CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
CONCEPTS AND TECHNOLOGIES
Chapter 9
Sales force automation
CRM strategy limited by operational capabilities
Single view of customer (SVOC) integrates all
customer data from sales, marketing, service,
accounts.
Operational CRM uses SVOC to improve customer
experience
Operational CRM capabilities are enhanced by
investment in sales force automation, marketing
automation and/or service automation.
Sales force automation definition
Sales Force Automation is the application of
computerised technologies to support sales people
and sales management in the achievement of their
work-related objectives.
Key technologies for SFA
SFA hardware includes desktop, laptop and
handheld devices, and contact/call centre technology.
SFA software comprises both ‘point’ solutions that
are designed to assist in a single area of selling or
sales management, and integrated solutions that
offer a range of functionality.
Oracle’s SFA solution
Figure 9.1
Members of the SFA ecosystem
Solutions providers
Hardware and infrastructure providers
Service providers
Classification and examples of SFA vendors
SFA specialists SFA as part of SFA as part of
CRM suite Enterprise suite
Pipedrive Microsoft IBM
Dynamics
Vertafore [Link] Oracle
ContactWise Sage CRM SAP
Table 8.1
How users access SFA solutions
1. Installed on the user’s own servers or computers
● Known as on-premise, offline or installed SFA
2. Hosted on another party’s servers and accessed by
browser
● Known as hosted, online, on demand, or web-service SFA
or the Software as a Service (SaaS) or Application Service
Provider (ASP) model.
Customer overview configured for iPad
Figure 9.2
SFA functionality
Tools for salespeople Tools for sales managers
Account management Document management
Activity management Incentive management
Collaboration Product encyclopaedia
Contact management Sales analytics
Contract management Sales forecasting
CPQ Configure-Price- Territory management
Quote
Event management Workflow development
Lead management
Opportunity management
Order management
Pipeline management
Product configuration
Product visualization
Proposal generation
Quotation management
Table 9.2
Account management
Account management offers sales reps and
managers a complete view of the customer
relationship including contacts, contact history,
completed transactions, current orders, shipments,
enquiries, service history, opportunities, and
quotations. This allows sales reps and account
managers to keep track of all their obligations in
respect of every account for which they are
responsible, whether this is an opportunity to be
closed, an order or a service enquiry.
Account management screenshot
Figure 8.3
Activity management
Activity management keeps sales reps and
managers aware of all activities, whether complete or
pending, related to an account, contact, or
opportunity, by establishing to-do lists, setting
priorities, monitoring progress and programming
alerts. Activities include preparation of quotations,
scheduling of sales calls and following up enquiries,
for example.
Contact management
Contact management functionality includes tools for
building, sharing and updating contact lists, making
appointments, time setting, and task, event and
contact tracking .Contact list data includes names,
phone numbers, addresses, preference data, and
email addresses for people and companies, as well
as a history of in-bound and out-bound
communications.
Oracle contact summary screenshot
Figure 9.4
Contract management
Contract management functionality enables reps
and managers to create, track, progress, accelerate,
monitor and control contracts with customers.
Contract management helps manage a contract's
lifespan by shortening approval cycles for contracts,
renewing contracts sooner, and reducing
administrative costs. The software may use security
controls to ensure only approved people have access
to contracts.
Document management
Document management software allows companies
to manage sales-related documents, keep them
current and ensure that they are always available to
reps, managers and partners when needed.
Many documents support the sales process -
brochures, product specifications, installation
instructions, user manuals, case studies, white
papers, price lists, warranties, competitive
comparisons, spread sheets, email templates, and
templates for preparing quotations, etc.
Event management
Event management enables reps and managers to
plan, implement, control and evaluate events such as
conferences, seminars, trade shows, exhibitions and
webinars, whether run solo or jointly with customers
or other partners.
Functionality includes event calendaring, event
website design, event marketing, integration with
social media, online registration, contact
management, online payment and refund, partner
management tools, event reports and analytics,
attendee communications and management tools.
Incentive management
Incentive management is an issue for sales
managers who use commissions to lift, direct and
reward sales reps’ efforts.
Incentive management models that consider quotas,
sales volumes, customer profitability, customer
satisfaction, customer retention, Net Promoter scores
and other performance criteria can be created.
Lead management
Lead management allows companies to capture, score,
assign, nurture and track sales leads.
Lead coring applies a set of criteria established by sales
management, so that the company can focus its limited
sales resources where they are likely to generate most
return.
User-defined rules allow leads to be allocated or routed to
reps and account managers on the basis of role, territory,
product expertise or other variables.
Lead nurturing is the practice of maintaining a healthy
bilateral relationship with the lead until ready to buy.
Lead management screenshot
Figure 9.5
Opportunity management
An opportunity is a record of a potential sale or any
other type of revenue generation.
Opportunity management software enables reps
and managers to monitor progress of an opportunity
against a predefined selling methodology, ensuring
that opportunities are advanced towards closure.
Opportunity management report
Figure 9.6
Order management
Order management functionality allows reps to
convert quotations and estimates into orders once a
customer has agreed to buy.
Order management software may include a quotation
engine, a pricing module, and a product configurator.
Order management functionality accelerates the
order-to-cash cycle by eliminating manual processing
and errors and by quickly advancing the status of a
sales quotation to approved order.
Pipeline management
Pipeline management is the process of managing
the entire sales cycle from identifying prospects,
estimating sales potential, managing leads,
forecasting sales, initiating and maintaining customer
relationships, right through to closure. A well-defined
sales pipeline helps minimize lost opportunities and
breakdowns in the sales process.
Oracle pipeline overview screenshot
Figure 9.7
Product encyclopaedia
A product encyclopaedia is a searchable electronic
product catalogue, that generally contains product
names, stock numbers, images and specifications.
These can be stored on reps computers’ and/or
made available to customers online.
Product configuration
Product configuration applications enable
salespeople, or customer themselves, automatically
to design and price customized products, services or
solutions.
Configurators are useful when the product is
particularly complex or when customization is an
important part of the value proposition.
Build your own Jeep
Product visualization
Product visualization software enables sales reps
and customers to produce realistic images of
products before they are manufactured.
This is a useful application when linked to a product
configurator.
Static images can take the form of a simulated
photograph, 3-D model or technical drawing.
Animated visualizations can be rendered in different
ways to show how products are built, installed or
used.
Proposal generation
Proposal generation software allows users to create
customized branded proposals for customers.
Users draw on information held in one or more
databases to create proposals which may contain:
● cover page and letter, introduction, objectives, products,
product features, services, benefits, prices, specifications,
pictures, drawings, embedded video, people, experience,
resumes, references, approach, schedule, organization,
scope of work, and appendices.
Quotation management
Quotation management software allows reps and
managers to quote for opportunities. The software
allows users to create, edit, approve, and produce
costed, customized, proposals quickly and reliably.
Some vendors enable users to create multimedia
proposals with audio, animation and video.
Sales forecasting
Sales forecasting applications offer sales reps and
managers a number of qualitative and quantitative
processes to help forecast sales revenues and close
rates.
Sales management reporting
Reporting functionality is integrated into all SFA
systems.
Offers users a number of standardised reports that
can help sales managers evaluate and enhance the
effectiveness and efficiency of their sales team.
In addition managers can create ad hoc reports on
any variable or mix of variables maintained in the
sales database.
Examples of sales management reports
closed opportunities sales cycles
customer sales by close date
profitability
lead conversion by sales person
source productivity
pipeline progress unresolved cases
Table 9.3
Sales management report
Figure 9.8
Territory management
Territory management software allows sales managers
to create, adjust and balance sales territories, so that
sales reps have equivalent workloads and/or
opportunities.
Applications generally enable companies to match sales
coverage to market opportunity, create sales territory
hierarchies (cities, states, regions) and reduce the cost of
selling by reducing travel time.
Some applications integrate geographic mapping or geo-
demographic data into the application.
Call cycle scheduling, calendaring and lead management
is often enabled by the software.
Workflow development
Workflow development software is used to design
sales-related processes including as the lead
management process and the event management
process
Benefits for SFA stakeholders
Salespeople: shorter sales cycles, more closing
opportunities, higher win rates
Sales managers: improved salesperson productivity,
improved customer relationships, accurate reporting,
reduced cost-of-sales
Senior management: improved visibility of the sales
pipeline, reduced risk of unexpected variations from
sales forecasts, accelerated cash flow, increased
sales revenue, market share growth, improved
profitability
Motivations for investing in SFA
Motivation % of sample reporting
Improve efficiencies 72
Improve customer 44
contact
Increase sales 33
Reduce costs 26
Improve accuracy 21
Table 8.4
SFA will enhance performance when….. 1
1. Sales people find that the SFA application is easy to
use
2. Sales people find the technology useful because it
fits their roles well.
3. Availability of appropriate-to-task SFA training
4. Users have accurate expectations about what SFA
will deliver
5. Users have a positive attitude towards innovation
SFA will enhance performance when….. 2
6. Users have a positive attitude towards technology
7. Availability of user support after roll out, for example,
a help desk.
8. Involvement of user groups including sales reps and
managers during SFA project planning and
technology selection.
9. Deployment of a multi-disciplinary team in the SFA
project planning phases
10. Senior management support SFA.
