Introduction to Sales Automation

Whether it’s during the slow months of summer or the typical consumer season that follows immediately after, the need for an aggressive sales strategy is important. And with the world economy constantly in flux, goal posts continuously shift, requiring Sales teams to adapt their action plan. But how can you up your game even during an economic downturn? The answer is automation.

Automation can help you streamline your sales funnel, simplify your lead outreach process, and ultimately shorten the sales cycle.

Still not convinced? Click here to learn more about why automation should be part of any successful sales strategy.

Qualifying Leads Simply and Seamlessly

Sometimes it’s not a question of whether leads are coming through, it’s a matter of whether they are qualified. Contacts need to be vetted by your Sales or Marketing team in order to move them through the sales cycle. And if your team spends time contacting unqualified leads, they are losing time that could be spent on working leads that are more likely to convert.

In fact, 61% of B2B marketers send leads directly to their Sales team, but only 27% of them are legitimate.

By implementing sales automation, leads can be automatically scored and qualified based on factors such as seniority, job title, industry, and beyond to ensure the leads that ultimately end up on your sales list are up to date and more likely to convert. The result? Less time wasted on prospects that will never translate to sales.

Streamlining the Lead Outreach Process

Once you have your list of qualified leads, your Sales team will perform their outreach process. Speed is of the essence, as 35%-50% of sales will go to the business that responds first. You can’t afford to be second.

But sometimes, there are a lot of leads in the pipeline for your Sales team to work in a timely manner. In this case, automation is also here to help. You can use personalized automated emails to contact leads quickly. What’s more, rather than playing phone tag to set an appointment, these automated emails can include a link to your Sales reps’ calendars so leads can set a meeting time that works for them.

Once a meeting is scheduled, automated emails will also be valuable to let contacts know what will be covered in the meeting so both parties are prepared and to remind contacts of their upcoming appointment.

Tracking Leads Through the Sales Cycle

With lead automation, your Sales team can also easily track leads as they move through the sales funnel. Maybe you contacted some leads who are still on the fence and just need to mull over your product or service a bit more. Or perhaps your Sales reps have some current clients that they know could benefit from more of your services and are creating a sales strategy to upsell.

Automation can allow your team to make the most of their resources and continue to target prospective clients and upsell to current ones.

In fact, Wrk, the World’s First Delivery platform, can speed up processes like these. With Personalized Email Marketing Wrkflows, leads can be targeted with unique and automated emails to nurture the relationship and ensure connections aren’t lost. With a Quote & Proposal Development Wrkflow, your team can generate and share a unique use case with a current client in a jiffy. The possibilities are endless.

Create Actionable Insights with Automated Internal and Client Reporting

Generating reports and turning the data into actionable insights is vital, but very time-consuming, whether you’re compiling sales reports or creating a report for your client to demonstrate the value of your services. Perhaps one of the biggest reasons as to why automation should be part of your sales strategy is to speed up the reporting process—both for your internal team and your clients.

Automation can speed up the process of creating reports so that you can spend more time analyzing data rather than gathering it. With automated reporting, you can close deals faster and retain clients.

Create a Solid Sales Strategy with Automation

So, why automation? Well, the answer is simple. Automation can enhance your sales strategy at every step of the buyer journey, from discovery to conversion and everything in between. Whether it’s automated emails or automated client reporting, automation can keep your Sales team from facing the dreaded employee burnout, instead empowering them to do their best work despite economic challenges.

Still curious? Check out our eBook to learn more about how you can fill your revenue gaps with automation!