Sales Force Automation
Content
Sales Force Automation
Presented by: Dheeraj 18075 K.Kusuma 18084 Sai Shankar 18101 Subbu 18112 Venu 18116
WHAT IS SFA?
It is the application of computerized technologies to support salespeople and sales management in the achievement of their work-related objectives.
KEY TECHNOLOGICAL ELEMENTS
Hardware: Desktop, laptop and handheld devices and contact or call centre telephony technology. Software: Comprises both µpoint¶ solutions that are designed to assist in a single area of selling or sales management, and integrated solutions that offer a range of functionality.
THE SFA ECOSYSTEM
SFA Solutions Providers
SFA specialists: They compete against enterprise and mid-market CRM suites that include SFA modules. Enterprise suite vendors: Offer a full range of IT solutions to support business, including SCM, ERP and CRM.
Classification of SFA vendors
Hardware and Infrastructure Vendors
Necessary to sustain increased number of users of SFA applications. Portable devices for field sales representatives. Should be synchronized with the central database. SFA applications need to integrate with
communication channels.
Service Providers
Provide re-engineer selling processes, manage projects, train salespeople, consult on organizational structure etc. They contribute to SFA project costs and to the probability of success.
SFA Software Functionality: Account management
It offers sales reps and managers a complete view of customer relationship including contacts, contact history, completed transactions, current orders, shipments, enquiries, service history, opportunities and quotations.
Activity management
It keeps sales representatives and managers aware of all activities, whether complete or pending, related to an account, contact or opportunity, by establishing to-do lists, setting priorities, monitoring progress and programming alerts.
SFA Software Functionality: Contact management
It includes tools for building, sharing and updating contact lists, making appointments, time setting, and task, event and contact tracking. Contact list data includes names, phone numbers etc.
Contract management
It enables to create, track, progress, accelerate, monitor and control contracts with customers
SFA Software Functionality: Document management
Companies generate and use many documents as they sell to customers for example brochures, product specifications, price lists, competitive comparisons and templates for preparing quotations.
Event management software
It enables to plan, implement, control and evaluate events such as conferences, seminars, trade shows, exhibitions and webinars, whether run solo or jointly with customers or other partners.
SFA Software Functionality: Incentive management
It is an issue for sales managers who use commissions to lift, direct, and reward sales representatives¶ efforts. In many companies commissions are calculated using standalone spreadsheets
Lead management
It allows companies to create, assign and track sales leads. Leads either expire or convert into qualified opportunities.
SFA Software Functionality: Opportunity management
It enables to create an opportunity record in the database and monitor progress against a predefined selling methodology. Sales people follow the steps as if following a checklist, ensuring that all opportunities are handled consistently.
Order management
It allows representatives to convert quotations and estimates into correctly priced orders once a customer has agreed to buy.
SFA Software Functionality: Pipeline management Product encyclopedias
It is a searchable electronic product catalogue that generally contains product names, stock numbers, images and specifications. These can be stored on representatives¶ computers and/or made available to customers online .
Product Configuration
It enables sales people, or customers themselves, automatically to design and price customized products, services or solutions.
SFA Software Functionality:
Product visualization Proposal generation Quotation management Sales forecasting Territory management Workflow engineering
SFA Adoption
Generally a company¶s determination to adopt SFA follows a two-step process. First senior management decides to invest in SFA. Secondly sales representatives and their managers decide to use SFA. Unless those benefits are delivered SFA may be abandoned.
Benefits From SFA
Competitive Advantage
Sales force automation offers companies a competitive advantage by allowing management to track trends in the market, along with the sales of the competitors. Saving Time Sales force automation can save a great deal of time. The ability to manage client lists, track leads, communicate easily with customers gives a sales team tools that might otherwise be too difficult or time-intensive to research and implement manually.
Improved Teamwork Members of a sales team can use sales force automation to communicate and work together more effectively. For one thing, sales force automation provides a means of sharing data remotely. Better Training Sales force automation gives companies a strong training tool for new members of the sales team. The sales force automation ensures that new employees will be using the same tools and methods as established members of the team. Evaluation Sales force automation also gives sales supervisors valuable tools for monitoring the efforts and sales of a sales team and individual members of the team. SFA system allows the businesses to serve their customers with expertise and diligence.
How SFA changes sales performance
There have been no. of assessments of the effects of SFA on sales performance. Does the use of SFA really contribute to higher sales performance? SFA associates with improvements in sales representatives selling skills, knowledge and performance. Sales representatives use of SFA accounted for a small, yet significant, portion(7%) of their sales performance.
Not all research indicates positive outcomes from the implementation of SFA. SFA will have more impact on sales performance when a no. of conditions are met. 1. Salespeople find that SFA is easy to use 2. Salespeople find the technology useful because it fits their roles well 3. Availability of appropriate-to-task SFA training
4. Users have a positive attitude towards innovation and technology 5. Senior management support for SFA It is SFA users who decide what is easy to use
CONCLUSION
Sales force automation is a competitive necessity which involves the application of technology to support sales people and their managers. Sales force automation leads to better informed and more productive reps. Increases likelihood of closing a sale. Enhances customer relationships.
Presented by: Dheeraj 18075 K.Kusuma 18084 Sai Shankar 18101 Subbu 18112 Venu 18116
WHAT IS SFA?
It is the application of computerized technologies to support salespeople and sales management in the achievement of their work-related objectives.
KEY TECHNOLOGICAL ELEMENTS
Hardware: Desktop, laptop and handheld devices and contact or call centre telephony technology. Software: Comprises both µpoint¶ solutions that are designed to assist in a single area of selling or sales management, and integrated solutions that offer a range of functionality.
THE SFA ECOSYSTEM
SFA Solutions Providers
SFA specialists: They compete against enterprise and mid-market CRM suites that include SFA modules. Enterprise suite vendors: Offer a full range of IT solutions to support business, including SCM, ERP and CRM.
Classification of SFA vendors
Hardware and Infrastructure Vendors
Necessary to sustain increased number of users of SFA applications. Portable devices for field sales representatives. Should be synchronized with the central database. SFA applications need to integrate with
communication channels.
Service Providers
Provide re-engineer selling processes, manage projects, train salespeople, consult on organizational structure etc. They contribute to SFA project costs and to the probability of success.
SFA Software Functionality: Account management
It offers sales reps and managers a complete view of customer relationship including contacts, contact history, completed transactions, current orders, shipments, enquiries, service history, opportunities and quotations.
Activity management
It keeps sales representatives and managers aware of all activities, whether complete or pending, related to an account, contact or opportunity, by establishing to-do lists, setting priorities, monitoring progress and programming alerts.
SFA Software Functionality: Contact management
It includes tools for building, sharing and updating contact lists, making appointments, time setting, and task, event and contact tracking. Contact list data includes names, phone numbers etc.
Contract management
It enables to create, track, progress, accelerate, monitor and control contracts with customers
SFA Software Functionality: Document management
Companies generate and use many documents as they sell to customers for example brochures, product specifications, price lists, competitive comparisons and templates for preparing quotations.
Event management software
It enables to plan, implement, control and evaluate events such as conferences, seminars, trade shows, exhibitions and webinars, whether run solo or jointly with customers or other partners.
SFA Software Functionality: Incentive management
It is an issue for sales managers who use commissions to lift, direct, and reward sales representatives¶ efforts. In many companies commissions are calculated using standalone spreadsheets
Lead management
It allows companies to create, assign and track sales leads. Leads either expire or convert into qualified opportunities.
SFA Software Functionality: Opportunity management
It enables to create an opportunity record in the database and monitor progress against a predefined selling methodology. Sales people follow the steps as if following a checklist, ensuring that all opportunities are handled consistently.
Order management
It allows representatives to convert quotations and estimates into correctly priced orders once a customer has agreed to buy.
SFA Software Functionality: Pipeline management Product encyclopedias
It is a searchable electronic product catalogue that generally contains product names, stock numbers, images and specifications. These can be stored on representatives¶ computers and/or made available to customers online .
Product Configuration
It enables sales people, or customers themselves, automatically to design and price customized products, services or solutions.
SFA Software Functionality:
Product visualization Proposal generation Quotation management Sales forecasting Territory management Workflow engineering
SFA Adoption
Generally a company¶s determination to adopt SFA follows a two-step process. First senior management decides to invest in SFA. Secondly sales representatives and their managers decide to use SFA. Unless those benefits are delivered SFA may be abandoned.
Benefits From SFA
Competitive Advantage
Sales force automation offers companies a competitive advantage by allowing management to track trends in the market, along with the sales of the competitors. Saving Time Sales force automation can save a great deal of time. The ability to manage client lists, track leads, communicate easily with customers gives a sales team tools that might otherwise be too difficult or time-intensive to research and implement manually.
Improved Teamwork Members of a sales team can use sales force automation to communicate and work together more effectively. For one thing, sales force automation provides a means of sharing data remotely. Better Training Sales force automation gives companies a strong training tool for new members of the sales team. The sales force automation ensures that new employees will be using the same tools and methods as established members of the team. Evaluation Sales force automation also gives sales supervisors valuable tools for monitoring the efforts and sales of a sales team and individual members of the team. SFA system allows the businesses to serve their customers with expertise and diligence.
How SFA changes sales performance
There have been no. of assessments of the effects of SFA on sales performance. Does the use of SFA really contribute to higher sales performance? SFA associates with improvements in sales representatives selling skills, knowledge and performance. Sales representatives use of SFA accounted for a small, yet significant, portion(7%) of their sales performance.
Not all research indicates positive outcomes from the implementation of SFA. SFA will have more impact on sales performance when a no. of conditions are met. 1. Salespeople find that SFA is easy to use 2. Salespeople find the technology useful because it fits their roles well 3. Availability of appropriate-to-task SFA training
4. Users have a positive attitude towards innovation and technology 5. Senior management support for SFA It is SFA users who decide what is easy to use
CONCLUSION
Sales force automation is a competitive necessity which involves the application of technology to support sales people and their managers. Sales force automation leads to better informed and more productive reps. Increases likelihood of closing a sale. Enhances customer relationships.
