The A to Z Of Sales Management Software

Let’s start with some quick sales questions. (Disclaimer – it’s not The Steve Harvey Show)

Do you have detailed information on customer characteristics and preferences?

Are your sales forecasts accurate?

Do you have a structured sales cycle?

If the answer to any of the above questions is no, then you need a helping hand - Sales Management Software. The one-that-will-save-you-from-sales-chaos aka Sales Management Software can help sell smarter, faster and more effectively by boosting your sales teams’ productivity. This software can also automate various operational processes to make them more efficient. Isn’t it great!

Imagine if Chris Gardner had this software; his life story would have been a little easier. He would have managed his professional life more efficiently. Rather than keeping track of each scanner, he would have left it to the software while redirecting his energy towards more productive pursuits. We can’t change the past; however, you still have a chance to utilize this excellent resource for your business. We get it; you want to know about this software before choosing one for your organization. So, what are you waiting for? Let’s dive in to find out the past, present and future of Sales Management Software!
 

Let’s Start With The Basics – What Is Sales Management Software?

Before landing directly on Sales Management Software, let’s first dissect sales management for a better understanding. Sales management is developing a business’s sales force, operations and techniques to ensure that it consistently hits and surpasses its sales targets. We are sure you know that every organization has sales managers who are responsible for orchestrating the sales team, establishing objectives, controlling the entire sales process and ensuring that the team’s vision is fulfilled, whether the company sells a service or a product. Basically, they are the Chris Gardners of the sales department who manage every teeny-weeny detail. Well, such people need Sales Management Software to manage all their tasks.

Now that you know about sales management and who needs it the most, it is time to learn about Sales Management Software. It is a centralized system that helps businesses increase productivity and performance by simplifying sales operations and implementing the best sales techniques. Not only sales managers but any salesperson can use it to manage their contacts, track sales deals, reduce time spent on administrative tasks and close deals efficiently, providing a pleasant sales experience to their customers.

This pretty much sums up Sales Management Software; let’s move on to the next section to know its origin.
 

Timeline Of Sales Management Software

 

The origin of Sales Management Software dates back to when pen and paper were enough to handle customer details and sales information. It was the time when ledgers were used for sales management. During the late 1950s, Rolodex gained popularity as it made the task of managing customers’ details a bit easier. (If you don’t remember what we’re talking about, refer to the image above!)

The use of Rolodex continued until the 1970s when digitization started with the mainframe system. Sales teams digitized all manual files to save storage space, organize customer data and facilitate quick searches.

A decade later, database marketing played a major role in integrating customers with sales strategies. Organizations started adopting it to collect and analyze customer details for better insights into customer behavior. The only drawback was there was no way to track customers’ responses, resulting in the advent of contact management software in the late 1980s.

Technological advancement transformed database marketing into Salesforce automation in the early 1990s. It integrated contact management software and lead tracking systems, enabling companies to track leads, contacts, opportunities, quotes and other sales-related business functionalities efficiently in one place.

Today, hundreds of Sales Management Software are available in the market to handle all your sales-related functionalities in any organization. After knowing the timeline of these nifty tools, let’s try to understand their working in the next section.
 

Working Of Sales Management Software

To understand Sales Management Software thoroughly, let’s learn about the general steps involved in its working.
 

• Sales Pipeline

  By allowing users to add details, salespeople can view all the current deals, their win probabilities and lead generation statistics under one platform. Your sales teams can then redirect energy on closing deals with set goals, real-time notifications and opportunity management based on deals at different stages in the pipeline.

• Track Team Performance

  Tracking your sales team’s progress toward goals such as conversion rates and average deal win percentages are made easier with this tool. It collects data and analyzes it to create reports and identify your team’s strengths and weaknesses.

• Granular Insights

  Reporting and analytics within the tool provide a better understanding of sales performance. Using sales forecasting, teams can evaluate whether they are on track to achieve sales goals and assess the status of the sales pipeline.

It's time to move on to the next section to know the features of Sales Management Software. Let's go!
 

Features Of Sales Management Software

The world is your oyster. It’s up to you to find the pearls.
We always loved this dialogue from the movie The Pursuit Of Happyness! So, let’s learn about the pearls of Sales Management Software here.
 

• Reduces Administrative Work

  A great sales management tool can help you save time by automating data handling. Salespeople will spend less time handling data, reporting and other admin work, enabling more time to sell to the right people.

• Easy To Set Up And Use 

  Users can benefit from easy-to-use sales tracking and management tools, as all their needs can be met with one-stop Sales Management Software. #ChooseTheRightOneBasedOnNeeds

• Train Salesperson Efficiently 

  Scripts and notes that can be accessed in real-time can help you onboard new salespeople or support existing ones during client interactions. This boosts the overall productivity and effectiveness of sales.

After knowing about its features, let’s move forward to unveil the benefits of Sales Management Software. We know you want to know!
 

Advantages Of Sales Management Software

As shown in the movie, The Pursuit Of Happyness, a skill can be beneficial in many ways. Chris Gardner’s salesmanship skills helped him grab his dream job, eventually becoming a billionaire. There are many benefits of Sales Management Software too, that can help you level up your sales game. So, let’s explore them in detail.
 

• Time Saved 

  With Sales Management Software, sales teams can organize all their customer data, reports, insights, etc in one centralized location. Additionally, it can help in crunching data and generating simple-to-read charts and graphs with pertinent information. This reduces the time spent on unproductive data-crunching and report generation.

• Promotes Teamwork 

  A company’s Sales Management Software connects various departments and provides real-time access to customer information, allowing everyone involved to collaborate directly on customer and lead records. This eliminates the need for time-consuming meetings and communications while encouraging teams to work together towards a common goal.

• Automation Of Workflow 

  Sales teams spend several hours on document preparation and other unproductive tasks. Using this tool can help reduce mundane work by using automation features of Sales Management Software. This includes automated emails and follow-ups, automated speech transcription, etc.

• Allows Users To Stay Updated 

  Sales managers and other team members will have the opportunity to prioritize their efforts and give each prospect suitable attention at the right time by using up-to-date information on the status of each lead. Sales Management Software helps by creating separate profiles for customers based on their stage in the sales pipeline.

• Scale Sales Targets 

  Sales managers can expect their teams to reach and even exceed their targets by keeping them organized with this software. As it centralizes data, allows streamlined communication and metric tracking, sales teams can scale faster.

We hope these benefits help you to choose to leverage this software for your sales teams. Let’s hop on to the next section to know what the future holds for Sales Management Software!
 

Future Of Sales Management Software

Chris Gardner proved that hard work pays back. His future turned out to be so bright that most people today are inspired by his life. Well, the future of Sales Management Software is equally bright!

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) will soon take over the sales department to automate the mundane and repetitive sales processes in the years to come. That doesn’t mean it will substitute human work and put salespeople out of work. In fact, sales will become a profession dominated by the shared power of technology and manpower, with salespeople being assisted by AI bots and assistants.

Moreover, as AI and ML will help in taking off the weight of time-consuming, low-value admin tasks from salespeople’s to-do lists, there will be more human touch instead of generic follow-ups and messages. As these technologies will work simultaneously with human resources, there will be a higher degree of personalization for consumers and potential clients. The future is bright, we told you! for better results.
 

Summing It Up

To this day, most businesses struggle with boosting their sales teams because they’ve never implemented the right tools. Even with all the technology available today, many still rely solely on spreadsheets to manage their sales process and performance reports. Sales Management Software fills in the gaps left in sales strategies. It is a standalone solution for managing sales teams, processes and performance that other software can’t replace. After all, the balance in your life is more important than the balance in your checking amount. We hope this article has helped you to learn about Sales Management Software!