Sales automation is a popular feature offered by the best CRM software. It is found throughout the average sales process, from lead generation and scoring to meeting planning and forecasting.

Automating all of these workflows frees up sales reps’ time so they can spend more on interacting with customers and closing deals. Below I explain sales automation, its business benefits, how to start implementing it, and examples of successful sales automation.

What is sales automation?

Sales automation is a programmed technology that automates manual tasks in any sales process. This feature can directly impact deal closing rates and customer experience by freeing sales reps to spend more time managing leads and resolving issues immediately.

Sales automation can be applied to the lead generation process, the development stage, and the post-sales stage. Because of this, CRM tools with advanced automation features are naturally sought after for their effectiveness in streamlining previously time-consuming workflows.

Sales automation can work within a CRM, from data capture to email campaigns, lead scoring, and even forecasting. Some notable benefits include increased visibility, reduced manual workloads, more personalized customer service, and more.

What are the benefits of sales automation?

The main goal of sales automation is to improve efficiency. When software does the heavy lifting of completing automation tasks and triggers, business benefits result: choose a CRM an advantageous option.

Here are five immediate benefits of sales automation:

• Streamline data collection and segmentation within a CRM.
• Increase visibility for salespeople, managers, owners and administrators.
• Reduce the workload of manual tasks for users.
• More personalized customer experience.
• Reduce human errors.

Ultimately, all of these benefits improve your company’s customer experience and boost the morale of salespeople and administrators who can trust the software to accomplish these mundane tasks. Time is money in sales, and automation frees up valuable time for more urgent tasks.

How to automate sales

The exact steps to automate your sales process within a CRM tool depend on the tool itself. However, there are still concrete steps that will get you closer to a fully automated sales process.

Before implementing any tool, it’s important to have a defined sales process that you can integrate into your CRM with stages, pipelines, and a dashboard. You should also consider what other tools in your technology stack might need to be synced for automation workflows, such as email or web forms.

The following steps depend on the processes you are automating. So you should take advantage of features like templates to customize automation flows. Most importantly, continue testing and gathering feedback throughout the implementation, so you know the automations are benefiting your business.

Here is an overview of 5 steps to automate sales:

1. Start with a CRM and a defined sales process.
2. Integrate with other software and tools.
3. Customize your automation flows.
4. Combine manual and automated processes.
5. A/B testing campaigns.

SEE: Go to our guide on how to use a CRM for step-by-step instructions.

Sales Automation Examples

Data capture

Automating lead and data capture can accelerate a company’s sales strategy. These sales automation tools will collect and store customer information such as contact details, your brand history, and firmographic data. This information will then be accessible via the CRM. This automation helps provide valuable information about the prospect and their qualification as a potential customer without any manual data entry.

Automating Drip Email Campaigns

Automated, personalized, and engagement emails can help salespeople nurture leads with little effort. These emails can be individual or part of a larger drip campaign. These automated emails can be triggered if they interact in a certain way on your website, sign up for a demo, webinar, or have previous behavior or purchase history with your business. These emails make the customer more aware of your product or service and at a cadence that feels natural.

Automating Lead Scoring and Segmentation

Receive leads already assessed based on personalized criteria you have defined for your ideal customer profile. These may include demographic data, contact details, and behavioral data of the prospect. A lead considered a high-quality lead means there is a high probability of converting them into a customer. Once leads are scored, they can be automatically segmented and assigned to the sales team or a specific representative to immediately begin strategizing.

Automation of sales tasks

Sales task automation includes all the miscellaneous tasks that can be managed and performed by CRM users. Tasks can be automatically created, assigned, and prioritized so reps can complete them daily, monthly, or quarterly. Salespeople can be notified when a new task is assigned to them, then reminded when deadlines approach. This way, responsibilities can be distributed and managed with little oversight.

Scheduling automation

Using an online, automated scheduling system, prospects or customers can quickly schedule meetings with your representatives through your website. The branded form will display all available time slots, which are controlled by the salespeople joining the meeting. Once the customer clicks to schedule an appointment, they can receive an automated email confirming the details. And then just before the meeting, a reminder email can be sent. All of this can be done in the back-end of the CRM tool, so the representative can focus on preparing for the appointment.

Sales Automation Tips

Most CRM vendors don’t need technical knowledge to create workflows and automation formulas. Although the implementation process for deploying automations is often quite intuitive, I recommend keeping it simple to start and monitor campaigns for tangible results.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when creating sales automation:

• Keep your customer journey in mind: Sales automation aims to move prospects through the sales process quickly and efficiently. For this reason, it is essential to put yourself in their shoes to better understand what messages and cadence are appropriate.
• Favor intuitive lead segmentation: When prospects are intentionally segmented based on their information and engagement with your brand, they can receive more specific content and more effective follow-up emails.
• Analyze the results regularly: Continuously check and monitor engagement metrics, such as click-through rates and emails opened versus replies. Consider split testing to identify successful campaigns and automation.

Sales Automation Tools

Sales automation tools are found in most best CRM solutions in different marketing, sales or support functionalities. Some automation tools are still considered advanced and may be behind paywalls. But for basic automation that helps establish workflows, generalized CRM providers can quickly automate your business.

Here are three CRM solutions that offer advanced automation tools:

• HubSpot: Augment your prospecting efforts with personalized email sequences that then nurture leads and create new deals in the CRM without lifting a finger. Free starting price.
• Pipedrive: Plan automation steps that are triggered once a deal is moved to a specific stage in your unique sales pipeline. $14 per user per month.
• Active campaign: Use their AI-powered automation builder with split and conditional actions, allowing A/B testing to select the most cost-effective marketing automation. $19 per user per month.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is an automated sales process?

An automated sales process occurs when multiple tasks are automated, meaning they are triggered and accomplished according to the programmed software and not completed manually. Lead scoring and segmenting to the right rep in the lead generation process is common automation, and email campaigns and chatbots are common in the lead nurturing process. These automations can be found throughout a sales process to ultimately shorten the sales cycle.

What is an example of process automation?

A basic process automation you’ll find in a CRM is email automation. For example, if a prospect or prospect schedules an appointment with a salesperson, an email automation can be triggered to send the prospect a confirmation email. And then, 24 hours before the meeting, the manager can receive another confirmation email with all the necessary details. All of this can happen without the salesperson having to write and send the email themselves.

What is the difference between CRM and sales automation?

CRM solutions are different from sales automation. A CRM is customer relationship management software and sales automation is the technology that runs within the CRM to automate routine sales tasks. This means that sales automation is a feature offered by CRM vendors at different levels depending on the technical advancements of the software and the paid tier you subscribe to.