Staying ahead of the curve is crucial to achieving success. With both consumers and technology evolving at an unprecedented pace, it's no wonder that automation has become an important topic for many sales and marketing teams. When used effectively, automation can help sales and marketing teams in the following ways:
Improved Efficiency: when automating routine tasks, you free up valuable time for your team to focus on high-impact activities. This includes more time for strategic planning, creative thinking, and relationship building.
Improved Consistency: Automation ensures that every interaction with your audience is consistent and on-brand. Whether it's an online greeting, a follow-up message, or other personalized outreach, your messaging remains uniform.
Personalization at Scale: Contrary to the fear that automation makes interactions robotic, when used effectively, it actually enhances personalization. Automation tools can segment your audience and send tailored messages based on individual preferences and behavior.
Scalability: As your business grows, automation can easily adapt to handle a higher volume of tasks, making it a scalable solution.
Data-Driven Insights: Automation generates a wealth of data that can inform your decision-making. You can track user engagement, measure campaign success, and adjust your strategies in real-time.
With these benefits in mind... we wanted to explore this topic more deeply. To do so, Further’s own VP of Business Development, Shelane Barrett, sat down with leaders from Revel, Merrill Gardens, Heritage & Commonwealth where they engaged in a fun, lunchtime conversation around how they’re leveraging automation in their own operations.
The table easily agreed that one of the most challenging activities to navigate is when sales will follow up with leads who have a small likelihood of moving in. The sales team's desire to proactively engage with inquiries is understandable and admirable, but in the age of digital leads, this approach is notably inefficient.
Amanda Warren, VP of Marketing at Merrill Gardens, kindly gave us a plug and shared her firsthand experience with one of our solutions – the Messaging Assistant. She explained to the table how they had recently implemented the FURTHER Messaging Assistant within their teams. 
Amanda noted she was thrilled with the initial results, and to her delight, her teams shared in her enthusiasm. She did emphasize the pivotal role of educating her teams on the solution during this implementation. She found that the more information she imparted to her teams about the solution, highlighting its impact and how it could enhance their overall performance, the more readily they embraced the solution, rather than resisting it.
A consensus emerged among the table: the importance of maintaining a personal touch. As one of the roundtable members noted, "It's crucial for our industry to be mindful when incorporating technology, ensuring that we never sacrifice the important moments of human connection." This sparked a thoughtful conversation about the pivotal moments of human interaction that can make or break the acquisition of a new resident or the retention of a qualified prospect.
As the discussion drew to a close, the group echoed a shared perspective: automation should be seen as a valuable tool designed to eliminate inefficiencies within the sales process. This, in turn, frees up additional time for engaging in high-value activities and nurturing those vital human connections that ultimately lead to successful sales.
