For years now, commercial teams have been dealing with a number of disruptive dynamics that all seem to be “cranked to 11.” And in response, most Sales Ops teams have been doing the best they can to juggle, adapt, patch, glue, and just keep things moving forward without the wheels falling off.
The problem, of course, is when the function ends up looking more like a clunkly Rube Goldberg contraption than a well-oiled sales machine.
In the Optimizing Sales Operations training session, we walk through a fairly straightforward 5-step process for cleaning up all the duct tape and bubble gum that has accumulated across most sales operations: 1) get clear on objectives, 2) prioritize and filter, 3) define and document, 4) assess and diagnose, and then 5) implement and update. After deep-diving on each process step, we also share a number of optimizations that other groups have found to be effective.
While there’s nothing particularly radical or revolutionary about the optimization process we discuss, what is likely the most important step also happens to be the step that can really trip people up if they aren’t diligent…and a bit fearless.
Prioritize and filter.
Now…the “prioritization” part of this step is not really the problem. Most everyone will be comfortable with talking about what matters most, what should get more focus, what deserves more resources, and so on. That’s going to be familiar territory for most teams. It’s fairly safe. And it even feels somewhat productive.
Where things tend to go off the rails is around the “filtering” part of the step.
After all, filtering is not about deciding what’s most important or what to do more of. And filtering is not even about determining what’s least important. No, that’s still all part of prioritization. Filtering is all about deciding what you’re not going to do anymore and filtering it out of the operation entirely. Done. Gone. Bye.
At first blush, that all seems like a dream come true, right? I mean, who wouldn’t want to draw a red line through a whole swath of low-value stuff? Who wouldn’t want to eliminate a bunch of day-to-day busywork, get some breathing room, and free up time to focus on bigger and better things? It sounds fantastic!
Until you actually try to do it…
When you get down to the nitty-gritty of filtering in earnest, it tends to force a very different kind of conversation. It’s a much more sober, realistic, clear-eyed, and often more contentious and uncomfortable type of conversation. You’re no longer just talking about positive priorities and all the good things you want to do more of. No, you’re talking negatively about processes, reports, routines, and activities that people are currently doing every single day…and you’re talking about stopping them.
And that’s where the resistance can start creeping into the conversation.
Some of it is just a rational response to uncertainty. “What if it turns out we still need this?” “What if we’re cutting too much?” “What if something breaks as a result?” When you’re operating in a dynamic, high-stakes environment, there’s going to be a natural tendency to want to hedge a bit “just in case.”
Some of it can be very personal. Every process, every report, every routine tends to have an owner or set of owners. And when you start questioning whether something should continue to exist, it can feel like you’re questioning the value of the people that are associated with it or responsible for it. Even when that’s not the intent of the filtering exercise, that can be how it’s interpreted.
And frankly, some of the resistance is simply out of habit. Over time, certain activities just become entrenched and embedded into the rhythm of the operation. These things get done because…well…they’ve always been done. And even when no one can actually remember why they were initiated in the first place…let alone demonstrate why they’re still warranted…these things will persist.
So when teams hit the prioritization and filtering portion of the process, it’s very tempting to sidestep all of the uncomfortable conversations and tough decisions by only doing the prioritization part…and skipping the filtering part altogether.
Which guts the value of optimizing in the first place.
After all, even low-priority activities have a way of sucking up more and more time and resource than anyone anticipated or intended. So without real filtering to actually eliminate low-value, low-priority activities, you won’t actually be freeing up much capacity…at least not for long. You won’t be creating much breathing room. And you won’t be making much space for bigger and better things.
No, those things can only happen when you’re willing to make some hard calls.
To be clear, this doesn’t mean blindly swinging a machete through your operation and chopping everything in sight. As we note in the training session, some nascent efforts and initiatives will warrant a bit of slack. Certain activities may have some political value. And yes, you should be thinking about both your current needs and your future plans when making these decisions.
But it does mean recognizing that not everything should survive and being honest, objective, and decisive about what really needs to go.
Optimizing Sales Operations
Over the last few years, most teams have changed their day-to-day operations quite a bit to deal with all of the challenges. So how do we make sense of this patchwork to make our operations more efficient and effective?
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.
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.
