Welcome to Russ Reed On Sales Ops

Building a solid sales organization has never been more critical than today - money is tight and every customer's purchase must demonstrate a benefit to the bottom line. In building a solid sales organization, what makes a sales team greater than the simple sum of its sales people? Answer:  A Sales Operations team that ensures: - that the sales organization is working from a winning sales model, - that the sales compensation plan is motivating yet balanced, and well integrated into other plans, - that performance against plan is clearly identified and readily available to the leadership, - that problems are identified early, - that sales managers are proactively provided with the reports they need, - that best practices in each step of the sales process are identified and replicated, - that sales managers and reps have more time to spend on selling, - and that customer care is baked in to all customer interactions.              Please scroll down . . .

Sales Ops is in a unique position to monitor multiple, internal communities of interest as well as that of the customer, for optimal sales performance..

Available on a permanent or consulting basis.

Links: Resume Sales Compensation Design Key Metrics Marketing and Sales Integrated Planning How's Your Sales Ops? email me

Sales Operations can and should be the intersection of vital communities of interest in the company, going a few steps beyond providing basic support functions. A strong sales ops team looks at the sales process and customer experience as one continuum. Various individuals (lead generation, sales, pre-sales, tech support, customer service, billing) in the company touch part of this continuum along functional lines, but if the customer experience is not viewed and managed as a whole, the company misses an opportunity to set itself apart from the competition. Many companies manage this continuum at a strategic and executive level, but strategy and managing exist in two different planes. If you do not plan to manage the details, strategies are just words on the wall. Sales Operations must also provide basic sales support to the reps and to the sales managers. Sales managers have their hands full assessing and developing a wide range of sales skills and working with high profile customers, so a support team that identifies and help replicates best practices is a natural complement to sales managers. A great sales ops team then provides this basic sales support, but takes advantage of its access to the customer experience and sales process, and intelligently provides the platform for managing those two activities as one strategy, as one team. Proposals and messaging are refined, customer expectations are closely managed, individuals needing help with part of the sales process are identified, and customer problems are the exception. In short, it's not just about crisp sales support, but helping the enterprise succeed by reducing variance and risk in the process. I have director level experience in this regard in both a Fortune 100 company and in startups in both telecom and enterprise application software. I have extensive experience in sales comp design and administration, channel strategy and analysis, business plan development, and performance metrics. I have held key positions in Sales, Marketing and Finance, and have acquired the broad company perspective necessary if sales ops is to rise to its potential. I can help your organization be more successful. If you would like more information, please review my resume, or pages on Marketing and Sales Integrated Planning, Sales Compensation Design, or Key Metrics. You can evaluate your own sales operations performance at How's Your Sales Ops? Or you may email me at russ@russreed.net with proposed times we can talk. Thank you for visiting my website!