Sales Process Automation Efficiency Gain with reduced Support Cost

Challenge:    I am a member of my organization’s Sales Systems department and our challenge is to increase  existing Sales Process Automation efficiency gain and reduce cost per support activities. The  existing automation in place built accurately however there were lots of confusion around the  automation and needed many hours of support activities. Our challenge is to understand why  the existing automation was not meeting the required efficiency, how we can improve the  efficiency further and how we can reduce cost per support by working with all the key  stakeholders.    Selection:    Since this challenge centered around:

❏ Efficiency gain of existing automation in place  ❏ Cost optimization for support   ❏ Multiple key stakeholders were involved

so we decided to use “Mind Mapping tool” to understand the gaps, work towards how we can  solve this challenge and continuously improve. Mind mapping is identified as one of the efficient  tools to think and analyze ideas/process gaps etc. Mind mapping can be used to achieve the  following:

❏ Break down complex problems and idea into simpler and easy to follow patterns  ❏ Analyze and process information collected during the brainstorming process  ❏ Present information in a creative and easy to follow format

Application:    Our teams were virtually located so we all tried leveraging a social medial mind mapping tool  “​https://www.mindmeister.com​” which lets us come up with a mind map and share within the  team.     We followed the following Steps in the above tool:    Step­1: ​Identifying the key challenge we are trying to solve i.e. “Sales Process Automation  Efficiency increase and reduce cost per support.”   Step­2:​ Writing down the key process indicators related to the challenge and using a line to  connect the Key process indicators  with the main keyword. The different key process indicators  are:

❏ Build Sales Process Automation  ❏ Build Self Serve Tools  ❏ Simplify Sales Processes

❏ Knowledge Content Repository  ❏ Training

Step­3: ​Thinking through each of the topics and writing down the sub­topics to branch from the  main topics:

❏ Build Sales Process Automation

❏ Identify what Sales Processes can be further automated

❏ Build Self Serve Tools

❏ Identify what Sales activities can be self served  ❏ What different types of Self Serve tools are needed (like: web­based, desktop

based, mobile based etc)

❏ Simplify Sales Processes

❏ Identify Sales Processes that are more time consuming and complex  ❏ Identify what standards can be followed so processes can be unified and

simplified

❏ Knowledge Content Repository

❏ Documentation of Sales Process Steps  ❏ How to Articles

❏ Training

❏ Sales Process Automation Training  ❏ Awareness

Step­4​: Organizing these key process indicators together to have a proper connection between  each other and the main center point/challenge. The final Outcome appeared as follows:

Insight:    By leveraging “Mind Mapping tool” our team could achieve the following:

❏ Efficient meeting time and collaborative brainstorming which included feedback from

various stakeholders.

❏ Increase in productivity by collaborative and visual thinking.  ❏ Staying focused and not deviating from the key challenges

❏ Breaking things down to simpler parts

Our team was able to identify some of the key process indicators. However our team felt if it is  integrated with some other design thinking tools then it can bring the best results from the  identified Key process indicators. So, our team decided as next steps to leverage the “Learning  launch tool” so the outcome of the mind mapping tool can be built as recommendation engine  which can be tested quickly by a prototype and continuously iterated over and improved further.    Approach:    “Mind mapping tool” is identified as one of the efficient tools to think and analyze ideas/process  gaps etc. It can be used to achieve the following:

❏ Break down complex problems and idea into simpler and easy to follow patterns  ❏ Analyze and process information collected during the brainstorming process  ❏ Present information in a creative and easy to follow format

Sales Process Automation efficiency gain and reducing cost per support is a continuous  process, involves many different sales processes, complex problems and key stakeholders. So,  the approach of “Mind Mapping tool” is adopted for designing this for enabling collaborative  design thinking, continuous improvement, simplification with keeping cost in mind.    The “Mind mapping tool” in conjunction with “Learning Launch tool” can achieve bigger results  and optimal solution.


Sales Process Automation Efficiency Gain with reduced Support Cost Challenge : I am a member of my organization ’s Sales Systems department and our challenge is to increase existing Sales Process Automation efficiency gain and reduce cost per support activities . The existing automation in place built accurately however there were lots of confusion around the automation and needed many hours of support activities . Our challenge is to understand why the existing automation was not meeting the required efficiency , how we can improve the efficiency further and how we can reduce cost per support by working with all the key stakeholders . Selection : Since this challenge centered around : ❏ Efficiency gain of existing automation in place ❏ Cost optimization for support ❏ Multiple key stakeholders were involved so we decided to use “ Mind Mapping tool ” to understand the gaps , work towards how we can solve this challenge and continuously improve . Mind mapping is identified as one of the efficient tools to think and analyze ideas / process gaps etc . Mind mapping can be used to achieve the following : ❏ Break down complex problems and idea into simpler and easy to follow patterns ❏ Analyze and process information collected during the brainstorming process ❏ Present information in a creative and easy to follow format Application : Our teams were virtually located so we all tried leveraging a social medial mind mapping tool “ ​https://www.mindmeister.com​ ” which lets us come up with a mind map and share within the team . We followed the following Steps in the above tool : Step­1 : ​Identifying the key challenge we are trying to solve i.e. “ Sales Process Automation Efficiency increase and reduce cost per support . ” Step­2:​ Writing down the key process indicators related to the challenge and using a line to connect the Key process indicators with the main keyword . The different key process indicators are : ❏ Build Sales Process Automation ❏ Build Self Serve Tools ❏ Simplify Sales Processes ❏ Knowledge Content Repository ❏ Training Step­3 : ​Thinking through each of the topics and writing down the sub­topics to branch from the main topics : ❏ Build Sales Process Automation ❏ Identify what Sales Processes can be further automated ❏ Build Self Serve Tools ❏ Identify what Sales activities can be self served ❏ What different types of Self Serve tools are needed ( like : web­based , desktop based , mobile based etc ) ❏ Simplify Sales Processes ❏ Identify Sales Processes that are more time consuming and complex ❏ Identify what standards can be followed so processes can be unified and simplified ❏ Knowledge Content Repository ❏ Documentation of Sales Process Steps ❏ How to Articles ❏ Training ❏ Sales Process Automation Training ❏ Awareness Step­4​ : Organizing these key process indicators together to have a proper connection between each other and the main center point / challenge . The final Outcome appeared as follows : Insight : By leveraging “ Mind Mapping tool ” our team could achieve the following : ❏ Efficient meeting time and collaborative brainstorming which included feedback from various stakeholders . ❏ Increase in productivity by collaborative and visual thinking . ❏ Staying focused and not deviating from the key challenges ❏ Breaking things down to simpler parts Our team was able to identify some of the key process indicators . However our team felt if it is integrated with some other design thinking tools then it can bring the best results from the identified Key process indicators . So , our team decided as next steps to leverage the “ Learning launch tool ” so the outcome of the mind mapping tool can be built as recommendation engine which can be tested quickly by a prototype and continuously iterated over and improved further . Approach : “ Mind mapping tool ” is identified as one of the efficient tools to think and analyze ideas / process gaps etc . It can be used to achieve the following : ❏ Break down complex problems and idea into simpler and easy to follow patterns ❏ Analyze and process information collected during the brainstorming process ❏ Present information in a creative and easy to follow format Sales Process Automation efficiency gain and reducing cost per support is a continuous process , involves many different sales processes , complex problems and key stakeholders . So , the approach of “ Mind Mapping tool ” is adopted for designing this for enabling collaborative design thinking , continuous improvement , simplification with keeping cost in mind . The “ Mind mapping tool ” in conjunction with “ Learning Launch tool ” can achieve bigger results and optimal solution .