Today’s sales landscape demands an automated, lean workflow that eliminates all the ‘fat’ from the system and expedites the sales process. Given the economic climate, buyers are more discerning about where to spend their money. Organizations need to work smarter and more efficiently.
Prospects aren’t just buying into your product; they’re buying into your reputation. Buyers want to work with a well-organized company with all its ducks in order. The sales rep might be fantastic, but if the company has poor tools that are difficult to work with, would a buyer feel excited about engaging with that company? Probably not.
Adding complexity to the sales process is the myriad of communication tools now available like email, instant messaging, text messaging and in-app notifications. Having these many options can make it challenging to stay on top of what is shared in the different channels. At the same time, the customer expects a prompt response, so managing communications is vital.
There’s an expression in the sales world, “time kills all deals.” When your workflow is too complex or doesn’t keep you organized, you end up wasting time on back-and-forth communications and attempting to find information that should be readily accessible. The upshot is that you need help to move or respond quickly. If the prospect is showing intent to move to the next stage, but you still need to get all your documents ready, it delays the close. We never want to delay the close.
For SMBs, a well-oiled automated workflow may be even more critical because they have fewer resources, placing a more significant burden on the tools they do have. Data shows that saving time and boosting efficiency is critical for small businesses. Like their larger counterparts, SMBs have to respond quickly and accurately to customers’ or prospects’ actions, but they are often doing so armed with fewer tools. An automated, seamless workflow levels the playing field.
An automated document workflow can be the difference-maker. It streamlines the sales process, moving it along quickly and efficiently and creating an all-around stress-free experience for your customer — and your sales team. The platform can track the movement of various documents and send notifications to the interested parties when the process is ready to move to the next stage. Implementing an automated document workflow platform can increase your close rate by 18%.
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Keep it simple
Complexity breeds complexity. When you set up your workflow process, keep it simple. Especially as a sales leader, ask, “How do I set something up so that when I hire other sales reps and other managers, they can very quickly and easily adapt to this process?”
Implement an all-in-one automated workflow platform with these tools
eSignatures: eSignatures increase the speed and offer enhanced security of contracts and other documents to expedite the sales process. They enable buyers to sign documents remotely from a computer or smartphone and allow your sales teams to track and manage the process regardless of location.
Automated document management: Document management is critical both during and after the sales cycle. Knowing whether the prospect has viewed the document can inform your next steps. Once the document is signed and the deal completed, managing your documents in specific folders can help keep you and the buyer organized throughout the customer journey.
Each step in document management can be automated with simple status triggers, automated reminders and post-document completion zaps. Proper naming and tagging of documents make for easy searches.
Integration with internal functions and external platforms: Your automated workflow can integrate the full capability of eSignatures and document management into all your business functions, external tools and apps. This lets you automatically import data from other tools, like a CRM, into any fields directly in your documents or move information between your workflow and the app. For example, an integration with Zoom provides users seamless access to business documents with the ability to view, send and sign within Zoom Meetings. An integration with Salesforce empowers customers to create, send, track and eSign quotes directly from the Salesforce Revenue Cloud.
Leverage the document workflow’s template library
The template library lets you quickly repurpose information for new documents and create customized products. You can streamline quotes, proposals, contracts and renewals, so that all the sales rep has to do is pull the correct template and add any required fields from their CRM. The fewer clicks needed, the more your sales reps can focus on building client relationships.
An automated document workflow provides a competitive advantage to SMBs. It helps streamline business and communication processes, empowers sales professionals to manage the contract journey and delivers a seamless, superior customer experience.
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