3 Ways Sales Automation Helps Medical Sales Teams

Revenue generation is usually considered the top responsibility of sales team members (if not their only responsibility). However, according to data cited by Forbes, “nearly two-thirds (64.8%) of reps’ time, on average, is spent in non revenue-generating activities.”

A large part of the problem for sales reps is that they have to spend a significant amount of time on purely administrative tasks (14.8%, according to Forbes). Worse yet, the “majority of sales reps’ time is spent in sales technology (62.8%),” though interacting with the customer relationship management (CRM) tool only accounts for 17.9% of that time).

How can medical sales reps improve their ratio of time spent selling vs time spent on administrative tasks and managing various technology platforms? One answer is to use sales automation tools.

What Is Sales Automation?

Sales automation can mean different things to different people. For example, as noted by Calendly, “sales automation tools are software-based solutions that empower your sales team specifically, making them more efficient, consistent, and successful.”

On the other hand, Sales Hacker calls it “software-based solutions that help you perform many sales tasks faster, easier, and more efficiently.” However, these descriptions more seem to explain the goals of sales automation software and platforms rather than what they are.

Sales automation systems can be a variety of software solutions that enable sales reps and sales management teams to, well, automate key sales processes. For example, a software that automatically sends out reminder emails to clients to sign sales agreements if they don’t sign within 24 hours of receiving them could be considered a sales automation solution.

Another type of sales automation that medical sales reps might use is scheduling software to send reminders to conduct follow-ups with prospects at set times after initial contact. Many CRM platforms have built-in sales automation tools to help save time and increase consistency.

3 Benefits of Automating Your Medical Sales Processes

Sales automation can provide a variety of benefits, such as:

1. Saving Time for Medical Sales Reps

The biggest and most obvious benefit of using sales automation tools is that it helps save time. Instead of having to manually enter simple information over and over again, sales reps can leave such repetitive tasks to the automation software and get on with their day.

For example, say it only takes five minutes for a sales rep to send a follow-up email to a prospect after a sales call or any other interaction. After 12 such calls or meetings, that’s an hour of lost time. By automating this process and saving that five minutes per interaction, sales reps can regain hours of lost time on this one task alone.

2. Improved Communication with Sales Leads

In any business relationship, communication is key. Prompt follow-up with sales leads after a call or meeting can help keep the business “top of mind” for those leads—which helps improve sales. As noted by Small Business Trends, “only 2% of sales are made during the first point of contact… 80% will buy-in into the sales pitch after the fifth or twelfth contact.”

Sales automation tools make it easy to maintain consistent repeated communication with leads by sending automated messages or prompting sales team members to conduct follow-ups. This can help to drive sales growth and turn contacts into customers.

3. Increased Traceability of Medical Sales Rep Activity

How many calls did Mike make to reach his sales goals? How long did Sally spend on meetings with sales prospects for successfully closed deals versus unsuccessful ones? Did Dave deliver follow-up emails to prospects (and, did those follow-ups help increase his close rate)?

Certain sales automation systems allow companies to automatically record specific sales events. This gives the organization access to data that they can then use to both track sales rep performance and make modifications to their sales process that can improve sales results in the long run.

5 Tips for Implementing Sales Automation to Drive Medical Sales

1. Define a Goal for Your Sales Automation. Having a specific goal in mind when establishing sales automation helps to identify the best type (or types) of automation to add.
2. Map Your Automation to the “Buyer’s Journey” of Your Prospects. Match the automation used to what customers do when they look to make a purchase to improve their “buyer experience” and increase goodwill.
3. Make Opting Out of Automated Communication Easy. If a prospect is strongly against receiving communications, it should be easy for them to opt-out of sales automation messages. This is important for compliance with certain federal regulations.
4. Track How Sales Reps Use the Automation. Usage data can help track how well the automation is being used by sales reps. It can also reveal opportunities for improvement.
5. Look for Gaps and Redundancies in Your Sales Automation. Odds are that a sales team already has some automation solutions in place. Looking at existing solutions to identify gaps and find alternatives that can increase efficiency can be a good way to minimize software licensing costs while boosting sales rep productivity. For example, say a sales team has an automated email solution, a sales activity reminder app, and a sales activity tracker as three separate solutions, but each one has some overlap with the others. Finding a different sales automation platform that does everything in one software could help simplify billing and save time on logging into different apps for different activities.

Sales automation tools can be a great resource for helping your sales team. However, they can’t replace the need for great sales reps who can close deals and build personal relationships that last.

This is where outsourced medical sales services can help. Contract sales organizations (CSOs) like Axxelus can provide highly skilled and motivated medical sales reps to help you grow your sales efforts. Armed with the right training, technology, and tools (including sales automation software), these sales reps can help grow your business.

Ready to grow your medical sales? Reach out to Axxelus today!