How to Improve Slack (for Sales People)

How would you improve Slack?

Here's how I would improve Slack:  I'd look make sure we understand our goals and constraints; then I'd explore the user and the use cases; and lastly, I'd prioritize the use cases and focus on brainstorming solutions for the most urgent use case. To summarize:

1. Goals and constraints
2. User and use cases
3. Prioritize use cases
4. Brainstorm solutions

Goals and Constraints

As a product and a company, there are two main things we can look at:

• Revenue
• Engagement

However, we should also consider other goals like:

• Mission - How is the product performing with relation to its mission 

Slack is where work flows. It's where the people you need, the information you share, and the tools you use come together to get things done.

• Cost - Are we in a period where we need to be concerned about profitability?
• User Acquisition - Do we need to get more users onto our platform right now? This might be important if our product requires some level of scale (and use of "Big Data") to improve the product.

(At this point, the interviewer might give you a direction to follow)

As we are a mid-sized, fast-growing company focused on proving ourselves to future investors/the stock market, let's focus on revenue.

User and Use Cases

As a company, we have two general directions we can go:  (a) Build a new product or (b) Add a feature onto Slack. 

(Ask interviewer for direction. Or..)

Let's explore (b) first. We don't have to boil the ocean to increase our revenues. Moreover, as a fast-moving company with little time or resources, let's see if there's a simple, but powerful way to move the needle on revenue. 

Now, we need to decide who we want to build this feature for. Here are a few personas we can consider:

• Consumers
• Families
• Friend groups
• Extracurricular groups -- Soccer club, Professional Clubs
• Business Professionals
• Business People
• By Verticals
• HR
• IT 
• Sales
• etc.
• By Size
• Charities
• Universities
• Science Labs

(Ask interviewer for who to focus on. Or...)

Looking at this list, the question for us is who would bring in the most revenue for Slack. 

I think we should focus on Sales. Not every company has a huge, IT department, but every company definitely has a sales team. Moreover, companies hire and fire sales teams pretty fast. However, companies generally keep the processes they already have in place; they may choose to make some small improvements, but they'll generally keep any of the tools -- like Slack -- they use.

Now, what do Sales people care about?

• Need to know what to say
• Need to figure out how to say it
• Need to managing customer interactions 
• Need to close the deal 

(Ask interviewer for direction. Or...)

I think there are a lot of apps - let alone articles through Google - that sales people could use to figure out what to say. There are also a lot of apps to figure out how to say it. However, there aren't many apps out there that help manage the customer conversation.

Brainstorm Solutions

• Email & Browser Chat
• A lot of customer conversation still happens in email threads.
• Let Sales people initiate an email (thread) through Slack. As the Sales person sends a chat, it gets sent off as an email to the client.
• The client will see the usual email thread. They will also see a link to start a chatting directly.
• The chat will be fully usable on all browsers -- especially Internet Explorer. 
• The chat window will have a history of all messages and associated documents.
• Essentially, you'll give the client a window from which to text/chat a Sales person directly.
• This gives Sales people the opportunity to keep the conversation going throughout the day.
• Slack Call AI Assistant
• Let Sales people call clients through Slack.
• Have Slack transcribe these phone calls.
• As you talk, Sales people can see the transcription.
• Also, there is an AI bot running simulations on the conversation in real time. The AI Bot can suggest ideas to talk about.
• Slack Sales Assist
• This is similar to the Call AI Assistant -- except instead of an AI bot offering suggesting, you can invite a manager to view the phone call transcription. The manager can then type suggestions to you. (This would especially be helpful if you have a remote team that is traveling all the time.)
• If the Client has Slack, then the Sales person and the Client can talk in a specific channel. The manager can then "assist" in the conversation - by writing on behalf of the main sales person. 

Best Solution

Without taking into account engineering cost, I think the best way forward is the Slack Call AI Assistant. For those starting out in Sales or new to the organization, the assistant could be an invaluable training tool. For those without much time, the assistant could provide relevant information to jump start or reinvigorate the conversation. Finally, the transcription service makes call notes moot. Altogether, this feature would get any Sales Person hooked and pay for Slack.