Map the opportunity-to-order workflow
Document every step from CRM opportunity through proposal, IO, order entry, fulfillment, billing and reporting to find duplicate entry, unnecessary handoffs and manual dependencies.
Reduce manual work
KPI: Reduce manual work · Reduce by x%
- KPI
- Reduce manual work
- Levers
- Integration · Workflow automation · Standardization · Data governance · AI assistance · Process simplification
- RevOps tasks
- 10 actions
- Leading indicators
- Manual touches per order · Systems touched per transaction · Duplicate data entry · Workflow completion time · Integration coverage
- Target outcome
- More seller capacity, faster order processing, fewer errors
Cutting the repetitive admin work it takes to move revenue from opportunity through order, fulfillment, billing and reporting. In media this bites harder than most places: reps key the same information into several systems, chase forms and approvals, build IOs, coordinate fulfillment — then fix what broke downstream. The goal isn't to automate everything. It's to take the unnecessary human touches out of repeatable work and keep people where judgment actually matters. Do that properly and this stops being an efficiency measure and becomes a revenue capacity one.
How you actually get there
Grouped by the phase it belongs to. Flag anything that is a real problem for you as you read. That is what builds your plan, so there is no long questionnaire at the end.
PlanAssessment, sequencing, business case. The fundable first step.
Create a single source of truth
Define which system owns customer, opportunity, order, campaign, billing and revenue data, so teams stop maintaining competing spreadsheets and reconciling by hand.
BuildConfiguration, data architecture, integration.
Eliminate duplicate data entry
Integrate CRM, OMS, ad servers, billing, finance and fulfillment so customer, campaign, product, pricing and order data flows automatically between systems.
Standardize order and onboarding forms
Structured digital forms that collect all required campaign, creative, targeting, billing and fulfillment information upfront, instead of emails, spreadsheets and free-form instructions.
Automate opportunity-to-order conversion
Let closed-won opportunities, approved proposals or signed IOs generate orders, line items, fulfillment requests and downstream records without a seller re-entering anything.
Simplify proposal and IO creation
Generate proposals, insertion orders, contracts and order summaries directly from CRM data using standardized templates, products, pricing and customer records.
Automate internal handoffs
Trigger tasks, notifications, fulfillment requests, creative workflows and operational assignments automatically based on deal type, product, market or campaign requirements.
Use rules-based validation
Catch missing fields, invalid pricing, incompatible products and incomplete creative requirements before an order ever reaches Ad Ops or fulfillment.
ExecuteMigration, training, adoption.
Automate routine seller administration
Cut manual CRM updates, activity logging, meeting notes, follow-up tasks, forecasting updates and data enrichment using workflows, integrations and AI assistance.
RunMaintain, extend, improve.
Measure administrative burden
Track time spent on non-selling activity, manual touches per order, order-entry turnaround, error and rework rates, and the share of transactions processed automatically.
The distinction that makes it actionable
Eliminate
The task adds no value and should disappear entirely.
Always look here first — it is the only category that costs nothing to run.
Automate
The task is predictable and can be completed by systems, workflows, integrations or agents.
Where integration work pays back.
Simplify
A person is still needed, but the number of steps or systems can be reduced.
Often the fastest win — fewer systems touched, same human.
Assist
Human judgment is required, but AI or automation can cut the preparation time dramatically.
Where AI belongs, rather than bolted onto work that should have been eliminated.
What leadership reads
Revenue per seller hourRevenue generated relative to the seller time actually required — not revenue per rep. This is the metric that converts hours given back into capacity, and then into revenue. It is why this KPI is a revenue KPI and not a cost one.
Seller administrative timeShare of seller time spent on non-selling activity.
Straight-through processing rateShare of orders moving from CRM or proposal into downstream systems with no manual re-entry.
Opportunity-to-order processing timeClosed-won to order ready for fulfillment.
Order error / rework rateShare of orders needing correction after initial submission.
Automation coverageShare of repeatable revenue workflows fully or partially automated.
Leading indicators
What moves before the KPI does.
Manual touches per orderHuman actions required from opportunity through fulfillment.
Systems touched per transactionPlatforms a seller or coordinator must open by hand to complete one order.
Duplicate data entryFields re-keyed into more than one system for the same transaction.
Workflow completion timeHow long an automated or assigned step actually takes end to end.
Integration coverageShare of system pairs in the revenue path connected rather than bridged by a person.
What we’d need to know
Answer what you can. The blanks are as useful to us as the answers. They are usually where an assessment starts.
01How many systems does one order touch before it's ready to fulfill?
02What does a seller re-key that a machine already knows?
03Which of your recurring tasks should be eliminated rather than automated?
04What share of orders come back for correction — and who fixes them?
05If a seller got five hours back next week, what would you want them to do with it?
Next
Next: Increase win rate That’s manual work. Now win rate.
One more outcome to walk through before we build the plan.