When it comes to sales optimization there was a big component we didn’t mention: automation for sales reps. Sales 
force automation (SFA for short) helps sales reps get the most bang for their efforts, super-charging your sales and marketing teams with the use of automation software. We’ll tell you how sales automation software works, and how to use automation to maximize your results.
Prospecting
SFA software like a CRM, or customer relationship management tool, allows you to set custom filters for prospective clients. This saves time for sales reps while they search for prospects to contact or follow up with. Sales reps can also get automated email notifications showing them prequalified lists of prospects daily, weekly, or monthly.
The sales team can then view real-time data dashboards to garner insights about prospects all in one place: information like who the prospect is, where in the sales funnel they are, what the last actions taken was, what and when they have bought in the past, and more, all neatly-contained within a database that can be browsed easily within sales force automation software.
Lead Enrichment
Sales and lead automation systems give you more information on your prospects than ever before. Profiles can be built on prospects that include all the information sales reps need, such as company size, industry, solutions they might be interested in, who is responsible for each aspect of the lead, who the proper contact people are, their social media presence, and their vendors.
The primary goal of your sales development representatives is to build long-term relationships, not use high-pressure tactics to force a sale quickly. The more up-to-date information reps can access on each lead, the easier this process will become, because reps can see exactly what the last action taken was and what needs to happen next.
Organizing Contacts
It’s fundamental that sales reps know who the right contact person is for each prospective client. Sales automation tools can organize contacts for you, automatically creating and editing contact info for each lead based on customized criteria set up by you.
Email Templates & Campaigns
You can use automation tools to set up email templates for different users, allowing your sales reps to follow up 
easily while your marketing team launches targeted email campaigns or social media outreach using marketing automation systems. By creating templates to launch campaigns to leads within a certain phase of the sales cycle, you can streamline the coordination between sales and marketing departments.
Account-based marketing means more prospects are getting relevant, enticing marketing campaigns that they’ll be more likely to engage with. Detailed analytics and real-time updates allow you to dial in on what’s working and what isn’t.
In addition, email templates for the sales team cuts out the need to copy and paste emails, saving time and preventing outreach from being poorly formatted or unprofessional-looking. For emails that are commonly sent to clients or prospects, you can create a template that you personalize for each outreach attempt. Details specific to that particular client can be added, along with conversational additions to make the message feel informal and friendly.
Meeting Schedules
Meeting scheduling becomes a breeze with automation for sales reps, ending the constant back-and-forth of trying to figure out everyone’s availability for a sales meeting. Automation tools allow you to send an invite in a single email to multiple participants, and message prospects a calendar that lets them can see your availability and select a meeting time that works for them. This means no more messing around with long email threads or to find out a time that works for everyone.
Proposals
Proposals that turn into contracts are great, but contracts can become stale if a prospective client doesn’t sign it quickly enough. Unfortunately, that can lead to the prospect losing interest and moving on to a different offer.
Generating and sending off proposals is a breeze with automation tools. Your CRM software can create a quick quote with all the customer’s information imported straight from your lead database, freeing you from the burden of
assembling it all and writing each proposal piecemeal. You can also set automatic reminders to follow up on pending or open contracts, closing more deals in the final phases of the sales funnel. If necessary, a flow can be set up to ensure that higher-ups in your company can sign off, as needed, on contracts before a customer does. A pending contract never has to go stale, and automation makes it easy to prevent this all too common symptom of a poorly-optimized sales process.
Final Thoughts
From sales prospecting to closing on a lead, sales force automation has revolutionized the art of closing deals. 
Automation solutions give you more speed through the sales funnel, and with that extra time, you can cultivate all-new leads that otherwise would have been ignored.
That’s why automation systems are so critical for sales reps and marketing teams. Make the most of them, and there’s no limit to what your sales and marketing teams can achieve!