4 Ways Sales Automation Can Eliminate Administrative Setbacks

There are a lot of things in business that require a human touch. Thanks to technology and other innovations, plenty of tasks can (and should) be automated because there’s no need for a human to be involved. Sure, having a live agent available to customize and schedule appointments and consultations is great. However, today’s customers would love an AI chatbot or scheduling tool that can do the same thing without needing to talk to someone. 

Whether you’re a B2B or B2C organization, just getting started, or on your way to Enterprise status, you can find dozens of ways to automate sales and admin processes. This will help you eliminate bottlenecks and setbacks so that things run more efficiently on both the front and back end. In this guide, we’ll cover four of the biggest ways that you can use sales automation to your advantage. 

What is sales automation?

Sales automation is the process of automating various tasks and processes related to sales and your team's work in that department. And thanks to the solutions available today, automation can be precisely what you need it to be, no matter what that means for your business. 

Before you can implement these efforts, you have to understand what they can do for you. It will also be helpful here to examine your sales processes and define your tasks. Those details not only give you insights as to what you can automate, but they ensure that you’re on the right track. 

After all, if you can’t describe what you do as a process, you’ll never be able to optimize said processes. Outline the steps of your sales process and focus on the tasks and steps that could benefit from automation. And when choosing what and where to automate, remember that according to HubSpot:

• 19% of customers want a human connection in the awareness stage.
• 60% of buyers want a sales rep to connect with during the consideration stage. 
• 20% of customers want to talk to a human in the decision stage. 

The front end of the funnel is the obvious place to start with sales automation. When relationships are budding, leads like to have automated tools and self-service resources so they don’t have to get too committed until they get the information they need. 

With that in mind, here are four ways you can use sales automation to streamline administrative work and your sales funnel at the same time. 

Email marketing and outreach 

Your sales team spends a lot of time on email communications. Some of these are outreach efforts; others may be newsletters or personalized emails to a prospect or customer. The good news is that thanks to technology, you can send personalized emails every single time and still automate the process. 

You’ll need some great email templates and an email autoresponder (MailChimp, iContact, Brevo, AWeber, etc.). Take some time to set up a series of templates covering the entire customer journey. Create templates that are easy to swap information and details for customization. Then, set up schedules and sequences for email delivery, and you’re done. 

Now, email happens, and your sales team doesn’t even have to think about it. 

Improved data accuracy 

One of the biggest reasons that automation is being used to improve sales and admin work is because of the reduced risk of errors and poor-quality information. AI and technology can cultivate thousands upon thousands of databases filled with all kinds of insights and analytics that you can use to improve your operations. 

Automating data entry can also reduce a lot of human errors and ensure that numbers, facts, customer information, and other details are accurate. You can eliminate duplicate entries and even have the automated tools cull your system for inaccurate or bad data and remove it entirely. Then, you can auto-update everything in real-time. 

When data is more accurate, setbacks, obstacles, leaks, and other issues don’t happen nearly as often. It also improves the efficiency of your sales team because they have better tools and resources to help them close deals. 

Automate lead scoring and qualification 

This is a big one for sales teams that do a lot of lead screening. It can be time-consuming to manually sort through and qualify leads, not to mention tedious. There is so much risk of error because there’s a human sorting through information, and some companies don’t have a very well-defined lead scoring process in place. 

With automated lead scoring, you can adequately evaluate every interaction that a lead has with your company and see where they may need more help. You can qualify leads that are definite wins and easily identify those leads that somehow missed the mark. You can identify qualified leads more quickly, which means you can move the sales process along and start giving people the attention they demand. 

Sales pipeline management 

A good sales pipeline management platform, along with your CRM, is also going to be invaluable. This will help you manage the entire sales pipeline from start to finish and see which deals are working, which aren’t, and where you might need to step in and make changes. When you automate this, you can get insights on things like:

• Sales reps and their leads
• Closed deals 
• Total revenue earned
• Account details 

This allows you to automate most of the management process and get the information and alerts you need when it’s time to step in. 

Enhance administrative efforts even more when you outsource

Smith.ai has a dedicated team of virtual receptionists who can assist with everything from lead intake and appointment scheduling to acting as your 24/7 answering service. We know you’re busy handling sales, customers, and other tasks that demand your attention, so we’re here to pick up the rest. 

Plus, we can customize a solution that works for you that includes live chat and access to our AI voice assistant to streamline things even further. Schedule a consultation or reach out to hello@smith.ai to learn more. 

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