Tag: sales process

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Degrees of Success: Improving Productivity and Performance through Process Automation

Degrees of Success: Improving Productivity and Performance through Process Automation

Few businesses use just one solution to get all their work done.  In most cases, the business must at least communicate, produce information and account for financial activities – and each of these functions has a software product or service associated with delivering the required capability.  While every business uses technology at some level, some businesses have more success than others in developing streamlined and efficient processes guiding the various tasks and activities performed throughout the day.  Sometimes the problem stems from a lack of understanding of the importance of process automation, and sometimes it’s the software.

integrated

The success (or lack thereof) in streamlining a business process is often enabled by the tools supporting it, yet the truth of software and systems is that not everything  is easily integrated and not all business workflows actually “flow” smoothly.  In many cases it is left to the human user to connect the processes and keep the work flowing, creating the opportunity for missed deadlines, duplicated or erroneous data, and a greater dependency on individual worker knowledge than is good for the business.

The better alternative may be the adoption of workflow and automation tools to assist with bridging and scheduling of repetitive tasks, building the knowledgebase of process and task flow supporting business sustainability efforts and easing the burdens of training new employees.  Process automation helps to improve productivity, it’s just that simple.

If the time is taken to really consider the variety and numbers of repetitive tasks employees perform throughout the day, the cost in time, lost productivity and data errors or omissions would likely add up to far more than initially expected.  People tend to adapt to using the tools they are provided, and will find ways to get things done (whether it’s the most effective way or not).   The end does not always justify the means, and many businesses ultimately find that it is here – where individual worker initiative and unguided action are most prevalent – that the operation fails to accomplish stated goals.

In order to create a sustainable operation with consistently high levels of production and performance, the business must establish a complete framework for process automation and support.  Where existing application and software functionality is not able to meet the requirement, the business should implement specialized tools to bridge the gap and embed the process knowledge in the system.

Scheduled reporting, customer and product data synchronization, import/export routines, data maintenance routines – these are among the tasks and processes which represent the regularly-performed work that may be sucking the user productivity and performance out of the business.  It’s a matter of degrees of success, and productivity improvements introduced through comprehensive process and task automation can make the difference between a little success and a lot.

Make Sense?

J

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4 Rules of Thumb for Business Success

4-rules-of-thumbThe business environment is becoming increasingly competitive, with global opinions influencing customers of even the smallest local businesses.  The best method of competing in a world where customer perception is reality – at least when it comes to the impact of social and other media – is to create a company that people simply want to do business with.

Here are a few things which every business can do in order to create the best possible environment for engaging new customers and providing quality service. Regardless of industry or business orientation, these 4 simple considerations will go a long way towards creating a sustainable, high quality operation which recognizes the value of a customer relationship – whether it’s an internal or external customer.

Teach everyone in the company that they’re part of sales and customer service.

Each and every member of the organization should be in a position to help customers get what they need, and to help guide the customer towards the various products, services or solutions the company offers.  This means that internal training is essential, and all employees should be fully informed in the offerings of the company.  Business owners will find that one of the best ways to reach and retain the best workers is to provide ongoing skills development and training programs.  The result is a more confident and productive workforce and workers who feel more satisfied with their jobs.  It’s also important to recognize that employees are another form of ‘customer’ of the company, and surveying them to understand how satisfied they are with the work is a really good idea.  When employees lack satisfaction in their jobs or with the company they work for, it will be revealed in their interactions with customers and other workers, which is not good for business.

Remember that first impressions count – a lot.

You only have one chance at the first impression, and it takes a lot more work to overcome a bad impression than it does to leave a good one in the first place.  This means that the company should promote a quality, clean and professional image.  When speaking to customers on the phone, speak clearly, professionally and politely.  Make sure that all workers arrive at their jobs in clean uniforms and in clean, branded trucks.  Customers should not only know who’s parked outside, but a good-looking branded vehicle is a mobile advertisement for the company and can deliver a lot of good impressions.  On the other hand, not maintaining or caring properly for vehicles and equipment can deliver the opposite type of impression you want to leave.

Do company business with the company voice.

Communication is essential in building a successful business, and it is important that the messages be what the company wants the customers and market to hear.  When communicating on company business, always use the company email address and contact information rather than personal email addresses or generic domains.  Just like with uniforms and trucks, communications from the company should be branded and professional so that the right type of impression is created.  The business website (which should support mobile devices!) is available to help communicate your values, brand and services, and should serve to present your business as someone a customer would want to do business with.  Posting case studies and testimonials can be very useful in this regard as they help to build credibility in your company and convey the trust others have in your services.  Apply social media and listing services, too, so that customers and prospects can find information on your company and read good things others have said.  It’s important, however, to remember that social media can go both ways.  While being a great way to reach new customers as well as reminding current customers of the other products and services you offer, it could also turn negative.  If there is negative feedback, be honest and reasonable, but address it quickly.

Work beyond corporate walls.

The business exists in a community, and workers in the company live in neighborhoods and have lives beyond the business they work for.  Community service is a way to develop a more cohesive and productive team while developing closer community relations and enhancing the image of the company and ownership. Volunteering and creating an environment where service to others is promoted helps build a team atmosphere in the company, and expresses the understanding that businesses will thrive when the communities around them thrive.  

Joanie Mann Bunny FeetMake Sense?

J

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Marketing and Sales Needs System and Process Automation

Marketing and Sales Needs System and Process Automation

Running a business means finding and keeping customers who will buy from you.  This isn’t necessarily easy, particularly with the number and variety of “impressions” people get throughout their day.  It used to be that simply locating a business in the right place would generate drive-by traffic, with location being the key to generating impressions and causing people to actually stop and shop.  Impressions – yes, those brief instances where your brand or service is viewed – count.

The entire lifecycle of the customer relationship starts with the first impression, so it needs to be a good one.   Marketing impressions expose your business and products to prospective customers, with efforts oriented towards the generation of sales leads.  A lead is a business or individual that may ultimately develop into a sales or business opportunity.  Rather than attempting to engage with businesses or individuals one at a time, businesses use marketing to target large groups in hopes of earning the permission to engage group members in more focused or individualized sales activities. When the business earns the ability to communicate directly with a prospective buyer, a sales lead is generated, and the business now has a prospective customer and the potential to make a sale.

Sales leads don’t stop becoming leads just because they purchase from you.  Every customer remains an ongoing opportunity to generate new business directly or indirectly via referrals or recommendations.  The best case scenario for your business is when you know when and why your customer buys from you, when the customer wants more, and that they will refer their friends or business associates to you.

Part of the problem with marketing and sales is that there are often too few people and/or resources to apply to the task.  Most businesses aren’t in the position of simply throwing money at a problem (which rarely actually solves the problem), so it becomes essential that you find a way to get the job done with the same or fewer people and resources.  The keys to solving this problem are systems and processes (automation).  Automation doesn’t always mean that there is an “automatic system” somewhere which performs all of the tasks for you.  In most cases, it simply means that the process is structured, efficient, and is able to be effectively repeated without significant deviation or loss.  Structured systems and processes, along with a strong commitment to capturing activity data and measuring results, is the foundation which will support growth.

Marketing Automation Explained (Infographic) | The automation of business function is set to be the new trend in 2014. There are already dozens of sales, marketing and finance automation options, and for good reason: The quantifiable returns they provide are undeniable. Here is a look at marketing automation and how it works. 

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/227923#ixzz2ghHq9Qpn

From the very first impression through the conclusion of the sale and ongoing, it is essential to capture the data which describes the activities and events around doing business with your customers.  It is important to track unsuccessful efforts as well as those which are successful.  By understanding what does not work, you develop valuable insight which helps refine the process and the approach, resulting in fewer wasted efforts. The accumulated data tells the story of how you earn new business and how you create a customer relationship, which helps you understand how and where you are successful in earning new business and why you are able to retain loyal customers.

Joanie Mann Bunny FeetMake Sense?

J

Read more about Enterprise Functionality for Small Business | Relating to Customer Data

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Understanding the Customer Journey: Know More and Assign Proper Credit

Understanding the Customer Journey: Know More and Assign Proper Credit

There is a fascinating video of a presentation by Neil Hoyne (self-designated “student of the customer journey”, and Global Program Manager at Google) where he discusses customer attribution and how businesses should more closely measure, analyze and understand customer behavior to understand why some people do or don’t click, buy, or come back for more.  While the conversation focuses on website performance and link tracking, the underlying message applies to all aspects of business relationship development.  In short, it doesn’t usually take just one thing to compel someone to do something.

Neil’s session “encouraged companies to identify more actionable performance metrics and build stronger industry relationships as the advertising market continues its rapid evolution away from last-click valuation.”  In concept, it means that there are many interactions that may occur before someone makes that decision to actually click or buy.   They likely received impressions from various sources (ads, word of mouth mentions, etc.), or performed searches or perused various discussion or information sources at some point before that final “click”.  So, why is that “last click” considered to be most valuable?

If you compare online sales and marketing to people-based sales and marketing activity, you’ll find that users will follow similar paths and interact in similar manners with both mediums.  This is due to the fact that, as Neil puts it, “every customer has a story”, and each is taking their own individual journey.   The path they follow is as individual as the person, but there are ways to identify trends based on how users interact with the business if the data can be appropriately captured and analyzed.

If we turn the conversation to customer management, similar truths are revealed.  For example, in many businesses sales success is attributed solely to the sales team, and compensation plans support the belief that the front line is the essential source for new revenue.  However, the truth may be that the sale was made based on a personal referral from a satisfied customer or perhaps due to a discussion where the service and support was said to be exceptional, or even because the login portal is a pleasant shade of green instead of a dull grey.  Not giving appropriate credit to all of the factors which impact the sale presents a risk to the business, because changes in the approach may result with unintended negative consequences.  Remove the element which supports or encourages the action and you may lose the action, which is more likely to occur if the business doesn’t really understand why it happens in the first place.

For example, a business may decide that a direct sale approach is better than giving up revenue to affiliates or resellers.  However, the business may very well find that it takes the involvement of that affiliate or reseller in order to get the sale.  Pouring more money and resources into the direct sales force won’t make up the difference if the target customer isn’t connecting, or if the company isn’t offering the additional service or value-add delivered by the partners.  Also, if the sales organization is focusing exclusively on new business, where is the attention to current customers?

Businesses are spending tremendous resources in time, money and personnel to try to find ways to reach new customers and markets, yet often fail to fully understand what it took to get the existing customers on board.  Even worse, many businesses resist analysis of EXISTING customer behavior, not taking the time to understand how that customer interacts with and uses services provided, and failing further in identifying and delivering additional value to keep the customer satisfied and coming back for more. Many businesses only address existing users from a support standpoint, yet fail to explore ways to improve retention or up-sell revenues through front line sales efforts.  Again, it is the failure to understand when and why people take action that causes investment and effort to be misplaced, and desired results to not be achieved.

The whole point of this is that the business should KNOW MORE about the various ways users interact with them, and GIVE CREDIT to all of the elements involved in the chain.  If every user has a story, then the business should closely listen to those stories to learn how to increase reach and service delivery to customers of a similar theme (what the customer needs now), and to keep listening and learning in order to understand what the customer needs next.

Make sense?

J

Link to Neil’s presentation here: http://googleaffiliatenetwork-blog.blogspot.com/2012/08/accelerate-deeper-look-at-attribution.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+GoogleAffiliateNetwork+%28Google+Affiliate+Network%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

Is great customer service the entire customer experience?

You know those car commercials on TV, where the sales person is telling the customer about how great the warranty on the vehicle is?  Yeah – the one where the customer wants to know if they should buy a good car, or buy a car with a good warranty.  Makes you think, doesn’t it?

Read more about using the cloud to extend your access and collaboration beyond traditional boundaries.