share information instead of just an extra book keeping mechanism. Increased visibility, accurate forecasting, and comprehensive reporting are extremely difficult to achieve without sweeping adoption of sales automation software by a companies sales force. Qualifying leads and closing deals becomes a much more streamlined process with widespread usage of sales automation software by your firm’s sales team, mostly due to the lack of availability of information to individual sales reps.

This integration of CRM software into the daily regimen of the sales team’s workday requires leadership, or influence from the executive team. In a survey conducted by Aberdeen research, out of 212 companies surveyed, 72% of best in class firms (best performing in year over year revenue) have executive level support for their CRM system as opposed to only 54% of those firms who are under performing. Executive level support is necessary to instill the mindset that accurate and thorough usage and data recording in your firm’s CRM system is critical to its success. Without Executive level leadership, widespread adoption of sales automation software among sales reps is unlikely.

While sales automation software is an exceptional tool which can dramatically increase sales efficiency and streamline the flow of information, it needs to be used properly. To be effective, your sales automation software needs to be fully adopted by your users, fully customized to your business, and data needs to be seamlessly integrated into the system. If these three things are done, your sales optimization software will yield impressive increases in efficiency and much higher ROI.

Tags: CRM