WHY "SFA" IN SALES DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION? EXPLANATION OF WHY COST-EFFECTIVENESS IS EASY TO GENERATE

WHAT IT TOOLS CAN BE USED IN SALES DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION?

IT tools that can be used in sales digital transformationare called " sales tech, " a term coined by combining "Sales" + "Technology " to help improve the efficiency of various tasks related to sales activities, such as the spread of online meetings and work efficiency in work style reform.

Communication tools such as Slack, Teams, etc., which allow easy online message exchange, and online negotiation systems such as video conferencing, etc., have already been introduced in many companies, especially major companies, and "SFA" is attracting attention mainly from the management level as the next step to further promote digital transformation. In order to further promote the use of SFA, "SFA" has been attracting attention mainly from the management level.

"I heard that our competitors have increased their sales by implementing SFA."
"I heard that SFA makes sales activities more efficient and increases the productivity of sales representatives."

Every year, more and more people hear such information and have their subordinates gather information or inquire on IT comparison sites. SFAis expected to be more "cost-effective " than online business negotiation tools in terms of "sales improvement" and "productivity increase.

WHAT IS "SFA (SALES SUPPORT SYSTEM)" IN THE FIRST PLACE?

To begin with, SFA is an acronym for "Sales Force Automation. In Japanese, it is translated as " sales support system" or"sales management tool." SFA supports operations related to sales activities, such as managing log, progress status of sales activities, and customer information. SFA is one of the systems introduced to strengthen and streamline a company's sales organization, and its purpose is to provide thorough sales support through an IT system. At the same time, the role of SFA is to "visualize" and manage the sales department members' negotiation processes and the progress of sales projects.

ONE OF THE ROLES OF SFA IS TO VISUALIZE SALES ACTIVITIES

First of all, without visibility into sales activities in the field, management will be based on a "dark cloud" that relies on intuition, and correct advice and evaluation will be impossible. Furthermore, if salespeople write down customer information in their personal organizers, information leakage security will be compromised, and the inability to share information will lead to differences in information and know-how among salespeople, making sales activities more personalized.
In order to improve these situations, SFA, which enables the sharing of information and know-how within the company, is useful. To remedy this situation, SFA, which allows information and know-how to be shared within the company, can be useful.
The difference between SFA and Excel is the "ease of sharing information." With Excel, it is difficult to edit and share information at the same time because each file is managed individually. SFA, on the other hand, uses a common system to manage information, which facilitates information sharing and reporting.
By"visualizing" sales activities and facilitating information sharing andcommunication, it is possible to improve the productivity andefficiency of the sales department. One of the roles of SFA is to improve the performance of the entire sales department.

PATTERNS IN WHICH SFA CAN AND CANNOT PRODUCE RESULTS

SFA has many possibilities, but SFA itself is just a "system. Whether or not you can achieve great results as in the case studies we hear about at other companies depends on "what kind of information you put in this SFA" and "for what purpose and how you utilize SFA ".
Here are some patterns in which SFA is effective and others in which IT tools are more suitable.

Effective use case of SFA (1): "I don't store sales information at all now / I manage it with Excel, etc."

From the point of view of a company that has implemented SFA, not having logof business meetings and sales activities is "a state in which a treasure is being put to sleep". The " logof customer touchpoint," or the history of interactions with customers obtained through sales activities, is important data for finding "winning patterns unique to your company," even if it does not lead to a deal.
Not all companies have exactly the same salespeople working like robots. Each company has its own unique salespeople who communicate with customers on a daily basis. Standardizing and logstandardizing these activities and accumulating and analyzing them quantitatively will lead to the discovery of unique characteristics andwinning patterns that are unique to the company.
logSFA is a tool that specializes in "collecting information from the field," so it is important to automate and simplify this process. By automating and simplifying the process, correct information can be collected and analyzed without burdening the field.

USE CASE (2) WHERE SFA IS EFFECTIVE: "THERE ARE COMPETITORS OFFERING SIMILAR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES."

This is related to use case (1), but in today's market, there are few services or products that can be differentiated by "function" or "performance. For example, there are a variety of electronic payment services such as PayPay, Melpay, Rakuten Pay, etc., and even when it comes to hybrid cars, products from all manufacturers come to mind.
In such a situation, SFA is an effective way to enhance the superiority of your products and services. SFA not only allows you to continue storing log ofbusiness meetings, but also gives you suggestions for the next step. For example, "This company had a deal with us last time, but switched to a competitor after not visiting or calling for a while," which could have been prevented if the company had loga history of their activities with SFA.
Salespeople, in order to improve their performance, tend to approach only those companies that they have received inquiries from or are good friends with, and it is difficult for them to consider the overall strategy of the company and decide which companies to approach one by one. Therefore, by using SFA to manage business negotiations, transactions, and on-site activities, it is possible to communicate at the most appropriate time, leading to increased sales andcustomer satisfaction.

USE CASE THAT LIMITS THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SFA: "ALL BUSINESS MEETINGS CAN BE COMPLETED ONLINE / SALESPEOPLE ARE HIGHLY SKILLED.

Although SFA appears to be a universal solution, there are some use cases in which it is not effective. There are two types of use cases: cases in which "online negotiations can be completed" with differentiated services, and cases in which "only the skills and know-how of individual salespeople can lead to results," such as in the case of high-end products and outside sales.
First of all, if the business meeting is completed online, a tool that visualizes and streamlines"online activity results," such as a BI tool, is more suitable than an SFA analysis. In order to keep your business in a state where you can sell even if you leave it alone" and "respond to inquiries efficiently," automating the first contact withMA (marketing automation) or enhancing the chat support on your website will be more effective than managing the activities with SFA. This should be more effective than using SFA to manage activities.
The same is also true for high value or special products. For example, " We have a famous designer, and some customers will only buy from him," or "The products we handle are expensive and intangible, and require high skills from our salespeople, and a very large amount of money is involved in a single transaction. If " the sales staff is too personalized" is not a problem but a selling point, the priority for SFA implementation will also be low.

SFA is only a tool suited for solving problems such as "it is hard to differentiate" or "we do not have enough resources with our current sales activities". On the contrary, if a company has such concerns, SFA will certainly show its effectiveness.

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WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN ACTUALLY SELECTING SFA

Once you understand the use cases where SFA is effective, the next step is to know how to choose the right SFA. There are various types of SFA, such as "strong inside sales support," "strong field sales support," and "strong data visualization. However, the key points that must be emphasized across all tools are that they must be simple and easy to use in the field, and that they must be well accompanied by a customer success team.
SFA is a tool that can provide significant benefits if successfully implemented and established, but it is not a simple task to achieve that success. When choosing a vendor, you need to focus on whether or not it is easy to use and whether or not it provides solid support, and you need to make sure that you choose a vendor that is committed to establishing itself.
UPWARD Corporation, which boasts a contract renewal rate of98.8% while developing a SaaS business model that gives customers the right to cancel every year, offers a service that specializes in "last mile efficiency" among SFA.
UPWARD" can almost automaticallystandardize, formulate, and quantify salespeople's phone calls andfield activities to log. This SFA tool has been extremely well received by the approximately 300 companies that have introduced it, mainly major corporations, for its easy data entry and easy-to-understand reports.

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‍ C onclusion

Amidst the changing work styles and labor shortages, the global trend toward digital transformation is expected to continue. Sales organizations, which until now have been managed mainly by paper and Excel, are no exception.
Although it takes time and effort to gather information and implement SFA, once SFA is successfully implemented and established, the data handled by SFA will become a powerful weapon that will lead the competition one or two steps ahead and contribute greatly to gaining market superiority.

Please take this opportunity to consider the introduction of SFA while keeping in mind the key points of success. If you are considering SFA, please take a look at UPWARD first.