Ideally, the only people your sales team talks to are the people who are already qualified, know exactly what they want, and are ready to sign a contract. In reality? Your sales team all-too-often spends their valuable time talking to prospects who are just kicking the tires, not ready to make a commitment.

Marketing is by far the biggest source for time-saving automation ideas. It starts off with automatically segmenting your list in your marketing tool. You can create lists based on contact record information and see your Marketing Qualified Leads, Sales Qualified Leads, and those leads who are in your system but will never buy- all at a glance. You can also see, depending on your forms, what they're interested in, what their biggest need is, and when they're looking to solve their problem.

Supporting your customers post-sales is the only way you're going to keep them around for the long-haul- and we all know it's better to keep an existing customer than to find a new one. When customers or clients have questions, answering those questions in a timely and thorough manner is paramount.