Automating your business’ sales process is the next big step in scaling your business for the long haul. It can seem intimidating but proper automation can cut costs, save time, and increase sales. An automated sales process allows you to create more leads, keep better track of your leads in regards to where they are in your sales pipeline, and close more sales.
HubSpot found that 19% of buyers want to connect with a salesperson in the “awareness stage”, 60% want to connect during the “consideration stage”, and 20% want to talk during the “decision stage”. Automation makes it easier to have a solid idea of which stage each of your leads are in and how long they’ve been in those stages, while also taking each lead efficiently through the process. This way no sale falls through the cracks.
Before diving head first into automation there are a few key things that you should look in to before making a final decision.
1. Collect Data
Take note of all the programs you currently use to aggregate data and manage different parts of your sales process. How much do all of these programs cost you total? Which of these programs can be covered by a Customer-Relationship Management program thus saving you money?
2. CRM
If you do not currently use a CRM, do some research on all the different options out there for you. There is no magic CRM that covers all the bases for you, but it is important to do your best to find one that covers many of the programs that you currently use. If you already use a CRM, look to see if you are fully utilizing the automation components that it may offer.
3. Documents
There are all sorts of documents that may be involved in your sales process. Insurance forms, approval forms, meeting forms, and much more that all need to be signed and seen by multiple parties. Look in out how much time is spent manually creating and sending these documents throughout your sales process. In an automated process these documents can be transitioned into a template system that will save you time and money while also creating much better consistency in how documents are delivered to the customer.
4. Who Is Falling Through The Cracks
Find out where your sales process currently falls short. We’ve had a lot of people tell us that sometimes the sales that they miss out on the most are simply ones that fell through the cracks and they forgot to get back to. HubSpot found that 42% of salespeople said establishing urgency was the biggest challenge they face today. Find out where your lost sales are slipping through the cracks in your current process. Adopting an automated sales process will allow you to pinpoint these areas and make sure you’re covering all of your leads across the board.
So you’ve decided automation is right for you and can help your sales process. Now what exactly can you automate in your sales process that makes a difference for you? There are a lot of things that can be automated in a process, but we’ll list a few just to give you an idea.
1. Email
Emails take a big chunk of salespeople’s day to day routines. Tons of emails will be sent in a day by a salesperson and many of those emails will likely be very similar in nature. Some can be automated and some can’t. However, by transitioning certain emails into a templated automated process you will save your salespeople a lot of time.
Examples of emails to new leads that can be templated and automated include welcome emails, reminder emails to those not responding, notification emails for meetings, thank you emails, and many more. Having the ability to create and customize emails templates also allows you to create a consistent voice across all of your communications which will show well to your clients.
2. Lead Scoring
Lead Scoring is basically a way to rank certain leads over another based on the likelihood that they will become a sale. Using a lead scoring system through a CRM you can set certain standards for leads to meet that will raise their lead scores. These standards can be based on info given to you by the client or for how far into the sales process they are.
For example, if a roofing company finds that often times people with certain insurance companies are more likely to go all the way through the sales process for the roofing company, then those people can be labelled to have slightly higher lead scores for that reason. Another example would be if a lead is visiting your website often, clicking through different pages and downloading pdfs, then that lead might receive a higher lead score than someone who just opening your emails.
It can really be anything based on what your business is. The idea is that lead scoring allows companies to prioritize their leads and make better use of their time.
3. Creating Calendar Events
For some the easiest way to schedule a meeting with a lead is by a simple phone call. That is okay! It is a good way to do it and don’t fix it if it isn’t broken. However, certain automation tools do give you the ability to automate appointments getting rid of the need for constant phone calls.
You can plug your business calendar in to the automation tool and set your time slots. The lead will be able to see what time slots are available to them and schedule from there. An email reminder will then be sent out to both parties and there you go!
There are many more things that can be automated in a sales process depending on the needs of your business. These three examples are just to give you a taste. It can be daunting to sent up, but once in place automation will have your sales process rocking and rolling with efficiency like never before!
If you’re interested in more ways to go about automating your sales process, contact us at Apollo Marketing to learn more. We have an automated sales process ourselves and we work with clients to build automation processes for themselves!
