What is sales automation, and how and where can it be helpful?

Sales automation technology has revolutionised the industry over the past few years. Modern AI-driven tools have proven to be a game-changer when it comes to streamlining workflows, improving conversion rates, and taking sales efficiency to new heights.

But what does putting automated sales procedures in place involve? Does it mean the end of the human sales agent? How exactly does it work in practice?

Here, we take a look at what sales automation is and how you can implement it in your business. We’ll also explore some of the wider benefits you’ll see if you do decide to incorporate it into your company’s processes.

What is sales automation?

In essence, sales automation is about using technology to perform sales-related tasks automatically rather than relying on human operatives to do each one manually.

Although sales cycles vary widely depending on the type of product or service you’re selling, some elements of the sales process are the same anywhere. Using sales automation software allows you to streamline workflows and make everything from lead generation to reporting vastly more efficient.

It’s important to note that the goal of most sales automation systems isn’t to replace traditional agents. Instead, they help them do their jobs more effectively.

After all, when your sales teams don’t have to spend lots of time keeping up with paperwork and other repetitive tasks, they can concentrate on doing what they do best—developing relationships with your prospective customers and driving them through the buying process.

What are the benefits of sales automation?

When you automate sales tasks, you’ll very quickly see the benefits in several key areas. Here are just a few examples:

• Better data management: Using a sales automation platform, you can centralise data collection and storage so that all the information relevant to your sales pipeline is easily accessible.

• More efficient workflows: One of the big advantages of sales process automation is that it minimises operational inefficiencies. For example, your sales teams no longer lose time hanging around waiting for someone else to respond before following up on leads.

• Improved customer satisfaction: Your customers have high expectations, and one of the benefits of sales automation is that it can help you meet them.
  
  Sales automation helps reps improve communication, achieve faster turnaround times, and deliver personalised pitches tailored to each individual, which starts the customer relationship off on the right foot.

• Consistent lead nurturing: An automated sales system can prompt your sales reps to follow up on leads at exactly the right time so they never miss an opportunity to close a sale.

• Increased focus on high-value tasks: Your people are skilled professionals who bring a lot to the table. Having them spend a lot of their time on routine admin work is a waste of their abilities. Automating the sales process empowers your agents to make full use of their talents by focusing on booking meetings and closing deals.

Sales automation benefits companies both large and small because it takes care of the important yet mundane tasks that are an essential part of the sales process.

How, though, does this work in practice? Let’s take a look at a few examples of sales automation.

Sales automation examples: Areas where you could deploy automation

A sales automation solution can perform many tasks and streamline workflows all the way through the sales pipeline.

Here’s how:

Data collection, input and record creation

Data is the lifeblood of the modern sales business model. Without the right information, you have no way of identifying or reaching out to potential prospects.

But let’s face it, collecting and recording data can be a massive grind. Nobody has ever dreamt of becoming a professional data entry operator. It’s just one of those necessary but tedious tasks that—until now—sales reps have always had to do.

Luckily, sales automation tools can take care of the brunt of this work. For instance, Dialpad Sell is a sales communication platform that automates the recording and data entry process for sales teams using its built-in AI and integrations with CRMs.

For example, your sales agents can use Dialpad’s HubSpot integration to automatically log calls with prospects:

Many other CRMs integrations are available, too. To pick another example, when any of your sales team agents places a call or sends a text message via Dialpad, you can have the action recorded automatically in Salesforce.

As well as saving time, another big plus here is that it removes the possibility of human error in the data logging process. So, not only does it empower your teams to focus on more rewarding activities, but it also ensures a higher degree of accuracy in your record-keeping.

Outreach, prospecting, and other external communications

Reaching out to new prospects is the bread and butter of most sales teams (unless you’re one of the few companies that doesn’t need to do any outreach at all). It also takes up a significant proportion of work hours, so finding ways to make it more efficient is essential.

Outbound phone calls can be particularly time-consuming. With Dialpad, you can use the power dialler feature to automate the process of making phone calls.

What this does is start dialling the next number on the agent’s list as soon as they put the phone down on the previous call. It’s also smart enough to skip to the next number on the list if no-one answers or the line is busy.

You can even embed the power dialler directly into your CRM:

Just imagine how much time that saves over the course of an hour, let alone a week or a month. It all adds up.

And that’s not the only time-saving feature you’ll find in Dialpad Sell. There’s also the option to use voicemail drop, a handy tool lets your agents record custom messages that they can just drop in with a single click when the call they’re on goes straight to voicemail. Click and move on to the next prospect—it’s that simple.

Post-call recaps

Another time-consuming task for sales teams is note-taking after a conversation with a prospect. AI can be a big help here and already there are AI tools that can not only transcribe calls in real time, but also summarise those conversations and key action items automatically.

For example, Dialpad Ai provides instant transcripts of all calls and tracks action items so everyone is fully informed at all times about who needs to do what and when:

With Dialpad Sell, sales teams always have an accurate record at hand detailing prospects’ preferences, timelines, objections, and more—without having to manually take notes.

Lead scoring and qualification

Not all leads are worth going after. Determining which ones should be handed over to your sales teams to follow up is a crucial part of the sales process.

In practice, this can be quite a challenge, especially for larger businesses that might be faced with assessing the quality of thousands of leads every day.

Sales automation tools can help take the pain out of the process. Some have automated lead scoring and lead management functions that assign a score to every lead.

Again, this is possible thanks to AI in sales automation systems, which can generate accurate lead scores based on all the interactions you’ve had with that lead across a wide range of touchpoints—like phone calls, emails, or engagement on social media channels.

Then, the system automatically selects the hottest prospects and puts them on the outreach list. Given how much effort goes into lead scoring the old-fashioned way, this represents a massive boon for today’s sales teams and can end up saving a huge amount of time.

Onboarding, post-sales, and upselling

When your agents close a sale with a new customer, it represents the beginning of what should hopefully be a long and happy relationship. And the sales automation process has much to contribute here, too.

Taking the new customer through the onboarding procedure quickly and efficiently is vital to building trust. Delivering excellent follow-up support and after-sales service is also key when it comes to boosting your customer retention rates and maximising customer lifetime value.

AI solutions like Dialpad can automatically highlight action items from a meeting to prompt the sales or customer success teams to do whatever needs to be done post-call. These are then included in the post-call summary email sent to everyone involved.

This reduces the chances of crucial information slipping through the cracks and getting lost due to poor communication between teams. Everyone involved in supporting the customer knows exactly what needs to be actioned and when.

Another big advantage of this unified approach to information is that it can help identify upselling opportunities. Over time, the system learns what questions or keywords might suggest that a prospect will be receptive to a sales pitch and can direct the sales agents accordingly.

Sales training and coaching

There are a number of ways automation in sales technology can help with training. For example, with Dialpad, you can set up Real-Time Assist (RTA) cards that pop up to give useful advice whenever Dialpad Ai detects that a particular keyphrase has been mentioned on a call:

For example, if a customer mentions the phrase “too expensive,” a card could pop up with a script to help the agent negotiate and hopefully overcome the customer’s budget-based objection.

This can be a great help, especially for relatively new agents who are still learning the ropes. It turns every call into a potential teaching moment while empowering agents to navigate conversations successfully, ultimately helping new hires get into their stride a lot faster than they otherwise would.

Of course, it’s vital to show trainees real-world examples of what good service looks like, too. That’s why Dialpad’s playlist feature is so handy. You can curate examples of calls that went well to serve as a model for them to follow:

Similarly, Dialpad's Ai Playbooks feature automatically suggests to supervisors whether agents are following the prescribed sales methodology, whether that’s BANT, SPIN, or SPICED.

It also automatically suggests questions and phrases for agents to say during a call to help them stick to the selected methodology successfully:

Other AI-driven features, such as real-time sentiment analysis, can also be useful for coaching purposes. A supervisor can track the progress of live calls on their dashboard and step in to assist if necessary when it looks like an agent might be struggling with a difficult conversation.

These components can all form part of an automated sales call reporting strategy, which is crucial for generating insights about calls for later analysis. It makes it easier for supervisors to monitor agent performance and identify weaker areas that could be rectified with targeted training.

Explore sales automation with Dialpad’s Ai-powered features

Ready to explore what sales automation can do for your business?

With Dialpad, you not only get a truly unified collaboration solution, but also have access to a whole suite of AI-powered tools and integrations that can make a huge difference to the efficiency of your day-to-day sales operations.

Whether you’re looking to boost conversions, upgrade your staff training procedures, or reduce ramp up time for new sales reps, Dialpad’s many sales automation features can help.

Book a demo to see for yourself how it works, or take a self-guided interactive tour of the app!