If you've ever had difficulty keeping track of your sales activity, struggled to figure out the sales forecast for the coming month, or needed to seamlessly transition leads and customers between sales people, then you'll benefit from the Sales Force Automation (SFA) functionality included in NetSuite applications. With NetSuite applications, your company can manage the entire selling process from lead and prospect, to sale and order entry, and post-sale support and follow-up. Unlike most competitor's SFA tools, NetSuite applications not only let you enter a sale, but provide your customer's complete purchase history. Here are some highlights of NetSuite's comprehensive SFA features:
	Lead Tracking

NetSuite applications allow you to define territories for each salesperson by location, customer type, area code or other characteristics.

 

Once you have defined territories, you can create rules about how leads get automatically assigned to each sales person. For example, if you have more than one sales rep in a territory, you can have the new leads shared equally between them.

 

You can create leads in NetSuite applications using several methods:

Online. When a visitor to your Web site fills out an online form, the information gathered can be captured in a lead record. To find out more about online forms, see our Web Site overview. To find out more about online forms, see our Web Site overview. Lists. You can import leads from existing lists. NetSuite's import feature accepts most common file formats. Sales people. Leads generated through cold-calling or other methods can be created by the sales reps themselves.

 

			As leads become customers, you can assign each step a different status — such as "qualified lead" or "in negotiation" — depending on the number of steps between stages. You can then indicate the probability of closing the sale. This allows you and your sales managers to view the forecasts and current activity of your sales team by individual, by territory or in total.
	Sales and Order Entry The real difference between a stand-alone SFA tool and NetSuite applications is that with NetSuite, sale reps can actually take orders and enter sales transactions themselves. For example, as they begin working with a prospect, sales reps can create estimates or quotes and then convert those quotes to orders. Or, for short sales cycles, they can begin by entering the order directly. When creating orders, sales reps can include the products and services you sell as well as any special pricing you'd like to offer the customer. Furthermore, because all NetSuite applications are integrated, sales reps can check quantities of stock on hand when preparing sales transactions. Depending on the rules you set up for your type of business, the submitted order can next go to a sales manager for approval, to the warehouse for packing and shipping or be automatically turned into the customer invoice. Information is entered only once. This eliminates data re-entry errors and boosts productivity across all departments.   Post-Sale Support and Follow-up

			NetSuite tracks all information about customers and sales-along with interactions like phone calls and meetings-in a single record. With customer records, sales reps can see a full history of all interactions with the customer, including purchase history, order status, customer service activity, and any returns or refunds. (Other vendor's SFA tools do not provide this level of information.) They can also include files such as letters, contracts or even photos. And because NetSuite applications are Web-based, customers records can be accessed at the office or on the road. To find out more about order processing and the productivity gains from one-time data entry, see our Order Processing overview.
	Reporting

			As a manager, you can build reports to check the effectiveness of sales promotions, revenue by item and percentage of sales closed. You can even set up snapshots to see this information whenever you first log in. As the day progresses, the reports or the snapshots are updated with real-time figures. To find out more about reports and snapshots, see our Reporting overview.
	Conclusion NetSuite's SFA functionality turns your sales force into a productive and knowledgeable team and keeps managers informed about the sales process. The superior sales information provided by NetSuite applications helps you make informed decisions about how to improve your sales process in order to optimize performance and increase revenue.   Next Steps Get a summary of all NetSuite SFA features to print out for easy reference. Or experience these features for yourself by starting a free trial of any NetSuite application. You can also schedule a live demo where we can guide you through the application components that interest you most. More questions? Have one of our representatives contact you.   Back to Net Results Marketing