SFA is an acronym for Sales Force Automation.
Translated into Japanese, it means "sales force automation system.
SFA is a tool https://slimtime.co.jp/ for automating the accumulation and analysis of data by managing the process and information of sales activities.
Is it different from a CRM tool?
SFA tools are often mistaken for CRM tools, but if you try to translate the meaning into Japanese, they are completely different.
As explained above, SFA tools are software that supports sales activities, while CRM tools are software that can compile information on clients.
SFA tools and CRM tools are highly interchangeable, so it is recommended that you install both for BtoB services and online marketing.
Customer information management projects
Internal Task Management Sales Forecasting
Budget management
As mentioned above, since SFA tools manage the information necessary for sales activities, they support sales in all aspects, such as managing deals that have not been visualized before and managing the status of negotiations. It also reduces the time and effort required for managers to manage the details.
In addition, since SFA tools also provide sales forecasting, they can produce budgets that have not been able to be determined concretely so far, allowing for more efficient operations.
Advantages of Introducing SFA Tools
There are two major advantages to using SFA tools
Reproducibility in sales
Prevents salespeople from becoming individualized.
By introducing SFA tools, companies can visualize and utilize the know-how that they have collected up to now, thus creating repeatability in sales.
Even if a company is searching for a style to aim for, the existence of a clear sales flow due to the introduction of SFA tools allows each employee to work towards the same place.
The SFA tool also makes it possible to check customer data and project progress at a glance, making it easier to share information and awareness, which is a great advantage. Preventing SalespersonizationIn this day and age, when people are trying to reform the way they work, it is very inefficient to create tasks that can only be handled by one employee when they no longer come to the office due to remote work.
For this reason, SFA tools can be used to share customer information and case status to prevent salespeople from becoming individualized.
In addition, by preventing salespeople from being assigned to different departments, SFA tools can help improve the skills of all employees and eliminate the burden of training by managers.
How to avoid failures in introduction?
Some salespeople who are considering implementing SFA tools may have questions such as, "What should I do to avoid failure in implementing SFA tools? Some sales professionals who are considering implementing SFA tools may have questions such as, "What should I do to avoid mistakes in implementing SFA tools?
In order to avoid failures in the introduction of SFA tools in your sales organization, the following three points should be confirmed.
Organize the situation of your sales organization.
Clarify the purpose of introducing the tool.
Promote internal penetration of the system, especially in the sales organization.
Let's start from the first point. Organize the status of your sales organizationIn order to introduce an SFA tool, it is important to understand how your company is currently managing information and what processes it is using.
Also, by understanding the above and recognizing what improvements are needed, it is possible to examine what can be done to improve efficiency for your company.
In order to avoid failures, it is necessary to check and organize the situation of your company, rather than just vaguely introducing the system. Clarify the purpose of introducing SFA. In many cases of failure, the introduction of SFA itself becomes the purpose, and people vaguely think that it will do something good.
Nowadays, it is not uncommon to introduce software such as SFA and CRM, but if you just introduce SFA without thinking about it, you will fail.
Therefore, it is important to confirm and organize the situation of your company and then determine the purpose of introducing SFA.
By clarifying the purpose, you will be able to plan the benefits and operational efficiency after the introduction of SFA, which will certainly reduce the possibility of failure.
Penetration within the company, especially in the sales organizationSince SFA will only function if the sales staff enter and utilize the data, share with them what the purpose of introducing SFA is and what benefits the staff will also receive by introducing it.
No matter how much the management wants to introduce a tool such as SFA, it will be meaningless if the sales staff cannot utilize it.
Therefore, since SFA can only function if the sales staff can enter and utilize the data, it is important to share with them what the purpose of the introduction is and what benefits the staff can expect from the transportation.
By sharing your intentions before implementing SFA, your staff will be able to see the value in implementing it.
It is important to understand that the first step to avoid failure is for sales staff to be able to successfully use SFA before generating revenue.
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