In today’s competitive sales environment, CRM (customer relationship management) is no longer a “nice-to-have” option, it is a critical business tool.
In fact, nine out of ten businesses with more than 11 employees use one (DemandSage).
That means to gain an edge, you don’t just need a CRM — you need to know how to use it.
Your CRM needs to be more than a cloud-based customer index. It needs to be a process-optimizing, efficiency-driving machine.
With CRM automation, it can be.
In this article, we will take a closer look at CRM automation and explore how you can use it to achieve better sales results.
For more on how to use CRM automation to improve your entire sales process, check out our article, How to Use CRM Automation to Crush Your Sales Goals.
What is CRM automation?
CRM automation is a broad term that encapsulates a wide range of functionalities and features that automate repetitive and redundant tasks. Some examples of common CRM automation features include:
- Automated data management- A CRM can automatically collect, distribute, and store data from various sources, such as:
- Emails
- Web forms
- Social media
- Integrated software tools
- Automated communication management- A CRM enables businesses to automate communications through various channels like email and SMS.
Communications can be sent based on predefined triggers or actions, and you can personalize the messaging and channel according to the needs and preferences of the recipient.
- Automated reporting and analytics- A CRM allows businesses to measure and analyze performance in real-time.
Dashboards can be automatically updated to reflect every conversion, win, stage change, and milestone.
Reports can be automatically generated based on up-to-date data and metrics.
Your pipeline can be automatically updated with every new opportunity.
- Automated notifications and reminders- Automated alerts can be set up to keep employees informed about deal/stage changes, upcoming tasks, handoffs, and deadlines.
The benefits of CRM automation
CRM automation provides many different benefits across many different roles and departments. Some broadly applicable examples include:
- Enhanced productivity- CRM automation all but eliminates manual data entry and other repetitive tasks. This helps your teams focus on high-value activities that drive results.
- Streamlined operations- CRM automation can help ensure that all your best practices are followed and that nothing falls through the cracks. This leads to better experiences for your customers and better results for your business.
- Data-driven decision-making- CRM automation provides you with data-driven insights that can inform business strategy and process refinement.
While these examples can give you a general idea of how CRM automation can help your business, we need to examine specific work processes to fully understand the impact these powerful CRM tools can have.
Let’s take a deep dive into the ways CRM automation tools can improve your sales processes.
CRM automation for sales: Tracking sales performance
Performance tracking helps sales teams monitor progress toward their goals and targets.
This can help sales reps stay motivated by providing visibility into their advancement towards quotas, and it can help sales leaders stay on top of key metrics like deals closed, revenue generated, and conversion rate.
CRM automation can significantly improve sales performance tracking by accurately measuring, analyzing, and monitoring sales activities and outcomes in real-time.
Some examples of how to use CRM automation to improve sales performance include:
- Activity tracking- A CRM platform automatically tracks and logs sales activities such as:
- Calls
- Emails
- Meetings
- Tasks completed
- Records updated
Activity tracking allows for a more comprehensive analysis of employee performance and can help sales professionals see the direct results of action.
Additionally, the insights gained from robust activity tracking can inform process refinements and employee training.
- Reporting and analytics- A CRM platform can transform the activities and results performed in the CRM into stunning reports and dashboards. With CRM reporting, sales leaders can see:
- Sales velocity
- Win/loss ratios
- Conversion rates
- Average deal size
These reports can help sales leaders identify trends, strengths, and areas for improvement in sales performance.
Sales analytics can also be displayed as dashboards that update progress in real-time.
This is a great way to motivate sales reps and keep the whole team updated on progress toward targets.
Reporting and analytics tools enable deeper analysis and insights into sales results, empowering sales teams to make data-driven decisions.
- Deal, opportunity, and pipeline management- CRM systems automatically track sales deals, opportunities, and pipeline and updates the results in real-time.
This helps sales teams monitor the progress of each deal, view the associated revenue potential, and track important milestones.
Effective deal, opportunity, and pipeline management leads to more accurate sales forecasting and can help sales leaders allocate resources more effectively.
FreeAgent CRM automation can help you crush your sales goals
FreeAgent CRM is designed for today’s world of work and our robust toolset is ideally suited to supporting the varied work processes of modern businesses. FreeAgent is:
- Easy to use: FreeAgent works like you expect modern apps to work, providing a user experience that feels fresh and familiar. Teams love working in FreeAgent, leading to high adoption and greater ROI.
- User-configurable: FreeAgent can be configured by you to work the way you do. This means you don’t need outside support to add a form field, adjust a CRM automated workflow, or try out a new process.
- Customizable: With FreeAgent, apps, forms, and configurations are all completely customizable, allowing you to capture and connect your data in any way you like.
To see FreeAgent in action, get a demo, and discover for yourself how FreeAgent can help you have workdays full of impact.
