A comprehensive explanation of the difference between CRM and SFA and which one should be presented | Artificial Intelligence News Media AINOW

Last update date: October 9, 2022

CRM and SFA are indispensable tools in sales activities. However, there are many people who worry about CRM and SFA, such as “I don’t really understand the difference” or “I don’t know which to offer”.

In order to improve the effectiveness of sales activities, it is essential to understand the difference between CRM and SFA.

In this article, I will explain the differences between CRM and SFA in terms of functionality, purpose of use and use cases, and introduce which one should be offered, CRM or SFA.

CRM and SFA

Primarily, some people may not know what the terms CRM and SFA refer to.

Below, we will explain CRM and SFA in an easy to understand manner with specific examples.

What is CRM

CRM is an acronym for “Customer Relation Management”, which directly translates into Japanese as “customer relationship management”.

Sometimes it refers to measures for building good relationships with customers and providing optimal measures, and sometimes it refers to effective systems and tools in building relationships with customers.

As the number of customers increases, the amount of data to manage increases, but with a CRM, customer information such as purchase history and number of link clicks can be understood at a glance.

Since it is possible to competently identify “which customers are interested in the products and to what extent”, etc., it is possible to prioritize the customers to be contacted and implement optimal measures for each customer.

What is SFA

SFA is an acronym for “Sales Force Automation,” which directly translates into Japanese as “Sales Activity Automation.”

Often called a sales support system, it supports the efficiency of sales operations through the central management of sales-related information.

Since SFA can collect data on sales activities, it is possible to clearly understand what kind of products customers are looking for, and can be used efficiently to develop products and sales strategies.

CRM and SFA Tools – Differences in Purpose of Use

Primarily, CRM and SFA have different purposes when companies introduce them.

So, next, I will explain the difference in the purpose of using CRM and SFA.

The purpose of the CRM

The purpose of CRM is to increase sales. With a CRM, you can centrally manage customer information that was previously managed by each employee, and you can provide appropriate services and responses to individual customers.

By doing so, we can improve corporate customer satisfaction and secure more sales and profits by developing into a loyal customer.

Purpose of SFA

The purpose of SFA is to improve sales and sales efficiency. First of all, it is important to increase the number of potential customers in order to increase sales.

In order to increase the number of potential clients, it is necessary to increase the number of business negotiations, tell them about your company, and make them a fan of your company, so to speak. Then, in the context of frequent business negotiations, we can improve customer satisfaction by making perfect proposals using customer feedback from past data.

In addition, the introduction of SFA can significantly reduce the time the responsible person spends on non-sales related activities such as daily reports and sales reports, and it is possible to improve sales efficiency.

In this way, the purpose of introducing SFA is to improve the quality of sales associated with the accumulation of customer data and to improve the efficiency of sales activities, which is expected to lead to increased profits.

CRM and SFA Tools – Functional Differences

Next, let’s take a look at some of the functional differences in CRM and SFA that are often confused.

CRM and SFA are both “information management and operational tools to improve operational efficiency”, but the objective of information management is different. CRM is customer information management and operating tool, and SFA is sales activity information management and operating tool.

In the following, we will carefully explain the functions of CRM and SFA in order to explain the above differences more clearly.

CRM Features

CRM is a tool that manages and operates customer information for “customer visualization” and has the following three main functions.

1. customer management
2. Upgrade functional
3. analysis

The first is customer managementhe is. Centrally manages everything from basic customer information such as name, age, and gender to customer information such as purchase history and purchase trends that serve as indicators for measuring the effectiveness of metrics. By sharing the information recorded within the company, you can expect to improve the efficiency of your business.

The second is the upgradehe is. You can also manage and organize product impressions, inquiries, survey results, etc., and use it to communicate with customers by distributing email magazines and coupons.

The third is the analysishe is. First, based on customer data, analyze the customers who are highly loyal to your company. After performing actions such as email distribution, we can analyze the impact of these actions on sales and the time it takes for the effects of the actions to appear, they help in customer retention and new customer acquisition.

SF . Jobs

On the other hand, SFA is a tool for managing and operating information related to sales activities for “sales visualization”. SFA is equipped with functions that enable sales personnel to operate smoothly, and there are basically the following three functions.

1. case management function
2. event management function
3. Customer management function

The first is the project management functionhe is. This job has most roles in SFA and manages various information related to sales.

The more cases, the more difficult it is to manage information, but the introduction of the SFA facilitates sharing of information within departments by clarifying ‘when, who, and how’.

One of the advantages of SFA is that information can be effectively shared within the department, and points of improvement can be highlighted from the perspective of a third party other than the responsible person.

The second is the activity management functionhe is. The most time-consuming tasks in the sales business are preparing business negotiation lists and daily sales reports.

However, if you leave it to SFA, all you have to do is enter the information as you go, and the rest of the detailed work becomes unnecessary.

With saving time, you can visit more places, which makes your sales more efficient and saves you a lot of time. In addition, sharing the expertise of the responsible person with good sales performance will improve the entire team.

The third is the customer management functionhe is. It is a function that centrally manages everything from basic information such as company name, responsible person and job title to the history of business negotiations. All customer information is recorded in SFA, so even if the responsible person is not available, customer support can be carried out seamlessly.

In addition, by recording daily activity reports such as topics with customers, atmosphere, situation, progress status, etc., after-sales activities are completed, sales data for each salesperson and sales data for each product can be aggregated.

In this way, sales data can be analyzed from different points of view and used in sales forecasting.

CRM and SFA Tools – Differences in Usage Scenarios

Additionally, I will explain the difference between CRM and SFA use cases.

Use cases for CRM

CRM is useful when you encounter the following issues, such as when you want to maintain and improve relationships with customers.

• I want to increase repeat customers because customers leave early
• I want to improve customer satisfaction because there are many inquiries
• Customer information is scattered and cannot be referenced when you want to use it

Use cases for SFA

The SFA is useful when you encounter the following issues, such as the desire to improve the efficiency of your sales operations.

• It takes a lot of time and effort to write the daily work report, so don’t go to the sales office
• I want to standardize team members across the team, and I want the whole team to understand the progress of each responsible person, because work will be delayed when the responsible person is absent.

CRM or SFA Tools – Which Should You Deploy?

Finally, I will explain what kind of companies should implement CRM and SFA from the perspective of the problems they face.

The Right Companies to Introduce CRM

The companies that should offer CRM are the people who have the following issues.

• Companies that already have many customers
• Companies that want to take a stronger approach to existing customers

CRM is the best way to communicate with existing customers who have lost their desire to buy by sending coupons and email newsletters.

Companies Suitable to Introduce SFA

The companies that should file an SFA are those that have the following issues.

• Companies where information exchange between salespeople is insufficient
• Companies in which each representative has several clients

By submitting an SFA, you will be able to visualize customer information and the status of business negotiations, and you will be able to prevent miscommunication between employees. Additionally, you can expect to increase sales staff motivation by improving sales efficiency.

Understand the difference between CRM and SFA before implementing

This time, I explained the meaning of CRM and SFA, functions, purpose of use and which ones should be provided.

Regardless of whether a CRM or SFA is offered, results cannot be obtained once they are submitted. It is important to understand the required functionality of the system before introducing it.

You can expect an increase in sales by properly understanding the differences, finding jobs that fit your company, and operating them appropriately.