Everyone knows who Iron Man is, and for those who don’t—please come out from whatever cave you’ve been hiding in. While Iron Man is a superhero in all his right, he would be flying blind most of the time had it not been for his trusty AI, J.A.R.V.I.S, that gives him the much needed edge to fight the bad guys.
That’s exactly what Sales Operations does for a company. It provides the sales team with the edginess, strategy, and tactical advantage they need when they deploy their salespeople into the battleground. This blog post talks about the unsung heroes and how their work allows for salespeople to be the best superheroes that they can to be.
Sales Operations is a team that takes care of all the functionality and activities a sales organization needs to be successful. This includes everything from lead management to data analytics to training. They work behind the scenes to ensure the sales team has all the resources and insights needed to win.
It’s easy to confuse Sales Operations with Sales Enablement, because they both deal with the same objective: Sales Productivity.
But there’s a fine line between the two – the Sales Operations team makes decisions, while the Sales Enablement team executes them. The two teams should have a clear division of labor so that everyone knows their roles and responsibilities.
The Top 9 Functions of Sales Operations
- Lead Organization and Management is a crucial part of Sales Operations. They work alongside the marketing team to create lead generation programs, nurture campaigns, and organize leads in a customer database. This allows sales reps to prioritize leads and provide each one the undivided attention they deserve.
- CRM System Management is another essential function. Sales Operations can customize fields and data, manage contact lists, and make sure the CRM data is up-to-date. This frees up valuable time for salespeople so they can focus on what they do best: Closing deals.
- Establishing Scalable Sales Processes. To create scalable sales efforts, Sales Operations can provide hands-on help to set up the overall sales strategy for the company and make sure everyone knows their role and responsibilities.
- Data Analytics and Management The Sales Operations team reviews available data and creates viable data sets. These data sets can then be used in a multitude of different ways to pinpoint areas of improvement in the sales process, campaigns or products.
- Territory Structuring and Management is a central task for sales teams that divide their work this way. The Sales Operations team continuously optimizes territory structure, guaranteeing effective allocation and usage of resources at hand.
- Compensation and Performance Management can involve Sales Operations in a lot of ways. They can manage and set incentives for sales personnel and establish processes that recognize or remediate good and bad performance. The team might also supervise, conduct, or coach managers on periodic sales performance reviews.
- Sales Automation can relieve sales teams of burdensome manual tasks, and Sales Operations can research, recommend, and implement automation solutions.
- Assistance for Sales Training. While Sales Enablement might deliver training, Sales Ops helps by setting up the internal Learning Management System and coming up with onboarding processes that will teach new employees how to use the blend of sales strategy and tech sales stack to their advantage.
- Reporting allows sales teams to get a clear view of successes and areas for improvement. Sales Ops can help by producing reports on revenue team activities to help managers make decisions and changes.
Roles and Responsibilities of a Sales Operations Team
Each company defines its Sales Ops function and roles uniquely to fit their needs and perspectives. Here are a few basic roles that every company needs to fill in a Sales Ops group.
Roles | Job Description and Responsibilities |
Sales Operations Representatives | This is an entry-level position where the rep has about 0-2 years of experience. They need to possess a keen eye for details, excellent communication skills, technical aptitude, and the ability to understand marketing and sales automation tools. |
Sales Operations Analyst | This position requires the reps to have worked for at least 3 years in sales operations. They should be able to liaise across multiple departments such as marketing, sales, IT, data analytics, engineering etc. They should be proactive and have exceptional problem-solving skills. Advanced knowledge of data mining, data analysis, automation tools, and Excel is also a major plus. |
Senior Sales Operations Analyst | This position requires about 4+ years of experience. They should be well-versed in CRM management, business intelligence modeling, Excel etc. They require impeccable communication skills to interact with sales executives. |
Sales Operations Manager | This position requires an individual who has about 5 years or more experience working in a Sales Ops team. They typically manage and lead the Sales Ops team. They need to possess troubleshooting skills, ability to coalesce different points of view, and put together comprehensive reports to present to the senior management. They should have a deep understanding of data modeling, data analytics, sales behavior what drives sales, and how sales processes work. |
VP of Sales Operations | Typically the individual who’s at the helm of a Sales team has more than 10 years of experience. They are usually the ones who closely work with the senior leadership in the company. They should typically have an MBA and should have held multiple senior roles in their career. They should understand the overall process of a Sales Ops team and provide key insights on how to create and maintain an efficient Sales Ops team. |
Measurement of Sales Ops Success: Metrics and KPIs
Broadly classified, Sales Ops success is measured on the following 2 metrics:
- Performance Metrics. Deal size, Pipeline value, Forecast Accuracy, Sales Target Achievement Rate and Closures Won.
- Efficiency Metrics. Lead Response Time, Sales Cycle Length, Selling Time Cycle, Efficiency of the Pipeline and Prospect Meetings.
You’re Never Too Late to the Party
Sales Ops is pertinent to any company looking to create a sustainable and scalable business. It’s never too late to add this team to your company.