How Business Operations Can Increase Sales Growth & Support
John Rivas
Senior Business and Sales Operations Leader Focused on Driving Revenue, Streamlining Processes & Increasing Efficiency
How Business Operations Can Increase Sales Growth & Support
Organizations always tend to focus a lot on sales, marketing, and network when it comes to increasing the flow of deals and leads. But there is one important link that is often ignored, i.e., Business Operations. Many times organizations fail to understand that successful business operations are crucial for delivering quality leads at the desired time and reducing the conversion cycle time which in turn can help the organization achieve desired growth and scalability.
What is Business Operations?
According to the Harvard Business Review (2016), “An emphasis on efficient operations and a laser-focus on the bottom line can distract business leaders from growth opportunities. As a result, many companies are stuck in a low-growth equilibrium,” (p.4). This directly relates to how business operations management can benefit a company and help support its sales growth. Business operations management is the concept of how an organization structures its workforce, including leadership, employees, facilities, processes, and capital equipment that support sales and marketing efforts. A strong business operations concept can bring much more than just profitability; it can contribute to superior customer service, improved employee satisfaction, and higher brand value for your company. If you want to increase sales growth within your company or organization sometime soon then you need to make sure its business operations management plan is organized accordingly.
Why is Business Operations Management important?
The importance of business operations management is the ability to efficiently and effectively carry out business processes. Your organization's effectiveness and efficiency are crucial to maintaining your competitive advantage. That's why your operations management team needs to be able to reliably execute all of your business processes and systemically correct any deviations from those processes. When you have a reliable process in place, you can use data analytics for process improvement. You can also use data analytics to identify where new products or services can fill gaps in the market and improve customer satisfaction. Many companies fail to realize how important effective business operations management is until a disaster occurs because it's not an area that gets much attention unless things go wrong. A single incident can make or break your company's reputation—which could lead customers to choose another company over yours during their next purchase decision.
How Business Operations crucial to the Customer Journey
The business operations of a company is crucial to the customer journey. The quicker it can move through the sales funnel and meet the needs of customers, the more likely it is to experience growth.
In order for this to happen, companies must have an in-depth understanding of their current operations, how they’re supported and what changes need to be made to increase company growth.
Here are a few ways you can use your business operations to increase sales growth and support:
1. Take a Deep Dive Into Your Operations
To effectively grow your business, you need to understand where you currently stand and how your processes are working for you.
2. Create a Clear Business Plan
While your business plan may not focus on the behind-the-scenes work and processes, it’s important that it does include information about how your team works together, who is responsible for what tasks, etc.
3. Find Ways to Automate Some of Your Manual Processes
When it comes to supporting your customers, every day counts—so find ways to automate some of your manual processes.
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4. Embrace Customer Feedback (Both Good and Bad)
Feedback is a gift—it tells you how you can improve or strengthen something
The Impact of Data and Information Management
Data and information are two of the most valuable assets a business can possess. This is why it should come as no surprise that countless companies are now working to improve their management and use of this data through the deployment of advanced technology solutions. Everything from cloud computing to big data is revolutionizing how businesses manage and use data and information, thereby improving their overall efficiency and success.
The Value of Data
For today's businesses, there are few assets more valuable than the data they collect regarding their customers, products, sales, and business operations. This data can be used for everything from enhancing customer experiences to improving marketing strategies, which is why it is so important for companies to make sure they are managing this data effectively.
One way in which businesses can do this is by turning to business analytics software. Systems like these allow companies to gather all of their data in one place in order to analyze it in order to find trends or other insights into how they can further improve their operations. The more access a company has to clear, accurate and actionable data, the better it will be able to promote its growth and development. The use of these systems has also been shown to help improve operational efficiency by eliminating redundancies in business practices.
The ROI of Marketing, Sales, and Service Synergy
When businesses think of expanding their brand and increasing sales, the focus is often on the marketing and sales teams. However, business operations can be just as important to a business’s growth and success. Unlike other departments, operations do not have a direct role in selling services or products to customers. Instead, it is responsible for providing the support that helps other departments do what they need to do. For example, an operations team might be responsible for creating workflows, designing processes and procedures, supporting data analysis and reporting, or managing rep experience and productivity. With a focus on improving efficiency, streamlining processes, and making sure everything is running smoothly within the organization, operations can positively impact the ROI of both marketing and sales efforts by freeing up time for marketers to focus on creative campaigns and salespeople to spend more time selling.
Operations can also help improve customer satisfaction with service by addressing issues before reaching them. This helps strengthen customer relationships which can lead to increased referrals and repeat business in the future.
To support marketing efforts, operations can provide systems integration between marketing automation tools (such as HubSpot), CRMs (such as Salesforce), CMS tools (such as WordPress) etc., helping improve lead tracking from source through conversion. Operations can also assist with processes.
By using Business Operations for sales growth you can increase sales effectiveness and customer satisfaction.
It’s no secret that business operations can be complex, and they may not always seem to directly support sales growth. On the contrary, your business operations are the foundation upon which your company is built—and from which you can grow. By effectively implementing business operations for sales growth, you can increase sales effectiveness and customer satisfaction.
The first key to using business operations for sales growth is to be aware of what’s going on in your company and how it affects the customer experience. Are there repeated complaints about certain issues? Are certain managers struggling with a particular task? Pay attention to these things and think of how you can fix them.
The most important part of using business operations for sales growth is to understand how your operations affect customers. If your products are being delivered late, if billing takes too long, or if there’s an issue with returns, these problems will eventually reach customers and detract from their experience with your company. By identifying these issues and working to correct them, you can ensure that every customer has a positive experience that makes them more likely to recommend you—which means more potential leads in the future!