How Can You Predict The Future Of Sales Ops?

One of the keys to sales success is to be able to predict the future – what that other person is thinking, what they might say, what they will experience, how they will feel about the product/service.

But what can you do – from a sales ops leadership perspective – to predict the future in masse of all the potential customers that will flow into and out of the sales process/funnel?

That is a really tough one, but it is doable.

Meeting Prospective Customers Where They Are

The key is to always meet the prospective customers where they are and with the experience they hope to find.

It’s a common theme now in these articles because it’s important AND widely disregarded – your potential customers do not care about you, your sales team, your company, your industry. They don’t care about your stats, your testimonials, your logos. They don’t care about your mission statement or your values.

They only care about themselves.

They also firmly believe that there is currently unlimited choice for any product/service, which means that everything in their mind is a commodity. Easily replaceable and interchangeable.

Nothing (other than iPhones…which you can only get from Apple) is special to consumers unless they feel like it should be special.

Are You Still Making It All About You?

There is a good chance you are still running a marketing, sales funnel that is all about you.

I bet if I looked at your company’s website that from the top down it’s all about you (the company). How great you are. What you do for people. What you have done for others.

I bet if I tried to speak with your sales team, I will be made to go through your process whether I like it or not. Maybe fill out a form and wait for a response. Or made to call into a toll free number, even though I don’t want to talk to someone yet. Or made to use a chat widget on a site to get started.

I bet when I speak with your sales team, 70-80% of the conversation will be about them, your company, and how amazing you all believe you are.

This is all fair. No one starts a company to be mediocre. The goal is to provide value and make money.

The missing piece, again like I said above, is no one cares about your goals. They only care about themselves.

Predicting What Customers Want From The Sales Experience

Back to your mission as sales ops leader – predict what massive amounts of prospective customers are going to want from the Sales Experience.

It’s why I wrote about it last week and even offered up a book for free to help in any way that I can.

To succeed at your mission, you have to stay ahead of the curve of what the public, and specifically – your buying demographic, psychographic, and valuegraphics, want from that experience. 

Key Questions To Shape The Sales Experience

Do they want to call, text, email or chat? Probably all of them…so can you offer each one? (Don’t make someone decide if they want to go through your hoops…remove all the hoops)

Do they need to see pricing online – should it be available and transparent? (In most cases, yes)

What sales process will be ideal for moving the most people through the sales conversation to a successful outcome? (More discovery, empathy, active listening. More front-loaded about them, not you. Use the Authentic Persuasion Pathway as your model)

Who are the decision makers? Is that individual going to decide or do they need to check with others for approval? (Set them up for success, and don’t force them to make a decision in the moment – you will just lose the potential sale)

What type of follow up do they want and need until they make the buying decision?

What type of post-purchase follow up would go above and beyond a) their expectations and b) what others in your industry do?

If there is an ‘onboarding’ stage after the sale – how can you make that actually customer centric and successful? (It is rarely both)

Can You Stay Ahead of the Curve?

Remember – evolution is natural. The buying public is always evolving their desired sales experience. Can you predict the future of what they want so that when they encounter your company it matches what they were hoping to find – both in the experience and the solution to their need?