How to determine whether you need business process automation? For example, if you spend hours transcribing lead data into your CRM software, creating deals, or setting up meetings, it is time to start automating and stop wasting time and energy that could be spent on more important tasks.
What is automation
Automation can be a range of tools that eliminate time-consuming and routine tasks. In business, they eliminate tasks such as:
- searching for leads,
- entering data about them into a CRM system,
- evaluating which leads to contact,
- scheduling meetings,
- sending personalized emails,
- creating contracts,
- reporting.
All these tasks take up a lot of time. Yet salespeople do them repeatedly, daily, weekly, or monthly, always in the same way. A robot can do them exactly the same way as well – that's why automation is there to free their hands for all the things a robot can't do. Like sales and building relationships with clients.
How does business process automation work – examples
You can automate numerous business processes with CRM software. Set which activities you want to automate and how that should be done. Also determine the situations that are going to trigger automation.
In RAYNET, it is possible to create automations from a template or set up your own. All of them consist of three parts:
- Trigger – what needs to happen for the automation to start (e.g., a record is created, edited or deleted, or when a document is signed),
- Condition – under what circumstances the automation will take place (e.g., if the trigger is a new lead, the condition could be that it is a lead from your website),
- Action – what the automation will do (e.g., create a deal, send a notification about a meeting that has taken place, or alert you to an upcoming contract expiration date).
Read more about automations in RAYNET in the article we wrote about them. For other automations that the CRM system cannot handle, use the Make.com platform – it is easy to integrate it with RAYNET.
What can be automated in business
Anything that you do repeatedly and don't have to think too much about can be automated.
1) Creating new leads
💁 Entering client information into a CRM system takes a lot of time, but it can be done automatically. For example, by linking RAYNET to a contact form on your website. Every time someone fills out the form, the information is saved as a new record in your CRM account.
This way you have all the leads in your CRM system as soon as they come in, without having to manually retype everything. And someone from sales can contact them as soon as possible.
2) Creating deals
✏️ A deal is automatically created from a lead. All the data about the lead is transferred to the deal along with other activities, events and all communication over time.
You don't have to manually write down that you were in a meeting with a client or that you emailed them with an inquiry. This ensures that no information is lost.
3) Assigning tasks
✅ Getting a new lead brings with it a number of subsequent tasks that the salesperson needs to do. To make sure you don't forget about anything, set up an automation that starts when a lead is created and creates a task automatically.
The salesperson will see that they have to send the new contact an offer, schedule a meeting, or anything else. They can get right into it and not dwell on what to start with.
4) Automatic document creation
💻 Don't waste your time writing the same thing over and over again. With automation, you can create documents where your customer's information and deal items are added automatically. You won't forget anything and there's no risk of making a mistake.
Plus, you'll speed up the whole process. Especially with quotes, speed is extremely important – if you don't send the client some detailed information in time, the deal won't happen. With automation, you'll have the quote prepared before you can say deal.
5) Automated notifications and reminders
☝️ There are some tasks that the salesperson has to do themselves, but they don't need to think about them – the automation will remind them. For example, it will alert you every time a new lead is added to the CRM system, or notify you when a contract is about to expire. You can then reach out to the client in a timely manner and sort out anything that needs to be addressed.
Set automated reminders for any document, deal, or event. They become your business assistant and make sure you don't forget anything.
6) Automatically sending emails
📩 Speed is key in business. If you don’t get back to your potential customer in time, your competitors will.
RAYNET itself will not communicate with clients on your behalf, but if you connect it to an email marketing tool such as Mailchimp, you can automatically send, for example, a meeting request or various personalized emails. These will help you reach your customers faster and give them the care they need.
It works by automatically assigning a tag to a contact based on a condition and then transferring it to Mailchimp. Thanks to its own automation, Mailchimp sends an email based on the tag assigned to the contact.
7) Effective scheduling of meetings and phone calls
📅 Finding available meeting slots can easily turn into a nightmare. The calendar makes it easier, but you can go even further with automations.
Thanks to the connection with Calendly via Make.com, you can quickly email a link to the booking system, where the client will reserve your time. This way you can schedule a meeting without any complicated arranging process, and it goes straight into your calendar.
Your CRM software and other tools that you integrated with it will help you with business automation. They all work with the data you record in the CRM system and handle all the routine tasks that take up your time and brainpower. RAYNET provides 50 automation runs for free. Then you can upgrade to one of the paid plans.
Don't have CRM software yet? Try RAYNET for 30 days for free with no strings attached. Try RAYNET.
