The best sales operations…
Let humans do what humans do best
- optimize for the sales agents to spend 60% of their time talking to people
- encourage sales agents to spend 20% of their time building an (online) audience
- give them tools to use the remaining 20% to spot opportunities in the data
Let computers do what computers do best
- use decision support technology (machine learning) to optimize faster
- use machine learning to score leads based on your sales process
- use machine learning to assess sales agents in real-time
- use machine learning to support sales agents with the next best action(s)
Avoid these common mistakes
- work leads from email and spreadsheets
- have sales directors distribute leads
- program in static rules based on point-in-time reports or “best practices”
- assume trendy lead management studies are still accurate
- throw leads or bodies at your quota and hope a hero or two emerge
The best sales operations are leveraging innovative technology to leverage the abundant and telling data in their organizations to drive and continually optimize that operation.
They systematize their work as much as possible.
As a result, their results are consistent and predictable.