No doubt by now you've heard about 'automation' a fair bit in B2B, and if your lookng to improve your own or your sales teams effectivness, you may be seriously considering it, but is this really a good idea? Let's take a deeper look at some of the pros and cons before you invest in that new technology, software or product promising you the world. Start by reading our questions every manager must ask guide, and view more pros ans cons below.

Sales automation pros:

Increased Efficiency: Let's face it, salespeople are busy people managing client relationships, prospecting, hitting targets and closing deals. Automation takes some of the grunt work away (especially in adminstration and prospecting), and by automating lead generation you can free up a lot time and energy, allowing you to re-focus on the tasks that really matter (whether they be work or personal).

Higher Quality Leads: Automation tools, such as Ignite, can help you filter out unqualified leads, ensuring that you or your sales team is only spending their time on high-quality leads that are more likely to result in a sale. This means more bang for your buck and less time wasted on dead-end leads.

Scalability: If your B2B business is growing, you will need a lead generation process that can keep up. By automating lead generation, you can scale up your operations quickly and efficiently, without needing to hire additional sales staff. It's like having a virtual assistant, but without the annoying voice.

Cost Savings: Hiring and training new sales staff can be expensiveh, in-fact it's one of the biggest prohibitors to a business scaling and becoming profitable. However by automating your lead generation process, you can reduce the cost of acquiring new leads and increase the ROI of your marketing efforts. Find me a B2B who doesn't love saving money?

Sales automation cons:

A Loss of Personal Touch: Sales is all about building relationships and we are all humans at the end of the day. Automation tools can make the lead generation process more efficient, but they can also reduce the personal touch that sales teams bring to their interactions with potential clients. This means less opportunity to make awkward small talk, however we do reccommend a dual sales strategy that involves in person or on the phone communication

Complexity: Implementing automation tools can be complex and may require significant investment in terms of time and resources. You'll need to be able to hire and train employees or hire external consultants to get everything up and running. But hey, at least you'll have something to do on Monday mornings.

A Dependence on Technology: Technology is great until it's not. Sales teams may become overly dependent on automation tools which could be a disadvantage if the tools fail or become outdated. Some say we spend too much time on technology as a society already and as some of our older readers would know, who knew you could miss a good old-fashioned Rolodex?

Reduced Flexibility: Automated lead generation may not be as flexible as a manual approach, which may limit the ability of sales teams to adjust their approach and adapt to changing market conditions. This may come down to the specific limitations or features of the automation technology you look into, and should be researched and discussed in full before purcahsing automation technology.

So there is absolotely no doubt that automation is not just all pros, and like everything we use in B2B sales, there are always cons to be found. We regulary hear it will increase efficiency, provide higher quality leads, and save you money, but it may also reduce the personal touch and flexibility of your sales approach. Ultimately, the decision to automate your lead generation process will depend on your B2B business's unique needs and goals. Leaders need to weigh up the outcomes vs spend, as well as survey how their sales tea,s feel about using automation. Whilst we believe in it's value and merits, also just make sure you don't accidentally automate yourself out of a job!