Workflow Tips - August 19, 2009 at 11:17 am

For many companies exposed to sales automation tools for the first time, workflow is identified as a key driver of success. After all, allowing a system to monitor your data and intelligently notify appropriate parties that they need to take action is an attractive proposition. In this way, workflow puts the “automation” in Sales Force Automation (SFA). As attractive as this feature may be, there are some guidelines that should be considered before going overboard with workflow.

First, workflow should be used as a means of complimenting your business process; your business process should not be dependent on workflow. The old adage of “process before technology” is important to remember as you want your saels organization to understand and comply with the processes that have been defined rather than relying on a the system to execute a process for them. This approach, although commonly controversial among sales teams, will assure them a wider visibility to the business and allow them to think before they act. If sales could be scripted into a series of workflow rules we would not need sales people.

A best practice is to leverage workflow for transactional processing and cross-departmental communication. CRM is largely about collaboration, both internal and external. Workflow can be invaluable to ensure that communication is happening consistently.

Second, there is an inherent problem with email as a workflow output. We have been conditioned to see sending as email as an endpoint that allow us to check off that a communication has been sent and move on to our next obligation. It defies ownership in some respects and can be dangerously overused; especially when there is the assumption that the email recipient will follow through as expected. Even in 2009, there is value in human-to-human interaction, follow up and diligence. If email is used as the sole mechanism of communication, problems will not go away; they will just become automated!

Third, be careful not become carried away with workflow (particularly email). Receiving notifications for every new opportunity entered in the system does not elicit the same response from a recipient on the 100th notification as it did on the 1st. Be weary of the fact that a white-noise effect can exist so too much of a good thing can cloud the message.

Take the approach of using automated workflow for exception notifications to help bolster their effectiveness. Define critical instances where a process is NOT being followed and alert impacted parties of that fact. To remember this rule, keep in mind the analogy of the “out of office alert.” Would it be effective to notify the sender of an email that the recipient is IN the office every time they sent an email. I think the clear answer is No; it would be annoying. Instead, we send an out of office reply to the sender when the expected condition is false to elicit the appropriate response.

Finally, when designing your workflow strategy, leverage alternatives to traditional task and email notification. Consider custom views and reports as an effective way for users (who understand the business process) to easily extract the information they need from the SFA tool. These designs have a primary benefit of being more effective and a secondary benefit of driving users into the SFA application and out of email.