However, invoking efficiency in your sales process is a decision that’s not at the top of the priority list for most sales representatives.
As a sales rep, you feel constant pressure to lead in sales and beat out the competition. Since the sales landscape changes faster than a New York minute, you shove efficiency to the bottom of the totem pole.
Is a Manual Process Really That Special?
In most sales companies, a majority of the sales process is done manually.
Having the desire to think about increasing your sales efficiency is a luxury. Especially with the quarterly quota requirements looming over your head. You don’t have the time to figure out what will help speed up the sales cycle.
Sifting through your CRM for accounts and contacts to engage and move through the sales process takes time. It takes time to craft a customized solution, quotes, proposals, RFP’s and create brand new documents from scratch. Considering, that some documents have to undergo approval from upper management before the sales deal is considered closed, you could be wasting a lot of precious time! Time better spent on improving your sales conversion rates.
With high expectations from customers to participate in a hyper-personalized sales experience, it’s nearly impossible to beat competitors without eliminating the time-consuming and repetitive manual tasks that bog you down.
So, you want to be more efficient?
Although ‘efficiency’ is a huge sales buzzword that often comes with eye-rolls when mentioned, it still is the secret to being an advanced sales professional. Once a sales rep prioritizes efficiency, new opportunities arise for more potential buyers, revenue, and growth.
To ensure you won’t drown in a sea of sales efficiency, automation throws you the life raft needed to keep you afloat.
It’s Amazing! Automation tools fast-track end-to-end sales acceleration
1) No more manual labor. Instead, transition into automated processes that seamlessly pass from initiation to completion without needing to lift a finger.
2) Everyone has access to all the necessary data needed to produce a killer sales approach. With automation, your data stays up-to-date and is more detailed than it ever was before.
3) Contract generation is now solely in the hands of sales reps, rather than bouncing around each department.
The outcome is more time spent on critical assignments and the selling process. Therefore, sales reps spend less time working through redundant activities that deviate them from their sales goal.
Here are three steps you can take toward automating your sales process and easily achieve efficiency.
1) Inspect Your CRM
Data is everything. Sales reps rely heavily on data, from customer information to initiate proposals. Data is the bread and butter of pinning down a sales deal.
Ask Yourself:
- Do you have multiple ways to store your data? Do you need them all?
- How long does it take for an update to appear throughout the CRM?
- What is the typical amount of time spent inputting data into the CRM?
- Is the percentage of sales deals — no matter what stage they’re at — high enough?
Think about your data. If it takes an exorbitant amount of time to sort through and find what you’re looking for, that spells trouble. Hassling over data when you could be focusing on tasks that generate revenue means your CRM could use some tweaking.
Manage your data properly or face the repercussions of a downward spiraling sales process.
Ways Automation Enhances Efficiency in Your Sales Process:
Shows you all the stages of the sales pipeline.
This allows you to have more insight into your prospects, thus improving your sales forecasting. As a result, you’ll have the tools to make a large impact on your revenue and discover which deals require your immediate attention.
Makes using CRMs a top priority.
CRMs allow your sales team to see all the data in one, easy-to-view platform. So, you can quickly enable deals on-the-go with the help of the constantly updated data from your CRM.
2) Think About How Much Time and Money is Spent Creating Documents
Documentation is a large part of the sales process. Whether it’s a contract or a quote, sales are required to produce paperwork that must be written, edited, and signed.
Ask Yourself:
- How many people are required to write and revise one document?
- How much time is spent creating a document?
- What’s the percentage of mistakes made by manually creating a document?
- Is there a cohesive brand format for each document? Or is it different for each one?
Comparing the amount of time spent manually configuring documents to the time actually spent selling is jarring. With this in mind, changing to automating documents could save you hours of time.
Ways Automation Enhances Efficiency in Documentation:
Consistency and accuracy will be at an all-time high.
Having the ability to produce documentation that has proper formatting is a necessity. Coupled with automation, your documentation will have a consistent brand format. As well as, accurate, up-to-date data scrapped for the document. Now, there is no more need for manual work.
Easily being able to copy regularly used documents.
3) Discover What Slows Down Your Contract Process
Once a deal is racing to the end of the finish line, everything can suddenly come to a halt. Why? Because developing a contract takes time, especially when the legal team has to analyze every granular detail.
Ask Yourself:
- Who has the ability to construct sales contracts in your company?
- How long does it take for the contract to complete all the stages of its life, from creation to signature?
- How many specific contract clauses do you know legal has to maintain?
- Thinking about all your previous deals, how many failed to close because of the time is taken for the contract approval process?
The contract process is long and grueling. And, the process occurs behind-closed-doors while legal searches for issues and tries to keep things organized. Therefore, the time taken for contract management is unbearable for sales.
Until sales get the green light, they’re stuck. Similarly, deals delay which frustrates the client and the sales reps. Sometimes sales are left with the assignment of completely rebuilding their deals which also takes an unnecessary amount of time.
Ways Automation Enhances Efficiency in the Contract Life Cycle:
Sales have the tools they need to build and track every contract.
Since sales have all the buyers information, it makes sense for them to create the contracts during the sales process. By automating contracts, you’re able to get status updates regularly without having to bother the legal team at all.
No more waiting for legal.
Digitizing contracts removes the need for legal inspection since automation produces its own oversight. After creating a contract, you’ll have the opportunity to bypass re-work by choosing pre-approved clauses in an automated library. Undoubtedly, saving you tons of time and confusion.
The Decision-Making Process:
DO provide time to consult with legal about their process when necessary.
DON’T forget about transparency. Managers will be able to easily spot where deals fail and what needs improvement because of contracts.
Wrap-Up
Sales reps can no longer think manual tasks are the only way to be efficient. The sales process truly becomes more effective once automation comes into play.
To start evolving into a more efficient sales rep:
1) Keep your data clean and up-to-date.
Use your CRM to discover insignificant programs that can be thrown out. Generally, automation will give you numerous resources to keep your CRM looking pristine.
2) Optimize your document creation process.
Take charge of your document process by automating it. The amount of time you’ll save on creating documents digitally will astound you and make you wished you had switched earlier.
3) Have the power to control your contracts.
Find the point in the process where your contracts normally get stuck. In other words, encourage your sales reps to take control over their contracts by tracking them on a regular basis.
Automation coordinates perfectly with your CRM by taking the data you’ve already discovered and built off it. Now, you can streamline documentation and control the contract process, while staying ahead in the sales game.
No more slowdowns and mistakes from using out-of-date data software and manual workflows. Unquestionably, your sales team will be at the top of their game and soar high above the competition.
Automation gives you the ability to focus on what’s really important, the customer.
Utilize Inside Sales Solutions boutique sales solutions to grow your sales pipeline.
