People want a human connection. They want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. To feel emotions. And these innate human wants extend to sales. Regardless of what you sell, adding personality, establishing rapport, and being human are an unequivocal necessity.
But part of being human involves making mistakes.
Our memories are limited and we’re driven as much by emotions as we are by logic. That makes us forgetful and easily distracted. This, too, extends to sales. When it comes to admin tasks and sorting through data, automation is – and always will be – more efficient. Computers don’t forget. They’re faster and more accurate than any rep could hope to be.
Regardless of which side of the fence you fall on – automation or personalization – there’s a time and place for both. Let’s look at exactly when and where to use each to make sure your sales team is both efficient and human.
Personalize Conversations
Nothing can take the place of human insight and accountability. If your prospects and customers feel like they’re interacting with robots or mass marketing automation, you’re shooting yourself in the foot.
When you talk to prospects, be it via phone, email, video or another creative strategy, make prospects feel loved. Do your research, share relevant content, and dive into their business problems with the fire to solve them.
How Sales Engagement Software Can Help
Personalization is naturally time-consuming.
Take the scenario of re-engaging an account using an incumbent after a few months. While your team has talked to them before, the rep working the deal might not remember every nuance of previous conversations. So they open Salesforce to look at notes on the company. And then contacts at the company. To see what’s new, they pull up LinkedIn. And Twitter. Then the company website. You can see where this is headed. There are different tabs, site loading times, and distractions. With Sales Engagement software, your team can see recent news on companies and contacts, notes from calls and emails, and engagement history all from one page.
That said, it still takes time. This is a limiting factor in volume – the number of people your team can engage with at once. That’s where automation comes in, giving them the time needed to personalize effectively.
Automate Repetitive Tasks
While personalization is a key factor in establishing a human connection, your team simply can’t perform at a high level if you’re spending too much time logging calls, scrubbing Salesforce, and tagging prospects.
To provide your buyers with a truly professional sales process, your team needs to automate the small, repetitive tasks that are a time suck. Along with time, your team will gain accuracy as the element of human error that comes with having to manage a mass of activities is removed.
How Sales Engagement Software Can Help
While automating repetitive tasks sounds great, it can be difficult when you have a huge tech stack. You’re context switching, double checking to make sure tools work together, and ultimately spending a ton of time on admin work.
Enter Sales Engagement. With a platform for calls, emails, analytics, all supplemented with your favorite integrations in app, your team can execute an entire workflow from the time they enter the office to the time they leave, all in one place.
Automated prompts for new activity, call logs, and a full sync with Salesforce, give you the peace of mind nothing is slipping through the cracks. Your team even set up custom tasks with automation rules to remove whatever tasks take up their time.
Living in Harmony
Now, let’s look at a harmonious sales process. Automating repetitive tasks behind the scenes gives your team the time they need to personalize effectively. While the outward communication is personalized, well-tuned automation will give your prospects the crisp, professional sales process they deserve.
There won’t be any forgotten response times, lost notes, or <first_name>’s. There will be real solutions, prompt responses, and the beginning of a great relationship. And that’s what modern sales is all about.
Want to learn more about how to thrill your buyer throughout the process? Download the latest eBook for free: