How much of my sales process should be automated?

With only a certain amount of time in each work day, helping your sales team work as effectively as they can is particularly important.

Using automation within your business can be a fantastic way to free up staff time and help them work as best they can. Your sales staff will be able to contact more leads that are more likely to convert than they otherwise would, leading to a more profitable business overall. But how much of your sales process should be automated?

Focusing on the right sales, with the right team members

Sales processes are often a long-term processes that range from ensuring you’re selling to the right people, through to post-sale support. If you have an especially long list of enquiries, then updating them each day and generating reports for your sales team can take up a fair amount time. Automated lead management could be the first step in an efficient and targeted sales process. With automated processes in place, leads can be updated and scored automatically. Daily reports can also be generated automatically and sent to your sales staff. Different teams might get different reports and leads assigned to them based on their specialisms with a particular product, for example.

Automated communication to retain interest

There are several points in the sales process where automated communication can be really effective when it comes to generating continual interest in your products and services. Even an automated response when a lead first contacts you can be helpful, as it shows the customer you’re aware of their interest and paying attention to them.

Sales emails can be a key method for keeping existing or potential customers aware and interested in your services. However, tweaking and re-writing the same email based on the specific leads that each email targets can take up a lot of your time.

Instead, consider using email templates that are easily customisable. For example, you might separate your leads based on the industry they’re in or the service they’ve made an enquiry about. Each individual group of leads can then receive sales emails that are personalised, generated quickly, and contain specific content and information that’s relevant to that group.

By customising and automating your sales emails in this way, you’re showing your leads that you know exactly what they need, and that you’re providing the best possible solution for them. As staff aren’t typing out and sending each email individually, it also frees up a great deal of their time, letting them focus on more important things like converting enquiries and boosting sales.