Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Sales Force Automation Guide

If your company wants to do well in sales, it's important to have a system that helps it keep up with the pace of today's marketplace. SFA (Sales Force Automation) is a great way to do so, and it offers numerous options for eliminating or streamlining tasks that would otherwise distract your salespeople from doing what they do best: selling.

Evaluating and selecting a Sales Force Automation (SFA) solution among so many vendors is a challenge. There are many to make a bad decision and only a few ways to make good one. To help simplify the process, here we have listed the required features of a Sale Force Automation system which may assist you evaluate vendor capabilities.

A SFA solution should Help You Grow Your Business by following means:

Improving pipeline management. Increased visibility helps you quickly identify important opportunities at risk at every stage in the sales cycle, as well as track progress against sales goals.
Improving accountability. Team members should know exactly what they are responsible for. You can automatically notify them when tasks are assigned to them or when deadlines are approaching.
Ending the sales spreadsheet chaosManage your team your way.
Customization: You should be able to quickly customize SFA solution to align with your sales process and your terminology.

Opportunity and activity tracking to keep control of your deals at every stage of the sales cycle
Lead and contact management to ensure every opportunity receives the proper follow-up
Interactive reports to put the current information you need for forecasting right at your fingertips
Automatic e-mail notifications to let your team know when a hot lead comes in or immediate action is needed
Reminders to ensure reps are making follow-up calls on schedule
Personalized dashboards to drive effective time management by showing sales managers and reps the information they need to see, when they need to see it

Here is the list of SFA tools and solutions you can chose from:
NetSuite CRM+: Manage your customers and sales team with this solution.
Nsite Quote and Proposal Management: Automate the proposal process with this software.
Salesforce.com: Salesforce.com offers solutions for SFA, relationship management and customer service.
Oracle Siebel CRM On Demand: Oracle Corp.'s subscription-based service covers sales, service, marketing and contact operations.
Sales Cycle Manager: This tool provides win/loss ratios, prioritization and forecasting.
Maximizer CRM: Maximizer CRM's SFA functions make it easy to access customer information and increase productivity.
HarvestGold Personal Sales Goals: Keep track of income objectives and productivity goals with this tool.
Restaurant Guide: This tool from Salesforce Labs uses Yelp to find local restaurants for client meetings.
SugarCRM: SugarCRM is an adaptable, open-source application that can be easily customized.
ShadeTree MATRIX: This solution is customized to your team, and it offers a way to identify conversion opportunities.
Absolute Automation: Using this service, you can automatically log emails in popular email clients.
Ready, Set, Sell!: Teach your new recruits to sell with your SFA system using this tool.
ActiveOutlook: This plugin for Outlook searches Salesforce.com to retrieve contact and opportunity information for the person who emailed you.
smartSales: With smartSales' mobile solution, your company's sales force can complete sales tasks anywhere from their wireless phones.
Entellium eSalesForce: This solution will distribute leads, generate reports and much more.
Manticore Technology: Score leads, build prospects and integrate with Salesforce.com using Manticore Technology Inc.'s solution
Microsoft Dynamics CRM: This solution from Microsoft has an Outlook feel to it and integrates with other Microsoft products like SharePoint Server.
Advanced Call Scripting: Guide your salespeople through interactions with this application.
SAP: Look to SAP for an all-in-one solution that covers SFA and broader CRM needs.
PeopleImport: With this tool, you'll be able to import massive lists without duplicates.
DealSheets.com: This slick automation tool creates documents, calculations and more based on inputs from your sales force.
RightNow Sales: Use this tool to streamline leads and increase productivity.
SAS Customer Intelligence: Get interaction management, marketing automation and more with SAS Customer Intelligence.
CardScan: Automate business-card data entry with this tool.
Outrigger: With this campaign-management tool, you can keep an eye on company activity and monitor your campaigns.
Cloud9 Pipeline Accelerator: Keep an eye on opportunities in the pipeline and promote team selling using Cloud9 Pipeline Accelerator.
FormCheck: Get rid of spam and fake entries with this tool.
Articque GeoAnalyser for Sales: Use this application for automated mapping of your sales activity.
EchoSign: With this application, you can automate contract signatures to accelerate sales.
Infopia: Make relationships with your online customers using this solution for e-commerce.
FormFactory: Use FormFactory to generate quotes, orders and proposals fast.
Centive Compel: Streamline sales-compensation calculations and metrics with this tool.
FrontRange Solutions GoldMine: Use this software to streamline sales, increase productivity and win customers.
Sage SalesLogix: With Sage SalesLogix, you can increase productivity and maximize selling.
Synergistix CATS Software Suite: Use this solution to help your sales force focus on planning and detailing.
Lead Look-Alike Finder: Weed out the duplicates in your system with this tool.
Vtrenz ROI Insight: Find out the ROI (return on investment) of lead-generation activity, track your campaigns and more with this tool.
CRM Surveyor: Use CRM Surveyor to automate customer surveys and get feedback on lost sales, issues and ratings.

A-1 technology can assist you setup a SFA for you. For Quote , fill the form here