The Main Advantages of Sales Force Automation - Essay Example

The main advantages of Sales Force Automation Sales force automation can be defined as providing the sales personnel with the autonomous mechanical equipments through sales management software which may permit them penetrate into the data related to the consumers’ statistics, status and accounts details. Sales force automation (SFA) undoubtedly looks wonderful in theory, as it gives a comprehensive information regarding the customers of some specific product. While discussing the practical convention, SFA is seldom utilized in a proper way in practice; rather, the data is mismanaged and misused by the persons exercising the technique. Sales force automation is a component of CRM that is implemented to execute, drive, and track sales initiatives. SFA systems organize sales teams by providing the tools to properly manage leads, accounts, opportunities, and marketing campaigns. (Sales Team Automation) The contemporary age is the era of industrialization and technological advancement. Quick and accurate flow of information regulates the corporate companies within the business environment. All the great organizations are applying latest methods of communication and marketing while making and developing their strategies. Bill Gates, the Chairman of Microsoft Corporation, declares fast flow of information and application of technology to be in leading position. The most meaningful way to differentiate your company from your competitor, the best way to put distance between you and the crowd, is to do an outstanding job with information. How you gather, manage, and use information will determine whether you win or loose. (Gates: 1999 p 1). The managers of sales force apply sales marketing systems, i.e. the information management systems highly supportive in mechanization of sales force administration; sales force automation is a part of it. Simply put the term refers to the system that could maintain and keep the record of the complete sales process automatically. SFA includes a contact management system which tracks all contact that has been made with a given customer, the purpose of the contact, and any follow up that might be required. (Sales Force Automation: quoted in manyfreearticle.info). Before embarking upon the topic, it would be appropriate to elaborate some terms related to it. Sales Phenomenon—Introduction and Significance It has aptly been said that sales uphold the most dominant place in the development and growth of corporate firms, organizations and their products as well. There takes place nothing in a business in reality until and unless a sale is made or conducted. It is the sales phenomenon that gives a go to the establishment of various positions and departments within a corporate company or organizational structure. Sales provide the fuel that keeps the corporate engines humming. Companies like Cisco Systems, International Paper, Johnson Controls and several thousands other manufacturers would cease to exist without successful sales people. (Lamb et al: 2005 p 432) Companies allocate huge resources and stipulate significant ratio of their annual budgets to their advertising plan in order to enhance their sales on the basis of which they can increase the volume of their production and penetrate into international markets according to the changing scenario of global marketing strategies. Millions of dollars have been spent investigating and pursuing ways to grow sales, and no wonder; after all, sales are the lifeblood of an organization. (Owen & Miller: 2004 p 1) AUTOMATION Automation simply means the use of machinery while performing the duties and obligations through an autonomous system. It is mainly used for examining of regression, performance, stress, configuration as well as sanity testing with the help of machinery. Automation has brought revolutionary changes in almost all the fields of human life including sales and marketing. SALES RESEARCH Sales and marketing are almost synonymous terms used in respect of contacting clients and customers for the consumption of a product. Sales research refers to the systematic procedure for the collection and analysis of data regarding some specific market product. It enables the manufacturers, industries and companies to have a comprehensive and analytical assessment in respect of the views, preferences, requirements as well as prospects and perils of the consumers, retailers and stakeholders involved in sales and purchase of their product. The data gathered and interpreted during the research significantly supports the organizations draw out future plans according to the changing trends and scenario of the market. It is considerably helpful in enhancing the organizations’ volume of production and sales. Marketing research concentrates on data collection related to market product while interacting with the consumers, gathering information from them and interpreting results about various aspects of a market product.” (Zaidi & Javed: 2002 p 7). TRENDS OF APPLYING S.F.A. IN BIG ORGANIZATIONS Globalization has left its indelible imprints on the sales scenario all over the world. The cheaper and low quality products on the one hand and costly as well as high quality manufacturing on the other has created a mixed marketing environment at international level. The sales force has also witnessed imperative alterations in its form. Companies have hired the services of experts and trained staff for the regulation and maintenance of sales capacity. Sales Force Automation plays important part in this regard. Though sales force automation could not win much applause because of its technicalities, yet the device has widely been used for last two decades. Sales force automation is applied in telecommunications, mobile phone radiations, information technology solutions, security surveillance systems and corporate security systems very successfully especially in the multinational companies situated in the USA, England, China, Germany and Australia. The new business environment finds drastic change in it. Now the great companies and international brands including Coca Cola, Honda, Marlboro, Hitachi and others apply SFA for their sales department. The world-famous beverage giant i.e. Coca Cola Industry has hired the services of Dovarri Inc. for the systematic application of sales force automation device. Dovarri Inc. is an organization that supports the corporate firms and companies for the improvement of their sales volume. Dovarri provides organizations with a proven set of best practices endorsed by national sales leaders on an intuitive, interactive and experience-based bed of software. Each client receives a personalized tool that functions through a consistent interface either online or offline, hosted off or on-premise, and that can be utilized in mobile environments. (The Padgett Group, 2007 p 2) Application of the highly effective software has not only enhanced the sales volume of the Coke Industry, but it has become very easy to contact the wide range of its clients and customers in a more organized and systematic way. Thus the leadership took bold step of getting maximum benefit of the latest technological advancements. It is leadership that takes decisions regarding the application of a strategy; and the use of latest technological equipments is also part of the decision-making. Application of latest technology gives the staff unabated boost and they feel motivated and contented on working in such an environment which is advance from other rivals firms in the use of technology. Hence, the new market trends demand for the implication of SFA for their companies. Terry Booton mentions three main reasons for using SFA technology. One was that salespeople were being asked to do a great deal of data entry, and that didn't endear them to the idea of using the system. The second reason was that management wanted reliable forecasts. Third, because salespeople were on the road, they had to synchronize their data with their main offices - but since the software had never been properly configured, this took far, far too long. Salespeople were spending 30 to 45 minutes instead of two minutes to get their data to and from the office, and a lot of them were giving up. (Advanced Marketing Instruction) The companies using the services of Jeffrey's and TrainOne's as regular clients rs include Coca-Cola, DR Horton, Caterpillar, BMW, Cingular Wireless, Hilton, Choice Hotels, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Cintas, Milliken, NCR, Stewart Title, Comcast Cable, Time Warner Cable, Ingram Micro, Wells Fargo Bank, Baptist Health Care, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Hyatt Hotels, Carlsburg Beer, Wausau Insurance, Northwestern Mutual, MetLife, Sports Authority, GlaxoSmithKline, and others. (The Padgett Group, 2007 pp 1-2) ADVANTAGES OF SALES FORCE AUTOMATION The main advantages of SFA include: 1. SFA helps in automatic recording of data related to the sales on the one hand and defining various stages encompassing the whole of sales process on the other. Moreover, all the information related to the customers turns available in a concise and systematic way. 2. It is highly supportive in the prediction of sales volume in future days to come. Top managers are highly motivated to attempt to transform selling into a mechanistic process because, if that goal were achieved, they would be better able to predict future revenue and deliver on promises made to the investor community. (Geoffrey James Volume 27, Issue Number 5) 3. Sales force automation keeps the sales personnel focused, concentrated and specific. Electronic pro-forma in different categories derives time savings on the one hand and precise and to the point answer sheet on the other. It is therefore it becomes easy for the sales staff to collect and categorize the data managed in shortest period of time. 4. Old fashioned hand written inventory shows variation in sequence and style. In addition, such type of information is often disorganized and lengthy, to which tracing the relevant material becomes hard nut to crack. On the other hand, sales force automation presents all the relevant information in an easy and simple way. Furthermore, chances of error are least and ignorable. 5. Sales force automation indirectly trains the employees in respect of record keeping and working in an organized form. In addition, they get accustomed to the use and advantages of modern technologies to combat the new challenges of modern corporate life. 6. Availability of the information data in an arrayed form help the sales team determine their goals and communicate with the customers very quickly. The target achieving becomes simple and manageable. 7. The efficiency of sales staff leads to the growth of a company. Sales force automation accelerates the efficiency of the sales team and they can make progress in a better way with the help of sales force automation. 8. The presentation through SFA reveals each and every detail in the form of tables, graphs, ratios, percentages and categories. Hence, there is no further need for explaining the material at all. 9. Targeting of goals, sales volume of the company and activities of various departments are revealed by using SFA in the sales force. It also provides recognition with the regular customers of the company and their locations as well. DISADVANTAGES OF SALES FORCE AUTOMATION Though SFA contains so many advantages in it and it is extremely beneficial for the preservation and presentation of data and information, it has some drawbacks and disadvantages too, which are as under: 1. As the sales staff in most of the companies does not have command over the use of latest technology, so the application of such an advanced technique may change facts and figures to a larger extent jeopardizing the actual scheme of sales statistics. 2. The companies of national and international levels deal with the long list of clients and their sales observes unabated boost every time. The data entry of such clients is not only difficult for the sales staff, but also useless because they cannot tackle with such clientele haphazardly. The loss of data as well as incorrect details may promulgate the strategic plans of the company. 3. Sales force automation is a costly method and difficult to regulate, afford and run. It is therefore companies prefer simple and old patterns which can be followed by the staff without being confused in technicalities. 4. Sales force automation demands complete concentration as well as plenty of time to re-arrange and update the records. Thus, it may divert the attention of the sales staff from their actual tasks of enhancing sales of the product by spending many hours in preservation of data and statistics. 5. SFA is applied by the companies for the systematic presentation of the material related to sales. As it is a difficult and technical device, its use in non-technical hands is sure to show incorrect details. Planning on the basis of wrongly recorded information may put the company’s goodwill at stake. CONCLUSION Sales force automation is the representative of modern technological advancements that has brought revolutionary changes in contemporary market scenario. It has not only supported the companies maintain and preserve sales record in a systematic way, but also has been demonstrated as highly beneficial technique for analyzing and revising strategies on the basis of this automatic record. Moreover, it has also enhanced sales capacity of the companies to a large extent by opening new dimensions of comprehensive data presentation. A system how much beneficial and useful it may be surely contains few drawbacks in it. The same is the case with sales force automation. Its misuse by the unskilled and non-technical staff has eclipsed its advantages and benefits to the companies, even then its popularity and usage witness upward trend in the markets of today. Moreover, as leadership plays pivotal part in decision making regarding the use of a technology as well as strategic management, so it is also responsible to transfer the new technology to the hands which are capable and deserve the positive use of such a magnificent device. It is therefore, all the great organizations and corporate firms have hired the services of software companies for the successful and effective application of sales force automation. BIBLIOGRAPHY American Marketing Association: (Quoted in marketingpower.com/content4620.php) Advanced Marketing Instruction (www.mindspring.com/~ami/Articles/Art10) Ball, Donald A. & McCulloch, Wendell H. (1999) International Business: The Challenge of Global Competition. 7th Edition. IRWIN/McGraw Press INC. p 383. Booton, Terry (2006) Quoted in Advanced Marketing Instruction (www.mindspring.com/~ami/Articles/Art10) Collis, D. J., & Montgomery, C.A. (1995, July-August). Competing on resources: Strategy in the 1990s. Harvard Business Review, 73(4). Gates, Bill.1999. Business @ The Speed of Thought. Using a Digital Nervous System. Warner Books, USA. p 1 James, Geoffrey How to Use Intuition to Become a Heavy Hitter Selling Power Magazine Volume 27, Issue Number 5 (Quoted in http://www.heavyhitterwisdom.com/trainingIntuition.asp) Johnson, Gerry & Scholes, Kevan. 1993. Exploring Corporate Strategy. Text and Cases. Third Edition. Prentice Hall New York. p 205 Lamb, Charles W, Hair, Joseph F & McDaniel, Carl. (2005). Essentials of Marketing South-Western College Pub; 8 edition. p 432 Logan, Newman. (1976) Strategy, Policy and Central Management, 7th Edition. South Western Publishing Company, Ohio. p 48 Owen, & Miller, (2004) Padgett, Kim 2004. National "Sales Guru" Jeffrey Gitomer Leverages Dovarri Sales Force Automation Software to Drive Growth The Padgett Group (Quoted in the padgettgroup.com/tpg/press/DovarriGitomerRelease06072004Final.pdf. p2) Zaidi, M. H. & Javed, M. Akram (2002). New Dimensions of Qualitative Marketing Research. Moosa Publications, Urdu Bazaar, Gujranwala. http://www.linkedin.com/answers/marketing-sales/sales/customer-relationship-management/MAR_SLS_CRM/88856-13299904?browseCategory=MAR_SLS_CRM Read More