Which parts of your sales process should you automate?

Your Sell to Win newsletter Things not lookin' right? [View this email in your browser.](   [   Hi {NAME}, Automation can free up [20% of a sales team’s capacity]( and increase productivity by as much as 30%. Sounds pretty good, right? Introducing automation into your sales process saves your sales reps time, allows for more precision, and enables reps to spend more time on core selling activities. The benefits of automation in sales are clear, but how do you know which elements of your sales process to automate? Where should you get started? When deciding what to automate, here are a few tips to consider: - Focus on non-selling and administrative tasks such as data entry. These types of tasks take sales reps away from actively selling and tend to be easier to automate. - Repetitive tasks lend themselves well to automation. You’ll also save more time by automating them since they're done repeatedly. - When prioritizing tasks, look for the ones where automation will save you the most time and where automation will be easiest to implement. You likely won’t want to automate tasks that have a lot of variation and include complex human interaction. These tasks include core selling activities like sales conversations and demos. Learn how to automate your sales process step by step in this video: [ Examples of sales tasks you can automate Many parts of the typical sales process can be automated. In fact, McKinsey & Company estimates that [over a third of sales activities]( are candidates for automation. Here are some examples of the parts of your sales process you can automate, many with a CRM like Nutshell. - Pipeline and lead management: When you [create a pipeline]( in a CRM like Nutshell, you can easily build automation into your sales process. You can automate tasks like assigning leads to reps, providing guidance to sales reps at each stage, and advancing leads through the pipeline once they’ve taken certain actions. - Email communication: Sales automation can save you from having to type out the same messages over and over again. You can trigger emails based on leads entering pipeline stages, taking actions like signing up for free trials, and more. You can also [create customizable sequences]( that sales reps can use for outreach, follow-ups, and more. - Record creation: Automation can reduce data entry tasks by creating records. Nutshell, for example, can automatically create lead or contact records when someone [fills out a form]( or when you [scan a business card](. - Lead qualification: Automatically enriching your contact data reduces the need for manual research. For example, [Nutshell Intelligence]( can automatically add publicly available information to your contact’s profiles. - Activity logging: CRMs like Nutshell can also automatically log activities like phone calls and emails, reducing time spent on data entry. - Understanding the context of relationships: Artificial intelligence can help surface insights about your relationships with customers and provide sales reps with the information they need to connect with a contact. For example, Nutshell’s [timeline summarization]( feature uses AI to surface the most important details about a contact’s relationship with your business. - Reporting: A CRM like Nutshell will also automatically [track your sales data and generate reports]( you can use to gain insights into sales performance. Want to learn more about automation? Check out these posts from the Nutshell blog: - [12 CRM Automation Examples & 4 Best Practices You Can Emulate]( - [How Sales Automation Software Separates the Amateurs From the Pros]( - [What is Marketing Automation and How Can It Help You?]( - [Using Automation to Improve the Customer Experience]( - [Your Guide to Setting Up Automated Workflows in Your CRM]( - [4 Uses for Setting Up Automated Email Campaigns]( Thanks for joining us for this edition of Sell to Win! Have questions about using a CRM for sales automation? Feel free to [reach out]( to our team. Until next time! [Kevin's signature] [Kevin] Kevin Randolph Internet Marketing Analyst, Nutshell   [ [ [ [ [ 206 E. Huron Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 Getting too many emails from Nutshell? Change your subscription settings [here](.