A Quick Guide to Implementing a Sales Operations Strategy

SBI TV38 minutes read

The SBI podcast with Greg Alexander and Steve Rutage from Genesis discusses developing a sales ops strategy, focusing on providing business outlooks and equipping sales teams with tools for successful selling, emphasizing the importance of managing distractions and prioritizing tasks amidst numerous requests. Strategic alignment and collaboration between sales ops and sales enablement are crucial for enhancing sales organization decisions and improving overall performance.

Insights

  • The SBI podcast, hosted by Greg Alexander and featuring Steve Rutage, focuses on enhancing CEOs and sales and marketing leaders' performance through discussions on sales operations strategies, including key objectives like providing business outlooks and equipping sales teams with tools for successful selling.
  • Genesis, a leading enterprise software company, emphasizes the importance of data architecture for effective sales analytics, integrating tools like Salesforce, Burst for predictive analytics, and transitioning to Kaladis for incentive comp automation, highlighting the critical role of clean and usable data in driving sales effectiveness and efficiency.

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Recent questions

  • What is the focus of the SBI podcast?

    Enhancing performance for CEOs and sales leaders.

  • How does Genesis manage internal processes?

    Through sales forecasting, deal reviews, and more.

  • What is the major obstacle for sales ops leaders?

    Managing distractions and prioritizing tasks.

  • What stage of analytics is Steve's team primarily in?

    Diagnostic stage, focusing on rep performance and more.

  • How does Genesis approach sales enablement?

    By combining Sales Ops and Sales Enablement.

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Summary

00:00

Enhancing Sales Performance Through Strategic Operations

  • The SBI podcast offers CEOs and sales and marketing leaders ideas to enhance their performance.
  • Greg Alexander, CEO of SBI, hosts the podcast, with today's guest being Steve Rutage, Senior VP of Global Sales Operations at Genesis, a leading enterprise software company in customer service and contact center management.
  • Genesis serves over 3,000 customers across 80 countries.
  • The discussion focuses on developing and executing a sales operations strategy using SBI's Revenue Growth Method, specifically Step Five: Sales Strategy Phase 13: Sales Ops.
  • Steve outlines the two main objectives of his sales ops team: providing business outlook to company leadership and equipping sales teams with tools for successful selling.
  • Internal processes managed by the sales ops team include sales forecasting, deal reviews, win-loss analysis, RFPs, sales training, executive briefing center, reference database, social selling, quote tool, and defining the sales process.
  • Win-loss analysis is a key tool for the executive team, influencing product roadmap, pricing strategy, and marketing campaigns.
  • The major obstacle for sales ops leaders is managing distractions and prioritizing tasks amidst numerous requests and opinions.
  • Steve's team is primarily in the diagnostic stage of analytics, focusing on rep performance, pipeline health, and lead sources, with a toe in predictive analytics.
  • Developing a strong data architecture is crucial for effective sales analytics, ensuring clean and usable data for descriptive, diagnostic, and predictive analysis.

15:40

"Integrated IT Solutions Drive Sales Success"

  • The company has a strong IT team with a good leader and team members who have been essential in integrating and customizing cloud solutions.
  • They implemented a Master Data Management (MDM) initiative to clean and organize data for accounts, customers, prospects, and products due to various acquisitions.
  • The architecture focuses on pulling data from different systems, including Finance, Accounting, HR, and Salesforce, with a goal of scalability and specific outputs for sales managers and leaders.
  • The company uses Salesforce as a foundational system and has integrated tools like Sao for content management, an LMS for training, and LinkedIn for social selling.
  • They have invested in Burst for predictive analytics, pulling data from Salesforce, NetSuite, and Workday for in-depth analysis and comparisons.
  • The company emphasizes knowledge management through forums for specific questions and content availability for sales and sales engineers.
  • They are transitioning to Kaladis for incentive comp automation to provide real-time visibility, scenario analysis, efficient commission processing, and commission expense forecasting.
  • Sales Ops and Sales Enablement are combined at Genesis, focusing on quantitative tools, training, content, and sales effectiveness to meet the conditions of satisfaction for the sales team.
  • The distinction between Sales Ops (efficiency-focused) and Sales Enablement (effectiveness-focused) is crucial for making the company easy to sell for and easy to buy from.
  • The advocacy for the sales team members' needs and conditions of satisfaction drives the belief that Sales Ops and Sales Enablement should be part of the sales function, despite heavy reliance on product marketing for content.

31:05

"Connecting Engineering, Marketing, and Sales for Success"

  • Product management connects engineering and marketing by determining what to build based on customer needs.
  • Sales enablement bridges the gap between marketing and sales, facilitating collaboration and alignment.
  • Strategic alignment is crucial for successful connections between different organizational functions.
  • Separating sales Ops and sales enablement can enhance collaboration between marketing and sales teams.
  • Aligning company, product, and marketing strategies is essential for guiding sales organization decisions.
  • Implementing a systematic sales process and tracking system can improve understanding and performance.
  • Investigating best practices in sales enablement and sales Ops can provide valuable insights and guidance for strategy development.
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