The automation of the sales process as a way to ensure competitiveness
You've certainly heard of sales process automation. But now I ask you, do you know, in fact, what this is?
It's not a very complex issue. If you use any type of software or application to facilitate your work with sales, it is very likely that there is some automation in your work.
Technology as an ally of sellers
Technology took hold in most areas of the productive sector. This enabled new visions and tactics to work on, especially in relation to the commercial sector.
The automation of the sales process is more than necessary for companies. There's no getting away from it. The peculiarities of the products, the teams, and the customers require this. With automation, the company gains more agility in its processes, after all, this is one of the factors that the consumer requires the most and pays attention to.
Have you ever wondered what technological innovations your competitor uses to sell?
Automating processes is a matter of competitiveness. As competitors become increasingly agile, productive, and structured, it's important for your company to make the necessary updates to stay ahead.
Technological innovation is so important because it is the root of sales automation. And innovation is understood as the adoption of new systems, software, SaaS, and other types of technology to facilitate, simplify, and streamline the selling process.
The optimization of the procedures has a direct impact on the results. This leads to increased productivity and, as a consequence, greater profitability, thus ensuring business growth, which is very important for entrepreneurs.
The question then arises: how to automate sales processes?
There are some strategies for automating the sales process. Let's address the business profile here. In a company that sells a product of up to 50 reais a month, which implies a low purchase cost, the ideal is to invest in self-service. The customer thus finds information necessary to make the decision to purchase and use the good or service.
If the product has a higher price, from R$ 50.00 to R$ 300.00, the customer's way of making the purchase decision is also different. Thus, a human attendant may be needed. Even if this is done, it is still possible to automate a large part of the process, leaving the attendant to answer questions.
For products or services over 300 reais, greater human interaction may be necessary. Even so, many steps can be automated, such as the generation of Leads.
For services that require a high investment, such as those over R$ 3,000.00, there is also a requirement for face-to-face meetings and greater interaction between the seller and the customer. Therefore, there is less room for automation in the stages of the sales process.
This does not indicate that you should give up on automating procedures. This is precisely where an innovative idea is needed to find solutions where there were none before. An example that can help automate the sales process, regardless of the purchase amount, is a platform for creating, managing, and storing online contracts. The seller closes the sale and, using a form, the customer himself completes the contract and signs it electronically. This speeds up the closing a lot.
What should be automated?
The steps that need to be automated are those in which very repetitive and operational procedures are used, which can be replaced by software. This is important, because these apps perform these operational tasks much faster and more effectively, with less errors and effort. Examples of this type of procedure are the shooting of e-mails, searching for clients on the internet, data collection, and organization of information.
Some automation tools, for example, have given a very positive result in sales. Among them, there are systems that help you find the best leads for your company. Others offer CRMs that are true marketing, sales, and support automation platforms. Still others are ideal for creating and automating relevant sales processes.
In the latter case, the tool also allows you to automate emails and follow-up reminders. That's without making them dull and uninteresting.
The benefits of automation in the sales process
When a company and its sales department have automated processes, the sales team has much more freedom to dedicate themselves to developing strategies for how to sell more. The team's concern ceases to be to produce actions that are repetitive and do not require intelligence and to increase the number of closed sales contracts.
The optimization of procedures produces results such as cost reduction, increased productivity, and company growth. The strategic orientation is expanded, since it is easier to identify and reach the customers with the greatest buying potential.
But do you know how the automation of the sales process helps other areas of the company?
Yes, with a sales intelligence based on data, it is possible to integrate the company's logistics department and obtain positive results in the delivery of the products, operating more quickly during the separation, having more efficient inventory control and allowing the fulfillment of orders in real time.
In addition, quick access to sales information reduces the appearance of errors and allows for a more prompt response to quotes, thus, the services improve their quality and the added value of your product increases.
What about the sales funnel?
Like any business process, the sales funnel must also be automated. Just keep in mind that it is the consumer's journey to purchase your product. Therefore, the greater the automation of this process, the more effective it will be and the fewer errors there will be in this trajectory.
The sales process, therefore, needs and must be automated. This means innovation, intelligence, and strategy, generating competitiveness and better results for your company. After all, you don't want to be left behind, do you?
Learn more: How to automate sales processes
