SellingBrew

Insights & Tips

Already a subscriber? Login

Become a subscriber and unlock an information arsenal focused on making your sales operation more effective.

The Big Mistake Many Sales Ops Initiatives Make

As the title suggests, our recent “Why Sales Ops Initiatives Fail” webinar exposes and explains a number of common factors behind initiatives that have struggled mightily or, in some cases, even failed outright. While these types of sessions may seem like a bit of a downer, we feel strongly that learning from others’ mistakes is far more instructive than simply focusing on success stories.

One of the many points-of-failure we discuss in the webinar is pretty intuitive…and somewhat confusing…at the same time:

“Expecting a long, sustained effort before demonstrating results.”

The intuitive aspect of this is that sales ops initiatives that won’t show results for a long time are at much greater risk of getting derailed somewhere along the way.

After all, a company’s situation and circumstances are always changing. And other things are always popping up to compete for a company’s limited time, attention, and resources. So naturally, initiatives that lack compelling results to justify the ongoing effort are more likely to be shelved at some point in favor of things that seem to hold more immediate promise.

Simply put, most organizations are fickle and impatient. And everyone knows it. That’s why this part of the equation is pretty intuitive.

That said, dealing with this reality is where the confusion often arises…

You see, many practitioners assume that worthwhile sales ops initiatives will just “take as long as they take.” In their minds, whether we’re talking about six months, 12 months, or even two years, the timeframe from start to finish simply “is what it is.” So to them, this potential point-of-failure seems unavoidable unless they choose to pursue smaller initiatives that may be far less valuable.

Of course, the fallacy here is the assumption that “start to finish” and “time to result” are synonymous. They are not.

Start to finish, an initiative may indeed require two years of concerted effort. But you can plan the execution of the initiative in such a way that some demonstrable results are produced within the first 90-120 days, with even more results six months in, and so on. And by producing results all along the way, you’ll stand a much better chance of maintaining momentum and internal support over the longer haul.

In reality, there are dozens of different ways to execute any initiative. Of course, there are things that have to happen in a certain sequence…prerequisites, if you will. But when designing your initiatives, you have a lot of options and choices.

You can default to a “start to finish” initiative design that will generate results only after many months of concerted effort. Or, you can put some stakes in the ground for when results will be generated along the way (the sooner the better) and design the rest of the initiative around those results-oriented milestones.

The bottom line is that this point-of-failure is not unavoidable. With some thought and creativity, you can almost always design around it. You just have to want to.

Get Immediate Access To Everything In The SellingBrew Playbook

Related Resources

  • Attracting and Capturing Better Leads

    Isn't it frustrating when sales gets the blame for poor performance when the quality of leads is the real problem. In this on-demand webinar, learn about a number of strategies and tactics for maximizing the quantity, quality, and value of your sales leads.

    View This Webinar
  • Developing a Winning Sales Ops Roadmap

    For transforming Sales Ops, good intentions aren't enough. You need a plan. In this on-demand webinar, learn about creating an effective roadmap for making Sales Ops a more strategic function.

    View This Webinar
  • Getting Serious About Sales Effectiveness

    What does it take to make your sales operation more effective? This on-demand webinar provides insights into what other sales operations are doing and the areas to focus your energies if you're serious about sales effectiveness.

    View This Webinar
  • Tales from the Trenches in Sales Ops

    Driving sales effectiveness and efficiency at-scale can be messy. In this on-demand webinar, glean insights from seven cautionary case studies so you don't repeat the same mistakes and miscalculations.

    View This Webinar