Marketing automation helps sales teams close more deals

The sales cycle is made up of a number of intricate processes. Even if your sales employees are great at following up and pitching, effectiveness can unravel when it comes time to close the deal. You may need to consider an online marketing system that allows your team to streamline its procedures so reps can focus on what really matters – closing.

Although technology has simplified many aspects of business, the B2B buying cycle isn’t one of them. Customers spend longer amounts of time researching different vendors and product offerings before coming to a decision, and much of this process occurs behind the scenes. Your target clients probably have a good idea of the different options in the market before they ever speak to someone on your sales team, and this means there are a number of missteps employees can inadvertently make along the way that will cause your company to lose the deal.

You don’t need to continue losing revenue. Marketing automation tools can streamline sales processes for higher levels of effectiveness. Many tedious manual tasks can be reduced so salespeople can make closing their top priority.

Marketing automation demonstrates ROI and gives salespeople an actionable follow-up framework

With the complexity of the modern B2B sales cycle, there’s no shortage of distractions for your sales team. Employees could get hung up scoring leads or sending follow-up emails, and this probably isn’t the most productive use of their time, according to a blog post for Salesforce. One of the biggest benefits of marketing automation is that it takes away some of the most tedious aspects of the sales process, which allows your representatives to focus on the human factors that go into closing a deal.

In fact, marketing automation can help you refine the entire sales process. If your company does not maintain a team of dedicated marketing employees, these platforms can automate many tasks that marketers would be responsible for, such as sending out lead-nurturing emails. Sales employees already have a lot on their plates, and marketing activities can distract them from their real purpose of closing deals.

Rather than having your sales team spend half of their time generating leads, your website should do a lot of the work for them, Forbes stated. If you offer in-depth content such as white papers on your website, you can use download  forms as a way to capture contact information. Depending on the level of data you require in these forms, you can gain a higher number of more qualified leads, and this allows your sales reps to spend less time prospecting for new contacts. If your company sells software, you can consider offering a temporary free trial through your website. Marketing automation tools can nurture the lead further so you sales employees can devote all of their attention to how they are going to close the deal. This can improve Internet lead generation efforts.

The lead-scoring capabilities of marketing automation have another clear advantage for establishing a follow-up framework. Depending on the types of products or services your company sells, your sales team may regularly work with different members of organizations. Over time, you may notice that certain team members are better at handling certain tasks or working with one type of clients. Lead scoring can help you assign prospects to the reps who are best suited to handle this. Project assignments are a critical way to boost sales effectiveness and ensure a higher percentage of opportunities get turned into deals.

Taking manual tasks out of the equation opens the door for the human side of sales

Reducing the number of sales team responsibilities that don’t generate revenue can improve how your reps follow up and close deals. Establishing an integrated procedure for everyone can keep your team on the same page to offer a more consistent customer experience.

One misconception that companies have about implementing marketing automation is that it will replace their sales employees, Salesforce said. However, this isn’t the case. These powerful platforms eliminate manual processes so your reps can spend more time communicating with clients over the phone and in person. An online marketing system will boost your company’s ability to nurture prospects.