Improve Sales Productivity, Forecasting, and Results

How to Improve Sales
Productivity, Forecasting, and
Results

A
White
Paper
by
Soffront
Software,
Inc.

Abstract
The world of business is ever evolving and expanding,
presenting companies with numerous challenges as they try
to increase sales and become more profitable. The sales
department struggles to keep track of leads and other
opportunities. Contacts are often lost, resulting in lost
opportunities. Disconnected business processes across various
departments using different applications complicate the
ability of employees to share customer information. Today’s
growing businesses are looking for a better way to improve
efficiency and increase sales.
This paper discusses the challenges faced by the sales
department and examines how sales automation and CRM
software help solve these challenges. Details include the
following “how to” items:
•
•
•
•
•
•

Enhance efficiency and productivity
Increase opportunities by improving lead tracking
Improve the opportunity management and forecasting
process
Identify and focus on the most profitable opportunities
Decrease reliance on your IT department without
compromising customization
Improve sales visibility and communication, while
reducing repetitive data entry

Get Your Sales Team Ready

Import and Assign Leads

Today’s sales reps need tools and solutions that
make their jobs easier not more complicated.
They need robust, cutting edge features that will
allow them to do more in less time - make more
calls, set more appointments, close more deals,
and earn more revenue.

Keeping track of leads and contacts through Excel
or other database systems is an archaic process
that wastes valuable time. The Soffront Sales
Automation module of Soffront CRM tracks leads
from initiation to closure, improving efficiency and
productivity.

Effective Sales Automation software gives you
all this and more. It is capable of automating
workflows and eliminating redundant tasks. Time
lost doing repetitive data entry and paperwork
is not only frustrating - it steals valuable time
away
from
pursuing
legitimate
sales
opportunities.

Soffront CRM’s lead management feature lets you
automatically import leads from various sources
and auto-assign them to sales reps based on
geographic location, priority, or any other business
rule. This feature provides easy access to all leads
and opportunities and allows you to know where
your leads are in the sales process.

Large corporations have learned the secret of
sales automation and integrated customer
relation management solutions to leverage their
resources more efficiently. In contrast, studies
show that only 20% of mid-market companies
have adopted some form of CRM as part of
their corporate toolset.

It also allows everyone to have a 360-degree view
of the leads, ensuring that someone is assigned to
the lead and is following up on the opportunity.

Today’s affordable and robust CRM software is
a way for mid market companies to move
ahead of their competition and gain the
competitive advantages of a much larger
company.

Cover More Ground in Less Time
Shouldn’t your sales team be spending more
time selling your product and closing deals than
scheduling activities and making appointments?
Efficient sales automation software allows your
sales reps to automate key activities: scheduling
appointments, creating tasks, organizing leads
and opportunities, and generating reports.
In addition, integrating email with your CRM
system expedites sending quotes, reports, or any
other information to your customer. The
availability of standardized email templates or
proposals further speeds the sales cycle.
A customized workflow guides your sales team
through various steps in a sales process,
minimizing lost opportunities and ensuring tasks
don’t fall through cracks.
Soffront CRM allows your sales department to
improve productivity and leverage cross sell/up
sell opportunities in a fraction of time.

2

With an add-on module, Soffront Leads, you can
collect leads from your website using a fully
configurable form and transfer them automatically
to the Soffront CRM database. The leads can be
assigned automatically, based on configurable
assignment rules.
Having all of this information in a central place
within Soffront CRM provides a powerful, complete
view of the customer relationship and sales process.
Mid-sized companies can take advantage of this
power to reduce costs, automate sales functions,
and create significant customer value.

Complete Customer View
The beauty of a fully integrated CRM system is that
you don’t need any other software to keep track of
all the information relating to your accounts,
contacts, opportunities, quotations and sales orders.
A robust CRM software system will consolidate
details such as addresses, contacts, notes, activities,
quotes, and purchase orders/invoices all in one
place for easy reference. Your sales rep should be
able to access the complete account history
(including audit trail) at the touch of a button.

Better forecasting
An intuitive CRM system is a valuable tool for
providing better forecasting and opportunity
management. A user can specify a dollar amount
and associate a probability for each opportunity
based on the stage in the sales process.

Copyright Soffront Software, Inc.

This means that it is possible to calculate what
your pipeline is worth at any point. Soffront CRM
allows you to run forecast reports for an
individual sales rep, a sales manager (and the
team), or the entire sales force. Since you know
the amount and probability associated with
each lead, you know where to better focus your
efforts to meet your numbers. More concise
information allows sales reps and managers to
better utilize their time and efforts by focusing on
higher
probability
or
higher
reward
opportunities.

Quickly, Easily Implement Changes
A
key
ingredient
to
the
successful
implementation of any sales automation
solution is its acceptance by the organization’s
IT department. These departments typically
prefer solutions that require as little of their time
as
possible
for
implementation
and
maintenance.

Things to Look for When Considering Sales
Automation and CRM
Prior to the selection of any system, it’s important to
find a company that will work with you and fit the
technology to your needs. Larger CRM companies
have traditionally looked at the mid market as a
simple downgrading of their enterprise - wide
solutions without any particular focus on the specific
nuances of mid size business needs.
A scaled down version
for a large enterprise
needs of a mid-sized
application designed
market.

You should base your ultimate decision on your
organization's specific requirements, but the
following advice will provide a good start:
•

To ease implementation burdens, a successful
CRM solution for mid market companies should
provide tools that ensure easy customization
and sufficient support from the CRM provider.
Many of today’s software solutions have limited
features and limited customization, requiring a
company to force fit the solution to meet their
needs. Soffront Sales Automation tools are so
simple to use that non-IT personnel can easily
customize the software to fit their needs. This
high level of flexibility and ease of customization
is crucial, because the software must match
your company’s processes in order to be
successful.
The ability to make customized changes without
extensive IT resources gives Soffront a clear
advantage
for
fast
and
effective
implementation. Non-technical employees can
take advantage of easy-to-use tools to
customize database tables and fields. New
fields can easily be added or existing fields
deleted. Complex sales team hierarchies can
be created and maintained without coding.
You can easily render reports in text format or
colorful graphics, including trend lines, bar
charts and pie charts. You can also customize
graphic reports, featuring immediate detail
through clickable drill down, without taxing IT
resources.

3

of an application designed
probably won’t meet the
company as well as an
specifically for the mid

When exploring solutions in Sales Automation
and Customer Relationship Management, the
most important thing to look for is a technology
partner with enough experience in the mid
market to understand your specific problems
and needs. The most frequent mistake mid
market companies make involves treating CRM
as simply a software investment instead of an
investment in a technology partnership.
Effective solutions can only be created when a
technology partner takes the time to analyze
your current methods, needs, and goals.
Soffront has the experience, and the resources
to be your technology partner.

•

Sales Automation solutions should have the
flexibility to work as part of a larger CRM solution
provided by the vendor or be adaptable by
that vendor to software solutions you may
already have successfully implemented. Sales
solutions may be advantageous on their own,
but true integration with other customer touch
points is a valuable and powerful component.
Any customer is only as loyal as their last
interaction with your company; therefore, the
implementation
of
an
effective
sales
automation system as a part of an overall CRM
strategy is essential. Soffront has the breadth of
solutions and the flexibility to integrate into all
areas
of
your
company
for
optimal
performance.

Copyright Soffront Software, Inc.

•

•

Solutions should offer you flexibility of
ownership, as every company has different
needs. Soffront offers its Sales Automation and
full CRM application suite in hosted or on-site
mode. This flexible use model provides you
with the power to make the business choice
most fitting for your organization.
The solution you choose should also be
modular, to allow for future changes and
growth. Soffront’s solution is modular, allowing
you to implement just the features you need
now and expand the solution as your business
grows. Soffront’s sales automation can even
be combined with existing software solutions
within your company to create a custom tool
set.

Soffront Software - Experience, Technology,
and Focus
Soffront Software Inc., a pioneer in the CRM
market since 1992, offers end-to-end, fully
integrated CRM solutions consisting of sales force
automation,
marketing
automation,
order
processing, customer service, employee help desk
and asset management, self-service knowledge
management, project and defect tracking.
For more information on how Soffront CRM can
help your business build a more efficient and
effective sales team, improve opportunity
management, and enhance the forecasting
process, please visit www.soffront.com or call 1800-SOFFRONT.

Soffront Software, Inc
45437 Warm Springs Blvd, Fremont, CA 94536
510-413-9000
marketing@soffront.com
www.soffront.com

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