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Sales force management system

Sales force management systems are information systems used in marketing and management that automate some sales and sales force management functions. They are frequently combined with a marketing information system, in which case they are often called customer relationship management systems.

Advantages to sales people

Proponents claim that sales force automation systems can improve the productivity of sales personnel. Here are some examples:

1) - Rather than write-out sales reports, activity reports, and/or call sheets, sales people can fill-in prepared e-forms. This saves time.
2) - Rather than printing out reports and taking them to the sales manager, sales people can use the company intranet to transmit the information. This saves time.
3) - Rather than waiting for paper based product inventory data, sales prospect lists, and sales support information, they will have access to the information when they need it. This could be useful in the field when answering prospects’ questions and objections.
4) - The additional tools could help improve sales staff morale if they reduce the amount of record keeping and/or increase the rate of closing. This could contribute to a virtuous spiral of beneficial and cumulative effects.
5) - These sales force systems can be used as an effective and efficient training device. They provide sales staff with product information and sales technique training without them having to waste time at seminars.
6) - Better communication and co-operation between sales personnel facilitates successful team selling.
7) - More and better qualified sales leads could be automatically generated by the software.
8) - This technology increases the sales person’s ratio of selling time to non-selling time. Non-selling time includes activities like report writing, travel time, internal meetings, training, and seminars.

Advantages to the sales manager

Sales force automation systems can also affect sales management. Here are some examples:

Advantages to the marketing manager

It is also claimed to be useful for the marketing manager. It gives the marketing manager information that is useful in :

Strategic advantages

Sales force automation systems can also create competitive advantage. Here are some examples:

1) - As mentioned above, productivity will increase. Sales staff will use their time more efficiently and more effectively. The sales manager will also become more efficient and more effective.(see above) This increased productivity can create a competitive advantage in three ways: it can reduce costs, it can increase sales revenue, and it can increase market share.

2) - Field sales staff will send their information more frequently. Typically information will be sent to management after every sales call (rather than once a week). This provides management with current information, information that they will be able to use while it is still valuable. Management response time will be greatly reduced. The company will become more alert and more agile.

3) - These systems could increase customer satisfaction if they are used with wisdom. If the information obtained and analyzed with the system is used to create a product that matches or exceeds customer expectations, and the sales staff use the system to service customers more expertly and diligently, then customers should be satisfied with the company. This will provide a competitive advantage because customer satisfaction leads to increased customer loyalty, reduced customer acquisition costs, reduced price elasticity of demand, and increased profit margins.

Disadvantages

Detractors claim that sales force management systems are:

See Also:

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