The Key to Scalable Workflow Solutions

To get a better picture of the scope of the issue, I created a small data gathering experiment wherein I asked all SDRs to track their time for 2 weeks. What came out of that was that they were spending mere minutes a week on Unsubscribes, but were hours over allotment on meetings. Now we had a starting place to really maximize efficiency in the way we managed our meetings, and a quantitative limit on how much of our resources should be allotted to removing simple administrative tasks.

Don’t Guess Calculations, Do Them

Consider two lead sources. One is virtually free and has a large percentage of non-useful leads, and one is $1/lead, but with a very high percentage in positive results. With a virtually free source, one might argue that it will always be worth it to use them. But that depends on your actual outreach scheme. We recently did some calculations to see if that was true for us, taking into account the hourly rate we paid for the outreach. What we found was that given the percent of leads that would be not useful, we actually spent more performing outreach on the portion of the leads that provided zero results, than the total cost of the batch at $1/lead. Free may be a great deal, but it isn’t always free. It pays to do a little math.

Observe the Need and Build to It

To be scalable, a solution must be directed to reality, both now and in the future. Small data is one way to learn your own reality, as is direct observation. Process solutions need user testing just as we might user test an app or software solution. Spend some time watching people do the process as-is, then observe the new process, and then get feedback and iterate.

We recently overhauled our client reporting methodology, as we realized that SDRs and Operations personnel were spending inordinate amounts of time duplicating work, and creating a report, that was not only often not used, but actively unhelpful. Beginning with usage observation, we re-crafted it from the ground up, and built in some innate flexibility to account for differences between clients.

Know the Drawbacks of Turnkey Solutions

The idea of plug-and-play or turn-key solutions may sound simple and inviting, but if they don’t speak to what an organization is actually doing, they may wind up with something overbuilt and under-used.

On a regular basis we analyze legacy client systems wherein they’re paying a fortune for technology they aren’t using a tenth of. Often, their misuse of the technology is actually confounding their efforts, obscuring the data, and something much simpler would be much more effective.

Make Openness to Improvement a Company-wide Initiative

I would further suggest that all areas of a company can be open to improvements in process and workflow. What causes wasted time in meetings? Does your incentive program really create incentive? What are the greatest challenges you have in project management? A solution specializing in document control might look very different from a cloud based calendaring system; and merely implementing a suite of licenses for MS Project might not address any of your largest needs. Interdependencies between departments require a holistic approach to doing root cause analysis and finding a solution that takes the entirety of the process into account.

In summary, implementing a workflow solution that isn’t scalable will be expensive now and later. However, using small data to inform all your decisions, and building directly to the needs of your organization and its growth, will help you expand efficiently. When openness to evaluation is always part of the process, then processes will be continuously moving toward intuitive usage and maximizing productivity.