Let’s face it, the VP of Sales is a busy person. First make the number, second, make sure we are hiring the right salespeople, getting involved with key deals, reviewing the sales funnel and constantly travelling the world to visit clients, partners, prospects and acquisitions. Sound like you?
So what about the sales initiatives you needed or promised to implement;
- What about the data, clarity, dashboards and reports behind the hunches - your Radar
- Sales enablement to improve sales process adoption
- Cleaning up CRM and making it effective
- Sales segmentation to lower your costs
- Win-loss reports to see what your competitors are doing
- Funnel analysis and big data
- Poor performers get well plan. Are these people being addressed?
- Social selling, if you are not doing it Get with it.
- Inside sales optimization
- Lead scoring initiative
- President's or Chairman’s club
- Training schedule every second Friday we were going to start?
Oh yes what about the sales coverage model, goals, commission plan for 2014 that was due last week? These initiatives, are they just as important to making the number? You need to answer that. My data from my consulting engagements say, Yes. Most of the above initiatives will more than pay for sales operations, and more important provide you the sales growth you need.
The role of sales operations is to partner with the Sales VP to ensure these initiates get off the ground, and get institutionalized. Just as important sales operations is your radar to provide you the clarity and data to effectively manage your sales organization.
Sales operations in a lot of companies we have consulted with are a “key” partner to the VP of sales. No they are not just clerks or CRM gurus, they are a partner to provide you the clarity the radar you need to effectively run your sales organization. Part of the role may be order processing, making dirty orders clean, ensuring the CFO buys in or negotiating that big contract.
I am going to make a bold statement. A VP of Sales with more than 8 sales people is totally running blind without sales operations. Is your sales operations a key partner within your organization, if not WHY?
Get on the band wagon, free up your time, get the “Right” data and let sales operations become your sales radar and partner to success.
