The majority of companies today are struggling to convert leads into meetings and ultimately sales. Roughly half of all firms find that they are unable to turn more than half their leads into meetings. Without being able to get their foot in the door, nearly one half of individual salespeople are under quota and suffering from diminishing opportunities.

1. From Sales Force
‘Accounting’to
Sales Performance
Automation
WHITE PAPER

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CRM: SALES FORCE AUTOMATION
Sales Force Automation systems (SFA) were designed to aid
organizations by managing and tracking records in one place,
providing sales forecasting, and supporting management’s
leadership efforts.
From Sales Force‘Accounting’
to Sales Performance Automation
INTRODUCTION
The majority of companies today are struggling to
convert leads into meetings and ultimately sales.
Roughly half of all firms find that they are unable to
turn more than half their leads into meetings. Without
being able to get their foot in the door, nearly one
half of individual salespeople are under quota and
suffering from diminishing opportunities.
In today’s sales environment, with turnover nearing
30%, it is critical that each sales representative is given
the tools and support needed to win the dwindling
number of deals available. With more pressure and
limited resources, increased sales productivity is the
goal for managers, but it is an elusive goal, as one third
of prime selling time is wasted by poor enablement.1
Even with CRM systems, salespeople are not being
given the right tools for their job.
The Gartner Group studied why this is2
and found
that most salespeople see their CRM or Sales Force
Automation system as a management application
that is designed for managers, rather than a tool that
can be used to increase sales and help perform tasks
more effectively. ThisWhite Paper compares older
CRM systems with CRM 2.0 from the perspective of the
individual salesperson and discusses the importance of
having a system that is designed for both the manager
and the salesperson.
As with any of ourWhite Papers, there will be a
big variance in the seniority and experience of the
readership. Some of you will perhaps be in your
first managerial role, looking to focus on what’s
really important in the deal. Others may be more
seasoned sales leaders at Director, orVP level
tuning in to make sure you’re in step with the latest
thinking and technologies. ThisWhite Paper aims
to provide something for the complete range of
requirements, since the ideas and recommendations
have applicability right up the leadership hierarchy.
However, if you want to dig deeper or move wider, we
urge you to get in touch with us individually. You can
do this via email to: info@thetasgroup.com.
ThisWhite Paper will start by touching on CRM systems
and their challenges for salespeople. Then it will look
at its operation through the eyes of a salesperson.
After that, we’ll introduce what CRM 2.0 is and discuss
how it is designed to help salespeople do their job
better and project accurate forecasts through its sales
methodology and process.
These programs and systems were going to reinforce best
practices; measure the performances of individual sales
people accurately; encourage better internal and external
communications; and ultimately improve sales and revenue
figures.
1
Nov.13,2008;IDCSalesAdvisoryPractice’sRelease
2
GartnerPublicationG00157754:On-DemandSFACan’tGuaranteeSuccess

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When salespeople are asked to use SFA, they generally drop
their shoulders, roll their eyes and kiss their valuable selling
time goodbye. For them, it’s anything but automation. For a
big part of that day, they turn into a data entry clerk inputting
their deals into a seemingly redundant system only to discuss
those same deals later in the week with their managers.
Instead of helping focus representatives on their individual
leads and providing tools to help him or her win them, SFAs
all too often turn selling into a data entry task where the
information is consumed by management, but does not
then get turned into helpful guidance for the salesperson.
While this automates the recording process and presents
management with consolidated information on what his or
her salespeople are doing, it does not actually aid in selling
best practices and is often not used effectively, resulting in
wasted effort and dubious, subjective forecasts.
If it weren’t so important, it would be humorous how a lot
of companies do their forecasting. Along with general past
numbers and trends, companies often consider peripheral
information and personal feelings when calculating future
performance. When first line managers start the process,
they gather their salespeople’s data and adjust the expected
future numbers based on their knowledge of, and confidence
in, each person under them. Some salespeople are overly
optimistic, some overly pessimistic. This additional layer of
subjectivity is then propagated by each level of the hierarchy.
By the time the CFO considers the forecasts with a view to
communicating withWall Street orThe City, those numbers
bear little resemblance to reality and are a summation of how
the individuals of the organization felt on the day.
In reality, most CRM systems have fallen short of these
promises because 1) they are not being used effectively, and
2) they lack the essential tools and resources that salespeople
actually need. Unfortunately, the Software-As-A-Service
approach has not significantly improved CRM system
usefulness or increased sales effectiveness. Despite recent
studies from IDC that show a yearly sales increase of $57,000
from each representative by shifting just 10 minutes a week to
more active selling time, sales people are still struggling to get
true value from SFAs and make their time more productive.
Additionally, a recentTAS Group webinar3
found that 75%
of companies reported their CRM system forecasts weren’t
accurate enough to be trusted. Even if a company has a CRM
system in place and it is being used, that does not necessarily
translate into having a more productive sales team or realizing
increased revenue.
When considering CRM systems in your workplace, it is
important to ask yourself the following questions:
• Are you pleased with your CRM system and its
adoption and use?
• Do you have a defined sales process and is it being
used consistently?
• Do you have a sales methodology in place and is it
being used effectively?
• Can you rely on your CRM system for accurate
forecasting, or do you depend on manual processes?
FOR SALESPEOPLE,‘SFA’MEANS
SALES FORCE ACCOUNTING
A recent Gartner report found that,“most sales people see SFA
as a management application, rather than a salesperson’s tool.
SaaS does not do anything to alter this perception, which can
only be changed by balancing requirements between the
needs of sales management and salespeople.” Sales people
are not getting the promised value out of most CRMs due to
their negative perception and actual lack of usefulness in the
sales cycle. This is why Joe Galvin,Vice President and Research
Director at Sirius Decisions (www.siriusdecisions.com), calls
SFA: Sales Force Accounting.
- Sales person adoption is poor
- Data quality is poor
- Complicated and cumbersome
- Seen as a management application
- SaaS hasn’t changed these issues
KEY FINDINGS
3
Where’stheBeef?WhySalesMethodologyFailsWithoutCompleteCRMIntegration

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Dealmaker fromTheTAS Group is CRM 2.0. Its intelligent
software applications and sales methodology are proven
to help consistently win more deals. Sales people will
consistently use their CRM system when they are equipped
with a system that makes them more money and more
successful. Such a system integrates science-based
methodology and processes, providing them with valuable
resources and tools for each lead at every step in the sales
cycle, increasing the number of deals they win. It streamlines
forecasting and provides managers with up-to-date
information that is objective and rules-based, not subjective.
Because everything is integrated into the sales team’s daily-
use activities, early warning signs are immediate for better
coaching. Dealmaker comes with aVirtual Learning system
that delivers superior training remotely, which is perfect for
modern, on-the-job learning. Post-training, Dealmaker’s
lessons can be integrated into your CRM system and are
on-demand at every step in the sales cycle. Where CRM
system integration is required, Dealmaker enhances any 3rd
party system, either through one of our plug-ins or via the
Dealmaker Application Programming Interface (‘API’).
CRM 2.0: SALES PERFORMANCE
AUTOMATION
A useful system that is designed for both management and
the salesperson is one that focuses on Sales Performance
Automation (SPA). In this arrangement, information that
is entered by the sales person is tracked, organized and
consumed by both management and the salesperson. For
management, detailed information is used for pipelining,
coaching, and more accurate forecasts because it removes the
optimism that permeates sales people’s assessment of where
they are in the sales cycle. The information collected in SPA
is also run through the company’s sales methodology and
process, resulting in strategy guidance for the salesperson and
an early warning system that highlights potential red flags for
managers.
SPA is a salesperson-centric approach that increases revenue,
improves sales forecasts and metrics, and continually
reinforces best practices. Increased revenue is delivered
through an integrated sales methodology that is automated
and constantly used during salespeople’s daily activities.
Improved forecasting can only be achieved when guesswork
is replaced by objective in-depth analysis of sales team’s
actual, continual performance with reference to the detailed
and specific knowledge of what it takes to close deals.
Objective forecasting is not only more accurate, but is
essential for managers to effectively coach and support their
salespeople early in the cycle, when warning signs become
evident. Integrated into a SPA approach is sales-learning
that is focused on just-in-time, or contextual, knowledge and
skill acquisition. Traditional classroom sales training is both
expensive and inefficient as anything from 38% to 87% of
skills are lost within the first month. The best way for people
to learn new skills is through small, bite-sized lessons that are
continually reinforced when it becomes time to use them.
When comparing standard CRM systems to CRM 2.0, the
differences are striking for both managers and salespeople, as
shown in the table to the right.
CRM 1.0 - SFA CRM 2.0 - SPA
For Salespeople For Salespeople
Provides forms for data entry Provides tools and insight for deal
Allows compliance Allows more time to sell
Leaves unanswered questions:
• How should I work this deal?
• How should I approach this person?
•Which materials should I use?
• Can I close this deal?
•When will it close
Provides:
• Strategy for selling
• Selling approach for individuals
• Automatic material selection
• Closure probability
• Close date
For Managers For Managers
Open Field to interpret data Scientifically calculated data
Subjective forecasts Objective forecasts

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CONCLUSION
CRM system adoption by salespeople has, for a
long time, been low due to its focus on compliance.
Most salespeople have not seen personal value in
the Sales Force Automation system in their CRM
and usually have to be coerced by managers into
using it. Dealmaker automates sales effectiveness
through a unique combination of intelligent software
applications and sales methodology and process,
which helps salespeople sell more and in turn
improves can improve CRM system adoption by 44%.
We’d be delighted to discuss your specific needs
further, and explore how Dealmaker can drive
sustained sales performance improvement in your
organization. If you wish to find out more, please
contact us at info@thetasgroup.com.

6. ABOUTTHETAS GROUP
TheTAS Group helps progressive sales organizations increase their sales velocity resulting in higher win rates, bigger
deals, shorter sales cycles, and more qualified deals in the pipeline. Our unique value is deep methodology embedded
within intelligent Dealmaker software, 100% native in Salesforce. Smart coaching, delivered just-in-time, improves
sales performance and accelerates sales results.We have changed the paradigm of improving sales effectiveness from
traditional sales training to delivering sales methodology and insights when and where the sales person is working a
sales opportunity.
For more information visit www.thetasgroup.com
Copyright ©TheTAS Group. All rights reserved.This briefing is for customer use only and no usage rights are conveyed. Nothing herein may be reproduced in any form without written permission ofTheTAS Group.