Sales people are always looking for tools and techniques that will help them tell their story to more prospects and close more sales. Software for sales people have evolved from simple contact managers to full-fledged applications that are typically called sales automation systems.
Sales automation systems provide several key functions, plus a wide variety of extra features that are used by a small portion of a sales force. The main functions of a sales automation system include:
- Contact management
- Opportunity management
- Action Items
- Appointment Scheduling
- Messaging
One important side benefit of providing sales people with a sales automation system is that sales management is able to generate reports, such as:
- Sales activity reports
- Sales forecasts
For companies with remote locations, it is very difficult to use applications installed on individual computers. The solution is to use hosted sales automation services. These applications are maintained on a central server and the application can be accessed through a browser from anywhere there is an Internet connection. This is also beneficial in the following cases:
- Multiple offices that need to work together
- Field salespeople who are frequently on the road
- Channel partners who work directly with the company's sales representatives
