Sales processes involve a lot of administrative work ranging from data entry to lead management to team performance management. As there’s a lot to handle across too many sales reps, managers, and other stakeholders, manual workflows can become extremely cumbersome and unrealistic.
To offset this, sales force automation (SFA) software were created where specialised software automated much of the workflows, allowing brands to do a better job at innovation, product improvement, ideation, customer interaction, and satisfaction.
Let’s expand on these benefits below.
What advantages does an SFA software offer?
- Improved productivity
Sales force automation (SFA) streamlines the sales process and improves productivity for sales reps, managers, and other stakeholders. It takes into account skill and behavioural factors that can impact sales performance. SFA software automates non-revenue generating tasks such as lead generation, opportunity tracking, and customer relationship management. Also, by automating data entry, scheduling, and lead follow up tasks, sales reps are freed up for more crucial tasks such as clinching deals and relationship building with customers.
- Improved relationship with channel partners
Channel partners like retailers, dealers, and distributors find it easier to deal with you when you are perfectly transparent with them. An SFA software should offer an unprecedented level of collaboration among all stakeholders by getting everyone to operate on the same platform. This improves efficiency, error detection and resolution, ease of use, and interaction, thus improving relationships.
- Improved sales strategy execution
Sales force automation (SFA) software can improve sales outcomes by preventing or reducing overlapping sales efforts, detecting problems in the go-to-market strategy automatically, and prompting the responsible manager or merchandiser with AI-based suggestions to solve issues. An SFA software can also remind and inform the sales team about product placement, range selling opportunities, and other available opportunities to improve sales performance.
- Mitigation of human errors
Human actions are prone to mistakes and missed opportunities. On the contrary, a well-designed SFA application has the capability to learn from human inputs to create highly configurable, automated workflows devoid of human errors. From auto application of schemes to geo-tagging to efficient beat plans, SFA brings a lot to the table.
- Reduced lead response time
Turnaround times can be a hurdle to lead conversions and consumer satisfaction. Sales force automation (SFA) software can help overcome this hurdle by generating prompt responses to leads, increasing the chances of conversion. The software can automate responses to leads even after work hours, ensuring that every lead receives a prompt response.
What are the best tools in Sales Force Automation
1. BeatRoute
BeatRoute is a goal-driven sales enablement platform that handles end-to-end sales force automation across your sales hierarchy. It services retail brands across FMCG, Consumer Goods, Building-Materials and Manufacturing industries. More than simple routing and monitoring activities, BeatRoute utilises its proprietary goal-driven sales technology to enable brands to define their business goals within the system and guides their sales teams and channel partners to achieve those goals on-ground.
It has intuitive, intelligent workflows for store onboarding, beat planning and route optimization, order execution with trade schemes, visual merchandising, and feedback collection. The app also allows for offline functionality in low or zero internet coverage areas and syncs data when network resumes.
BeatRoute has three components – Sales Team App, DMS, and the Customer App for retailers/dealers, covering the entirety of the sales hierarchy from manufacturer to retailer/dealer. As everyone is on one platform – collaborating – the transparency across teams and processes is near-absolute.
Features
- Automatic GPS tracking of sales reps ensuring attendance and beat adherence
- Capture store location and profiling data of stores on the app
- A.I. assistance for your sales rep in the form of suggestions or prompts and auto application of schemes
- Sales teams can take stock, process returns, document feedback or raise tickets for issue management
- Sales reps can collect VM feedback, including pictures
- Machine learning for reduced cost of VM audits
- Fastest and safest KYC identity verification
- Offline functionality
Best suited for: FMCG, Consumer Goods, Building-materials, and Manufacturing Businesses
Founded: 2014
Pros: Modular, scalable, dedicated customer support, works offline in zero internet areas
Cons: Not suitable for inside sales, not for ecommerce brands
Free trial/demo availability: Free demo
G2 rating: 4.3 out of 5 (12 reviews)
Read Also: 8 Best Retail Management Software
2. Delta
Delta is for manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers to automate field sales and for employee tracking. It is designed to streamline field sales reporting for field reps, sales managers, and others in the sales hierarchy. Sales managers are given the ability to monitor sales reps, assign work, announce things, and generate a variety of reports.
Essentially, Delta is targeted at any company with active field employees where it can provide routing and tracking services.
Features
- Payment Collection
- Order Reporting
- Attendance and Leaves
- Customer Management
- Beat Planning
- Field Force Management
Best suited for: Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare, Beauty and Cosmetics, Food And Beverage, and Paints and Chemicals Industries
Founded: 2018
Pros: App Works Offline, Automated Reports & Analytics, File Sharing with Field Team, Direct Customer Order, Field Expense Reporting
Cons: No iOS or desktop support
Free trial/demo availability: Free demo
G2 rating: 3.7 out of 5
Read Also: 13 Best Route Planning Software
3. SAN SFE
SAN SFE by SANeForce is focused on sales force automation and retail execution. It is a configurable platform that drives SFA for multiple industry verticals. From online attendance management to offline reporting to auto-generated field force expenses, SAN SFE covers a wide range of features. The platform is also capable of predicting trends and placing orders accordingly to ensure brands don’t run out of inventory. It also automates the payment process for raw materials towards this goal. SAN SFE touts itself as a multi-channel solution for sales and marketing in pharmaceutical, healthcare, and consumer goods sectors.
Features
- Data Management
- End-to-End Workflow Automation
- Analytics
- Geo Tagging
- Offline Capability
- Seamless Integration
- Primary and Secondary Sales Management
- Order Management
- Activity and Campaign Management
- E-Learning
- Internal Mail System
Best suited for: Pharmaceutical Industry, Consumer Goods Industry, and Healthcare Industry
Founded: 2002
Pros: Online attendance monitoring and management, capture beat plans, on-the-go reporting, easily accessible analytics, inventory management
Cons: No Windows support
Free trial/demo availability: Free demo
G2 Review: Not Listed
4. FieldAssist
FieldAssist facilitates sales and distribution for a holistic experience and carries out deep analytics towards bold decisions. Their services include assisting field visits with geo fencing, capturing daily productivity with data on meetings, leaves, etc., route planning and optimisation, and identifying and categorising dormant outlets by colour coding them accordingly. FieldAssist also provides smart workflows, outlet historical data, algorithm-based product recommendations, real-time performance and daily sales visibility for sales reps.
Features
- Field visit validations
- Beat planning
- Intuitive orders
- Faster and immediate scheme activation
- Smart app nudges sales reps to meet their scheme goals per retailer
Best suited for: Beauty and Cosmetics Industry, Consumer Goods Industry
Founded: 2014
Pros: In-hand analytics, data security, sales forecasting, 360 degrees customer view
Cons: No Mac support
Free trial/demo availability: Free demo
G2 rating: 4.5 out of 5 (1 review)
5. Salesdiary
Salesdiary is a complete solution for front-line sales automation that manages marketing, sales, and distribution of goods. It provides brands with real-time analytics to streamline existing processes and make them better. Salesdiary offers route management, order management, targeted schemes, geo fencing, payment information such as receipts and outstanding payment information, location tracking, and more.
Features
- Route management
- Order management
- Store profiling
- Targeted schemes
- Geo fencing
Best suited for: FMCG Industry
Founded: 2013
Pros: Goal setting, lead management, scalability
Cons: Limited desktop platform support
Free trial/demo availability: Free demo
G2 rating: 3.7 out of 5 (10 review)
6. Toolyt
Toolyt is a customizable mobile SFA solution that aims to solve problems with business use cases while enhancing scalability. It integrates with various tools (internal and external) to make businesses more effective and assists with the creation and auto-assigning of leads. Toolyt provides lead management, customer onboarding, sales insights, document management, sales productivity, and other services.
Features
- Lead management
- Customer onboarding
- Monitoring customer visits
- Sales insights
- Lead allocation
Best suited for: Pharmaceutical and Healthcare, Banking, and Insurance Industries
Founded: 2017
Pros: Custom KPIs, leaderboard and gamification
Cons: May not be compatible with the FMCG industry, no ticketing system for support
Free trial/demo availability: Free demo
G2 rating: 4.8 out of 5 (2 reviews)
7. Salesforce Sales Cloud
Sales Cloud from Salesforce claims to grow accounts faster, find new customers faster, and close deals faster — from anywhere in the world. As a customer relationship management system, it empowers businesses of all sizes with robust capabilities to control sales and document feedback. Sales Cloud elevates both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-customer (B2C) companies. It boosts productivity with automated workflows, provides lead management capabilities, and displays real-time data visibility for better forecast management.
Features
- Lead Management
- Forecast Management
- Mobile CRM
- Activity Management
- Pipeline Management
- Sales Automation
- Partner Management
Best suited for: Consumer Goods Industry, Healthcare Industry, Financial Services Industry, etc.
Founded: 1999
Pros: Flexible customizations, deep integration capabilities, flexible reporting and dashboarding functionality, user-friendly automation tools
Cons: A high price, potentially complex tools and workflows, deployment takes long
Free trial/demo availability: Free demo
G2 rating: 4.3 out of 5 (16k reviews)
8. dayTrack
dayTrack is an employee tracking app that brands can use to automate the employee reporting process. The data is available to all stakeholders, creating a transparent system that builds trust. Attendance records are shared in real time, allowing the admin to be better informed and take appropriate actions, if needed. New contacts added by the user are stored on company servers for 24/7 unfettered access. Additionally, to prevent misses, the app automatically alerts the user about their scheduled beat plan.
Features
- Reporting
- Attendance management
- Visit management
- Beat plan management
- Offline functionality
Best suited for: FMCG and Pharmaceutical Industries
Founded: 2017
Pros: Know reach of competitor product, know your reach, easily calculate work hours, online ordering
Cons: Not found
Free trial/demo availability: Free trial
G2 rating: Not Listed
9. PepupSales
PepupSales offers a mobile SFA solution that helps with retailer profiling, identifying market trends, and determining the stock availability and visibility of products in stores. It was designed to assist FMCG brands manage their sales and distribution process more efficiently. Features include sales management, order management, beat/route planning and optimisation, real-time management of promotions, and sales rep attendance management.
Features
- Real time data access
- gps location based reports
- offline data sync
- Order History for salesman on mobile
- data analytic for forecast
- Sales Returns and Payment Collections
Best suited for: FMCG, Pharmaceutical, and Apparel Industries
Founded: 2010
Pros: Easy Data Entry, easy access and management of customer information, real time updates, auto scheme application
Cons: Limited support for issues
Free trial/demo availability: Free demo
G2 rating: Not Listed
10. Marg SFA
Marg ERP has developed an online CRM/SFA tool that’s highly beneficial to the pharmaceutical industry. With state-of-the-art innovation, this is a comprehensive reporting tool that reports the activities of medical representatives in user-friendly and industry-specific formats. Marg ERP also eliminates repetitive form filling and manual data processing. Features include doctor management, daily reporting by medical representatives, chemist orders, expense management, and secondary sales management.
Features
- Daily call report
- Doctor management
- Chemist orders
- Expense control
- Secondary sales management
Best suited for: Healthcare Industry
Founded: 1992
Pros: Consistent customer care service, record of visits, reduced administrative costs, less paperwork
Cons: Isn’t designed for most industries, no iOS or Mac support
Free trial/demo availability: Free demo (video tutorial)
G2 rating: 4.5 out of 5 (1 review)
11. Engagia
Engagia offers sales force automation that is end-to-end integrated for FMCG and healthcare. It is highly simple yet robust as it is designed for beginners with an intuitive UI. It’s also highly customizable where businesses can make modifications to the SFA software themselves to align it to their very specific needs. Features include warehouse management, KPI-based performance analysis, DIY customisation, e-learning, simplified reporting, and data visualisation.
Features
- Automated reports
- Easy DIY customization
- Data visualisation
- Customizable layout
- Aligned with field processes
- Stocks audit
- Retail execution
- Trade inventory
Best suited for: Consumer goods and FMCG Industries
Founded: 2010
Pros: Highly customisable, simple to use
Cons: Not found
Free trial/demo availability: Free demo
G2 rating: Not Listed
12. eScience SFE
eScience SFE is an all-inclusive mobile SFA system that automates a brand’s sales force by encompassing customer coverage, transactions, and more. Keeping the pandemic in mind, it also offers contactless transactions, making it excellent for the new normal today. With real-time access to field data, you get accurate reports that improve your decisions and sales productivity. Features include KPIs, actual coverage monitoring, product detailing aid, and webtool activity report.
Features
- Call report module
- Actual coverage monitoring
- Webtool activity reports
- Product detailing assistance
Best suited for: Pharmaceutical Industry
Founded: 2000
Pros: Facilitates real-time access to field data, accurate reporting, enhanced sales performance, and cost and time efficiency
Cons: Limited to one industry
Free trial/demo availability: Free demo
G2 rating: Not Listed
13. Bizom
Bizom is a sales force automation software that provides a 360-degrees view of all sales and distribution processes, so that FMCG companies can benefit from real time market insights. It allows comprehensive access into live trade visibility and assists in compounding sales efficiency with reliable sales force automation. Theirs is a role and rule-based configuration model where every user has their own login credentials and can access functions, actions and modules relevant to their role. This can be configured as per requirement.
Features
- Attendance & Leave Management
- Performance View
- Add new business prospects with ease
- Pre Sales Analysis
- On-the-go sales call execution
- Trade Promotions
- Merchandising
- Claims Settlement
Best suited for: FMCG
Founded: 2012
Pros: User friendly, real-time data analytics
Cons: Customisations take long
Free trial/demo availability: Free demo
14. FieldProxy
FieldProxy is an SFA software that uses AI to push for ticket management, service scheduling, customer insights, and invoice generation that’s both efficient and easy to work with. The software also aims to streamline managerial activities with the goal of optimising service teams.
Features
- AI-powered route optimisations
- Automated issue resolutions
- Predictive reporting
- Capacity planning and work distribution
- Visit prioritisation
Best suited for: HVAC, Solar, Banking, FMCG
Founded: 2018
Pros: Ease of use
Cons: No free trial, slow error-solving by tech team (reported by users)
Free trial/demo availability: Free demo
15. Salestrip
Salestrip SFA system has a plethora of customisation options for Pharma & Life Sciences brands to leverage towards their business needs. To transform your sales processes into a streamlined experience, Salestrip equips your medical reps with powerful insights to help enhance sales. The interface is simple and user friendly, enabling better tracking of field activities and gives you a potential edge over your competitors.
Features
- Process automation
- “E-detailing” presentations
- Geo-fencing
- Reporting
- Customer engagement
- Marketing engagement
- Easy onboarding
Best suited for: Pharma, Medical devices
Founded: 2012
Pros: Multi-platform support
Cons: No free trial, limited industries
Free trial/demo availability: Free demo
To optimise your sales processes and boost innovation, a top-tier Sales force automation software should provide robust automation capabilities. By automating customer profiling, beat plans, sales performance tracking, and scheme application, businesses can save valuable time and resources. This not only streamlines operations but also allows for greater focus on product improvement, leading to more success in the long run.
BeatRoute can do a lot – schedule your free demo and find out!
