Behind every deal that’s won are countless tasks and processes. Multiply that by all the deals in your sales pipeline, and things get complicated – fast.
Sellers are bogged down with tedious, time-consuming tasks, so it’s easy to see why so many are missing quota.
Today, winning revenue organizations leverage sales automation to streamline manual processes and free up their teams to do what they do best: sell.
You’ve come to the right place if you’re eager to see what sales automation can do for your business. In this post, we’ll explore everything you need to know about sales automation, including:
- What it is
- How it can increase sales productivity
- How it works
- What sales automation mistakes to avoid
What is sales automation?
You’ve probably heard “sales automation” at least once or twice. But you may be unclear on what this phrase means.
So, what is it?
Sales automation is using technology to streamline and automate the time-consuming, repetitive tasks and processes that are part of the sales cycle. By streamlining these tasks and processes, you can significantly improve the effectiveness and efficiency of your sales team.
Organizations use automation in many ways, from updating CRMs to streamlining workflows to unlocking valuable insights. Artificial intelligence is expanding the scope of sales automation even further, enabling teams to streamline more (and more complex) activities. We’ll explore some of these use cases later.
What are the top sales automation benefits?
Sales is a numbers game. The more time sellers can spend actively engaging with good-fit buyers, the more deals they’ll be able to close.
Yet research tells us sellers spend less than 30% of their time each week actually selling.
Research shows that sellers spend less than
But that doesn’t mean they’re slacking off the other 70% of the time. Instead, they’re spending it on time-consuming admin work and meetings.
A key benefit is reducing the time and effort required to complete tedious (but necessary) tasks. That means sellers can spend more time building customer relationships and guiding more deals through the sales cycle.
Depending on how it’s is used, there are several other benefits. For example, if an organization is leveraging automation for pipeline management, it’s getting insights that can help it improve deal outcomes. Or, if an organization is using automation to summarize and analyze sales calls, sales managers have insights they can use to deliver coaching that improves reps’ long-term behaviors and performance.
How does sales automation work?
There are countless ways organizations can leverage automation throughout the sales process. How sales automation works largely depends on how it’s being used.
At its core, sales automation is all about data. Often, it involves updating data based on an activity, such as a deal advancing to the next sales cycle stage.
Artificial intelligence takes automation to the next level.
For example, predictive AI can leverage sales data, make predictions based on that data, and recommend actions to increase the chances of the deal moving forward. AI can also provide recommendations on the best content to share with each prospect based on buyer behavior and past performance.
In addition, many organizations are now using generative AI to automate the creation of emails and other content. Sellers don’t have to start from scratch, which means they can accelerate deals.
Sales automation examples
When it comes to automation, the possibilities are endless. So, how should you use sales automation to improve the way you do business?
It depends on what your goals are.
However, here are some examples that can help you start your thought process.
Data entry
Data entry is perhaps one of the most common ways to leverage sales automation.
Logging data is necessary – but it’s time-consuming, especially if you use several different tools and platforms. With sales automation, your sellers’ activities can automatically be logged into your CRM. For example, if a seller shares a piece of content via email, that activity will automatically be logged in the CRM. That way, the seller can spend less time entering data and more time engaging with the prospect.
Pipeline analysis
Accurate forecasting is important. But often, deals go south – and you don’t know about it until it’s too late.
One use case for AI sales automation is pipeline analysis. This lets you quickly identify at-risk deals and provide remediation to get things back on track. AI can even deliver recommended next steps to improve the deal’s outcome.
Prospecting
Sellers only have so many hours in the day. They need to ensure they spend their time with prospects who are a good fit for their products or services.
Today, many organizations leverage marketing and sales automation to nurture and qualify leads. For example, if a buyer takes a certain action on the vendor’s website, it’ll trigger an email. Organizations can use lead scoring to assign certain points to certain actions. When a buyer score surpasses a specified threshold, the appropriate sales rep will be notified to contact them.
Call summary and analysis
Often, sellers spend a lot of time taking notes during calls and deciphering those notes after the fact. Organizations can leverage sales automation to analyze calls and provide summaries. This can help sellers understand what steps to take next and help sales managers identify opportunities for targeted coaching.
Content creation
Increasingly, sales interactions are taking place via digital channels. But developing written communication can be time consuming for sellers.
Today, sellers can use generative AI to help. For example, a sales rep can send relevant content to a buyer and ask a digital sales assistant to draft a contextual email to accompany the content. Sellers can also use sales automation to personalize content for each buyer.
Personalized training and enablement
Ongoing training and sales enablement ensure sellers are always ready for any deal. However, training and enablement must be personalized to each seller’s needs.
With automation, sellers can be assigned relevant training and sales enablement based on their strengths and weaknesses. AI can also recommend resources to help sellers bolster their knowledge and skills.
Common sales automation mistakes to avoid
Sales automation can simplify and streamline the many moving pieces of the sales process, allowing your sellers to focus on building authentic relationships and earning customers’ trust.
But rolling out initiatives isn’t as simple as flipping a switch. Instead, you must be strategic and avoid certain pitfalls.
Let’s look at some of the most common mistakes to avoid.
Using disparate tools and software
Automation requires the right tools. For example, a sales enablement tool allows you to automatically deliver personalized training paths at scale. And conversation intelligence delivers sales call summaries and insights.
However, these solutions are often siloed, and sellers find themselves overwhelmed by the number of tools they’re expected to use.
This approach makes your sellers’ lives harder – when you should aim to make them easier.
Instead, invest in marketing and sales automation tools that integrate with your existing sales technology stack. For example, your sales automation tools should integrate with your existing CRM to automate the data entry process.
In addition, look for opportunities to trade point solutions for integrated sales automation platforms. For example, consider investing in a single, integrated revenue enablement platform rather than purchasing a sales content management system, learning management system, and a conversation intelligence platform.
Failing to properly personalize
Modern B2B buyers have come to expect personalized content and experiences – no matter where they are on the purchase journey. According to research from Forrester, nearly three-quarters of B2B customers expect fully or mostly personalized content.
But often, organizations focus so much on automating content, communication, and experiences that personalization is overlooked.
When prospects receive generic content and communication, they’re likely to disengage. It’s important to strike the right balance between automation and personalization.
Neglecting data management
Great marketing and sales automation depends on great data. Your efforts will only succeed if your data is accurate and quality. For example, you may send the wrong emails to the wrong prospects or deliver irrelevant training and enablement to your sellers.
It’s important to prioritize data hygiene. Clean data is the foundation of effective automation.
Eliminating the human element
You can win more business faster with the right strategies. But remember that sales automation should complement human interaction, not replace it.
Be sure to strike the right balance between automation and the human touch. It’ll pay off in terms of customer acquisition and retention. According to Gartner, “B2B buyers are 1.8 times more likely to complete a high-quality deal when they engage with supplier-provided digital tools in partnership with a sales rep rather than independently.”
Taking a “once and done” approach to sales automation
Sales automation isn’t something you can set up once – and never think about again. But often, this is exactly what organizations do. As a result, B2B automation efforts become outdated and ineffective.
Instead, consistently track KPIs to see what’s working and what’s not. Then, use those insights to optimize your efforts.
Failing to provide proper training and coaching
Adoption will suffer if teams don’t know how to use the sales automation tools. Be sure to deliver proper training to help teams understand why you’ve invested in a sales automation tool – and how they can use it to be more successful in their roles.
Ignoring seller feedback
Your sellers have unique insight as they engage with customers daily. Yet, organizations often develop strategies without their input.
When developing sales automation strategies, be sure to involve sellers. Otherwise, you may implement strategies that don’t help sales reps and don’t align with customers’ needs.
See why Mindtickle is a critical tool in your sales automation toolbox
Your sellers only have so many hours in the day. With sales automation, you can streamline tasks and processes so sellers have more time to do what they were hired to do: engage buyers and close deals.
The right technology is key to any B2B sales automation initiative.
Mindtickle is an integrated revenue enablement platform that equips sellers with the training, tools, content, resources, and insights they need to effectively and efficiently engage buyers. The platform also leverages AI to automate and streamline the mundane tasks that take up so much of your sellers’ time – like searching for sales content, and drafting contextual emails. identifying key moments in sales calls, accessing real-time coaching, making sense of data and analytics, and more.
See Mindtickle in Action
Ready to see why top go-to-market organizations choose Mindtickle to simplify processes and ensure their sellers always have what it takes to conquer any deal?
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By Kristen Session
By Christian Pieper