THE BLUEPRINT OF BUSINESS AUTOMATION

Saphyte Team

3 min read

Updated: June 17th, 2021

Automation is becoming a hot commodity nowadays. According to an article from CIO, automation is becoming a more popular strategy amongst businesses due to its capability to save time and money on manual tasks. But, more than that, automation is a more accurate and faster method for completing more straightforward tasks.

Automation can give more time for employees to complete more complicated, complex, and higher-value projects. However, no matter how great the benefits of automation are, it can be challenging if not done right. If not difficult, automation can be costly.

With that, it is imperative to know the blueprint of business automation that fits with your business. This article will be discussing the aspects of your business that you can automate and streamline. By the end of this article, you might create your blueprint and create a strategic plan to automate certain yet critical aspects of your business.

The Ideal Blueprint of Business Automation

Knowing the aspects of your business that needs automating is the first step. The other critical step is putting them into stages or phases. Here’s an ideal way to put the aspect of your business into phases. 

Phase 1: Forecasting

Forecasting is a valuable aspect of your business because it gives you the ability to make intelligent business decisions and produce data-driven strategies. Forecasting is the first step you need to take before making plans for your marketing campaigns and implementing them because it is crucial to create an intelligent marketing strategy.

However, forecasting has to be done systematically and most often requires calculation, should not be solely based on human estimation or “intuitive guesses,” and is not a one-man’s job. Forecasting involves the coordination and cooperation of all department heads.

By automating this aspect to the business, you free up time for each department. Thus, giving them more time to plan and strategize your marketing strategy without calculating and forecasting individually. 

Phase 2: Lead List Segmentation

Segmentation is a by-product of your forecasting results. After you’ve forecasted, you’ll be lead to the different industries or types of customers you’ll have to win over through your campaigns. Remember, each of your leads has other wants and needs, and putting out a one-email fit all letter is a path that leads to disaster.

Segmenting your leads list is the next best thing. 77% of email marketing ROI is a product of segmented, targeted, and triggered campaigns, according to DMA. This number is not a surprise, as 72% of consumers only respond to personalized marketing messages. With curated and optimized content delivered to the different segments on your list, you can directly affect and improve your email campaign metrics.

However, sorting and individually transferring customer information from one spreadsheet to another is prone to disaster as well as time-consuming for your already overworked sales team. By automating your segmentation process, you can free up time for your sales team and let them do the actual selling.

Phase 3: Email marketing

According to studies, the average email open rates are between 15-25%, and the average click-to-open rates are between 20-30%. This is one of the reasons why email marketing remains a relevant and valuable marketing tool for businesses. Albeit, you can’t automate planning for your campaigns or building templates, you can automate sending them.

It’ll be time-consuming for your team to send out individually and could be more prone to errors. By automating your email marketing, your team won’t have to painstakingly spend hours writing emails for every one of your customers – even if they’re already segmented.

By automating your email marketing efforts, you can enhance your email campaigns without sending out individual emails. Email automation also increases lead engagement and provides a more tailored email experience for your leads or customers.

Phase 4: Lead Scoring

With the results of your email automation, you can now gauge which of your leads are more likely ready to purchase, which leads need more time and nurturing, and those who are not interested at all. This is where lead scoring comes into the scenario.

Lead scoring plays a significant role in your entire sales funnel process. The process of lead scoring involves applying a numerical value to a prospect based on who they are and their interactions with your brand. When a lead reaches a specific value, you can pass the lead to the pipeline and let the sales team lead them to a particular experience touchpoint.

However, scoring your leads individually is time-consuming. There are steps for a lead to qualify, and doing that manually is costly. Automating your lead scoring will make it easier for your sales representatives to assign scores to your leads without manually calculating them.

Phase 5: Pipeline management

Remember, you hire a sales team to sell. They can’t effectively sell if you don’t give them valuable information or even a visual representation of your customer’s touchpoints. This is where a sales pipeline can function well.

A sales pipeline contains all the different stages that your prospects go through in their buying process. A pipeline shows what deals your sales representatives are currently handling and at what stage of the sales process your prospects are.

The sales pipeline is the final hurdle for your team to handle. Creating even a tiny mistake might compromise the entire buying journey. By automating your pipeline management, your sales team can focus on the actual selling, identify stages at which you’re losing the most leads, and eventually help you determine where to make changes.

Key Takeaway

Not taking the brave step to go beyond manual can hurt your business more than you ever realize. Furthermore, automating the critical aspects of your business can be an intimidating journey. That is why having a tool to help you with your journey is essential.

Saphyte, a UAE homegrown business operating out of Dubai, aims to help businesses – no matter the size, drive digital transformation through local support, zero implementation fees, competitive subscription models, and advanced CRM ecosystem technology.

Saphyte aims to streamline corporate, marketing, and sales activities without having to break the bank. Create your blueprint today, partner up with Saphyte, and have a better business tomorrow.