Sales automation: the future of CRM software

Joel ‘Cap’ Capperella is a solo-preneur in the business of helping small businesses raise their marketing and sales game. He brings over 20 years of experience in marketing of software and SaaS, working with both big fish like Oracle and with smaller startups. He’s an active contributor to some of the most influential business publications, such as The Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com and FastCompany. We sat together with Joel to hear his thoughts on the future of sales automation.

What does sales automation mean to you?

That’s a pretty good question. To me, its mainly about making sales management less of a burden, time- and energy-wise. Sales automation is anything that makes it easier for the sales person to connect with potential customers, get them into the pipeline and subsequently accelerate the journey throughout the pipeline. It all boils down to removing barriers to connect, engage, listen and build relationships.

Quelle est votre vision de l'automatisation des ventes ?

Il doit s'inscrire dans l'idée plus large que les données sont au service des personnes dans une organisation et non l'inverse.

Au départ, la gestion de la relation client (CRM) était principalement axée sur la gestion des ventes, avec beaucoup de temps et de ressources investis dans les données plutôt que dans les personnes. Cette logique est en train de s'inverser, les données et les algorithmes travaillant de plus en plus pour les personnes, et non l'inverse.

C'est la direction que devrait prendre l'automatisation des ventes : les logiciels ne devraient pas seulement permettre une gestion des ventes rapide et bien ciblée, mais plus important encore, le CRM devrait également évoluer de manière à se concentrer davantage sur l'élément humain de la vente. Le nouveau CRM consiste à vendre comme si les gens étaient importants.

We’re seeing the same tendencies in HR. HR management tools used to revolve around administrative tasks required to manage a workforce. Yet today, HR software is becoming more and more people-centered. It’s keeping employees engaged, connected and productive. It helps them do their jobs more effectively and manage their career development more personally.

To me, sales and people (HR) are connected like two sides of a circle. They seem opposed, yet are very related. You can’t make sales without employees and you can’t hire people without sales. Software that helps both sides, to put people at the centre and data at their service, will make the relation between people and sales in organisations all the more circular, as it should be.

Quels sont vos meilleurs conseils en matière d'automatisation des ventes ?

There’s so much information out there. And it’s becoming more and more everyday. Somewhere in that pile of data is the exact piece of information, often a combination of bits of data, that you need.

Utilisez un logiciel qui vous permet d'accéder très facilement à cet élément d'information, à chaque fois. La véritable magie consiste à réunir plusieurs outils en un seul endroit, afin de pouvoir utiliser immédiatement les informations pour obtenir des résultats.

Which sales automation tools are you using?

I’m currently using HubSpot CRM, not Salesflare, mostly because I got a very good deal on it. I have it integrated with ActiveCampaign, my marketing automation platform. I use Zapier to automate tasks between Evernote, Google Sheets and my CRM. For extra hands to help me with some design work, finding email addresses or something like that, I turn to Upwork.

Any tactics you would like to share?

I’m a big content believer. Content is a huge way to connect and engage, plus you can use it in all the different stages of the sales process. The key is to carefully measure what type of content is working best in different stages.

For example, I set automatic series of emails after a specific offer. For each one I will track the recipient’s reaction to it; how long it takes him or her to react, how often he/she opened the email, whether he/she visits my website and how long etc.

Ces paramètres d'engagement définissent le temps que je devrai consacrer à la conversion d'une personne.