Sales Force Automation Chapter 4 The CRM Handbook.

Sales Force Automation

Chapter 4

The CRM Handbook

SFA – Sales Force Automation

Focus on cultivating customer relationships and

Improving customer satisfaction Scenario Number One Scenario Number Two

The Ever-Evolving SFA

Early 1990’s companies with field sales forces were faced with tremendous amounts of customer information.

Software vendors realized this unmet and unrecognized need.

Info about customers was kept in “little black books” that left with the sales reps.

The Promise of SFA

Putting account information directly in the hands of field sales staff.

Making them responsible for it with the promise of…..

Making them more productive. Synchronize information with the corporate

client/server database.

Sales Force Automation Tools

Sales Process/Activity Management– Include a sequence of sales activities– Guide sales reps through each discrete step in

the sales process

Opportunity GeneratedOpportunity

GeneratedLead allocated

Prospect contacted

Prospect qualified

Solution identified

Order placed

Sales process

Sales activity


Sales Process/Activity Management (cont)– Offer calendars to assist in the planning of key

customer events Proposal presentations Product demonstrations

– Alarm Reminders Signal important tasks Generate documents as they are needed Make decisions based on the user’s input

– Generate a mailing suggestions


Sales and Territory Management– Tools that enable sales managers and executives on-

demand access to sales activities Before, during and after the order

– Enables managers to set up sales teams and link individual accounts, regions and industries.

– Allows tracing of territory assignments and monitor pipelines and leads for individual territories.

– Allows optimization of individual teams


Contact Management– Deals with organizing and managing data across

and within a company’s client and prospect organizations.

– See p. 84 of the types of questions that can be answered with this tool.


Lead Management– Also known as “opportunity management” and “pipeline

management”– Track customer account history– Monitor leads– Generate next steps and– Refine selling efforts online– Allows sales management to automatically distribute client

leads to a field or telemarketing rep based on the re’s product knowledge or territory


Configuration Support– Automatically factors in complex customer

attributes and requirements to build a solution from scratch

– Among the companies who may use such tools Computer technology vendors Appliance manufacturers Telephone companies

Knowledge Management

Many CRM tools geared to SFA include functions specific to accessing and conversing on a range of corporate documentation to supplement sales efforts and provide fast data during the heat of a sale.

SFA and Mobile CRM

From Client/Server to the Web– SFA functionality now rests on a headquarters

Web server running CRM software– Eliminates the traditional support costs of

managing communications– Resource expenses are less than those needed

to support the old client/server mode.

SFA and Mobile CRM

From Client/Server to the Web– Simplifies access by allowing a company to

outsource remote access to the ISP– Laptop config and support costs are reduced– It staff now manage and protect critical customer

data in a central location at headquarters– Risk of deleted files, smashed laptops, or lost

sales reps are dramatically reduced.

SFA and Mobile CRM

SFA Goes Mobile– Support for handheld devices is the next step in the

evolution.– According to the Aberdeen Group, 74 million people will

have access to the Web via wireless technology by the year 2004.

PDA’s Cell phones Web Phones Two-way pagers Tablet PC, Etc.

SFA and Mobile CRM

Benefits of Mobile CRM– Requires much less time than traditional fax or

email– Field staff have access to info and can update

making companies smarter about their customers– Real time alert about vital customer events– Just-in-time personalized messages– Provides field staff with access to vase amounts

of information

SFA and Mobile CRM

New wireless protocols such as WAP Bluetooth

– New standard for short-range wireless communications

Research the various wireless protocols and Bluetooth


Field Force Automation (FFA)– Part customer service and part sales force

automation– Also known as “field service management”– Field technicians receive dispatch orders via their

PDAs, pagers, and cell phones– Making use of these same devices during the

actual repair.

An SFA Checklist for Success

Understand how SFA will help, and enlist salesperson stakeholdership at the beginning– Initial requirements gathering– Rollout tool

Communicate the value to the sales force up front

Invest in-and enforce-training.

An SFA Checklist for Success

Beware of inherent sales processes packaged into SFA tools– Customize YOUR sales process

Understand the infrastructure necessary to support wireless technologies

Let SFA use affect sales compensation. Change hiring practices and job role

descriptions to include use of CRM

Case Study: Hewlett Packard

Sales Force Automation Chapter 4 The CRM Handbook.

Documents

Transcript of Sales Force Automation Chapter 4 The CRM Handbook.