While there will always be emergency issues to address in any company, it’s essential to pause and focus on the big picture. This means looking at your business operations and creating a strategy that sets your B2B organization up for success. Ann Marie Puig, a long-time entrepreneur and expert business consultant, explains how B2B companies can create winning operations strategies.
Your company’s business operations include everything that takes place within it to make it profitable and run smoothly. A business plan will usually include a section that addresses the essential business operations for an organization’s success. These include staffing, systems, and personnel.
Your business model describes what you want, but business operations are the actual execution. Puig says, “Even though you have established processes, to achieve the best results for your B2B business, you must be deliberate in your operations and develop a strategy that is constantly optimized.”
While a chief operating officer is responsible for business operations at the highest level, it is common to appoint mid-level roles within the different departments of an organization. Sales operations involve all the business activities and processes that help your company’s sales run efficiently and in line with your business goals.
Marketing operations is a team or role that enables the marketing team to scale and operate efficiently using the right people, processes and technology. Like the other roles in operations, support operations works behind the scenes to provide tools, integrations and processes that allow support teams to succeed.
It can be difficult to manage a B2B business. You need to be able to analyze and evaluate the processes and performance at both the micro and macro levels. These tips will help you create the best business operations strategy possible for your B2B organization.
Use the right technology and communicate clearly. Good internal communication is key. A recent survey found that 89% believe effective communication is essential in a business environment.
Business success is dependent on the ability to establish and maintain effective communication processes. It is crucial to choose the right communication tools, as team members today rely heavily on technology for collaboration and communication.
Define the team’s expectations and responsibilities. Clear expectations and clear accountability are crucial to team success. It is essential to set tasks and deadlines and plan together regularly. This will help you manage and evaluate your results and improve your performance.
Automate and document processes. It saves time and energy to document all processes and share them with the company. Documentation saves time and helps to establish a common ground.
Integrate your technology stack. Puig explains, “A key part of business operations involves maintaining a helicopter view on technical platforms and solutions.” You can set up your departments for success by choosing the right tools for you, avoiding redundant functionalities and integrating different systems.
It’s essential to have a cross-functional collaboration that breaks down silos and aligns departments around common goals. Alternatively, a lack of transparency results in redundant work, misaligned priorities, and missed opportunities for collaboration, so it’s worth the effort.
Business operations involve many stakeholders and agendas. It is important to have an objective view of your operations and to agree on the best way to measure and define success.
Get feedback from your teams. It is vital to have a feedback loop that allows team members to share their ideas with management. It is a great place to start: regular surveys and a team culture that welcomes feedback.
Hire a chief operating officer. It is important to have someone who owns your B2B operations. Hire someone who will be responsible for optimizing and evaluating all three P’s: people, process, and product.
To maximize your business’ potential, agree on metrics that will measure success. Follow up with them regularly. To maximize impact and productivity, you can think about how your operations strategy flows to each department.
Each business is unique and you will need to evaluate your company’s needs. If you can tick these eight boxes, your business will be the best in class.
