How to choose best Sales Force Automation Software?

Sales Force Automation is a software technology that integrates and automates a variety of business operations, including customer contact management, order processing, sales forecasting, and employee performance evaluation. In short, the best sales force automation software connects all the elements of your business and allow a seamless flow of data between different branches. Otherwise, it requires intensive brainstorming at multiple levels, achieving which by human resources is very complex.

SFA software or sales force automation software has always been one of the most important parts of a modern successful business. The overall performance improvements it provides are an important asset.

Are you a newbie? Still a fresh solo entrepreneur? Or have you just started to be the sales and marketing manager? Ok, good luck first. It is often difficult to call a memory cell each time you perform an inventory, process sales, and get tasks such as customer status and pricing. You may be proud to manage a lot of things at the same time.

But we will tell you. With every passing moment, your sales will become harder. You will overwhelm the brain with too much data and information. Despite this, we offer a solution where customers can’t breathe in the air and seek help with ever-increasing customer data. The solution is automation. You need to automate all the tasks that are used repeatedly in sales.

Yes, it is. We are talking about the best sales force automation software (SFA software), which automates operations and processes and leverages this technology. If you want to know why you want to use it, this is the answer!

What is Sales Force Automation software?

As mentioned above, the sales automation software is a sales automation application that automates business tasks such as sales forecasting and processing, inventory management, and customer interaction tracking. A key part of sales automation tools is sales forecasting and business performance policing. Some companies can develop a customized version of the Sales Force Automation Software or a variety of Sales Force Automation Systems or FSA systems from SFA Software.

Enterprises use a variety of sales force automation software to increase the efficiency of cross-departmental information collaboration and sharing. Time-consuming and difficult tasks are replaced by automated processes that have a positive impact on the sales process.

Type of SFA system and applicable operations

In addition to simple CRM, FMCG’s best sales automation software or sales automation solution can handle the smallest tasks, the most important part is that you can customize it to meet your business needs, thereby increasing sales efficiency. While you can choose from a full range of software to automate everything, the main types of SFA applications/sales automation software (SFA software) that manage sales activities include:

ERP solution package for sale
Sell CRM
Price manager
Retail sales manager
Marketing automation solution
Customer service software
Mobile sales automation tailored to your needs

What types of SFA software are there currently?

Depending on the set of tasks, budget and IT expertise you want to automate, you can choose one of the following:

Desktop-based sales automation system: This software is installed on your machine. If you offer a stand-alone application, you need to buy a one-time license from the provider, which will cover annual maintenance costs. These SFA software are powerful. However, IT infrastructure and hardware require the installation and maintenance of IT infrastructure and hardware. Data security is also your responsibility.
Cloud-based solutions: This is widely used and is best suited for individual retailers and small businesses. Cloud-based sales automation software for small and medium-sized businesses is accessible to users of servers and providers because they can be accessed from a computer’s browser. Using them requires a broadband connection. These tools are lightweight and cost-effective compared to desktop-based online SFA tools. You don’t need to invest a lot of hardware. Depending on your provider, you may be billed on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis.
Cloud-hosted ERP solutions: Like most ERP software, these solutions typically cover a wide assortment of operations and management tasks. Most vendors evaluate solutions by providing free trials to users. These solutions are tightly integrated solutions that are universally available. These highly scalable, restricted SFA applications or sales force automation software delivers superior functionality, high cost, and maintenance.

Why do companies have to automate sales?

Lost opportunities
Priority difference
Lack of forecasting and information
Employee responsibility
Collaboration and data sharing

Sales automation can help you improve your sales efforts, reduce organizational disruptions, and shorten your sales cycle. Monitor and broadcast, as well as assess sales performance and forecast future growth.

The best Sales Force Automation Software is able to maximize the sales activities of all businesses. These features include inventory management, sales forecast analysis, contract management, quote management, proposals, presentation creation, and product management. Therefore, according to our experts, the trend of the software market shows that SMEs and large enterprise organizations have chosen one of the best sales automation software and standardized the business process.

Since you know what FMCG’s mobile sales automation/online sales tracking software is, it is definitely a good idea to buy one for you. How to choose the best SFA tool or SFA software? This is a guide.

Choosing the best sales force automation software for your business

In fact, there are some prerequisites before purchasing a sales management solution. You need to know the type of buyer you are. To find it, ask yourself these questions:

What are your technical requirements for technology?
Are you allocating a system budget for technology investments?
Are you sure your team can take advantage of this tool?
Where can you go quickly when you need technical support and troubleshooting?
How prompt is the support team?

Once you’ve found the answer, you can start looking for the best sales force automation software. First of all, pay attention to the factors listed below.

Demand Analysis: Software is designed to provide specific needs or business operations. What activities or tasks do you want to automate using the software? Do you have the required sales automation tools? Basic tasks include contact management, follow-ups, scheduling, reporting, tracking, forecasting, and sales support.
Try it before you buy. Most vendors today offer a free trial or free software version that you can test before buying the license. Take advantage of this feature to explore the software and determine if it is right for you. Can you use the available features based on existing processes? Therefore, it is important to take the test before purchasing.
Number of users: For cloud-based sales automation solutions, including online sales tracking software for a limited number of users who can access the software at one time. Does the package provide enough users to accommodate the team?
Email/SMS Notification: Since all sales representatives have access to all content anytime, anywhere, the best Sales Force Automation Software must include this feature. The system will notify you whenever there are actions, requests or triggers that require quick action. This improves team efficiency and responsiveness.
Learn about the main features: Does the software work the way you want it to? The main function should be the ability to automate most tasks. SFA software or sales automation software should include the features you need for your business.
Support, training, and implementation: Can suppliers train their teams on the software? Do they implement the system for your purposes and make sure everything is working? If you want to use it with existing data, will the vendor help you? If you have a problem, how can you access it quickly and easily?
Determine who is already using it: Be careful to use the system in the market. Pay attention to your supplier’s customers. Because you don’t want to buy anything that no one uses.
User-friendliness of the tool: It can be complicated during software operation. This may include features that you don’t need. In this case, you can see that such a tool only uses a little bit. In addition, you should be able to easily find the tasks that are normally performed on your system. Your dashboard should contain all the crucial information you need to know with just one click. Ease of use is very important because it takes a long time to use the tool.
Finally, there is cost: Choose a cloud-based on-premise or ERP solution based on budget. Most importantly, don’t put price above features when looking for the right tools. At the same time, find a solution that provides the necessary functionality in your budget, rather than being heavy.

Customers purchase in-depth knowledge of Sales Force Automation software

The following is a SoftwareSuggest expert report created by analyzing online SFA software buyers in 2016:

1. FMCG SFA Software Purchaser:

So far, we have received 45% of Indian sales automation system buyers and 12% from the US. Image shows a distribution of sales software buyers by country.

2. Sales of automation software buyers industry wise:

For industry data, most of the inquiries about sales automation software are most often from manufacturing automation software for manufacturing, distribution, and pharmaceutical companies.

3. Default deployment type: installation base V/s Web-based software

When choosing install-based vs Web-based software, 78.9% of customers prefer SFA software which provides online/web-based distribution. Next, 8.9% of customers want to purchase sales automation tools that provide both installation-based and web-based deployments. This clearly shows that there are not many installation-based buyers.

4. Customer’s expected budget affinity (USD)

Approximately 49.4% of customers expect to purchase the required SFA software within the budget range of 0-50 USD, followed by 22.4% of customers, who prefer the 500-10,000 USD range. As the budget range increases, the percentage of customers gradually declines, as can be clearly seen from the chart below.

Key features in SFA software

Contact Management: Fully tracking the sales team’s audience is a key feature of mobile sales automation software, such as easy access to past events and communication history. You can also set reminders for subsequent actions and set appointments accordingly. Administrators can monitor and track the progress of the sales team.
Sales Forecast: An in-depth analysis of sales history, current trends, ongoing progress, and forecasted sales revenue.
Multi-device access: Because the sales team sends it on site most of the time, it must be accessible from multiple devices and different operating systems. Even if the team is out of the office, it should be able to access and extract lead-related data.
Sales Performance Reporting and Analysis: Ability to generate performance reports for sales and sales personnel to obtain real-time data on forecasts and performance, sales force tracking, revenue, and other relevant metrics.
Customization: As your business grows, these SFA software tools must be fully customizable. The team must be able to customize the interface and other variables to meet the requirements.

The benefits of automation software

Save time: These systems can handle time-consuming activities like appointment scheduling, sales tracking, and sending follow-up actions. This enables the sales team to focus on potential customer tracking, send suggestions and quotes, and close orders.
Improved customer service: Using an automated salesperson management application allows you to easily extract customer details from a central database when requesting a query or getting information. When the information is at your fingertips, the overall customer service is improved.
More revenue: Based on analytics, sales software shows sales products. Sales teams can create campaigns that focus on selling the products.
Opportunity Management: The competitive analysis capabilities of SFA software enable companies to track competitors’ activities. This makes it easy to identify trends and opportunities.
More effective sales team management: Managers can quickly access real-time data like sales, opportunities, numbers, complaints and other things to measure the effectiveness of the sales team.

Market Trends of Sales Automation Software

Before choosing SFA software for the sales process and contacting all vendors, you should consider the following. You can provide a list of requirements that the solution must meet, but there are some features and useful factors that are critical to the software you purchase.

Mobile Apps: All software solution providers today must provide smartphone apps. Salespeople must use information and perform work while moving. When your sales management solution provides a mobile sales automation software application, you can complete your entire business on your own smartphone. It also makes your team efficient. However, mobile apps have performance limitations over desktop versions. You can still perform mission-critical tasks and synchronize with desktop tasks.
Social platform integration: Your business should not ignore the power of social media. If so, the SFA must provide connectivity to the platform to help increase visibility and sales opportunities.
A comprehensive solution: Different software performs specific tasks in different ways, but the mobile SFA application suite is difficult to handle multiple systems and process data. These ERP kits are the first choice for sales tycoons.

Putting everything together:

Overall, the best sales automation software makes sales cycle management easier, making your organization more organized with all the major manual tasks. The less paperwork, the higher the productivity.

After all, all software is just a tool. It is your brain that manages it. Even if you implement these tools, you must ensure that they are used in the most efficient way.

Finally, stop playing with data and automate, and SFA software focuses on lead conversion! But don’t forget, you don’t have to rush to seek success. Take the time to evaluate and find the right tool for your needs.