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Informative Articles

Good-Bye Bobby Knight And All The Sales Managers Like You!
The recent dismissal of Bobby Knight as the head coach of Indiana University should mark as big a change for sales management as it did for coaching. For years it was popular for sales managers to abuse their staffs with tirades and threats. I...
Grants, Loans, "Free" Credit Cards And Credit Repair: The Whole Truth And Nothing But The Truth
You got creditors calling you everyday. You could lose the car or house. Your teetering on the edge financial ruin - then you see an ad that may safe your butt! Typical headlines say something like "Millionaire reveals Hidden Cash Sources, or help...
Keeping Your Sales Team Motivated
Sales managers frequently approach me for advice on how to keep salespeople motivated, especially when sales reps get into a rut - and seem to keep slipping deeper into it. Telling managers what not to do usually solves the problem. Most managers...
Survival Tips For Small Businesses
You may be in Mail Order, Direct Mail or you may be a local merchant with 150 employees; whichever, however or whatever you’ve got to know how is to keep your business alive during economic recessions. Anytime the cash flow in a business, large...
Web Conferencing: A Boon to Businesss
It is Sunday evening and you are preparing again to go on a business trip. Monday morning the alarm goes off at 4:00 am, you drag your body and your briefcase to your car, drive to the airport, wait in a long line, get on a plane, get off a...
 
Sales Process – What Can You Automate

In the current complex and competitive market, managing the sales process is an important factor for most businesses. By automating a company’s sales process and efforts, one can increase its productivity.

Sales Force Automation, or SFA, is a technique used in marketing and business that automates the business tasks of sales. Sales tasks that can be automated might include contact management, order taking and fulfillment, information sharing, inventory monitoring, sales forecast analysis, and employees’ performance evaluations. Using SFA improves the efficiency and effectiveness of a sales team by streamlining and speeding up processes and eliminating errors. Through this technology, a sales force can have access to the latest information regarding customers' accounts and pricing.

SFA is almost like Customer Relationship Management (CRM) which covers a vast array of topics, including areas of sales effectiveness, customer service, and marketing management. Certainly in business, each second is valuable and you can’t waste it searching for information. You can save time and money as Sales Force Automation provides optimized communication services. You also get complete management capabilities for applications and users. SFA helps you in improving customer satisfaction and it also increases sales force productivity.

Currently there are a number of SFA software solutions on the market. These software solutions help sales people take better care of their customers. They change routine aspects of sales and marketing functions such as lead assignment, contact follow-up, and opportunity reporting. Good SFA electronically manages all sales activities within a company. It is a methodology that enables sales personnel to concentrate on selling by providing tools to obtain very efficient information exchange in the sales cycle. Earlier sales force automation software installations were designed for the desktop or laptop and were not easily accessible by hand held devices. With the advancement in web based SFA technology, sales representatives can use Pocket PCs to record orders on the spot. These order details can be sent back to the system in real time over a network such as


GPRS.

SFA can help sales people to manage customer interaction throughout the sales cycle, from primary contact through post-sale service. SFA applications serve two different users within a company, sales managers and sales representatives, who have changeable requirements. Sale force automation is essential in those industries where the direct field sales force tends to be high and account management is important. Pharmaceutical companies and manufacturing industries have obtained significant returns on sales force automation investments.

Before opting for any SFA software, research your options. A good sales force automation solution should have features such as multiple sales processing options and the ability to use multiple information sources. It should help in providing automation of customer assignments and field accessed decision support.

A sales force automation solution that is web enabled is at a huge advantage to those that are not. Web capability allows access to information and forms anywhere, anytime and also tools for accurate sales and demand forecasting. There must be strong security and flexibility to support new data and functionality without a large scale redesign of the system.

When choosing a sales force automation solution, keep in mind your clients and your sales force. Without flexibility to meet their needs precisely, you are likely to lose efficiency in the sales process. Choosing a flexible option will ensure your system will grow with your company.


About the Author: Halstatt Pires is with the Internet marketing firm - http://www.marketingtitan.com - a San Diego Internet marketing and advertising company offering automated web site systems - http://www.businesscreatorpro.com - create web databases, e-commerce sites, business lead management systems and more.

Source: www.isnare.com

 

SellingPower.com | Solutions For Sales Management
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Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management
The official web site of the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management has moved to the University of Missouri, Columbia, which is the home of the ...
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Management Articles
Sales Management. Unleash Your Brand Ambassadors. A recent GlaxoSmithKline decision took the advertising industry by storm: The pharmaceutical giant ...
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Manage Smarter - Performance Gateway
Manage Smarter is the online home of sales & marketing management, incentive, potential, presentations and training magazine.
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The 5 Biggest Sales Management Blunders
Learn the biggest sales management blunders and how you can avoid them. Spending the necessary time wearing your sales manager hat will help foster a ...
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DEI Sales Management
Stephan Schiffman's DEI- Management Group, offers sales training tools and educational forums designed to teach: Cold Calling and Closing Techniques, ...
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Sales Management Training - Selling Seminars - Reinforcement & ROI ...
Offers sales and sales management training. Sign up to receive the monthly newsletter.
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Sales Management Resource International
Sales Management services, sales training, sales solutions, sales people. We provide a systematic approach to providing immediate sales results ...
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Reconnect Sales Management to Profitability - HBS Working Knowledge
"Work your pay plan" is one of the central tenets of sales management. ... In a similar way, top managers can reconnect their sales management to ...
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Amazon.com: Sales Management: Books: Robert J. Calvin
Amazon.com: Sales Management: Books: Robert J. Calvin by Robert J. Calvin.
www.amazon.com
 
Amazon.com: Seven Secrets to Successful Sales Management: The ...
Amazon.com: Seven Secrets to Successful Sales Management: The Sales Manager's Manual: Books: Jack D. Wilner by Jack D. Wilner.
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Personal Selling and Sales Management: KnowThis.com
KnowThis,com offers information, resources, reference and links for sales people, sales managers and other involved in managing a sales force including ...
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Sales Training and Sales Management: KnowThis.com
KnowThis.com offers information, resources, reference and links for anyone involved in sales training or sales management or other managing issues involving ...
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SMR Career Services
Sales Management Resources is a professional executive search company, dedicated to providing consumer products companies the recruitment of exceptional ...
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SalesVantage.com: B2B Advertising, Marketing and Sales Management ...
B2B Advertising, Marketing and Sales Management Directory, Newsfeed & Business Referral Service designed for sales, marketing & advertising executives.
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Contact Management Software, Contact Manager & Sales Software for ...
PC World Gives Prophet Contact & Sales Manager 4 Stars · eWeek praises Prophet for building a sales management solution into Outlook for a reasonable price ...
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Sales Management- 7 Secrets to Successful Sales Management, the ...
7 Secrets to Successful Sales Management, written by, Jack Wilner, one of today's leading sales management trainers, coaches and consultants, ...
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Sales Management Training
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Contact Management Software (SFA) price quotes - Free sales ...
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Waterhouse Group - Sales Training Programs: Consultative, Value ...
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