Sales practices improve with marketing automation

Small businesses that want to improve their Internet lead generation can benefit from marketing automation. This system replaces high-touch, repetitive processes with automated solutions that can relieve sales professionals of tedious tasks and enable them to nurture leads.

Some of the benefits marketing automation can bring to sales operations include: a larger number of qualified leads at a lower cost, improved client retention and better marketing and sales alignment, according to Business 2 Community. Instead of cold calling leads from a purchased list like in the past, sales professionals can work with qualified leads through the online channels many consumers prefer.

For smaller companies with extremely busy sales representatives, marketing automation can help them become more efficient and aid in closing deals. Because automation can streamline the digital side of the relationship, it can improve the lead nurturing and sales process since representatives have better access to data.

Why sales representatives need marketing automation

Without automation, sales teams have to log information all the time. They need to monitor whether they sent requested information or followed up with prospects, and it is time-consuming to constantly record activities by hand. Sales is based on measurements, but teams are missing the mark when it comes to visibility, an article in Promotion World stated. Marketing automation can help sales professionals track dialogue with prospects. Gaining a better understanding of how interactions progress can help representatives improve their strategy.

For example, salespeople often spend time following up on leads after months of silence hoping to re-engage the prospect. Marketing automation can help representatives speed up the process because the system maintains a record of previous contact with leads. Instead of sending the prospect multiple emails and calling several times after a long period of silence, salespeople can determine if the person is still interacting with documents.