Factories that have used robotic assistance have seen savings of up to 40 percent. So automation is here to stay, folks. However, it is not just manufacturing where it is having an impact.
Are you aware that small businesses, just like yours, are using it to transform their sales process? Well, now you are.
Implementing the setup is also much easier than you may think. Read on as we discuss sales process automation and its benefits.
1. Reduced Costs
Time is money, and if you are reducing the time spent on tasks, you are reducing costs. This allows you and your staff to concentrate on other aspects of the business. That means you can reallocate staff to other jobs, or you may even need to hire less staff altogether.
For example, you may have someone who manually collects and inputs contact information for potential clients. By automating, they can concentrate on turning them into valuable conversions instead of doing data input. Our favorite sales & marketing automation platform with CRM Keap has over 20 pre-built automated processes that you can start with immediately. And yes, we can help you with that!
2. Allows You to Refine Campaigns
Do you do A/B testing regularly? This involves testing two methods, usually either automated marketing or sales campaigns, and measuring to see which is the most effective. You then start a more extensive campaign using the most successful trial.
By automating, you can set up two or three smaller campaigns easily. Automation will provide the data you need, so you don’t have to spend time sifting through it. You can then take the most successful, automate it and vastly increase your return on investment.
This saves you time and effort into campaigns that may not be effective. In addition, you can A/B test for different demographics, increasing its efficiency even further. Our proven Clone the Owner® system has leveraged this and other methods to achieve excellent results in the past.
3. Increases Visibility
When you implement sales automation tools, you also get the benefit of increased data. You can see every stage of the customer journey and how it works or does not. By acting upon this, you have the chance to increase leads.
Do you ever have visitors to the website that are not converting? Automated data will let you see which points of the sales funnel they are leaving from. By streamlining this and trying new tactics, you can improve your process from arrival to conversion.
Leads may go unassigned, or customers may slip through the net and not get called. With automation, your sales force can see what needs to be followed up and improved upon.
4. Personalizes the Customer Journey
Personalizing the customer journey has become even more critical in the digital age. You can turn a passive customer into a loyal, long-time supporter by providing an individual approach.
Automation does this by providing your customer with suggestions and content it knows they will like. You may have already experienced this when visiting websites and getting suggested posts or products. Automation collects data on what they have already interacted with and finds other items they will like.
5. Minimizes Errors
No matter how good your staff is, human error is bound to occur. Inputting wrong data, failing to follow established processes, and other mistakes will occur no matter how hard people try to do their job correctly. Unfortunately, this can mean a loss of time, productivity, and profit.
With automation, this has become a thing of the past. Your processes will be smoother, but the chance of errors also decreases drastically. In addition, you will often know about them quickly when they do occur, instead of waiting until further down the sales funnel to discover them.
6. Provides Records
Each phase in the automated sales process is logged. This means you have a bank of collated data without pulling and organizing records from different areas. Platforms such as Keap can even provide this on a mobile application so that you can view them on the go.
You can check when actions occurred, map the process, see who did what, and print any documents involved. All of this improves accuracy and helps improve your sales process. Then, when a meeting comes, the data is at your fingertips, ready to print without any extra effort.
7. Shortens the Sales Cycle
Did you know it takes eight points of contact before a customer becomes a conversion? By integrating automated sales and marketing processes, you can drip feed information, establishing these points of contact.
When the customer exhibits buying tendencies and has had the relevant contact points, you can pass them on to an actual member of your sales team. They need to finish off the work the automated services have performed.
8. Optimize Emails
Unless you get a solid reply, it can be hard to know how successful your email campaigns are. An email campaign is much more complex than many people think. Automation can take care of the process.
It can personalize emails for your various customer demographics. The emails may even be sent at a specific time when they are more likely to be seen. This saves wasted time and effort once more, increasing your return on investment and productivity.
9. Improves Onboarding
Taking on new salespeople is a long process. First, you need to train them, teach them the processes then let them do the groundwork. It can often take new hires a long time before sales start coming in.
With automation, new hires can be fed the leads they need as soon as they start. Clear steps and instructions can assist them along the sales journey, meaning they can start selling immediately.
10. Better Customer Insights
When you call a customer, you can often find your way in the dark. You are not sure of their interests, how close they are to making a conversion, what they have viewed before, or their actions. You first need to build a rapport and question them to find this out.
All of this can be in front of you when you have automated processes. You will have data on what actions the customer has already taken and what they have looked at. This gives you a head start when it comes to selling.
That’s a lot to digest. I know. There was a point in time for Online Marketing Muscle where we had to do the same. I only wish we knew then what we know now!
So here’s a quick recap for you. NOTE: You can click on any of the items in the list below to revisit that specific benefit.
Sales process automation should be introduced bit by bit. Create a plan for integration, and use it in small chunks, building it up gradually. Make sure you know where you want to improve and make savings.
Online Marketing Muscle provides sales and marketing automation for growth-minded entrepreneurs. So if you want to attract and wow your perfect clients, contact us by clicking here immediately.
