If you are old enough to remember the 1980s (and some of us here at SellingBrew definitely are), you might remember a time when cockroaches were pretty much everywhere — and no one could get rid of them.
Now, some of you probably still see the occasional roach (especially if you live in the South or a big city), but today’s infestations are nothing like they once were. In the 1980s, scientists estimated there were 2 billion cockroaches in New York City alone. Everyone in the city had seen roaches — and lots of them. Today, by contrast, there are less than 2 million sightings per year.
For those doing the math, that means there are about 1,000 times fewer cockroaches around now than there once were.
How did that happen?
Simple: the Combat roach trap.
After years of trying — and failing — to find something to kill roaches, a company invented a slow-acting poison that they could put in cockroach bait. The cockroach would eat the bait and go back to their nests and to slowly die. And because cockroaches are cannibals and also eat each other’s poop and vomit (yeah, we know, gross!), the poison would transfer to other roaches until it wiped out the whole colony.
We’re bringing this up because the Sales Ops also has an infestation.
We’re not talking about literal pests. Instead, the sales ops roaches are insidious (and in our opinion, somewhat disgusting) habits that can infect teams. They’re really hard to get rid of. They erode efficiency, eat away at sales productivity, and can make the organization unhealthy.
Sales Ops’ roaches
- Inefficient Sales Processes: Outdated and cumbersome sales processes can slow down your team and hinder their ability to close deals. It’s like using old pest control methods when far more effective ones are available today. Find out how to streamline your processes in Sales Process Improvement.
- Misaligned Incentives: If your sales incentives aren’t aligned with company goals, you’re breeding a culture of short-term thinking and margin erosion. Just as poorly targeted pest control can miss the mark, misaligned incentives can lead to unintended consequences. Learn how to set the right incentives in Improving Sales Compensation to Boost Results.
- Poor Forecast Accuracy: Failure to accurately forecast sales can leave a company vulnerable to unexpected shortfalls or surpluses. It’s like ignoring the signs of a pest invasion until it’s too late. Learn a better way to manage forecasting with Developing Better Forecasts.
- Lack of Sales and Marketing Alignment: When sales and marketing aren’t on the same page, it can lead to missed opportunities and inefficiencies. It’s similar to a pest problem that spreads unchecked. Get your teams aligned with Reducing Friction Between Sales & Marketing.
- Tactical Overload: When Sales Ops is bogged down with repetitive, low-impact firefighting, it’s like trying to squash roaches one by one instead of eliminating the source. This tactical overload prevents the team from focusing on more strategic, value-adding initiatives. Learn how you can shift your focus from tactical to strategic in From Tactical to Strategic Sales Ops.
We hope that all the talk about roaches didn’t gross you out too much. But we also hope that it hammers home the point that you really need to get these habits under control before they proliferate and infect your organization.
Sales Process Improvement
In this session, we share how to identify bottlenecks, develop procedures, and prioritize improvements. And, we discuss how to leverage technology to streamline and scale your sales processes.
Improving Sales Compensation to Boost Results
It's hard to devise a comp plan that nails the objectives without a bunch of unintended consequences. In this webinar, learn about strategies and tactics for more effective sales incentives and compensation plans.
Developing Better Forecasts
In this on-demand webinar, learn about the seven major ways in which leading teams are approaching sales forecasting very differently to boost speed, accuracy, and overall performance and results.
Reducing Friction Between Sales & Marketing
Some amount of "friction" between Sales and Marketing is expected. Too much, however, is counter-productive. In this on-demand session, we discuss dozens of ways to address seven root-causes of friction and conflict between the Sales and Marketing functions.
From Tactical to Strategic Sales Ops
Some teams are so mired in tactical grunt work and daily firefights that they never make progress on strategic pursuits. How have other Sales Ops teams transitioned into more strategic functions? What steps did they take?
