What is sales automation? Tips and examples

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

Automating all these workflows frees up salespeople’s time so they can spend more time actually engaging with customers and closing deals. Below I explain sales automation, its business benefits, how to implement it, and examples of successful automation in sales.

What is sales automation?

Sales automation is programmed technology that automates manual tasks in any sales process. This feature can have a direct impact on deal closures and customer experiences by freeing up sales reps to focus on lead nurturing and resolving issues immediately.

Sales automation can be applied to the lead generation process, the nurturing phase, and the post-sales phase. Because of this CRM tools with advanced automation functionality are understandably sought after because of how efficiently they can streamline workflows that previously took longer.

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

What are the benefits of sales automation?

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

Here are five immediate benefits of sales automation:

• Streamline data collection and segmentation within a CRM.
• Increase visibility for representatives, managers, owners and administrators.
• Minimize the manual task burden for users.
• More personalized customer experience.
• Reduce human errors.

Ultimately, all of these benefits improve the customer experience with your business and increase the morale of salespeople and administrators who can trust the software to perform these everyday tasks. Time is money in sales, and automation helps free up valuable time for more pressing 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 actionable steps that can bring you closer to a fully automated sales process.

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

The next steps depend on the processes you’re automating, so you should take advantage of features like templates to customize the automation flows. Most importantly, continue testing and gathering feedback during implementation so you know the automation is benefiting your business.

Here’s a snapshot of 5 steps to automate sales:

1. Start with a CRM and a defined sales process.
2. Integrate 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 at how to use a CRM for step-by-step instructions.

Examples of sales automation

Capturing data

Automating lead and data capture can strengthen a company’s sales strategy. These sales automation tools collect and store customer information such as contact information, history with your brand, and company graphs. This information is then accessible via the CRM. This automation helps provide valuable insights into the lead and their qualification as a potential customer without manual data entry.

Email drip campaign automation

Automated, personalized, and engagement emails can help salespeople generate 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 with your website in some way, sign up for a demo, webinar, or other behavior or purchase history with your company. These emails make the customer more aware of your product or service and in a rhythm that feels natural.

Automation of lead scoring and segmentation

Receive leads that have already been scored based on custom criteria that you set for your ideal customer profile. This may include lead demographics, contact information, and behavioral data. A lead that is considered a high-quality lead means it is likely to convert into a customer. Once leads are scored, they can be automatically segmented and assigned to the sales team or a specific representative so they can immediately begin nurturing strategies.

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. Reps can be notified when a new task is assigned to them and then reminded when deadlines are approaching. In this way, responsibilities can be distributed and managed with little supervision.

Automation of planning

Using an online and automated scheduling system, leads or customers can quickly schedule meetings with your representatives through your website. The brand form will display all available time slots, which will be managed by the representatives who will participate in the meeting. Once the customer clicks to schedule an appointment, they may receive an automated email confirming the details. And then a reminder email can be sent just before the meeting. All of this can be done in the backend of the CRM tool, so the rep can focus on actually preparing for the appointment.

Sales automation tips

Most CRM providers don’t require any technical knowledge to build automation workflows and formulas. While the implementation process for deploying automations is often quite intuitive, I recommend keeping it simple to launch and monitor campaigns for tangible results.

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

• Consider your customer journey: Sales automation is designed to move leads through the sales process quickly and efficiently. That’s why it’s crucial to put yourself in their shoes so you can better understand what messages and cadence are appropriate.
• Prioritize intuitive lead segmentation: When leads 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: Continually review and monitor engagement metrics such as click-through rates and opened vs. responded to emails. Consider running split tests to identify successful campaigns and automation.

Sales automation tools

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

Here are three CRM solutions that offer advanced automation tools:

• HubSpot: Scale your prospecting efforts with personalized email sequences that then rotate leads and create new deals in the CRM without lifting a finger. Free starting price.
• Pipe drive: Schedule automation steps to trigger after a deal moves 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 choose the most profitable marketing automation. $19 per user, per month.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is an automated sales process?

An automated sales process has several tasks automated, meaning they are triggered and executed according to the programmed software and not completed manually. Scoring and segmenting leads to the right rep in the lead generation process is a common automation, and email campaigns and chatbots are common in the lead nurturing process. These automations can be found everywhere in the 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 lead or prospect makes an appointment with a representative, an email automation can be triggered to send the lead a confirmation email. And then the lead can receive a confirmation email with all the necessary details 24 hours before the meeting. All of this can happen without the rep 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 in the CRM to automate routine sales tasks. This means that sales automation is a feature offered by CRM providers at different levels depending on the technical advancement of the software and the paid level you subscribe to.