In just about every sales ops organization, people whine about something. Maybe it’s:
- A horrible salesperson who needs to go
- A sales manager who was great as a salesperson but doesn’t know how to lead a team
- A broken sales process that the company nonetheless follows religiously
- A potentially good sales process that almost no one is following
- A mandatory sales training that everyone despises
- A general lack of training in a key area
- A product line that is a huge money-loser
- Buggy sales management software in desperate need of an upgrade
- Newly instituted sales management software that isn’t as good as the tool it replaced
- A sales comp plan that never seems to push the team in the right direction
- Sales forecasts that are way off the mark
Of course, complaining is part of human nature. It’s unlikely that any organization would ever be able to eliminate all the whining, but in many of the cases mentioned above, these are real issues that management needs to address.
So why do these problems persist?
If so many people seem to understand that something is a problem, why doesn’t someone do something about it?
In most cases, it boils down to one of three fundamental issues within the organization:
- The organization doesn’t recognize or acknowledge that problem exists.
- Management knows it has a problem but doesn’t believe it’s worth solving.
- People believe that a simple workaround will fix the problem.
For sales ops, these three root causes are the enemy. This is what you need to constantly fight against. The law of inertia dictates that it’s much easier for the company to keep going as it has than to make necessary changes. Often, sales ops is the only group with the understanding and the will to address the problems.
But we won’t lie to you, getting your company to change isn’t going to be easy. Often, just getting people to acknowledge that issues exist becomes a protracted battle. We do have some resources that can help, however. Our Making Change Happen webinar lays out a proven strategy for facilitating change. It takes you through a step-by-step process that can help you nudge your company in the right direction. You should also check out Taking Your Sales Operation to the Next Level. It highlights the differences between ordinary sales ops teams and those that are truly effective and have learned how to get things done despite organizational inertia.
Learning how to deal with your own company’s resistance to change can also have an unexpected side benefit. You see, those three fundamental issues that prevent change are also the same issues salespeople are up against when they are dealing with stuck or frozen deals. See Reducing Losses to ‘No Decision’ for additional help on encouraging prospects to take action.
Making Change Happen
How do you get an organization to move away from the status quo and actually embrace doing things differently? With the dynamics involved, effective change management requires a more strategic approach.
Taking Your Sales Operation to the Next Level
It's common for sales operations to get mired in tactical sales support and administrative activities. This four-part recorded training session reveals the steps leading sales operations teams are taking to transform themselves into a much more proactive and strategic business function.
Reducing Losses to "No Decision"
Studies have shown that companies can lose up to 40% of their forecasted deals to "no decision". In this on-demand webinar, learn strategic and tactical approaches for dealing with prospect inaction.
