Sales Force Automation (SFA) software is a type of program that automates business tasks such as inventory control, order processing, contact management, tracking of customer interactions and sales forecast analysis and performance evaluation.
For medium to large size organizations a custom version is usually developed specifically for the businesses individual needs. Out of the box products are also available with offer a certain level of customization however are very limited compared to purpose build versions.
Sales Force Automation packages typically incorporate a Web-ready database, an e-mail package, and customizable templates.
Sales force management systems are information systems used in marketing and management that help automate some sales and sales force management functions. They are frequently combined with a marketing information system, in which case they are often called Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems.
Sales Force Automation Systems form part of a company’s customer relationship management system, in which the software automatically records all the stages in a sales process.
Major features of Sales Force Automation systems include:
- A contact management system which tracks all contact that has been made with a given customer, the purpose of the contact, and any follow up that might be required
- Sales lead tracking system, which lists potential customers through paid phone lists, or customers of related products
- Sales forecasting
- Order management
- Product knowledge
- Product modeling
