How could sales force automation affect salesperson productivity, marketing management, and competitive advantage? Basically, sales force automation is known as sales management systems whereby sale transactions are made. It is a program that automate any tasks of sales which includes order processing, order tracking, customer management, contact management, information sharing, inventory management, sales forecast analysis and employee performance evaluation. It helps to eliminate problems and reduce the risk of facing bigger consequences. For example, Oracle launched their free CRM software package – OracleSalesOnline.com in 2000 which provides information such as contacts, schedules and performance tracking and it also allows their clients to assess data from any internet connection from application service provider (APS) (TechTarget, 2016).
Productivity
Most importantly, SFQ automate tasks such as scheduling sales appointment, sending follow-up letters and emails, tracking contacts and updating sale opportunities. This enables sales staffs to produce near accurate estimates and state the order in their proposals with estimated quotes. Also it saves time as information will be stored at the salesperson fingertips which makes it easier to tend to their customers (Diana, 2016).
Competitive Advantage As mentioned earlier, productivity can increase. With sales staff utilizing their time wisely, they are able to use time more efficiently and effectively. In that way, it can lead to three competitive advantages and they are reduced costs, increased sales revenue and increased market share. Most importantly, there is a constant update of information from day to day basis and this decreases the management response time. Also it allows the company to create a product or service according to their customer expectations with real-time marketing and the sales staffs