In the mid-1800s, Niagara Falls had become something of a tourist attraction. Inns and shops lined both the US and the Canadian sides of the river, and boat captains took paying passengers on tours of the river. The townspeople had also built waterwheels that provided power for mills and factories.
But on March 30, 1848, the townspeople and visitors woke up to something completely unexpected:
Silence.
An overnight storm had blown ice into piles right where Lake Erie empties into the Niagara River. The temporary dam blocked the flow of water, meaning that people could walk right out where a current had raged just hours before. Fish flopped around in the mud. And treasure hunters scavenged for guns and tomahawks that had previously been lost.
While most people spent the time gawking at the spectacle or speculating on whether it was a harbinger of the apocalypse, the owners of the Maid of the Mist sightseeing boat saw an opportunity. They sent crews out with dynamite to blast away rocks at the base of the falls that had previously endangered their vessel.
It was a risky move—no one knew when the ice dam would break and send a torrent of water over the falls. But they decided the potential gains were worth the risk.
Windows of opportunity
In the world of sales ops, we also sometimes have unexpected opportunities like this. Most of the time, the day-to-day flow of business leaves no time to deal with chronic issues. But sometimes, you get an unexpected break. Maybe your business experiences a seasonal lull. Maybe your industry is going through a downturn. Maybe a big customer has scaled back orders.
Whatever the reason, when the pace of work slows a little, that’s the right time to make some strategic improvements.
Of course, in the same way that the river ceasing to flow was pretty scary for the people who lived near Niagara Falls, a business slowdown can cause a bit of stress. It’s tempting to panic or think you should just keep the lights on while you wait for things to get back to normal before doing any strategic work.
But these unexpected slowdowns are actually the opportunity you have been waiting for. We hear all the time from teams that say they struggle to find time for strategic work. They complain that there just isn’t enough time in the day to get everything done.
These slow periods—scary as they might be—are the window you’ve needed for that strategic work. It’s time to take some dynamite to the obstacles that have been hindering your organization.
Not sure what kinds of strategic work you should be doing: Here are some resources that can help:
- The Sales Ops Blueprint lays out best practices for B2B sales operations. It covers sales data analysis, process optimization, technology, collaboration, and a lot of other areas that are typically ripe for strategic improvements.
- From Tactical to Strategic Sales Ops explains how to escape the deluge of day-to-day operations and deal with the bigger picture. It includes advice for choosing the right priorities and driving meaning results.
- Taking Your Sales Operation to the Next Level highlights the things the world’s best B2B sales ops teams do that make them stand out from everyone else. It examines how and why things are changing in B2B sales and offers some simple steps your team can take today.
Through the generations since that unexpected ice dam, millions of people have visited Niagara Falls. In fact, in a typical year, about 14 million people travel to the area.
And none of them have to worry about those rocks that the Maid of the Mist crew eliminated so many decades ago.
In the same way, a slow period doesn’t have to be a bad thing for your business. If you use the time wisely, your team can emerge stronger, more efficient, and better equipped for success when business picks back up again.
The Sales Ops Blueprint
Leveraging current best practices and "what we know now," this webinar aims to equip you with the knowledge you need to create the most impactful Sales Ops function possible.
From Tactical to Strategic Sales Ops
Some teams are so mired in tactical grunt work and daily firefights that they never make progress on strategic pursuits. How have other Sales Ops teams transitioned into more strategic functions? What steps did they take?
Taking Your Sales Operation to the Next Level
It's common for sales operations to get mired in tactical sales support and administrative activities. This four-part recorded training session reveals the steps leading sales operations teams are taking to transform themselves into a much more proactive and strategic business function.
