From first impression to final purchase, the customer buying process is not always a straightforward journey.  Behind each sale is a team of people juggling a range of business processes across a variety of platforms.

 

With so many balls in the air, opportunities for revenue can be lost.  For every growing business the number one priority is generating revenue, and with that comes positive time management.  That’s why it’s important to find ways to lift some pressure from your sales team so they can keep their eye on the ball.

 

This is where Netsuite’s Sales Force Automation (SFA) software can help.

 

This integrated tool helps boost the power of your sales processes from opportunity through to upsell, helping your sales team identify opportunities and continue winning deals.

 

What is Sales Force Automation Software (SFA)

Nowadays, almost all businesses rely on forms of digital software to help manage, analyse and predict their sales process.  Understanding the how and why behind customers purchase behaviour alongside the potential for future development is key.

 

Key Features of SFA

• Contact Management: Sales Force Automation technology lets companies engage with clients in a better way.  By tracking your communication with customers, you can provide a more personalised sales experience.
• Pipeline Management: From the initial inquiry to closing a sale, sales automation software allows your business to track your sales pipeline.  This tool also helps with determining trends in behaviour and forecasting potential future sales.
• Task Management: Sales Force Automation Technology is focussed on improving seamless sales processes.  It allows sales teams to streamline their workflows by creating tasks and setting reminders to follow-up on leads and keep track of all sales activities.

 

Where NetSuite’s SFA Differs

NetSuite’s integrated nature provides a supercharged platform.  Streamlining all aspects of your business, including marketing, sales performance and customer relationship within one CRM platform.  This means your business can maintain a 360 view of your sales flow from inception to close, from one single software in real time.

 

There are a range of benefits to using CRM software compared to singular sales force automation technology.  Here we are sharing just 3 of the key features and benefits NetSuite’s CRM software could bring to the running of your business.

1. Opportunity Management
   Unlike other solutions, NetSuite’s SFA software integrates across your business giving your team unprecedented visibility into every aspect of the customer journey.  This includes support cases, contracts and any other engagement within the customer brand relationship.

   Armed with this big picture view running across real time dashboards, the sales teams can gain greater understanding of which routes to follow.  Linking your sales process and the customer buying process helps your sales team to get to know how each customer ticks.  This allows your team to know when to sell, upsell, drive renewals and how best to meet customer’s expectation to continue winning deals.

2. Sales Forecasting
   An unexpected flurry of sales is always a good thing, but what makes a successful business is a continuous flow of sales.  NetSuite’s SFA technology means your business can take the guesswork out of sales forecasting,  using real-time sales data, complete visibility into opportunities, and a rich set of forecasting tools.  With real time forecasting following a system of checks and balances, this technology triangulates the sales forecast, helping to make sales more predictable.

   Having an indication as to where and when you are going to make sales can help your business to understand when you need to pull back and when you can afford to push forward.

   Some key benefits include:

   – Increase sales predictability with real-time forecasting
   – Fine-tune forecast accuracy by creating forecast categories and entering a sales range for each open deal
   – Get true forecast visibility – not just pipeline – with integrated order management

3. A 360 Degree View
   With each customer comes a wealth of important data.  As a customer moves through the buying process, its important to know exactly what path they have followed to ensure no red flags have been overlooked or opportunities lost.  That’s where NetSuite helps to make things simple.  By holding all relevant customer data and business processes they have followed in one unified platform.  This means your sales team can access at a click of a button, each customer’s sales journey data, including sales, support cases and financial transactions.

   Having all of this relevant data on hand helps your team to keep track of what’s happening with each customer and ensures for a positive consumer journey.

If you’re looking to find our more about what NetSuite’s CRM system can do for your business, get in touch.

Marketing automation is the second key component in the CRM journey.  Stay tuned for the next and final instalment of insights.