Sales automation frees up your sales reps' and managers' time by having the software take care of frequent tasks they'd otherwise have to do manually. Setting up the whole thing in your CRM might be time-consuming at first, but in the long run your business, sales team, and bottom line will benefit from it. Sales automation:

• Increases your sales reps' productivity and performance 
• Prevents errors in your sales process and speeds it up
• Reduces turnaround time, allowing you to deliver good customer experience with less effort
• Gives a complete view of sales data, ensuring that all your sales reps are on the same page 

If you want to know which stages of your sales cycle can be automated, just read on. We have a testimony from David Glick at US Med Capital who feels that sales automation with Zoho CRM is a blessing. US Med Capital is in the business of providing financial aid to medical practices. They use a highly customized version of Zoho CRM to speed things up in every step of their sales cycle.

• Lead submissions: Data filled into the forms on their website or an affiliate's website are piped straight into Zoho CRM. If the contact belongs to an account that already exists, the contact is directly assigned to the agent handling that particular account.
• Processing submissions: Once a submission is received from a lead, the status automatically updates to pending. The assigned agent can change this to underwriting, which will further trigger a record being created in the underwriting module. 
• Sales processes: After an agent establishes contact with a lead, an array of customized email templates get dripped to the leads over a period.  
• Closing deals: Once the financial aid has been approved, an email informing the sales agent and applicant is automatically triggered, informing them that they have been given the green light and to respond from their end. 

With sales automation, you can accomplish more with less. Implement sales automation and let the results speak for themselves. You can learn more about Zoho CRM for financial services from here. If you're already on the sales automation bandwagon, drop a line in the comment section explaining how it has benefited your business, so your peers can take a leaf out of your book.