It’s a great strategy for accomplishing more and different – in life and business.

What can you do More Of (that’s working, effective, valuable)? What can you do Less Of (that isn’t effective, necessary, etc.)?

When it comes to Sales Operations – I think this is an important exercise to make a route event during the year.

Why Now Is the Perfect Time

This time of year – as we head into the holiday season – is my favorite time to do this exercise.

Think of it as Spring Cleaning – except in winter (most companies can’t do it in Spring because they are busy!). If this time of year is a slower one, then let’s maximize what you can do with your sales operations.

MO: What Could You Do More Of?

Let’s start with the MO part – what could you do more of?

What processes are working well that you could expand?

What can be improved on to achieve even more results?

What technology do you have in place that isn’t being utilized fully?

[Guessing that the answer is ‘all’ – in my experience companies buy technology, which could run like a Ferrari but then they forget to put gas in the tank, and they definitely don’t understand what the big pedal on the right is for, and the car…the CRM…the marketing software…is going nowhere slowly.]

As you look at all the categories of systems and processes that fall under Sales/Revenue Operations – what could you do more of, want more of, or ‘more of’ would be provide scalably (yes – I just made that word up) better results…meaning – you put in 1 unit of input, and get 2 to 3 to 10 units out of it?

LO: What Could You Do Less Of?

Then, the flip side, is what can you do LO – less of?

You see…the biggest mistake that people and companies (because, not sure you realized it, companies are run by and with people…so whatever kinds of things humans do right/wrong…is magnified in a company full of people) make is that they try to do more, more, and even more with the same resources.

The universe might infinitely huge, but resources are limited.

Yes – there are only 24 hours in the day.

Yes – no matter how much you can get done, there is truly a limit to how much one person can do in a day (and yes…I know…some people can get a ton done in their 24 hours…but even that ‘ton’ has a max for one person).

So when someone decides they want to do ‘more’ of something, they have to figure out what they are doing to do ‘less’ of to offset it. When you say Yes to something, you are by definition and default saying No to something else.

Asking the Right Questions for LO

Time, energy, resources are limited.

So as a company, if you want do More Of anything, unless you are hiring more people, you have to do Less Of other thing(s).

For the LO part…here are some questions to start asking yourself and your team:

What should we be doing less of that isn’t getting any/enough results?

What technology do we have in place that has become outdated, ineffective, redundant (because you bought something new and there is overlap), or is unused?

What processes are outdated, ineffective, and/or not being used?

What tasks, reports, and manual stuff do you have people doing that they shouldn’t be? (By the way, it’s 2024…why are you still doing so much manual ‘stuff’?)

Time to Clean House

Overall…what can you take out of the closet that you haven’t used in a year, and donate to the proverbial thrift store? Or should you clear out a ton of stuff and do a yard sale?

What Spring Cleaning in winter can do you, right now when its generally a little slower? What can you clean up before the new year…to cut out some unneeded, unused things so you can start the year fresh, and ‘lighter’ from a sales ops perspective?

Conclusion: Strategize and Clean Up

Take this time, do some strategizing and clean up.

And remember, like I said above – if you want to do More Of somethings, you have to do Less Of other things. And that’s a good thing – because there is a good chance you are like most companies – where you could definitely do Less Of some non-valuable sales ops processes and trim some revenue tech fat.