Profit in sales is not always about scaling up, sometimes it is also about reviewing processes that weigh down growth. Did you know that inventory-related automation helped Amazon clock 29% revenue growth year-on-year? The global retailer used robotics process automation (RPA) to do 50% more work in less than a minute. Businesses assigning RPA arduous tasks such as data entry, coordinating inventory details and preparing sales pitches, free up sales representatives to work on closing deals faster, reducing turnaround time for processing and in turn focusing on higher revenue generation.

A recent McKinsey report shows that RPA has hiked sales potential by up to 10% thanks to increased interaction time with customers, more satisfied buyers and improved efficiency of staff.

Offering cutting-edge expertise

RPA essentially cuts out the clutter for human counterparts. It complements human skills by taking over repetitive clerical work, which requires more precision rather than individual attention. A recent study, shows that 95% organisations that implemented RPA have reported increased productivity. Here are some of the key elements that become a game-changer for businesses when using RPA.

· No room for error – An automated system does away with human errors and delays that may result in a loss of opportunity. It makes way for a clearer brief for customers and early payments for vendors at the back end, ensuring faster delivery of the product.

· Customer satisfaction – RPA puts the needs of the customer first. It allows sales representatives to prioritise and attend to the needs of a customer. When automating the update of new user, it reduces the waiting time for customers.

· Data analysis – Data insights are at the core of sales revenue. Consolidated sales data helps identify trends, focus groups and track purchase patterns, all of which are crucial to drive performance and increase revenue.

· After-sales engagement – A top-grade sales experience includes quick installation and timely maintenance. These can be handled by RPA with an alert system that notifies a maintenance call to customers before the due date, giving them a feeling of being well taken care of.

Benefits of RPA

Concentrating on everyday processes, RPAs become the workhorses in a department like sales, where the daily details are just as important as the big picture analysis projecting market trends. Scoring points is easy when efficiency is the foundation of a service. RPA systems,

· Work 24/7

· Triple the productivity of a human worker

· Reduce allotment of resources to staff training

· Ensure full compliance and immediately flags any gaps

· Reduce business process costs by up to 80%

Navigating roadblocks

The need for speed and the introduction of change in any business process has an initial sense of churn. Companies going for a focused implementation need to prepare the ground for it, else a number of niggling issues stand in the way of achieving the expected results. First, automation depends on a streamlined data process, companies need to first review and reassess their processes to identify the key sections that can be automated. It is important to start small and invite feedback and keep a door open for any course corrections. There is also usually a lot of wariness around any new technology among the workforce, management has to educate about RPA as a tool that eases the burden of tasks from personnel, and create an environment that shows greater appreciation of the nuanced skills of workers over the precision of the machines.

Changing scene

Though the adoption of automation in sales is lagging, 30% of its processes are conducive to being automated, shows a study by McKinsey Global Institute (MGI). And companies are sitting up and taking note that automation is the way to smarten up their processes and good for the cash registers.

Recent research revealed that RPA implementation has helped decrease operational costs and improve sales reporting with full accuracy. As purse strings open up for RPA software, its global revenue is estimated to touch $2.9 billion in 2022, a 19.5% increase from 2021, according to Gartner.

Evolving for the better

While RPA is helping companies rediscover their potential from within its processes, automation software is also evolving beyond their tag of ‘aids’ to become intelligent process automation (IPA). Teaming up with AI and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is an example of innovation. The mix of advanced RPA and chatbots could see automation taking on administrative work in areas that were hitherto not in the purview of automation. Moving away from taking over tasks, which is an area of RPA, IPA could be deployed to come up with a solution to an entire process.

Businesses always aim to keep the attention on the customer and RPA helps in doing just that by taking away the burden of mechanical processes and optimising resources. It is a true collaboration of communication skills and clarity through data that companies must adopt for quicker sales and higher revenue generation.

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