Revenue operations are the behind-the-scenes happenings in a sales org. Operations (ops) define processes, implement strategies, enable sales teams to do their work, and ultimately drive results. The systematic element of sales allows sales teams to track progress and repeat successes with the knowledge of what activities are working with customers and what activities are wasting reps’ time. Without a revenue operations role, marketing and sales teams would have no strategy and no process. 

The Value of Rev Ops

Operations makes an organization’s actions intentional—meaning there is data, strategy, and process backing everything up. Rev ops ideally cover all revenue-facing processes including the the full sales cycle from the top to the bottom of the funnel. They follow leads through to close and sometimes cover customer renewals in CS.

Many operations suffer from issues related to the all-too-common disconnect between marketing and sales. If these two aren’t working together, they are significantly less powerful. Rev ops marries marketing and sales for a cohesive and efficient experience for buyers. 

Buyers are in control of the modern sales industry—they are increasingly gaining power and they care about consistent, value-adding experiences. Customer experience has quickly a top priority in the sales world. In 2020, consumers notably valued experience over pricing. 

86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience and 93% of consumers say that online reviews influence their decision to buy or not buy. The same trends are found in B2B sales—92% of B2B buyers say they are more likely to purchase after reading a positive review. Providing an easy and enjoyable process for customers is vital for retention and growth. 

Operations should have a thorough understanding of the customer journey, where they are falling off, and what’s working—this gives them the power to master all touchpoints of an account and optimize the whole customer journey as a centralized owner of the process. 

The Issues Rev Ops Teams are Facing 

The enemy of operations is a poor definition or poor execution of process. Operations need to not only define and strategize an effective process but execute and often adapt that process to ensure it is always working for the organization. Coordination is key. 

There are several teams that work directly with sales—sales enablement, customer success, and marketing. Likewise, there are multiple teams that directly support revenue growth and maintenance. The overall mission of each of these teams is to set up customers for long-term success. With that, there often comes some overlap, confusion, and miscommunication when it comes to responsibilities. 

Part of the job of rev ops is to ensure that every department has clear and specific tasks and deliverables. These groups need to plan and coordinate together to avoid overlap. When process starts to break apart and become a Frankenstein, created by different teams only focusing on their team, overlap happens. Rev ops coordinates between teams and departments to streamline and execute process and ultimately avoid overlap so that the whole organization can win and not just one team. 

Where there is no process or methodology, there is no strategy. And what is sales without strategy? Guessing. Random outreach. Hoping for the best.

But as previously mentioned, ill-defined process and randomness is the nightmare of an operations professional. 

Rev Ops: Sales Success is Our Success

A strong revenue operations team creates a clear process, with defined measures of success, and holds teams accountable. When they’re enabled to effectively execute their mandates, it creates a domino effect that leads to consistent revenue, more satisfied customers, and predictable growth. 

Rev ops measures team success with performance-centric goals. Go-to-market teams should be hitting 60% attainment consistently as a baseline. If attainment is lower than this, ops should determine if they are supporting the right channels, modeling the ideal customer profiles, and implementing an effective strategy. The ideal machine that rev ops runs through process is based on volume on the right activity—the more volume or greater sample size, the more predictable it becomes. 

Both sales enablement and revenue operations are measured through revenue attainments. Tying them together can help to close communication gaps and ultimately lead to the success of the sales team. 

Ops teams traditionally rely on basic territory planning and account planning for an initial prioritization, but there isn’t really much prioritization strategy beyond that initial plan for more organizations. Certain tools, like Playbooks, use data and buyer intelligence to help you know what to prioritize for the best planning. 

Rev Ops Tools 

Consistency of the sales motion is key. There are several tools that can enable operations to consistently track progress, implement processes, and execute strategy—the top one being CRM. Everyone who is successful in a rev ops role capitalizes on the CRM. CRM adoption and data integrity are vital, they create a common source of truth that everyone in the company can rely on.

Visibility into the entire revenue funnel to understand the customer journey is a must for operations strategy. Rev ops need to know what happens as a lead progresses the funnel.   

Tracking is also extremely important for operations. To perfect their sales process, they need to know what’s working, what’s not, and where people are dropping out. Reps are often tasked with logging activity in the CRM, and when that logged information is incorrect or unreadable—any decisions made off of it are unreliable. Too many teams shoot themselves in the foot this way. Reliable CRM integrations ensure that nothing goes unlogged or incorrectly tracked. No more bad, siloed or duplicated data. The CRM becomes a one-stop source of truth. 

Be Elite With Playbooks

Playbooks was built with operational effectiveness in mind. Leaders get more visibility into reps’ performance and outcomes. They can easily enhance workflows with automation and compliance, track progress, make decisions backed by data from native CRM reporting packages. 

Standardize and structured workflows through PLaybooks ensure that process is not forgotten and that work is done in a consistent manner.  

Playbooks gives them a better window into the weak points of a process, the black holes, and the areas in which to double down. You don’t have to worry about the waste of random acts of selling the risks of operating without clear processes and controls. Reps are guided to the next best activity and the next best contact through a guided sales experience.

RevOps Summit

Looking to become a rev ops expert? XANT is hosting an upcoming RevOps Summit featuring several industry experts and operations professionals. This event is virtual and completely free. Tune in on July 14th from 9 AM to 12 PM PT to hear more about the behind-the-scenes work of operations and how they can dramatically impact your results. Register for the summit here.

Related: WHAT C-SUITE EXECS REALLY THINK WHEN CONTACTED BY INSIDE SALES REPS

In This Article;

1. The History of Marketing Funnels
2. Examples of Traditional V’s Digital Sales
3. What’s Changed in Digital Marketing Funnels?
4. The Bounce Rate
5. Voice Technology
6. Do Likes and Followers Equal Sales?
7. Content is King in 2020
8. Is it Circular or Funnel Shaped?

Understanding Marketing in the Digital Age

The History of Marketing Funnels

Converting to a digital marketing funnel may seem an intimidating prospect, so let’s look back at the history of marketing funnels.
There has been a significant shift in the past 20 years in how consumers shop and how they locate their preferred products. The pre-internet pattern was;

Awareness of a product – customer considers purchase – the customer buys a product.

Examples of Marketing Funnels

Example A:

It’s 1998, and I need to buy a book as a gift for my golfing enthusiast father. I find the address of two local bookstores in my local newspaper.

I drive to the two local bookstores; one has signage in the storefront offering ‘buy one get a second half off.’ I browse the sports section for a book on golf and find two I like. A natural choice, I bought the two books, and I was pleased that I got a bargain!

The counter staff gift wrapped the books for me for free. I decide on impulse to browse further and buy two more books the staff recommend.

Marketing funnels worked to a predictable pattern before the digital age.
The funnel moved prospective buyers from awareness-interest-to desire, and finally to action.

Mass marketing – advertise in local papers.

Interest – Sales Offers in Store.

Desire – Customer Considers a Purchase.

Action – Customer Buys Products.

Example B:

Now it’s 2020, and I need to buy another gift for my golf enthusiast father.

I open my smartphone and search ‘golf gifts for dads.’ I’m presented with 1000’s of options. I browse the first few websites, and then I see a golf store Golfwithus.com with 50% off golf putters. That seems like a good deal, so I click Buy and leave them in the Cart while I go check out the product.

I open a second browser window, search the golf club’s brand, and read the online reviews. I check the brand’s Facebook page, see lots of good reviews, and link it to a special offer in another online golf store. I also copy and share one of the funny videos on the Facebook page with my friends. I canceled the original golfwithus.com order.

I open the link from Facebook to a second website and find it has 60% off the same golf putter and free next day delivery. I quickly buy the putter for my Dad in the online store.

What I did not do was leave the comfort of my house to browse at the local golf store. I didn’t see the company website or any social media presence. That local store also had 50% off the same golf club.

What’s Changed in Digital Marketing Funnels?

Prospects are walking themselves through the funnel, then walking in the door ready to buy. In both B2B and B2C businesses, customers are doing their own research online.

Everyone has the internet in their pocket.

In 2019 1.37 Billion smartphones were sold worldwide.

A 2016 USA study showed that 88.5% of the population used the internet.

The speed of internet connections has increased year on year since fiber broadband arrived. The world is connected by 3G, 4G, and now 5G. This speed eliminates wait times for a website to load; it also allows you to open as many websites or social media platforms as you want.

Caroline Donahue, CMO at Intuit, oversees numerous web-based products. Donahue says the funnel changes because “with cross-sell and up-sell, you move from awareness to action instantaneously.”

The Bounce Rate

A ‘bounce’ happens when someone visits your website and leaves without interacting further with your site. This is tied into Google’s analytics of your website.

It is very important to keep the bounce rate low. How you keep people interested in your site long enough for them to purchase is the key to a successful digital market funnel.

Your website needs to be fool-proof for sales. It needs to look and feel contemporary. Your marketing team should be making constant small adjustments to keep it up to date and user friendly.

The days of expecting clients to navigate a complicated sales website are over.

Voice Technology

Sales through voice-activated software (Alexa / Siri / Hey Google) are likely to be + 20% in 2020 and growing year on year.

This will require monitoring as voice-activated software requires additional information. Adding words such as ‘near me’ is something that businesses will have to address.

Google can handle two keywords, but voice-activated searches will ‘listen’ to a full sentence.

Do Likes and Followers Equal Sales?

One of the most challenging aspects of digital marketing sales is finding the balance between content marketing costs and sales revenue.

Luxury brands will often have millions of followers, but not millions of customers. However, without that brand awareness, they will fall out of fashion with those who can afford the products.

A good example of a successful digital marketing strategy is the Oreo cookies brand. Oreos have over 40million online followers—more than fashion behemoth H&M.

Oreo grew in popularity as they produce daily video content, including how you can make a fun dessert or drink using Oreo cookies.

This requires a large marketing team, but it also translates into worldwide sales of an affordable product. In New York or Tokyo, you can buy a pack of Oreo Cookies.

In 2019 the Oreo brand reached $3.1 Billion in net sales globally.
Its standard cookie sells twice as much as the nearest competitor in the USA.

This success is down to an aggressive marketing strategy online. Understanding who their consumer is and what life stage they are at.

Content is King in 2020

You need to speculate to accumulate and grow your output.

Spread across multiple social media sites and produce regular content.

Keep them interested, understand what your target audience likes; sport, art or cooking, etc.

Reacting to trends is vital. What’s everybody talking about on social media?

B2B email sales need to be 1:1 and personal. No more generic mass marketing.

Is it Circular or Funnel Shaped?

While the marketing world tries to keep ahead of the game, new maps of marketing techniques are cropping up. The fast-paced changes are creating difficulty for companies.

The circular ‘Customer Decision Journey’ is the connection between purchase and advocacy. Where the CDJ fails for some experts, is that advocates do not equal sales.

You may have a lot of advocates for your company online, but it’s not guaranteed revenue streams.

In 2020, round, funnel, or spiral, one truth that’s universal and cannot be ignored is that it’s no longer a linear market funnel, it’s ever-changing and evolving.

Engaging potential buyers to garner interest in your sales website long enough for them to purchase is the key to a successful digital market funnel.

If you enter a website and search for an item, and it’s not visible in a few clicks, you will leave and move on to the next site in approximately 2 minutes.

Imagine a Sales Rep. trying to sell a product to a new client in 2 minutes.
This is why a strong marketing team is essential to a successful business

Do you think the Digital Marketing Funnel is the best option for marketing teams?

Let us know and Comment Below :

Up Next;

• SALES IS NEVER GOING BACK
• 8 TIPS TO AVOID SALES SLUMPS
• COLD MESSAGING: HOW TO EMAIL SOMEONE YOU DON’T KNOW

In the age of data, it is easily forgotten that those revenue streams are all related to, and dependent on, a person – your employee. A motivational leader understands the human behind the job title; they appreciate that each team member needs an environment of trust and mutual respect to effectively carry out their work.

RELATED: 7 STEPS TO GAIN RESPECT FROM YOUR SALES TEAM

In this Article:

1. Encouragement
2. Open Communication
3. Lead & They Will Follow

How Can A Leader Develop Motivational Skills?

Encouragement motivational leader

A motivational leader cannot solely be a criticizing presence; instead, they will understand that encouragement is equally essential for team morale. When you offer praise, you are telling your team that you appreciate and acknowledge their efforts. A little praise can go a long way to motivate your team to face the next hurdle.

If your team has been asked to push themselves to reach a new goal or target, fatigue can set in and lead to indifference towards the task. A team that is only ‘going through the motions’ is a team that needs encouragement.

As a sales leader, you need to boost morale and take time in meetings to praise previous efforts. The urge to always look forward to the next goal, can mean that the praise for previous successes is forgotten. You need to reward your team for all their efforts. A team bonus or OTE is the ‘official’ thank you from the company, however, a pat on the back from a manager is equally motivating.

As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.
—Bill Gates

“Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.” – Sheryl Sandberg (COO, Facebook)

The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor but without folly. —Jim Rohn (Entrepreneur & Motivational Speaker)

Open Communication

Clear communication is how we make ourselves understood. As children, before we speak we point, and we use eye contact. We strive to communicate from childhood.

Turning a spotlight on your communication style can help you understand the dynamics required to lead by listening. Round table discussions will encourage two-way open dialogues that prevent future confusion on tasks and goals.

You learn as much by actively listening as you do by speaking. Motivational leaders create a culture where asking questions and seeking support is encouraged. This is not a leadership flaw, but a strength that allows a team to enjoy a relationship of mutual respect between them and their leaders. If an individual on your sales team is struggling, by actively listening to them and working on the issues as a team of two, you will get to the root of the problem and have a good opportunity to resolve and learn from the experience.

Karen Martin, a respected executive business coach, says the chances of achieving success without complete clarity are slim. Martin wants you to ask ‘WHY,’ not ‘what’ your business is.

In her acclaimed book, Clarity First: How Smart Leaders and Organizations Achieve Outstanding Performance, Karen Martin discusses the following topics:

• Provide greater transparency about true versus assumed performance.
• Build strong problem-solving and critical thinking capabilities throughout the organization.
• Develop personal clarity to be a more direct, purposeful, and successful leader.
• Eliminating ambiguity is the first step for leaders and organizations to achieve strategic goals.

Karen Martin champions the idea of understanding that your business is only as strong as your employees. By not allowing the standard practice of a “tolerance for ambiguity”, a company can focus on the purpose of the business.
Most Sales teams have experienced the ‘meeting that could have been an email’. Your team does not need to be bamboozled by KPI metrics at every sales meeting. Like your clients and customers, the relevant information is all that is required. Overwhelming your sales team with data will lead to ambiguity. They will miss out on the message you are trying to communicate.

Martin has encountered in her work the number of employees of a company who do not know ‘why’ the business is operating, they only know ‘what’ it is. The core message is drowned out by ambiguity.

Lead & They Will Follow

‘Do what I say and not what I do’ is the wrong example to set as a leader. Your team should look up to you as an effective leader and role model. If they see you putting your all into your work, they will follow by example.

A managerial position can pull you in many directions. You won’t always hit the mark, failure is a part of business. If you are willing to own up to your own failings in a crisis, this will encourage your team to do the same. Fostering a climate of honesty in your sales team helps everyone grow together.

Delegation can be difficult however, the urge to control everything is not feasible. If you are a motivational leader, you understand your individual teams’ strengths and have established an environment of mutual respect. Dividing up tasks is a good way to tell your team that you trust their ability to succeed. Taking on the more difficult tasks yourself is a good way to display leadership.

Earn your leadership every day. –Michael Jordan (NBA Allstar)

It’s okay to admit what you don’t know. It’s okay to ask for help. And it’s more than okay to listen to the people you lead – in fact, it’s essential.” – Mary Barra (CEO, General Motors)

“A good leader takes a little more than his share of the blame, a little less than his share of the credit.” —Arnold H. Glasow (Renowned Businessman)

Motivational leadership is democratic, not autocratic; expecting only obedience will create a negative working environment. Look after your sales team, and they, in turn, will look after your business.
.

What’s your view on motivational leaders? Have they helped you in the past?
Let us Know in the Comment Section below

Up Next :

• WHY SOME SALES MANAGERS FAIL
• A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A SALES DEVELOPMENT REPRESENTATIVE (SDR)
• THE BEST WORDS THAT SELL EVERY SALES TEAM SHOULD KNOW

In this webinar, Justin Michael, RVP Sales at YOUAPPI and XANT CEO David Boyce provide tips for managers and reps to keep momentum during the coronavirus pandemic but focusing on three key principles. keep momentum COVID

RELATED: How To Lead From Home

In this article:

1. 1. 1. Meet the Speakers
      2. The Current Situation
      3. Hire for Agility in Industry Shifts
      4. How to Build the Digital Relationship
         
      5. Key Points
      6. Further Information and Support

Ideas for Remote Sales Managers and Reps

Meet the Speakers keep momentum COVID

Justin Michael scales tech companies and is a lifetime revenue leader. You may know Justin from his LinkedIn videos, or from sending 1 million emails to different startup businesses!
“YouAppi is a leading performance-based mobile app marketing and retargeting platform for premium app publishers and brands. From user acquisition to retention via app retargeting and re-engagement, the company delivers a comprehensive range of mobile marketing solutions to grow your business at every stage of the funnel.”  keep momentum coronavirus

The Current Situation keep momentum COVID

As we work from home, we are trying to figure out the new reality.

Part of that has been to work out how to make a professional life that is being conflated with our home life. How should you deal with this new reality in terms of sales?

The shift has been major; salespeople are sheltered in place, working hard to carry on as usual, but now people are wondering why they hadn’t ramped up their remote working practices before this crisis.

Some parts of the economy are still growing, and it’s an excellent opportunity to be more responsible and drive new revenue.

Call connects are high in some industries, but contacts are much more distracted. What is essential is to be more careful about what you do at that moment. A good tactic is not to try and close meetings but to dialogue sequences, and spark interaction.

RELATED: How To Manage A Sales Team While You Work From Home

Focus on Three Principles – Humanize, Personalize, Empathize

Interestingly, and paradoxically, because we’re all forced into this separation mode, we actually have to be more human because we can’t meet face to face right now.

And so, think about humanizing your messaging, like you would if you met someone face to face. What would you do in the real world and translate that to the virtual world?

Look at your prospect’s profile, and consider mentioning links or pick out something pertinent to them to be ahead of the game.

Be empathetic by tailoring how you connect with others. For example, the travel industry is severely impacted, so pull back and retarget different businesses.

To start off interactions, ask people how they are or how they’ve been impacted.

We have shifted from very clinical connections to more personalized ones. Although it takes longer, it’s more personalized and sincere. The intent of the communication is important, and you need to be genuine with how you humanize, personalize, and empathize to build connections.

A proper technique could be to share your own story, how events are impacting you, and then dovetailing that into questions about the prospect.

RELATED: 14 Helpful Tips For Working From Home While Social Distancing

How to Build the Digital Relationship

Your first-degree network is way bigger than you think, but it can be challenging to see. Use a sales navigator and search worldwide to mine your first-degree connections.
Talk a little bit about our communities and be natural. Just think about running into a person at the grocery store or a networking event. Think about what you would do and then do this over a channel—for example, email, phone, text, WhatsApp, Messenger.
You could go as far as calling your clients and ask them how they are and ask if you can do anything to make things easier, like a health check. Make sure this is nothing to do with closing business (unless the client leads that conversation).
Use open questions or illumination questions to get your clients to open up and talk. Don’t be too personal or overstep either. Keep your question sensible and have finesse – don’t over ask, just open the conversation, and let clients share their thoughts if they want to.
Use video platforms to get your face seen as much as possible in a more human way.
Understand Your Client’s Needs – Make deposits, not withdrawals right now. I.e., build the relationship and knowledge base to make withdrawals later. keep momentum COVID
Utilize Your Network – Utilize your robust LinkedIn network and using the three principles. Try LinkedIn voicemail drops to all your first degree connections that are relevant. You can record LinkedIn videos, or you could use third-party platforms to do this.
Get New Content – Ask your marketing teams for content to engage clients, even if you write it. For example, this could be blogs or YouTube content, news, diagrams, visual illustrations, graphs regarding COVID-19 effects. Start organic dialogues where the zoom naturally occurs at the back of these.
There’s an urgency to drive business right now because things are very volatile. But if you can be disciplined enough to give something away, to go for the dialogue, not the meeting, then your clients will become curious and interested.

Key Points keep momentum COVID

• • Conversations are still happening, but it is more relevant now to have empathy, to be personalized, and to be human. 
  • Rethink your sequences, target better, and be more empathetic in the way that you create those messages. 
  • If you’re doing something manually, which is well personalized, you can automate it, and it can be just as effective if you do it right.
  • Look for prospects on different platforms, Omni channels, and reach out in novel ways.
  • Lean a little bit more into personal phone calls, a little bit more into one on one interactions and make sure that you’re human first.
  • Make your deposits not withdrawals during this time when everyone is worrying. 
  • So, we do not have to step back from having conversations with customers. We just must have personalization. Humanization and empathy as we do it.
  • Sales leaders don’t necessarily need to change KPIs or performance reviews, just rethink them. Wins can include having warm dialogues with the right customers and Q3 planning.

Further Information and Support

In these challenging times, Justin Michael is giving away a free digital copy of his book “TQ-Technology Quotient: How to Achieve Superhuman Sales Engagement Skills.” Just inbox him via LinkedIn.

XANT is offering Playbook software for free during the pandemic crisis to help people while they figure out how to work better remotely; head to XANT Cares. 

You can also head to our website to find out further advice on how to work from home better.

How do you humanize, personalize, and empathize? What successes have you had? Please share your ideas below.

Up Next:

• • How To Comp Sales Teams In A Crisis
  • 15 Sales Management Software and CRMs Used By Sales Teams
  • 7 Ways To Increase Operational Efficiency

When a macro event like COVID-19, or a significant economic downturn occurs, we have to adjust to a new reality.

Part of that reality in sales is compensation – it’s the clearest signal we can possibly give to  our teams to indicate what the company believes is important and what we want them to do. If the macro environment changes so that the comp plan no longer reflects our priorities, or becomes unattainable due to circumstances beyond our control, we need to adjust it.

That’s where many of us are right now.

There are many unknowns about how this will play out – so try to adjust the plan in fairly small increments – months or a quarter …. If you try to re-cast the whole year, there’s a strong likelihood you are going to have to do it again as more information becomes known.

Here’s a framework I’ve used before to try and organise compensation under pressure:

1. Start with your data – honestly – and I mean honestly – assess where you are right now.
2. Then assess the impact of the crisis on your particular business, by region, by industry, by segment.
3. List what you can do to mitigate the impact – what do you stop doing? What do you double down on? What do you start doing?
4. Identify the business gaps after the impact of your mitigation tactics.
5. Focus comp adjustments on closing those gaps.

For example, it may lead you to a framework that looks like this:

1. Data shows that I need 3x pipe on new business (NB), and 1.5x pipe on add-on business. NB closes in 180 days; add-on closes in 90. I am entering the crisis with total pipeline coverage of about 75% of what I would need in normal circumstances. My gap is 25% in normal times.
2. Assessment in my business is that the crisis will delay new business by approximately 90 days, but will have a lesser effect on my add-on business in the business segments which can or will survive. The majority of my business is in USA and Europe; our strongest segments have been in transportation and leisure, but we have seeded business in new segments like hi-tech and security which we were intending on expanding into.
3. Mitigation could look like this:
   1. Stop short term demand generation for net new business in transportation and leisure
   2. Double down on short term demand generation for hi-tech and security – it may end up taking a longer deal cycle to close, but will be important in 6-9 months time
   3. Double down on contacting and listening to all your customers – you want to keep the ones you already have in troubled industries, and look for expansion in those industries less affected.
   4. Build specific package offerings to bridge customers through this period – this may include 12 for the price of 10 month contracts; or contract suspensions; or payment terms you’d normally prefer not to take – whatever these are, don’t fall for the ‘we’ll do this ad hoc as needed’ – put some framework in place so, that in trying to be flexible, you don’t actually put extra sand in the gears.
4. The business impact even after mitigation may be harsh: pipeline coverage will likely fall to 50% of what is needed to hit near term numbers due to a combination of longer deal cycles and fewer deals in pipe likely to close.
5. You make a comp adjustment to drive the behaviour you need, which could include:
   1. Next quarter targets reduced by 50%
   2. Spiffs on target industry deals
   3. Spiff on pipeline creation (I normally hate paying on pipe, but there are ways you can accommodate this … say by increasing commission on deals created in this quarter which close in the year…)
   4. MBO’s around retention/renewal – in a crisis, your existing customers are inevitably the ones who keep you in business

The most important thing is to recognise that a comp adjustment is needed – burying your head in the sand while your troops wonder how you got so out of touch is not the way to go. Value speed over internal shenanigans which involve folks who are not at the pointy end of revenue trying to boil the ocean, and create fully scoped risk free plans – they don’t exist in a crisis! Only bite-sized increments of forward momentum, which you can build on, to retain the spirit and camaraderie which is so critical in any successful sales team.

Author
Lindsey Armstrong
Board of Directors | XANT

RELATED: 14 Helpful Tips For Working From Home While Social Distancing

7 Tips on How to Manage A Sales Team Remotely

In this article:

1. Promote Open Communication
2. Invest in the Right Technology
3. Prepare Mobile Solutions
4. Reinforce Best Practices
5. Provide Frequent Feedback
6. Prioritize Organization
7. Motivate Your Team

Promote Open Communication

Consistent and open communication is a must when you’re managing a sales team remotely. To do this, you need to know how to maximize your online and offline communication channels. 

It’s more efficient to streamline communication channels. Still, it’s always best to consult your team before you make any hard and fast decisions. Ask them which applications, platforms, and offline communication modes work best for them.

At the same time, share your own preference with your team. Don’t forget to inform them about the best way to get in touch with you. 

Working from home may have its advantages, but there’s a great risk for communication gaps. So in this context, it’s better to over-communicate.

Tip: Remind your team that you’re there to support them. Encourage them to ask and clarify if they have any questions

Invest in the Right Technology

Make it easier for you and your team by investing in the right technology. There are IT sales team management tools that can automate administrative tasks and keep everyone on the same page. 

When you invest in technology like this, it can help improve your team’s operational efficiency. On top of that, it also helps improve visibility. 

If you choose the right IT solution and artificial intelligence, you can get real-time data and metrics. This can help you give your team timely feedback and course-correct your sales strategies.

Prepare Mobile Solutions

Working from home is sometimes a misnomer because you may not always be at home. Sometimes, other pressing matters come up, and you need to be away from your computer at home. 

When this happens, you don’t have to compromise your connection with your team. These days, you can load up most smartphones with most of your business essentials. 

There are mobile IT solutions that can help keep you connected even when you’re on the go. That way, you don’t miss out on anything important.

Reinforce Best Practices

When your entire team is working from home, you need to make sure everyone’s on the same page when it comes to their sales strategies. Your organization may be tempted to do their own thing, especially if they’re used to closer supervision. 

So when you’re managing your sales team remotely, it’s important to remind them and reinforce best sales practices. Remind them of your sales strategy, focus on quality leads, and update their pipeline regularly.

RELATED: 11 Sales Team Management Tips For Success

Provide Frequent Feedback

Even in a regular office setting, good managers give their team regular feedback. When you’re managing your team remotely, regular feedback is even more critical. 

In any scenario, feedback is most effective when it’s metrics-driven and given on time. This is where your IT solutions really come in handy. When you have the proper analytics at your fingertips, you can equip your team with the information they need to become more efficient and productive salespeople.

On top of that, there are also IT solutions that will allow you to listen in on your team’s sales calls even if you’re in two different places. With the help of messaging apps, you can do real-time coaching to help them land the sale. 

It’s also equally important to foster a sense of trust between you and your team. They’ll respond more positively to feedback if they know that your goal is to help them. That’s why it’s also essential to provide positive feedback. 

Being appreciative of their strengths is just as important as identifying their weaknesses. It’s also best practice to have one-on-one feedbacking sessions on top of a general feedbacking meeting with the entire team. 

During one-on-one sessions, you can give specific feedback to each of your team members. In these sessions, you can help them identify opportunities for growth and guide their next steps. 

On the other hand, feedbacking sessions with the entire team is a chance to share any lessons you might have picked up from your top performers. It’s also an opportunity to troubleshoot pressing issues.

All of these feedbacking sessions can be done remotely if you choose the proper online platform. Various video conferencing applications can easily help with this.

Prioritize Organization

Regardless of the work environment, a team manager has to juggle the needs of their team and the goals of their company. This can be trickier when you’re managing your team from afar, so it’s essential to be organized. 

The manager needs to maintain a sense of consistency and make sure everything is in check and on track. If the rest of your team is working from home as well, you need to be flexible and set realistic expectations. 

It’s always best to have a concrete plan but be ready to adjust operational strategies along the way. For example, if the situation calls for it, you may have to be more flexible with your team’s work schedule. 

IT solutions can help keep your team focused on their daily goals and tasks, even if you’re not working at the same time. These tech-based solutions can also help you avoid micromanagement.

What is micromanagement? It’s a management style where there are close monitoring and high control over subordinates. Studies show that micromanagement leads to lower productivity and higher staff turnover. It’s always best to foster a culture of mutual trust between you and your team.

Motivate Your Team

It’s important to keep your team motivated, especially if they’re working remotely. It’s easy for employees to feel isolated and unmotivated, especially if they’re used to the hustle and bustle of an office. 

It’s the manager’s job to ease this transition and help the team keep their eyes on the prize. But how do you go about motivating a remote sales team?

There are extrinsic and intrinsic ways to motivate your team. Promotions and bonuses are effective extrinsic motivators, but your management style can impact your team’s intrinsic motivation. 

As you coach and manage your team remotely, try to do it with empathy. As a manager, it helps if you can see things from someone else’s perspective.

When you understand where your team is coming from, you can help sort out issues more effectively. Practicing empathy also helps foster a more harmonious work environment, especially in a diverse work setting. Remember, studies show that employees with low morale are less competitive and productive. So it’s important to consider their well-being and make sure they’re motivated.

You may encounter unique circumstances, like a global pandemic, that’ll force everyone to work from home for some time. When this happens, there are things you can do to keep your team productive and engaged. It may require some adjustments, but the right IT solutions can help ease the transition and maximize your resources.

What challenges do you encounter when you manage your sales team from home? Share them with us in the comments section below.

Up Next: 

• Do You Know What Your Sales Team Is Doing With Inbound Leads?
• How To Hack Your Team’s Sales Motivation (Or How To Motivate Your Sales Team)
• How To Master Pre-Call Planning With Jeff Boyle At Cision (PODCAST)

Sales operations is a known but underutilized function for many organizations. Here, we discuss how to effectively utilize sales operations by using big data, understanding customer value, and collaborating with other parts of the organization.

RELATED: The Definition of Sales Operations and How it Relates to Revenue

In this article:

1. Defining Sales Operations
2. Leveraging Big Data to Increase Revenue
3. Optimizing the Sales Process
4. Why It’s Essential to Have a Good Communication Strategy
5. How Sales Automation Can Help
6. Usual Reports People Look For

Sales Operations: How to Effectively Utilize to Achieve Company Goals

Sri Chakravarty is the Vice President of Strategic Sales Operations in Ashley Furniture, a furniture store chain based in Tampa, Florida. He specializes in developing systems and processes that increase profitability and efficiency in all their stores.

Outside of work, he’s an amateur baker and especially loves to bake bread.

Defining Sales Operations

What is Sales Operations? Sales operations is a multi-purpose business function, but at its core, it works with sales to increase profit, liaises with sales and operations to make sure they’re in alignment, and helps management ensure strategies are implemented.

Sales operations is a relatively new function. Unlike other functions like finance, sales, and marketing, its primary responsibilities aren’t very well-defined.

For this reason, companies take advantage of this flexibility and assign tasks to the sales operations team based on current needs. You can ask 16 different sales operations managers what they do in their role and get 16 different job descriptions in return.

That said, each organization is free to define its own interpretation of the role.

Leveraging Big Data to Increase Revenue

What is Big Data? This refers to the extremely large sets of data used for analysis to reveal trends, patterns, and associations. This data are interpreted within the context of human behavior and interactions.

Helping the sales team is a good first place where sales operations can help.

The presence of big data and analytics tools are a gold mine for sales teams, but it shouldn’t be their sole responsibility to get new customers and grow sales. They usually don’t have enough bandwidth to locate where the opportunities are within massive data sets and where they should focus their attention to.

For example, the demographic trend over the last few years is for people to move from the northern parts of the United States like Chicago, Philadelphia or New York, to the southern areas like Tampa, Atlanta, or Dallas.

This greatly affects how sales teams can target certain populations. As they focus more on getting customers on the ground, they neither have the time nor the skill set to focus on the big picture.

Once sales operations assess the metrics they have amassed and identify leads the organization should be targeting, the sales reps on the ground can then focus on building relationships with those desired prospects and eventually close deals.

Optimizing the Sales Process

Another opportunity for sales operations is on sales and operations planning, particularly the process optimization of various customer-centric sales processes.

When thinking about process improvement, consider all the touch-points within the organization. This encompasses the moment the salesperson gets an order from the customer to the point the product gets shipped.

Some of these touch-points include:

• Finance
• Demand planning
• Invoicing
• Shipping
• Customer service

The role of sales operations is to make sure everyone’s performing on cue, and the entire process is in sync. It ensures the proper implementation of all processes and nothing goes unaccounted.

The main question to answer is: What gets lost in transit? What slips through the cracks?

RELATED: Building a Global Sales Operations Team w/Gideon Fourie @First Data

Why It’s Essential to Have a Good Communication Strategy

For example, a salesperson places in a large order from a customer. Along the way, the credit department refused to approve the order because the customer maxed out his/her credit limit.

On the one hand, the salesperson is happy that they did a job well done. However, the customer is now angry because his/her order wasn’t approved.

Because of this, customer service is having issues due to the constant calls from the customer.

Sales operations is in the perfect position to keep these issues in check because they have the bird’s eye view of the entire process.

In this example, they can ask the salesperson to stop getting the order until they can ensure that the customer has enough credit to pay for that lot.

While systems can address some of the issues, you still need the right communication strategy for inter-team team hand-offs. This ensures the process remains smooth and well-oiled in a world where business functions can come from a different state or even a different country.

Each touch-point has its own specific lead times, which can lead to delays. Each point of delay stretches out the process until the order eventually gets lost in transit.

How Sales Automation Can Help

One of the pitfalls of having a lot of data is people err on the side of reporting too much. If there’s email fatigue, there’s also reporting fatigue.

Having reports for everything generates too much noise. This means nobody reads the reports anymore and because of that, you lose important information.

As Steve Jobs once said, what you keep in is more important and you have to figure out what you let go. It’s the “less is more” philosophy.

Sales operations should own reporting not because they should keep an eye on everyone but to make all functions accountable.

Reports aren’t just accountability metrics. Sales operations also lays the foundation and ensures they report the right things to their stakeholders.

How then can sales operations work with sales to make this happen? The rule of thumb is for sales operations to give sales employees the information when they want it.

This is where sales automation comes into play. Having a CRM in place enables the salesperson to have the right data when they need it.

Usual Reports People Look For

Some reports people look for are the sales growth for that day compared to the sales growth on the same day last year. Others include the sales compensation structure and what the sales funnel looks like.

On the other hand, people tend to miss looking into sales performance based on the number of units. Demand planning and sales forecasting need these numbers, so they could prepare the supply chain to meet the forecasted demand.

Those are just some of the opportunities where sales operations can leverage for revenue growth and sustained profitability. I hope this has answered some of your questions and made this concept clearer.

What is sales operations for you? How do you define success for a sales operations manager? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Up Next: 

• 7 Advantages Of Using CRM Software
• 9 Best CRMs For Small Business
• The Cycle Of Customer Loyalty: 8 Tips To Live By

RELATED: How To Align Sales And Marketing

In this article:

1. The Usual Scenario in Most Companies — A Disconnect Between Marketing and Sales
2. Harvard Business Review Study
3. How Widespread Is the Disconnect?
4. Tips on How to Align the Two Teams

Marketing and Sales | A Necessary Pairing

The Usual Scenario in Most Companies — A Disconnect Between Marketing and Sales

Despite many ideas to the contrary, marketing and sales go together like research and development.

You really can’t have one work effectively without the other. Yet each team tends to blame the other when things go wrong and sales slump.

The finger pointing and blame gaming only hurt the entire organization. Unfortunately, neither team understands the value or the symbiotic relationship they should have.

Harvard Business Review found the disconnect between the two organizational forces fascinating. Enough so that they devoted a study to try to identify “best practices” companies could employ to enhance the performance and contributions of both parties.

Harvard Business Review Study

Promoting cooperation between sales and marketing

The idea is that understanding what is similar and different between sales and marketing can help both perform their jobs more effectively, offering greater benefits to the entire organization.

Some of the findings the Harvard Business Review study discovered include:

• Points of contention between sales and marketing jobs and those who work within them fall into two primary categories—money and culture.
• Marketing means different things to different companies and can be found at different stages of the product life cycle.
• There are practical steps companies can make to improve the function of those in sales and marketing roles within the organization. These steps will develop a more productive relationship between the two.

Many businesses struggle to understand the primary difference between marketing and sales. This is necessary so the two groups can work together more effectively.

Unfortunately, most businesses attempt to keep the departments separate but equal, which doesn’t work. It becomes a case of the left hand not understanding what the right hand is doing, which works against the good of the company overall.

RELATED: Sales And Marketing Alignment Seen As Solution To Pipeline Problem, Shows Survey

How Widespread Is the Disconnect?

How widespread is the disconnect between the two groups? The 2018 Demand Generation Benchmark Survey Report indicates that 73% of marketers plan to focus on the quality of leads rather than the quantity of leads and 60% of organizations are seeking to develop better synergy and alignment between their sales and marketing branches.

In other words, it’s weighing heavily on organizations in all sectors and is a problem that needs to be solved. Here are some practical tips your business can employ to help bridge the gap between the two while getting better results from both.

What you need to do instead, according to Forbes, is have your sales and marketing professionals work together to develop an effective lead generation strategy for the good of the entire organization.

If you put it in terms of dollars and cents, you can explain that both sales and marketing salaries will rise when the groups work together. This includes working to develop tools and tactics for the greater good of the company.

The idea of more money provides motivation and incentive for the two to set aside their differences. This allows them to create more sales for the organization.

Tips on How to Align the Two Teams

Sales and marketing working together

• Define the roles of each within your organization. Be specific and create sales and marketing job descriptions that clearly outline what the role of each entails.
• Hire a sales and marketing manager to oversee both groups. This will help to limit the finger pointing and blaming games that often occur and provides a go-to person when either party has a complaint about the other.
• Set specific goals for each team that aligns with the role that group has within your organization. Hold your teams accountable for achieving their goals.
• Require weekly meetings between the two teams. This strengthens communication and facilitates teamwork between the two.
• Consider team building exercises that require the groups to work together to solve problems in a non-work environment.
• Create joint assignments that require the two teams to work together to accomplish specific goals.
• Rotate jobs. This means that people from each team migrate to the other for a view from the other side of the fence. It creates better empathy, builds relationships “across the aisle” so to speak, and fosters better relationships all around.
• Seek feedback from members of both teams. They are the best sources of ideas, information, and feedback about what is and is not working for your organization. Listen well and find actionable nuggets that can improve your organization.

Lead Generation Strategy Definition: A gameplan created for the goal of capturing the interest and attention of a lead.

Ultimately, the more effectively and efficiently these two teams work together, the stronger your organization will become. Getting both sales and marketing to understand that is the first step in closing the gap between the two teams.

Have you ever seen a disconnect between sales and marketing in a company? How has this affected the organization? Share your experiences with us in the comments section below. 

Up Next: 

• 5 Sales Acceleration Technologies That Drive Sales And Marketing Alignment
• Sales And Marketing Alignment Secrets From SunGard’s Christine Nurnberger
• Sales Metrics Smackdown: Are These 3 Inside Sales Metrics Overrated?

Over 30 speakers are announced at this exclusive event, with leaders sharing their stories on how they managed to build, scale and coach high performance sales teams and what is the role of technology and sales content in this process.

Some of the speakers for the summit include:

• Udi Ledergor, CEO and Co-founder of Gong.io
• Dominique Levin, Partner at Winning by Design
• Elay Cohen, CEO and Founder of SalesHood
• Eric Stoddard, leader for Sales Readiness for America at LinkedIn
• Taylor Dolbin, Sales Solutions Strategist at Lucidchart
• Tamara Schenk, Research Director at CSO Insights

…and many more!

The summit was created for driven sales professionals, as well as managers who are focused on supporting their sales teams.

Speakers will discuss topics such as optimizing lists and target accounts, process optimization for sales and marketing, understanding sales reports and metrics, building sales collateral and knowledge bases, as well as creating sales on-boarding programs.

Register for the Army of Sales Reps summit and gain access to all speaker sessions:

How to Choose a Payment Processor

If you make the wrong decision, this can spell disaster down the line not just for your customer relations, but also for your operating strategy. Luckily, picking the right payment processor for your business has never been easier.

When your staff understands the essentials of choosing an effective and efficient payment processor, you’ll find the right technology for your needs without having to break your budget.

In this article, we’ll delve into the top frugal strategies your team should understand when choosing a payment processor. You should:

1. Know the realities of your business model.
2. Decide between an aggregator or dedicated processor.
3. Consider the needs of your staff and customers.
4. Ask about payment security measures.
5. Think about the future of your business plan.

Ready to find the right payment processor for your business? Let’s jump into these effective strategies!

Bonus! Choosing the right payment processor goes hand-in-hand with picking the perfect point-of-sale system for your business. Check out the ways Lavu supports businesses like yours with their tailored POS options for growing companies.

1. Know the realities of your business model.

There is one big challenge when deciding what kind of payment processor they need. And that is an internal misunderstanding of how payment processing fits in with their business model.

Not all businesses have the same transactional needs, and not all companies face the same payment challenges.Before you make an investment in a payment processing system, you’ll need to review the realities of your business model.

Gather together a group of key members of your business and run through some exploratory questions. To get started, try some of these examples:

• What is your day-to-day transaction experience? Your payment processing needs will differ if your company conducts several transactions a day, or hundreds, or only a few a month. Depending on the scale of your business and the size of your customer base, your transactional habits will determine your payment processor needs.
• What are common payment difficulties faced by your customers? If you’re looking for a new payment processor, chances are you’re unhappy with the one you already have in place. This may be due to poor customer experiences with the system. Make a list of common issues your clientele face when interacting with your payment processor.
• How can your behind-the-scenes operations be elevated? Similarly, your current payment processor may not be supporting efficient operations at your business. Choose a solution that easily integrates with your other operational software and your preferred point-of-sale system.

Remember, your new payment processor should make transactions smoother, not throw a wrench in your sales strategy. Be sure to choose a solution that fits in with the realities of how you do business and supports the needs of your customers.

2. Decide between an aggregator or dedicated processor.

Another big conundrum is deciding between a payment aggregator or a dedicated payment processor.

You can ]ask your team some essential questions to determine what right for your needs:

• What kind of initial investment can your business make? Aggregators (like PayPal and Square) require a smaller investment than partnering with a dedicated payment processing system.
• What kind of payment processing features do you need? Dedicated payment processing systems often offer more configurations and more support services than aggregators.
• What kind of relationship do you want with your payment processor? Payment aggregators tend to serve hundreds (or thousands) of other businesses, while dedicated payment processors typically have a limited number of clients.

The bottom line? Payment aggregators generally work best for younger businesses with tighter budgets. Dedicated payment processors are a better fit for more established companies with room to grow.

3. Consider the needs of your staff and customers.

Your new payment processing system needs to work for the people who will be using it the most. And these will be your customers and staff members.

Include both of these groups in discussions as you make your shortlist of payment processors.

Conduct surveys of staff and customers to find out their wants, needs, and pain points when it comes to payment processing. Ask questions like:

• How much freedom do your customers want when making transactions? In this day and age, having only one kind of payment terminal is a huge misstep. Choose a solution that enables a variety of sales: on site, mobile, online, and more.
• How will your staff interact with this payment processing technology? Be sure that your next payment processor is intuitive to use for staff and has the features they need to be successful. The system should be easy to train new staff members on, too.
• Will there be security measures in place to protect customers’ data? The worst mistake your business can make when choosing a payment processor is picking a system that doesn’t put customer security first with practical anti-fraud measures.

Bonus! Looking to learn more about what features your payment processor should have in place? Check out this extensive guide to payment processing by Double the Donation for an in-depth dive into this tricky subject.

4. Ask about payment security measures.

The security of your payment processor should be a huge concern for your business. After all, it’s one of the top consumer concerns when individuals choose where to spend their money. It can play a big role in whether or not your company builds trustworthy relationships.

Take a look at some of these essential data security features your payment processor should have:

• PCI compliance. Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance refers to a set of payment standards determined in 2007 that are designed to protect consumers as well as businesses. Your payment processor needs to be PCI compliant or you risk facing fines.
• CVV2. Your payment processor should have CVV2 verification in place, meaning that they are able to verify the identity of a card holder by asking them to input the payment card’s CVV2 code found on the back of all credit and debit cards.
• EMV. Especially for businesses that have on-site point-of-sale terminals, adopting EMV chip reading technology is a must. With EMV, your customers can rest assured that their payment data can never be compromised by your business.

Above all, choose a payment processor with robust safety features in place that protect both your business and its customers. By finding the right balance in safety features, you set your business up for customer relationships that will stand the test of time.

5. Think about the future of your business plan.

Finally, one of the defining factors to consider when making your payment processor investment is the future of your business.

You’ll want to choose a solution that your current budget can support. At the same time, you need to consider the more advanced needs your company may have down the line.

This may mean picking a streamlined payment processing partner that is a comfortable investment at this point in your business plan. You can  also choose a solution that offers scaled price points and upgrade as you grow.

Whatever the case, think of these key questions when making your selection:

• How are you planning to grow your business? Your company may be in its early stages, but that doesn’t mean you won’t quickly grow over the next few years. Similarly, even for more established businesses, choosing a flexible solution can be a smart choice.
• Do you want to be prepared for future tech advancements? Payment processing is one of the fastest changing technology sectors out there, and your business should pick a partner that understands how advancements in payment and security processes will shape your company.
• How will your relationships with customers evolve? It’s possible your customer base will grow wider over the next few years, or that the needs of your customers will change. Find a payment processor with the features and services to address changing customer relationships.

No matter your business plan, there’s a best-fit payment processing solution out there to suit your needs. Be sure to choose a partner that places adaptability above all else so your team can be confident that the system is built to last.

If you want your business to grow, you’ll need to find a payment processor that can grow with it without hurting your bottom line. Now that you know these top strategies, you’re ready to pick the payment processor that’s right for your team!