Publication Date: August 23, 1996

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Implementing Sales Force Automation: Keep the Focus on People

By Anita J. Freed

The software is on order, the training session begins in two weeks, and you're ready to roll out your new sales automation system. This is definitely not the time to start selling your sales staff on the project.

Perhaps the biggest mistake a company can make when it decides to bring in sales automation technology is fail to involve salespeople in the project from the start. Employees' early involvement has multiple benefits: It helps foster a sense of ownership in the project; helps you build a system that answers real needs; and helps create enthusiasm for its implementation long before anyone is scheduled to sit in a classroom. It's also a smart move from a straight economic standpoint: A company can spend a lot of money on hardware, software and training and still wind up with computer-based tools that no one will use.

"You have to bring salespeople in on this deal as early as possible…instead of handing something down from on high and saying, 'Here, you're going to love it,' " says George Colombo, president of Influence Technologies of Winter Springs, Fla., and publisher of the Sales Automation Advisor newsletter.

Tom Minero, president of Training Resources, Inc., in Clifton, N.J., agrees: "It's easy to give your ear and attention to senior management back in corporate … but if you don't think about the people in the field, the engine driving all that data stops."

Creating a Receptive Climate

How employee input is actually gathered will depend on the size of the company and the sales force. "If you have six people in one office, you can get everyone in a room to discuss the project – 100 percent involvement. If you have 350 salespeople over 48 states, you can't get everyone to give input in a meaningful way," Colombo says. In the latter case, where a company may resort to a "selection committee" to represent salespeople, it's important to publicize who the committee members are and to actively encourage employees to give feedback to their representatives.

Meanwhile, the company must still address all of those side issues – from computer anxiety to layoff fears – that may hinder acceptance of the new applications. That may mean providing fundamental computer training to those who lack the requisite skills, reassuring workers their jobs are not at risk, and showing employees how the system will work for them, not against them. "If the salespeople think this is going to be the latest tool for the 'sales police' … that's just going to make them feel negative about the project," says Minero.

"Attitude will drive everything," says Ken Wax, president of Total Quality Selling, Inc., in Wellesley, Mass. From the outset, Wax says, it's crucial for the company to assess why it's moving toward sales force automation. An application truly designed to help salespeople do their jobs better will undoubtedly get a more positive reception than one that's merely a technology solution.

Minero says a bit of internal public relations can help create a positive attitude about sales automation, but the bottom line is that the system has to withstand scrutiny in the field. "Successful salespeople are self-directed, goal-oriented, and focused on making their numbers. You can launch [sales force automation] with great fanfare, and have them use it for a few weeks, but if they don't see it helping them they will abandon it," he says.

Training for Self-Sufficiency

Preparing your staff to be receptive to sales force automation, and providing the skills to use it, are different things. Initial training may take place in a classroom setting, but the field-based sales force has special needs when it comes to learning the technology and having access to ongoing support.

Consider, for example, what happens when you are working in a corporate office and you have a technical problem: You ask the person in the next cubicle for help, or you dial the extension of the IS department. Now consider the salesperson who has a technical question – when he or she is sitting in a hotel room in Peoria at 11 p.m., or in front of a customer during a sales call.

"Companies need to put a safety net out for people in the field, so they can make a phone call and get an answer," says Colombo. Increasingly, companies are turning to outsourcing because it is often an easier, cheaper way to provide daily, round-the-clock support. But no matter whether the training and support is from in-house or outside sources, businesses need to budget for it. "It's not outrageous to have one-third of your entire budget [for sales force automation] allocated to training and support," he says.

According to Colombo, the three-year average expenditure to implement sales force automation is $8,000 to $15,000 per person per year, including equipment, training and support. If that expenditure gives you pause, think of what it would cost a company if it didn't pay attention to the people issues involved.

"This is not a technology purchase," Wax says. "The real decision is, how are the people in your organization going to work together to develop relationships with customers in the future. The hardware is easy; the future is hard."

Anita J. Freed is an Internet project manager at DCI.

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George Colombo, Tom Minero and Ken Wax are featured speakers at DCI's Field and Sales Force Automation Conference. To learn more about the event, please see our latest online brochure.

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