How B2B Sales Automation is Reshaping the Business Landscape

Digital transformation is a norm of the current business landscape and an inevitable part of operations. If companies wish to stay competitive and relevant in the market then they must endorse the benefits that an automated solution offers. 

But how is automation in B2B sales changing the face of selling? 

Well, automated B2B sales equip sales managers with a comprehensive understanding of their sales process, sales activities, sales growth, and many more. 

In this article, we will deal with B2B sales automation, the benefits of sales automation, best practices to adopt sales automation, and why use automation in B2B sales.

So scroll down for more information. 

What is B2B sales automation?

Effective B2B sales automation refers to the incorporation of digital tools to ease everyday tasks and streamline the sales process to bring efficiency and optimization, enabling businesses to implement and execute their most effective B2B sales strategies seamlessly.

Implementing artificial intelligence in their business operations helps B2B companies automate their routine tasks, reduce the tediousness of routine admin work, and provide a holistic view of the company operations backed by data.  

What are the benefits of sales automation?

B2B Sales automation offers a variety of benefits to your business operations. Some of these include: 

1. Ease Routine Tasks

Sales automation helps ease routine, repetitive, and tedious tasks, allowing sales reps to focus on selling. Most of the time, it's the manual administrative work of updating the workflow that keeps the sales team busy. Automating the admin work not only streamlines the process but also helps sales reps plan their strategies, generate leads, and close sales to meet quotas, allowing for a more efficient and agile sales team structure that can adapt to changing market conditions. Just as automation revolutionizes the sales landscape, consider automating your job search process for a similarly streamlined and effective approach.

2. Streamline Operations 

Sales automation tools, including the integrated sales commission calculator , help streamline the sales process. Since a sales journey usually takes months, it is important to monitor the progress. Automating sales notifies sales reps to follow up on regular time periods, keeps everyone in the loop updated, and tracks the sales pipeline.

3. Track Performance 

Sales automation helps in sales performance management and tracking key b2b sales pipeline metrics. Keeping track of the sales activities like the number of calls and emails, the response from clients, demos booked, sales made and the sales pipeline helps managers understand the performance of the sales reps.This ensures they are provided regular coaching to enhance their productivity. 

4. Gain Insightful Data

Incorporating automation tools means documenting everything related to sales. The data collected by digital tools provide accurate and valuable insights that help sales managers make informed decisions. This optimizes sales forecasting which equips the sales team to better prepare for the demands of the next financial year. 

5. Efficiently Manage Pipeline

Sales reps will have multiple leads in their pipeline at the same time. This requires lead scoring to determine whether they are warm, cold, or moderate and thereby determine the sales reps' next step. Sales automation, coupled with an effective Sales Pipeline tool, helps keep track of the prospects and manage the pipeline efficiently to ensure no lead is lost and there is timely closing of deals. 

6. Efficient Incentive Planning 

Documenting the sales process and keeping track of the sales performance helps managers understand the areas of improvement for the sales reps and plan ways to motivate them. These insights help build an efficient sales incentive program that can boost employee motivation, engagement, and performance, ultimately driving better results and revenue growth.

For further reading check  A Guide to Optimising Sales Performance for the Sales Process.  

Best practices to adopt sales automation

Companies are incorporating digital tools in all areas of business operations, emphasizing the importance of customer experience planning. With a wide variety of tools and options available, there needs a proper system to filter out and choose what suits you best.

So here are step-by-step best practices that will help you judiciously adopt B2B sales automation tools.

As said, there are a zillion automation tools in the market. Hence, companies must put in the time and effort to determine what are their requirements and choose what best suits their structure. This will ensure judicious use of resources to incorporate digital tools that help fulfill the company objectives, optimize operations, and even tailor sales spiff programs to reward and motivate their sales teams effectively.

• Determine Budget

Companies must allocate a budget that they can utilize for incorporating digital tools. Various solutions come with different features and with varying pricing. Determining how much they can spend helps companies to make judicious decisions and rational use of money. 

• Prepare Workforce 

Incorporating any new solution in the operations requires mental readiness and preparedness from the workforce. This means they must be upskilled to use the solutions with ease and adapt to the changes seamlessly. Only when the team is open to utilizing the solution to its best use will the desired result be attained.  

• Choose Relevant Tools

There are multiple digital tools and solutions available in the market. While investing in these tools and incorporating them into your operations, companies must be clear about their necessity to enhance their operations and boost their employee productivity. 

• Incorporate Seamlessly 

Automation in B2B sales operations must be incorporated seamlessly. This requires choosing those tools that are compatible with the company structure and complement its existing growth. 

• Evaluate Regularly 

Incorporating digital solutions is not a first-step solution to all your problems. Even when you have found a tool that caters to your requirements, it requires a regular evaluation of its benefits and effectiveness to bring the expected results.  

Companies must keep on repeating these steps and reevaluating the efficiency of their automation tools to ensure that they bring the expected results it was intended for.   

For further reading Sales Compensation: Spreadsheet v/s Automation. 

Why Use Automation in Your B2B Sales? 

Automated B2B sales helps sales reps to focus their efforts on selling. The ease in their routine administrative work helps them strategize effective plans to generate leads and close deals.

A B2B sales automation example that boosts sales motivation and performance is an incentive compensation tool. Incorporating digital solutions in your incentive compensation will document the number of sales made by the sales rep, make the calculation accurate, and bring transparency to sales management, providing a practical sales concept example.

This level of clarity and transparency affirms the integrity of the company and will be returned with commitment and loyalty by the employees. 

Kennect builds, runs, and automates your incentive compensation plans to create transparency and achieve operational efficiency. For more information Book A Demo Now!