sales force automation

(noun)

A process using software to streamline all phases of the sales process, minimizing the time that sales representatives need to spend on each phase.

Related Terms

  • customer relationship management
  • stakeholders

Examples of sales force automation in the following topics:

  • CRM and Personal Selling

    • It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing, customer service, and technical support.
    • Sales force automation (SFA) involves using software to streamline all phases of the sales process, minimizing the time that sales representatives need to spend on each phase.
    • This allows a business to use fewer sales representatives to manage their clients.
    • Many SFA applications also include insights into opportunities, territories, sales forecasts, and workflow automation.
    • Alternatively, Prospect Relationship Management (PRM) solutions offer to track customer behavior and nurture them from first contact to sale, often cutting out the active sales process altogether.
  • Effects of Technology on Services

    • The volume of sales have increased.
    • Sales force automation (SFA) uses software to streamline the sales process.
    • Many SFA applications include insights into opportunities, territories, sales forecasts and workflow automation.
    • Sales analytics monitor client actions and preferences and augment sales forecasts and help measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
    • Technology sits squarely in the center of automation with most equipment controlled and governed by computer programs and software platforms.
  • Work and Technology

    • Examples of service sector jobs are jobs in the medical services sectors, teachers, lawyers, and sales representatives.
    • Examples of service sector jobs are jobs in the medical services sectors, teachers, lawyers, and sales representatives.
    • It has created a situation in which workers who perform easily automated tasks are being forced to find work that is less automated.
    • They are being forced to compete in a global job market, they are being replaced by computers that can do jobs more effectively and faster.
    • In the scope of industrialization, automation is a step beyond mechanization.
  • E-Business Strategy

    • Customer-focused processes including promotional and marketing efforts, Internet sales, customer purchase orders and payments, and customer support
    • Electronic applications enhance information flow between production and sales forces to improve sales-force productivity.
    • In e-commerce, electronic (i.e., online) purchasing and ordering can be enhanced by the use of automated online assistants like this.
  • Creating Sales Force Structure, Territories, and Goals

    • Creating the proper sales force structure, territoires, and goals leads to customer, sales force and firm satisfaction.
    • The purpose of a sales force coverage (or sales territory) metric is to create balanced sales territories.
    • Before they even begin to design new territories, a sales force manager should determine the workloads of all members of the sales team.
    • Ensure that the compensation scheme allows the sales force to make money when the company does.
    • Explain the components of and rationale behind sales force, territory and sales goal creation
  • The Changing Face of the Workplace

    • First, it has created a situation in which workers who perform easily automated tasks are being forced to find work that is less automated.
    • Secondly, workers are being forced to compete in a global job market.
    • They either lose their jobs through outsourcing or are forced to accept wage cuts.
    • As industry has become increasingly automated, it has become more cost-effective for companies to use robot labor rather than manpower.
    • Examine the impact of the Information Age on the workforce, from automation to polarization
  • Customer Service as a Supplement to Products

    • From the point of view of an overall sales process engineering effort, customer service plays an important role in an organization's ability to generate income and revenue.
    • Customer service may be provided by a person, such as a sales and service representative, or by automated means.
    • An advantage with automated means is an increased ability to provide service 24-hours a day, which can complement in person customer service.
    • Another example of automated customer service is touch-tone phone, which usually involves a main menu and the use of the keypad as options, for example "Press 1 for English, Press 2 for Spanish. "
    • Retail stores and organizations in general often have a desk or counter devoted to dealing with returns, exchanges and complaints, or will perform related functions at the point of sale.
  • Multiple Sources of Advantage

    • Thus, it is both possible and advantageous to have multiple sources of advantage to increase sales and maintain brand dominance in the marketplace .
    • Web technologies have significantly reduced the time and effort required to build this marketing advantage, but have also forced companies to become more transparent with end consumers.
    • Walmart, a leader in offering low cost products, uses an automated inventory replenishment system to reduce inventory storage requirements and save floor space for additional goods.
  • Other Geophysical Applications

    • We have studied tidal and Coriolis forces previously.
    • To review, the tidal force is responsible for the tides -- it is a "differential force," due to a secondary effect of the force of gravity.
    • The Coriolis force is a fictitious force, representing a deflection of moving objects when they are viewed in a rotating reference frame of the Earth.
    • Until the advent of automated navigation, competence in calculating tidal effects was important to naval officers.
    • Identify fields that have to take into account the tidal and Coriolis forces
  • Future Changes in Retailing

    • The sales force will be armed with electronic devices, I Pads smartphones, mobile computer access to better assist the customer and provide seamless customer service in-store.
    • Anchor stores will maintain their importance, acting as the centerpiece of an array of specialty, demographic, Mom & Pop, Automated and variety stores.
    • A popular, familiar and "household" name will always garner sales and support.
    • This will force businesses to tighten up product development cycles and cost effectiveness as new products are tested in real-time.
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