Smartesting pioneers intelligent testing with Yest, a visually intuitive Model-Based Testing (MBT) tool for precise test case design, and Gravity, an AI-driven Usage-Centric testing tool monitoring live production for insights on usage patterns, test gaps, and test case generation.

Smartesting

Testops and the emergence of Quality Intelligence

Running all regression tests all the time can be impractical and inefficient and represent a paradigm shift in software development, promoting collaboration, automation, and a continuous feedback loop. These practices are instrumental in meeting the demands of a dynamic and competitive market, allowing organizations to deliver high-quality software quickly and efficiently. DevOps continuous deployment In this context, has undergone a transformation to align with the accelerated pace of development methodologies, emphasizing the roles of test automation and continuous testing practices. However, with the increasing complexity of applications, the number of automated tests tends to grow exponentially. This growth results in prolonged execution times even for automated tests, sometimes spanning hours or days, contradicting modern development practices that prioritize quick feedback loops. software testing This presents a unique challenge for testing teams: the necessity to due to resource constraints and time limitations. The sheer volume of tests can lead to a tipping point where it becomes impractical to execute every test in every regression cycle. strategically select and prioritize tests The team is then confronted with the critical task of , employing some type of prioritization criteria, and continually maintaining and updating the test suite to ensure relevance and effectiveness within the context of the adopted criteria. identifying and focusing on high-priority test cases Strategies for selecting and prioritizing test cases Considering the trade-offs between and more focused , the crucial challenge is to methodically select and prioritize test cases within the test suite, aiming to strike a delicate balance between comprehensive coverage and the effectiveness of the testing process while being mindful of resource limitations. comprehensive automated regression testing partial regression In the list below, you'll discover various methods to prioritize test cases, all intended to strike a balance between comprehensive coverage and reducing execution time. Keep in mind that this list is not exhaustive: In this article, our goal is to examine . By merging these approaches, testing teams can devise a prioritized test plan, optimizing the efficacy of their testing efforts and enhancing the overall quality of the application under test. how the integration of business impact and frequency of use methods can lead to a more comprehensive approach to test prioritization Combining the business impact and frequency of use to prioritize test cases Often, teams find themselves struggling with the challenge of quantifying the business impact and frequency of use, resorting to an intuitive and subjective approach. To elevate confidence levels, it becomes imperative for teams to transition towards a more formalized methodology. This involves the that integrates both the business impact and frequency of use for the application's functionality. This formalized approach empowers teams to prioritize test cases more effectively based on these crucial factors, minimizing reliance on guesswork. development of a systematic scoring system Here's a step-by-step guide to prioritize tests using these factors: Review the business requirements and features of your application or system. Identify those with the most substantial impact on business operations, customer satisfaction, or revenue. Identify critical business requirements and features: Analyze usage data or gather stakeholder feedback to pinpoint the most frequently used features or functionalities in production. Assess frequency of use: Develop a matrix that blends both business impact and frequency of use factors. Assign weights or scores based on their relative importance to your company. Create a prioritization matrix: Map your test cases to the corresponding requirements or features. Calculate a priority score for each test case by combining the scores or weights assigned to the business impact and frequency of use factors. Prioritize test cases: By following this approach, you can focus your testing efforts on the most business-critical and frequently used aspects of your application or system while ensuring a well-rounded test coverage. Gravity: Applying AI for test case prioritization introduces an test case weighting & scoring engine that helps optimize existing test suites by prioritizing test cases based on the business impact and frequency of use in the tested pages and flows covered by these test cases. This enables a , focusing test coverage on high-impact areas that directly affect the end-user experience. Gravity AI-powered data-driven test case prioritization It seamlessly correlates multiple dimensions, including test coverage, business impact, and frequency of use. This enables the generation of easily understandable reports and insights, empowering testing teams to prioritize tests based on concrete data rather than relying on guesswork. Gravity's ability to by processing the ingested data through machine learning algorithms. This involves translating raw data into meaningful insights using techniques such as pattern recognition, trend and correlation analysis, anomaly and outlier detection, and more. monitor usage within the production and testing environments allows it to generate comprehensive quality analytics It highlights information that allows testing teams to , pinpoint features that may be either over-tested or under-tested, and recognize redundant testing efforts in less critical areas. identify gaps in coverage If you want to learn more about Gravity, you can book a demo here: Book a demo Conclusion Embracing a focused and selective is crucial for optimizing testing resources, accelerating time-to-market, and elevating overall software quality. By directing efforts toward high-risk areas of the application, testing teams can ensure the early discovery of critical issues. test case prioritization approach Additionally, the adoption of a formalized scoring system for provides a considerable benefit for testing teams. This systematic method represents a significant improvement over relying solely on subjective opinions and the experiences of others. By employing a more , testing teams can significantly enhance their testing practices, ensuring a more rigorous and effective approach to identifying and addressing critical issues. prioritizing relevant test cases objective and data-driven methodology Author: Cristiano Caetano Head of Growth at Smartesting Software testing authority with two decades of expertise in the field. Brazilian native who has called London home for the past six years. I am the proud founder of Zephyr Scale, the leading Test Management application in the Atlassian ecosystem. Over the last ten years, my role has been pivotal in guiding testing companies to build and launch innovative testing tools into the market. Currently, I hold the position of Head of Growth at Smartesting, a testing company committed to the development of AI-powered testing tools.

Turbocharge Regression Testing: Prioritizing Test Cases Like a Pro with AI

টার্বোচার্জ রিগ্রেশন টেস্টিং: এআই সহ প্রো-এর মতো পরীক্ষার ক্ষেত্রে অগ্রাধিকার দেওয়া

Turbocharge-Regressionstests: Testfälle priorisieren wie ein Profi mit KI

Pruebas de regresión de turbocompresor: priorizar casos de prueba como un profesional con IA

Tests de régression Turbocharge : prioriser les cas de test comme un pro avec l'IA

टर्बोचार्ज रिग्रेशन परीक्षण: एआई के साथ एक पेशेवर की तरह परीक्षण मामलों को प्राथमिकता देना

ターボチャージ回帰テスト: AI を使用してプロのようにテスト ケースに優先順位を付ける

터보차지 회귀 테스트: AI를 사용해 전문가처럼 테스트 사례 우선순위 지정

Teste de regressão turbocharge: priorizando casos de teste como um profissional com IA

Регрессионное тестирование с турбонаддувом: расстановка приоритетов тестовых случаев с помощью искусственного интеллекта как профессионал

Turboşarj Regresyon Testi: Yapay Zeka ile Bir Profesyonel Gibi Test Durumlarına Öncelik Verme

Thử nghiệm hồi quy tăng áp: Ưu tiên các trường hợp thử nghiệm như một chuyên gia với AI

涡轮增压回归测试：像人工智能专家一样确定测试用例的优先级

Bridging the Test Coverage Gap With Proactive Monitoring in Production and Testing Environments

উত্পাদন এবং পরীক্ষার পরিবেশে সক্রিয় পর্যবেক্ষণের মাধ্যমে পরীক্ষার কভারেজ গ্যাপ পূরণ করা

Überbrückung der Testabdeckungslücke durch proaktive Überwachung in Produktions- und Testumgebungen

Cerrar la brecha en la cobertura de pruebas con monitoreo proactivo en entornos de producción y pruebas

Combler le déficit de couverture des tests grâce à une surveillance proactive dans les environnements de production et de test

उत्पादन और परीक्षण परिवेश में सक्रिय निगरानी के साथ परीक्षण कवरेज अंतर को पाटना

実稼働環境とテスト環境でのプロアクティブなモニタリングによりテスト カバレッジのギャップを埋める

프로덕션 및 테스트 환경에서 사전 모니터링을 통해 테스트 범위 격차 해소

Preenchendo a lacuna de cobertura de teste com monitoramento proativo em ambientes de produção e teste

Устранение разрыва в тестовом покрытии с помощью упреждающего мониторинга в производственных и тестовых средах

Üretim ve Test Ortamlarında Proaktif İzleme ile Test Kapsamı Açığının Kapatılması

Thu hẹp khoảng cách về phạm vi kiểm thử bằng tính năng giám sát chủ động trong môi trường sản xuất và thử nghiệm

通过生产和测试环境中的主动监控来缩小测试覆盖率差距

For something that was judged mysterious, the Internet of Things' (IoT) increased utilization is another proof of the continued demystification of technology, and fast-paced synergy between humans and technology. Its applications span across a number of areas, from manufacturing to healthcare, to security, and even as solutions to security and control in the real estate industry. To deconstruct the mystery around the technology, I interviewed an IoT expert whose forte is synergy between IoT and real estate. He built a fully functional smart home in 3 months. But before diving into the interview, it is key that we define what the IoT means; Simply put, the IoT is a technology that smartens. Smartening results increased utilization, and capacity of devices to detect and report. Devices enabled with IoT functionalities are called "smart" devices, and as evident in this interview, all devices can be made "smart" — including the seemingly improbable like walls or fences. The instance of notifications is what sets IoT-enabled devices apart. To get a full insight into the functions and use, read the interview below: Q: What prompted the urge to smarten your home? How did you conceive the idea? A: Well, my job is all about `IOT & m2m` communication. So, when my house was fully constructed, I desired absolute control of the security of my home. And what better solution would allow me this if not IoT? Q: What is m2m communication? A: Put simply, m2m communication is communication between objects and mediums, and between humans and mediums or objects. With m2m communication, humans can speak to and control what happens to a wall with a single tap, or even their voices. Q: How long did it take you to implement an IoT solution in your home? A: Surprisingly, the implementation didn't take long, it took about 3 to 4 months for full integration of a basic IOT monitoring solution. Q: What device/s did you use for your solution? A : I used a WIFI cameras enabled with speaker & microphone functionality, a gate wireless contact to sense touch at the gate, an Electrical fence contact to serve this same purpose for the fence, a 12 Volt DC Siren for notification and alarm purposes. I also added a 230 AC to 12 Volt DC adapter for power supply and storage. RUT955 Teltonika router, Q: Did you use any of the Trinity functionalities? A: No, I didn't. I wanted my solution to be off-grid, so trinity functionalities were needless. However, the Teltonika router was from Trinity. Q: How was that even possible? It's almost impossible to build an IoT solution without a trinity functionality. I am curious, was your decision well-informed? Did you face any major challenges during the build-up of your smart home? A: Ah, yes, I sure did. Trinity functionalities help with device and connectivity management. However, I wanted to experiment with non-usage of a trinity functionality, and I did just that. Q: Aha, something about defying the norms? A: Aha, yes. Q: Talking about the trinity functionality, what particularises its importance to IoT solutions? Please, explain this growing importance within the context of the chokepoints you experienced in your build-up. A: Oh, okay.  I faced 3 major pitfalls: The build-up of my solution was such that notification was through SMS whenever an event happened in the home. So, per activity detected by the smart functions in my house, I get an SMS. Subscription to an SMS bundle was monthly, and the SMS count per bundle was fixed — thus, if the bundle gets exhausted, I lose access to notification by the smart functions. So, there were months that my SMS bundle got exhausted and conversely, I missed important events. I only got to know of the missed events days after they occurred. And it was wasteful to buy large SMS bundles for fear of underutilization and converse wastage. If I had trinity functionalities installed, I wouldn't have to worry about these — the Pay as You Go (PayG) model allows me to pay for exactly what I use, and abates the under- and over-utilization problem. Second, my device loses data connectivity sometimes and this results in instant disconnection from the network. With trinity functionalities, there is a "comms timeout" alert that can buy me some time to fix the connectivity issue. And in the event that I'm unable to fix the issue, there is a "Monitor Comms Recovery" which is a history of network performance and missed events during the failed connection. Lastly, I couldn't use the sim card type implemented by Trinity. Trinity uses telemetry sim cards commonly chipped in the cameras, and other IoT functionalities. Since I didn't use trinity, it was hard to get smart devices for my solution. Q: Tell us in detail about what your smart home can do? A: My smart home is enabled for a lot of functions. Let me break them down: My smart home monitors events and alarms me immediately. For instance, if an object passes through the coverage range of the camera; the camera takes a snapshot of the object and sends it to my RUT955 router using Wi-Fi. When the router receives the snapshot, I get an alert on my mobile phone — the camera is routed to my device. As for the gate, if it opens or closes, that event is transmitted to a receiver via RF. This receiver has been connected to an input system called Digital Input 1. So, this input system has a gauge such that if it goes high, an SMS is sent to notify me that the gate is opening. However, if the input system goes low, I get notified that the gate is closing. And, should I desire to know who's at the gate, I can by using the camera app on my mobile phone. The electrical fence is wired to another input system called the Digital Input System 2. If any of the cables at the fence is cut by an outsider, the contact closes and sends a High Volt Signal that switches the sirens ON. When this happens, I get an SMS saying the fence siren is ON. The siren is also wired to Digital Input 2 so it switches ON when the volt signal from the fence is high and does the opposite when it is low. The 230volt AC to 12volt DC adapter is connected to the house mains to monitor power failure. It is wired to an Analogue Input that relies on voltage surge —  electricity comes ON when voltage is sufficient, and blanks out if otherwise. The Battery & Charger provide power backup to all connected devices. When electric power goes off, the battery takes over and when it is restored, the charger recharges the battery. Q: Fantastic summary. Thank you. Do these infer the usefulness of IoT? A: Yes, I’m sure you would agree with me, too. IoT allows you to monitor every event in your home. Aside from monitoring, you can even control these events. The one in my house only monitors, so I can not control events. Control is doable using cost-effective DIY IoT solutions, too. Q: Are these functions limited to small projects, alone? Are they replicable in large projects? If they are, what kind of applications come to mind? A: Yes, they are. IoT will be ubiquitous in the coming years, especially in manufacturing. A manufacturing firm producing a product storable in silos and tanks can, for example, use IoT solutions to detect whether the tank is full or half full. Q: Hm. Can you provide a brief architecture of this possible solution? A: As part of this solution, a Dual SIM card will be used to provide auto failover to a secondary SIS. So, if a product needs to send its data via the RS232, RS485 or LAN port to a server e.g. a meter – the RUT can point the raw data or http data or MQTT data to a customer server. This solution could be scaled using one router, and management platforms like trinity to enable total control and management without chokepoints. Q: Interesting discussion, here. Thank you for your time and contributions. A: It's a pleasure, sarafadeen. Thanks for your brilliant questions, too. In conclusion, increased utilization of IoT solutions by various industries is not by happenstance — it's borne out of a yearn for control and management of mediums - a marker for operational efficiency.

This IoT Expert Built a Smart Home in 3 Months

Account-based marketing (ABM) is almost on every B2B marketer’s mind today. And why not? ABM is more tailored, targeted, and precise compared to other marketing methods. Furthermore, it is known to yield better results in terms of business and revenue growth. Statistically, it can increase the average annual contract value by 171%, revenue by 208%, and the number of opportunities by 70%. Having said that, there’s one factor that can hinder your business from reaping the benefits of ABM. Yes, you guessed it right. It’s low-quality B2B data. Bad data is a silent killer of ABM. You may have the best ABM plan ready to implement. But if you don’t use high-quality data, your ABM plan is going to fall apart. Maintaining high data quality is essential to attain ABM success. Here are five ways bad data can make a mess of your ABM program. 1. Poor Account Mapping Account mapping is critical to conduct accurate account profiling and account targeting in ABM. It lets you know who you need to target, who the decision-makers are at a particular account, and how to best approach them. With poor-quality B2B data, the very basic requirement of ABM will become a mighty challenge for you, setting your campaign up for failure. Failure to accurately map accounts in ABM also means you’ll not be able to run your campaigns at the right time. Bad data ruins your ABM campaign timing by not allowing you to target accounts when they’re most likely to buy or have the budget to invest in new solutions. It basically hinders your ABM team to understand the budget cycle or decision flow of accounts. Additionally, low-quality B2B data restricts your ability to target or nurture individual stakeholders within a target account. Contrastingly, high-quality data provides a deeper and clearer view of accounts, even at the contact level. This enables you to map them precisely and create high-conversion ABM programs targeted specifically at them. 2. Incorrect Understanding About Prospects Having wrong insights or outdated data about your target audience is a formula for ABM disaster. What’s worse? Bad data will hinder you from identifying high-value accounts in the first place. If you are to find and gain a sound understanding of valuable and best-fit accounts, it’s essential to have access to reliable B2B data. believe data quality is important to executing an ABM strategy. Decayed, unverified, and incomplete data will never provide the kind of B2B insights you need to intimately understand your target accounts in ABM. Poor-quality data creates a wrong perception of prospects and keeps you in the dark by not allowing you to know their exact needs, pain points, and interests. 88% of B2B marketers Furthermore, incorrect understanding of target accounts leads to a serious wastage of your ABM budget, time, and resources. Almost all your ABM efforts, including content, messaging, ad targeting, social media, and nurturing, will take a hit due to bad data leading to a poor or incomplete understanding of prospects. 3. Lack of Personalization and Ineffective Content Marketing Did you know delivering a personalized experience is the most common challenge with ABM? Furthermore, strongly agree personalized content is a key to the success of ABM. Feeding low-quality B2B data to your go-to-market team will make it even more difficult for them to personalize ABM campaigns. 56% of marketers Bad data is filled with typos, misspellings, wrong entries, outdated business information, and inaccurate contact information. Whether you’re writing an email, ad copy, social message or post, or sending direct mail, it’s important to have accurate, up-to-date, and verified B2B data to apply personalization in ABM. Using poor-quality B2B data can also prove detrimental to your ABM team’s content marketing strategy. ABM requires you to create content that is tailored to target accounts and addresses their specific needs, problems, and the solutions they need. With bad data, you can’t really achieve this goal. As a matter of fact, you’ll be shooting yourself in the foot. This is because low-quality B2B data leads to: Targeting accounts with mismatched content Distributing content through the wrong channels Delivering content that doesn’t align with the specific buying journey stage of target accounts Not being able to show prospects how your product is the best solution they need 4. Sales and Marketing Misalignment As per statistics, companies deploying ABM are 67% better at closing deals when they sync their sales and marketing teams. But what helps keep sales and marketing on the same page? Well, top-quality B2B data is one of the factors that are highly important to implementing “smarketing”. To ensure strong alignment between sales and marketing for the sake of your ABM success, it’s indispensable to share accurate and verified B2B data amongst themselves. Sadly, the opposite is also true. Sharing inaccurate, unreliable data could result in sales and marketing misalignment. Bad data builds a gap between sales and marketing by: Creating challenges in the task of sharing goals with each other Reducing the visibility into each other’s work and goals Not allowing them to work in lockstep with each other Not allowing them to agree on MQL and SQL definitions, ideal client profiles, “fit factors,” messaging, campaign timing, and the number of follow-ups and touchpoints required Creating a lack of trust and confidence in each other Resulting in missed opportunities, miscommunication, and poor reporting/performance analysis All of these consequences of sales and marketing misalignment due to bad data can take a serious toll on your ABM results. Here are some examples to consider. Using inaccurate contact data will result in your sales team following up with the wrong account that never responded to your marketing efforts. Outdated contact information will also cause your expensive direct mail to reach the wrong people or the wrong address. Moreover, bad data could result in your marketing team providing air cover for your sales team at the wrong time or targeting the wrong prospects in their air cover activities. 5. Poor Brand Experience and Increased Churn A significant part of ABM is maintaining lasting relationships with top-value prospects and customers. Your job in ABM is not only to nurture and convert best-fit prospects but to also continue to offer them great brand experience after they become your customers. ABM is also used to reduce customer churn, keep existing customers engaged, and improve customer lifetime value (LTV). 80% of marketers agree ABM improves customer LTV. With low-quality B2B data, you can’t achieve any of these vital ABM goals. Bad data hampers your ABM team’s ability to: Personalize a prospect or customer’s experience with your brand Customize web experiences and tailor value propositions for your target audiences Create meaningful and relevant conversations with prospects and customers Identify upselling and cross-selling opportunities with new and existing customers Offer the “white-glove” treatment or concierge-style customer service to target accounts Unclean and inaccurate B2B contact data also puts your brand reputation at risk. For example, using an unverified email list or sending emails to incorrect email addresses can negatively impact your domain reputation and increase bounce rates and email churn. Wrapping Up Using top-quality B2B data is extremely important to gain a high ABM ROI and improve the success rate of your ABM programs. Apart from the ones explained here, there are more ways in which bad data affects your ABM outcome. Therefore, before you plan your next ABM campaign, be sure to partner with a leading B2B data provider. This will help you have access to accurate and enriched data and maintain top-notch data hygiene. Here are some key factors to consider when selecting a B2B data partner: data coverage, quality, and sources, data privacy and protection compliance, features, add-ons, pricing, customer support, and onboarding.

How Bad Data Will Ruin Your Account-Based Marketing

A sales process is a necessity for organizations wanting to increase sales productivity, performance, efficiency - and most importantly, improve the close rate. It not only helps keep the sales momentum going, but it also adds a good structure to all your sales activities. But what is a sales process anyway? Well, I’d define a that sales teams follow to turn potential buyers into paying customers. It basically helps a salesperson to move prospects from the awareness stage to the closed deal stage. It’s important to regularly optimize your sales process to make the most of it. sales process as a series of steps Also, you can’t expect the sales process you created several years ago to bring you the results you need today. Things keep changing in the business world, and your sales process should be able to adapt or be optimized to drive revenue through increased deal closing. Here are five ways to create an optimized sales process to close more deals. 1. Take the effort to understand what increases your conversion success I'd always start with the basics if I were to optimize my sales process. Begin by studying the customer journey to understand how your prospects convert into customers. Know what it takes to successfully close a deal. Talk to your salespeople and know what tactics, power words, tone, and tools they used to advance prospects to the next stage in their buyer’s journey Learn from your past. Examine your past closed as well as lost deals to list down the do’s and don’ts. Check the cadences used, product features most highlighted, key reasons for purchase, etc. Create ideal customer profiles using your existing CRM data, customer analysis, B2B data, and market research data. Use them to know who (and how) you need to target that are likely to become buyers Ensure that your sales process has well-defined steps and goals for each stage. You don’t want your salespeople to get off track but have a clear roadmap to closing more deals. 2. Put target audiences front and center and foster deep relationships One of the secrets to optimizing a sales process for increased deal closing is taking a customer-first, relationship-led approach. Instead of holding my company’s banner the first time I approach a prospect, I’d rather prefer developing a meaningful relationship with them. Take one step at a time and put yourself in the prospect’s shoes, and you’ll have a better chance to convert them. Also, when you approach a customer for repeat sales, cross-selling, or upselling, take advantage of the bond they already have with your company. Look to increase trust, focus on adding value, understand their pain points and needs, and show how your solution can benefit them. expect companies to know their unique expectations and needs. 76% of B2B buyers and 63% of consumers 3. Use sales enablement for a more streamlined and strategic sales process An important part of optimizing a sales process is to equip the sales team with everything they need to ensure a prospect’s smooth conversion into a paying customer. With sales enablement, you can achieve exactly that. 76% of organizations realize a . Further, sales enablement helps organizations gain a 49% win rate on forecasted deals. 6-20% sales increase because of sales enablement Provide your sales team with the required training, documents, content, templates, scripts, tools, and other resources to crush their goals and targets. For example, I’d invest in B2B data or by enabling my salespeople to: sales intelligence to boost the sales process Create smarter, data-driven sales strategies and speed up sales cycles Engage prospects with more personalized conversations Focus on high-value accounts instead of low-interest, unqualified ones Use high-quality data to improve everything from prospecting to deal closing Track buying signals to prioritize leads and know in advance what they’re interested in 4. Bring sales and marketing closer to each other to increase closed deals Sales and marketing teams have the common goal of finding or attracting prospects and converting them into buyers. This ultimately translates into increasing business growth and revenue. Considering that a sales process has almost the same objective, it makes more sense to me to see salespeople and marketers working in lockstep than being siloed from each other. Did you know? Organizations with sales and marketing alignment see . Sales and marketing alignment or “ ” is an intelligent strategy to optimize the sales process. It does so by allowing sales and marketing departments to: 38% higher sales win rates and are 67% more efficient at closing deals smarketing Share goals and collaborate on overall KPIs Agree on a buyer persona and develop a single customer journey Have open and consistent communication Ensure consistency in value demonstration and messaging Collaborate on customer retention and post-sales activities Use customer feedback to gain key insights about motivations, pain points, etc. 5. Leverage automation to create a faster and seamless sales process Let’s face it, a B2B sales process can become very complex very quickly. This is especially true when there are several moving parts, longer sales cycles, multiple stakeholders involved, and higher price points and buyer’s risk. Thanks to automation, your sales team can save a lot of time and effort and become more efficient as they advance prospects across the sales process. I wouldn’t shy away from providing automation tools to my salespeople if they can help optimize the sales process. Here’s what you can do with automation: Reduce time-consuming and manual sales tasks Automate outreach campaigns and follow-ups, even based on triggers Manage sales opportunities in real-time and automate lead generation and nurturing Assign leads and sales tasks faster and in a streamlined manner Keep track of the sales process and sales rep performance and create insightful reports The Wrap Optimizing the sales process is a wise move when you’re looking to improve deal closing and profit margins. A good piece of advice doesn’t harm anybody. I wouldn’t mind trying out the powerful strategies discussed here if I were to build an optimized sales process to close more deals. When you begin putting these tactics into action, don’t forget to identify and resolve bottlenecks in your sales process. For example, if your leads are calling it quits early in the sales process, determine the root cause. Find out the particular stage at which leads frequently drop out. Check if your sales reps are nurturing leads enough to move them toward deal closing. Lastly, make it a point to regularly measure the performance of your sales process. This helps you know whether your sales process is really optimized to meet your deal closing targets. Some of the key metrics you can measure are sales forecast accuracy, sales process adoption, sales cycle length, average on-target earnings, lead to opportunity conversion, and opportunity to close rate.

5 Tips to Build an Optimized Sales Process That Closes More Deals

The sales team gets to hear from buyers day in and day out. Thus, the sales team is better aware of the buyer's pain-points. The marketing team can create compelling content. The sales team can use this content to engage effectively with buyers. Active engagement with buyers can further result in more deal closures! For all this to happen, the sales and marketing teams need to go hand in hand. Here are the six actionable steps to achieve the alignment: 1. Codify Buyer Persona. Knowing what drives the buyer helps you sell better. However, knowing the right buyer is of utmost importance. The sales and marketing teams need to be on the same page, If you wish to attract the right prospects, And to convert more prospects into buyers. Let's observe the difference between: Case 1: "I want a lollipop!" Case 2: "I want a Chupa Chups brand, caramel flavor, small size lollipop!" In case 2, I have made my choice very specific. And whether the sales team brings this lollipop or the marketing team does, the chances of bringing the wrong lollipop are negligible! There are various tools available to create buyer personas. Try the " " tool by HubSpot. Make My Persona Just to present an example, Here is how our buyer persona looks like: 2. A Knowledge Repository There should be a . digital knowledge repository This platform shall serve 2 main purposes: The instant accessibility of any content needed by the sales team. Example: Brochures, Ebooks, Presentations, Proposal Templates, Tutorials, etc.. Every piece of content created in collaboration with both teams.Content request feature.Example: The sales team needs a presentation on "Latest Technology trends in the entertainment domain".One of the reps can put up the request. Any available resource from the marketing team can collaborate with the sales rep to create the needed presentation.Once the presentation is ready. It is added to the repository forever. 3. Weekly Smarketing Connect. The sales and marketing teams should meet once a week. The main agenda of such a meeting should be: "Help Each Other" Sales contribute to creating more powerful content. Marketing contributes to the aesthetics and appeal of the content. There are a few more important things that can happen in smarketing meetings: a) Clear goal setting: Marketing needs to generate n number of leads every month. b) Check whether the sales team contacted each lead generated by the marketing team in the given time frame or not. c) Discuss any issues related to the quality of leads. 4. A sales-driven content strategy. Let me share a little story here: A sales rep created the most useful piece of information for the buyers. This piece of information was brilliant, yet ugly (just look-wise). It was brilliant because the buyer's pain-points drove its creation. It was ugly because of an improper choice of colors or a lack of design sense. The Marketing team made that piece of information visually appealing. That piece of information then became the most successful lead magnet ever for their business. Such great collaboration between the two teams is what you need to achieve success. Here is the tip: Step 1: Appoint a junior member in the marketing team to interview the sales team members over a coffee. (A junior member with excellent interviewing skills) Step 2:  The interviewer then shares the insights gained with the whole marketing team. Step 3: The marketing team can then creates blog-posts, videos, e-books, podcasts, or any other content which attracts more qualified leads. 5. Reflect It's a universal rule that works in every walk of life. You do something. Act: Observe the consequences. Reflect: Change your actions by delta. Improve: Example: You solve a math problem. Get an incorrect answer. You try to find out where you went wrong. You learn from your mistake. And try not to commit it again. Similarly, It's important to know which content worked and which didn't. Based on the analytics, the teams can together brainstorm, on what works best for the business. 6. CRM tool like HubSpot A lead goes through different stages before converting into a customer. Subscriber Lead Marketing Qualified Lead Sales Accepted Lead Buyer Is there a way to identify which stage a lead is in? Absolutely! Yes! With wonderful tools like HubSpot's CRM, you have a provision of lead scoring. Based on site visits and posts read a lead call be called: Cold. Intermediate. Warm. Hot. Until the lead becomes warm, sales have no part to play. It's time for marketing to nurture the lead. Once, the lead gains some confidence in you through the content and become warm. It's time for sales to pitch in. Sales can then play its role of discovering pain-points, suggesting solutions and converting into customers. The biggest mistake that gets avoided with such a system in place is: "Sales and Marketing reps reaching out to the same lead without knowing the lead status." Which is otherwise hazardous.

Top 6 Actionable Steps to Align Sales & Marketing Teams

It seems like the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) mania of 2017 (and early 2018) is beginning to skitter to a halt. While it may have been possible to raise millions for a cryptocurrency based on damn near anything last year, the landscape is changing. Both retail investors and regulators are smartening up. Retail investors are more weary, and regulators are coming down on ICOs that are obviously taking advantage of an unregulated fundraising mechanism. The increased scrutiny that ICOs undergo helps weed out projects that shouldn’t be launching in the first place, and as an unexpected byproduct: sets a higher standard of quality for future blockchain projects. As regulation tightens its grip, founders find use cases that hit larger demographics, and token utilities with, well, more utility. A new breed of token sales I believe we’re starting to see a positive trend in the quality of token sales in 2018. It’s harder to run a token generation event now, so only the companies that genuinely need blockchain for their product/service to work are considering it. Not to long ago, it was easy to just throw “Crypto” or “Blockchain” in the name of your company and launch a token sale. It’s my belief, and my hope, that this time is over. Kik, the messaging application, raised $100 million in an ICO last year. Now, their CEO Ted Livingston is warning other would be token offerers that implementing Blockchain into a business is harder than it looks. So difficult in fact that the company issued a statement saying that they will no longer be tying dates to the development milestones they plan to hit- they’d rather not create expectations over the possibility of failing to meet them. “We decided within the company that there are so many unknowns within crypto, we don’t put out dates anymore, but, as soon as possible,” — Ted Livingston, CEO of Kik The only intention Kik has is to create a token that can be used as a virtual currency within its application, there’s nothing innovative there. The CEO practically said that launching their token was a cash grab. Something they needed to do to compete with larger companies like Facebook and Google. It’s not surprising that they bit off more than they can chew. Companies like Kik may be realizing that blockchain isn’t as alluring as it seemed, but there is still a genuine use case for blockchain in improving processes. So, where are the killer blockchain applications we’ve all been waiting for? The biggest roadblock to industry-wide innovation.. The ICOs I’ve seen successfully raise money in the past few months seem to be taking a different approach than their predecessors. More and more companies are asking for a reasonable amount of capital in their token sales, and the use cases are getting more realistic. 2017 saw a lot of ICOs that made large claims, stating use cases that required participation (from more organizations than was feasible) to succeed. I’m excited to see what the futures holds for the ICO environment, I genuinely believe the next wave of blockchain projects will leave a more lasting impression on the niches they’re targeting than the last. To succeed in this environment, you have to convince investors who, at this point, have already been burned by the ICO craze. Some even several times over. Almost any process or industry that is filled with middlemen and intermediaries can be improved. Any use case where there is an organization or individual who requires trust from both sides of a transaction. This is especially the case in antiquated industries. I received a Lean Six Sigma certification in 2014. As a part of my studies, I had to find a company and examine their processes, to find one that I could make more efficient. Once identified, I had to craft a plan to improve the process, and present it to the company. The company I worked with was an oil refinery in Arizona. They put me in the most exciting department of the company, accounting. It was my job to look at how they managed accounting, and find ways to cut costs. I looked into their flow of information: how accounting gathered all the information they needed to do their job. What I found was pretty surprising, and was the conceptual of a valuable lesson I learned. first lecture The oil refinery managed the entire process on paper. . Everything Photo by on Sear Greyson Unsplash I can’t remember the exact details, but they had a ridiculous amount of employees on salary whose only job was to collect and validate the data, that was gathered by another person — whose only job was, you guessed it, gathering data. Maybe it was naive, but I was stoked. I thought I had found overlooked flaws that I could easily address with some automated programs. This certification is going to be a breeze, I thought. I wrote up a proposal on how to automate their data aggregation and parts of the accounting process. It could have saved them millions over the following years and cost a fraction of that to implement. When I submitted the proposal, they were excited, to my face. Fast forward a few months, however, and nothing about their process had changed. They didn’t do anything, I outlined every step necessary and how to do it in a damn binder. I even put those little plastic colored tabs to mark the different sections, it was glorious. At the time, it was my magnum opus. The lesson I ended up taking away from that experience, but not really comprehending until later in my life, was this: If a process sucks and has sucked for a long time, but the key stakeholders are making money, they’re not going to care about improving it. Aka, the “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” approach. The biggest roadblock for industry-wide innovation — or even innovation within a process as specific as accounting in an oil refinery — isn’t technology. It’s people, people who by nature resist change, even when it benefits them. Ripe for Disruption: industries on the brink of change These antiquated industries/processes are precisely where I believe blockchain should be implemented. Let’s take a look at some processes and industries that need improving, and some that are in process of improving already. Supply Chain Supply chain management requires cooperation between several different parties, to ensure that products get from point A to point B. In any given supply chain, inventory is likely to change hands several times, each transfer requiring signing off on paper documents to confirm each party has done their part. The ocean freight industry for example accounts for 90% of global trade, and is still managed almost entirely with paper documents. The industry has been around for so long, and is profitable enough for the current stakeholders — for there to be no need to innovate. IBM recently announced that they’ve implemented blockchain to handle all of their supply chain management. This is a near perfect example of a real-world application of blockchain to improve processes. IBM clearly has a strong understanding of blockchain and where it’s best suited for use. The infographic below was taken from a recent study they published on the inefficiencies still evident in supply chain management. Infographic courtesy of IBM, “The Paper Trail of a Supply Container” Let’s hope that IBM is the first of many established companies to start utilizing distributed ledgers where they can bring impact. Mortgage Processing The mortgage application process has to be one of the most paper-heavy, tedious, and time consuming processes I’ve ever come across. It’s borderline insane. Another classic case of key stakeholders not being incentivized enough to improve the process.Which is shocking seeing as this is a process that almost everyone living in most first world countries has to go through at some point in their life. Buying a home is a cultural milestone, a new chapter in a persons life, a coming of age ceremony — it’s something you update your Facebook status about. It hits a pretty gargantuan demographic in the U.S. and Canada alone, The amount of new mortgage debt to be taken out in 2018 is estimated to be around $37 trillion USD. I didn’t even know mortgages were global until I started reading about . To be honest, the mortgage industry research I tout as if I did it myself was just pulled from their white paper. globally Block66 A mortgage application can take anywhere from 24–45 days to process. In that time, the individual applying for the loan fills out paperwork with sensitive personal data — which is then passed on to several different underwriters who verify the information provided. Then it goes to banks, a few more different stakeholders, and finally back to the mortgage broker who shares the results with his or her client. Block66 completely automates this process, and claim to be able to cut the time needed to complete it to 48 hours. Going back to my Lean Six Sigma days, I got really excited by process improvement applied the mortgage industry, it seems like a no brainer. I hopped in their and managed to speak directly with the CEO. They’ve already locked in some pretty insane partnerships including Ethos and Civic, along with the partnerships they’re bringing on Shingo Lavine (CEO of Ethos) as an advisor. This is one of those projects that gets me excited, because it checks all of my boxes. The development team comes from other blockchain projects in similar fields, the utility is strong, and the advisors/partnerships they’re starting to form are going to put them in a great position. official telegram channel The other blockchain companes in the space are addressing the problem from a different angle. Some companies will allow you to purchase homes with crypto, sure, but you have to put the entire payment down upfront. What percentage of the global population can afford to put a $1million USD + down payment upfront? Block66 has the potential to partner up with the platforms that facilitate crypto real estate purchases, and create a reasonable and cost effective way for everyday people to purchase homes with cryptocurrency. Digital Marketing I found my humble beginnings as a digital marketer running a boutique digital agency in Los Angeles. I’m well aware of the inefficiencies prevalent in digital advertising, and the frustrations they cause. The metrics we use for tracking Return on Investment of digital advertising campaigns are inefficient at tracking results. Cost per click can be misleading, and who the hell decided that cost per thousand clicks was a valuable metric? As a company, I don’t care about clicks, I care about conversions. Adding more metrics into the fold just gives marketing managers more to talk about when they’re called to meetings, many of the metrics currently used don’t bring a large amount of value. Don’t get me wrong, there are age-old classics that still reflect the efficacy of marketing campaigns (love that conversion rate). But most metrics just add a layer of confusion for those not adept with the terminology, and give bad actors more room to manipulate these metrics. One company attempting to address this issue is (BAT), but they concluded their ICO in 2017 so they don’t count for the sake of this article. A more recent player attempting to disrupt the digital marketing industry is . While BAT attempts to directly address the problem at hand, Plentix provides an alternative to the current inefficient methods. They’ve created a completely decentralized referral program, similar to what Uber users to acquire new customers. They’ve created a system for referral marketing, and decentralized it- opening it up to the public for users to see all the possible referrals they can use, and opening it up to the businesses so that they can develop their own referral programs with whatever parameters they like. One of the benefits of blockchain in improving processes is cost reduction, I have no idea how much they’ll charge clients, but I’d imagine it’ll be less than traditional competitors. They’re starting their private sale pretty soon and have started building out a , I’ll be paying close attention. Basic Attention Token Plentix whitelist Data Acquisition This is one of those processes that no one really thinks about except for the people whose job it is to think about it. I personally didn’t really think about it until I heard about , who finished their ICO earlier this year. They caught my attention because out of all the ICOs that have launched in 2018, they’ve brought their investors one of the largest return on investments. When I saw the success its’ had, I took a dive into the industry to see what about their solution is so disruptive. Nucleus Vision Nucleus Vision automatically gathers customer data to benefit both consumers and businesses. Consumers benefit from getting a more custom-tailored solution to their retail needs, and businesses benefit by being able to provide this solution at all. Customer data acquisition usually involves a tedious surveying process, sent out over email or even done in person with paper forms. We give out a lot of data to social media platforms we use, but those platforms don’t speak to consumer brands about how to use that data to benefit us. At the moment that data is only used to benefit the advertiser with increased targeting capabilities. Takeaways The increase in scrutiny and regulation may make the lives of would-be founders more difficult, but it also helps weed out the bad projects. If we keep seeing projects like the ones above, projects that are addressing real-world, feasible, and impactful use cases, I think the future is brighter than current sentiment would lead you to believe. The inefficient industries or processes these companies are addressing have a lot of room for improvement, and its likely that stakeholders involved will have that , “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, mentality. But, you can only try and hold the floodgates of change shut for so long. Eventually, they break and take you along for the ride.

Why Increased Scrutiny is Good for ICOs & the Industries they Disrupt

SMARTESTING

smartesting.com

11-50 employees

Since 2015

COMPANY RANKING

SMARTESTING

EVERGREEN INDEX #9477

Representing this company? Click here to claim and customize this page!

Smartesting WIKI

Apply to get your Tech Company News Page live on HackerNoon.com today!

SMARTESTING

smartesting.com

11-50 employees

Since 2015

COMPANY RANKING

SMARTESTING

EVERGREEN INDEX #9477

RELATED COMPANIESRANK

STORIES ABOUT SMARTESTING

Representing this company? Click here to claim and customize this page!

Smartesting WIKI

Apply to get your Tech Company News Page live on HackerNoon.com today!