Signs you need an automation system

Your time in a working day is precious and you’ll want to maximise this and work as efficiently as possible. If you feel that your business isn’t growing quickly enough and recognise the signs below, then it’s time to take action!

1. Not spending enough time in front of customers and prospects? 

Time is precious and if you feel you’re doing more admin than looking after your clients or talking to your marketplace, then you’ll be looking for a smarter way to maximise your time. Find out how an automation tool can not only reduce the amount of administration but increase your time in front of clients, prospects and business partners. 

2. Too many systems? 

If you have a separate email tool, chat tool, business intelligence tool and CRM, then automation is a real quick win to cut out unnecessary time and money wasted using different systems. Combining outbound and inbound communication flows into one system also removes the headache of having to interrogate multiple departments or people for information.  

3. Is your audience engaged? 

Are you writing the right content or are some of your articles more popular than others? Automation allows you to monitor and improve your efforts so that you get the right mix and ultimately drive the right enquiries to your door.  

4. Damned competition!  

Do your competitors seem to be always be getting useful, engaging information out to market? If they appear to now always be going for the same deals as you perhaps they have an automation system. Level the playing field! 

5. Am I missing something?  

If prospects and clients do contact you, how quickly do you respond? Automation systems can bridge the gap in communication and alert you to hot prospects. 

6. Don’t interrupt me!  

Wouldn’t it be nice to help clients and prospects proactively rather than chasing them? Sales processes are being improved to automate repetitive tasks e.g. chasing emails, to automate follow up emails, but also add more value, sharing content with the prospect, based on their current place in the buying cycle. 

7. Data, data everywhere

Do you have lots of prospect and client data but do nothing with it apart from collecting more and more? If the accuracy of your contact data is in question, you are not working it hard enough. This can be laborious and time consuming unless you have an engagement process in place and automation systems can help with this. 

8. Am I GDPR compliant?

Are the communications you’re sending out allowing people to engage because they want to and are they given the option to opt out? Automation systems are clever at being able to enable this effectively so you can be a compliant. Systems aren’t the complete answer but they do help to put a process in place.  

9. My sales and marketing team don’t get along  

This is a common problem in many organisations. Leads and enquiries are not the right ones and sales just want 90% pre-qualified hot prospects to spend their time on. If this sounds familiar, don’t despair. We’ve seen automation systems unite teams, cut out the ambiguity and start helping each other. Read more about solving this issue here.

10. Sales loathe CRM!

Big brother, time spent on keeping it up to date rather than time with clients, sales professionals the world over hate bad systems. They add data in but see very little in return for their efforts. 

Automation systems can re-engage individuals, as they interact more with client habits. They can proactively help prospects and they can see the results of their hard work. It saves rather than costs them time.  

Sales no longer have to even leave their inbox - with CRM and automation integrated into Outlook they can operate as they do normally with the CRM automatically being updated with information against a contact record. 

We’ve seen even the most stalwart, cynical sales professional get enthused by what a good system can do for them. 

If one or a few of the above resonate with you then it’s time to rethink your strategy in order to grow.  

Don’t be put off by the perceived cost or disruption to your day to day operations either. When implemented correctly, the right system will offer a good return on investment.  

Secret Source have helped many businesses introduce automation systems. To find out more about how automation could improve your business operations, contact us for a chat about your requirements.