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The Next Generation Sales Operations Team
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Copyright 2010 IDC. Reproduction is forbidden unless authorized. All rights reserved. The Next-Generation Sales Operations Team – Companion Presentation [The Next-Generation Sales Operations Team (IDC#224122 , July 2010)] Michael Gerard Program VP IDC Sales Advisory Service www.idc.com/salesadvisory v2 For Internal Use Only. Not for Distribution without IDC
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This IDC study discusses the results of IDC's research of the sales operations function. This research provides a detailed evaluation and analysis of the best and emerging practices across sales operations teams at the technology industry's largest and best-performing companies. A framework is provided to help sales operations teams identify key weaknesses and gaps in their current structure. Also provided is IDC's guidance on the key components required to enable the transition to the next-generation sales operations team, including recommendations sales operations staffing levels. "Sales costs are outpacing revenue growth, sales organizations are increasing in complexity, and IT buyers continue to indicate that sales reps are out of touch with their needs," says Michael Gerard, vice president of IDC's Sales Advisory Practice. "The sales operations team must be the key driver and catalyst for increased productivity across the sales organization, setting the vision for its future and maintaining the path toward this vision. However, significant organizational and structural changes are required with sales operations teams to achieve this goal. With the right strategy and individuals in place, sales operations teams have the potential to be the catalyst for establishing a best-in-class, agile sales organization."
Transcript of The Next Generation Sales Operations Team
Copyright 2010 IDC. Reproduction is forbidden unless authorized. All rights reserved.
The Next-Generation Sales Operations Team – Companion Presentation[The Next-Generation Sales Operations Team (IDC#224122, July 2010)]
The Next-Generation Sales Operations Team – Companion Presentation[The Next-Generation Sales Operations Team (IDC#224122, July 2010)]
Michael GerardProgram VPIDC Sales Advisory Service www.idc.com/salesadvisory v2
For Internal Use Only. Not for Distribution without IDC Permission.
© 2010 IDC 2
“Our customers are more knowledgeable
before our first meetings than ever before.” [Sales Ops]
“I am unable to leverage what my organization
has to offer me” [Sales Rep]
“My technology vendors do not understand my
business” [CIO]
Customers
“The pace of change is speeding
up” [Sales Exec.]
Technology Vendors
Sales Operations needs to be the driving force for productivity improvements across sales, setting its vision for the future and maintaining the path towards this vision.
Sales Operations as a Driving Force of Change
For Internal Use Only. Not for Distribution without IDC Permission.
© 2010 IDC 3
Mapping the Transition to the Next Generation Sales Operations TeamMapping the Transition to the Next Generation Sales Operations Team
Current Sales Operations Function
• Tactically focused• High decentralized, with poor
alignment within sales and with other areas
• Limited involvement across IDC’s Sales Productivity Levers
• Mired in traditional CRM technology and redundant systems
• Unable to directly or indirectly measure performance
The Next Generation Sales Operations Team
• Strategic driver for sales’ executives
• Center of Excellence structure• Process engineering and change
management expertise, leveraging industry best practices
• Managing or governing improvement across IDC’s Sales Productivity Levers
• Fluent in the use and leverage of next generation sales automation
• An expert in sales performance measurement
For Internal Use Only. Not for Distribution without IDC Permission.
© 2010 IDC 4
Sales Operations Organizational Strategies - AgendaSales Operations Organizational Strategies - Agenda
Clarifying Terminology Study Objectives and Methodology Current State Analysis, Challenges Best Practices IDC Essential Guidance
For Internal Use Only. Not for Distribution without IDC Permission.
© 2010 IDC 5
Clarifying Terminology: Sales OperationsClarifying Terminology: Sales Operations
Global and local sales staff responsible for developing and orchestrating the processes and systems required to enable an efficient and effective sales organization: strategic planning, financial management, sales performance measurement, sales infrastructure, marketing and sales alignment, and overall sales excellence.
Sales Strategy &Planning
Sales Forecasting
Sales Analytics
Sales Compensation
Sales Enablement
Quote to OrderSales Operations
Sales AutomationInfrastructure
For Internal Use Only. Not for Distribution without IDC Permission.
© 2010 IDC 6
Sales Operations Study: Research Objectives and MethodologySales Operations Study: Research Objectives and Methodology
Methodology Conduct executive interviews with sale operations
professionals at leading firms Leverage data from other IDC Sales Advisory Service research
Participant Demographics* Company interviews(partial list): Amdocs, CSC, Fujitsu, HP,
Intel, Juniper, Kronos, Microsoft, MTE, Oracle, Siemens, Sungard ($1B+ companies with complex sales processes for large customers)
Representative titles: VP, Global Sales Strategy & Performance; Dir. Strategy and Planning, WW Enterprise Business Operations; Dir. of Sales Model Design
For Internal Use Only. Not for Distribution without IDC Permission.
*This study also includes insight from attendees at IDC’s May 2010 Sales Leadership Board meeting where initial results of this research were first presented.
© 2010 IDC 7
What’s the Mission of your Sales Operations Team?What’s the Mission of your Sales Operations Team?
Optimize the sales organization’s productivity
“Allow sales management to focus solely on revenue-generating activities”
Drive process improvementOwn the quote to order process
For Internal Use Only. Not for Distribution without IDC Permission.
© 2010 IDC 8
Sales Operations ChallengesSales Operations Challenges
Identifying the roles and responsibilities of sales operations: strategic and tactical Too many sales operations folks in the regions are doing too many tactical activities Collaboration with other teams (e.g., marketing, finance) “Do we have the right skill-sets across sales operations to be more strategic?”
Managing Change Reorganization of the sales force Gaining credibility and buy-in from sales management
Identifying the greatest opportunities for improvement (“low hanging fruit”) Lack of Focus Poor process (and technology) adoption Optimizing Sales reps time
Performance measurement of sales operations “Budget money keeps coming in without any formal assessments.” “How has sales operations impacted our business?”
For Internal Use Only. Not for Distribution without IDC Permission.
© 2010 IDC 9
Sales Operations Best PracticesSales Operations Best Practices
Global Sales Operations Functions as a Center of Excellence (COE) A global sales operations team is responsible for establishing and governing best
practice processes and infrastructure (top down support) Regions are empowered to execute locally - they have a sales operations function
for localized activities
Strong Alignment Between Global and Local SO Teams Common reporting hierarchy: “We all report to the same boss.” Common functional structure: “Each functional group has steering committees.” Clearly established communication and interaction points
Sales Operations Sets Priority Objectives, Initiatives: evaluate current state vs. best-in-class, identify key gaps in sales’ productivity, develop and prioritize initiatives “We have a ‘war room’ run by SO to track key issues across the world. . key sales
execs are on a weekly call to highlight and discuss these issues and reps can create a ‘case’ in our SFA.”
“I run weekly staff calls for the sales executive team.” “Sales operations provides channels for sales reps to escalate key productivity-
related problems.”
For Internal Use Only. Not for Distribution without IDC Permission.
© 2010 IDC 10
IDC Sales Operations Maturity MatrixIDC Sales Operations Maturity Matrix
Decentralized Global Sales OperationsForming, SO in Regions,
BUs Operate in Silos
Global Sales Operationsas a Center of
Excellence
TacticallyFocused
Operational Excellence
Level of Centralization
Ro
le o
f S
ales
O
per
atio
ns
• Good executive support• High level of productivity• Agile sales organization
• Good executive support• Improvement needed across
SO staff and structure• Need better SO processes
• Lack of global alignment• Inability to execute
process improvements• Market forces will drive
change
• Struggling to build credibility• High level of redundancy• Inability to focus on longer-
term initiatives
For Internal Use Only. Not for Distribution without IDC Permission.
© 2010 IDC 11
Sales Operations Best PracticesSales Operations Best Practices
• Directly impact sales reps to improve productivity and increase SO visibility• “We are working with sales management including FLSMs to develop a gap/skills assessment process for
reps improve their training and overall productivity.”• “We’ve established a shared services model for some of our sales operations processes – e.g., order
management and pricing.”
• Preparing for customer interactions• Sales Enablement as a High Priority
• “We have a dedicated team focused on sales enablement within sales operations.”• “Sales playbooks have made our selling efforts more prescriptive . . . . Reps spend more time asking the
right questions of prospects.”
• Customer Intelligence as a High Priority• “We’ve significantly increased productivity with our new CI solution: what used to take five days, speaking
to 3 different people now takes under five minutes.”• “All information can now be accessed through one system – our SFA.”• “Our reps can now spend time on deals and in front of customers, and less time constructing a
transaction.”
• Collaboration with Marketing Clear identification of points of process overlap (e.g., lead management, sales enablement) Inclusion of marketing in more tactical sales operations activities: “Our sales operations team meets with the
CMO and marketing operations teams at least weekly.”• Integration with Marketing Automation – e.g., marketing and sales’ pipelines
For Internal Use Only. Not for Distribution without IDC Permission.
© 2010 IDC 12
Sales Operations Organizational Structures: Center of Excellence ModelSales Operations Organizational Structures: Center of Excellence Model
VP Global Sales Operations
Regional Sales Operations Teams
Strategy & Planning
Analytics
Forecasting
Compensation
SalesEnablement
RFPs, Pricing & Order Mgmt.
LocalExecution of
Global Practices
SalesFinance,
HR
Marketing
Global Head of Sales
Sales Automation
Regional VP Sales
Mission: Process & Technology Infrastructure
Mission: Local Execution and Collaboration with Global Ops
For Internal Use Only. Not for Distribution without IDC Permission.
© 2010 IDC 13
Sales Operations Performance MeasurementSales Operations Performance Measurement
“Our performance is based upon how much we improve the ‘productivity’ of the sales force.”
Quantitative Metrics Financial metrics (revenue (quota attainment, cross-sell/up-sell), profitability, cost of
sales) Pipeline metrics (% aging) Order Management: quality holds (e.g., reduce the number of delayed orders – revenue
recognition, human error, configuration error) Forecast accuracy Other: Return of time to sales: “Our goal is to give the reps back 4 to 5 hours per week.”;
% up-time for sales applications as well as other SLA-related metrics
• Qualitative Feedback “Productivity has increased with deployment of CI tools – allowing sales reps to easily
find data they need, and freeing up the fields ops support people who were gathering the data for them.”
“Productivity in the sales area is measured on fulfillment of roles and responsibilities to allow other team members to function efficiently in their assigned areas.”
For Internal Use Only. Not for Distribution without IDC Permission.
© 2010 IDC 14
Sales Operations ExperienceSales Operations Experience
Varied backgrounds: sales, sales operations, marketing, finance Cross-functional experience: “Allows managers to understand the
different challenges that can arise and have a large pool of experience to draw on to resolve challenges.”
Sales Automation: “Sales technology and training skills have increased in importance.”
Communication: “Being able to train and communicate clearly on applications, processes, and the strategic vision is key.”
Diplomacy in working with sales folks: “We need to work with people who think they're a gift to the organization and in some cases a gift to the world“.
Consulting skill-sets: “Experience with business process management and project management is mandatory to elevate the role and impact of sales operations.”
Global experience: Experienced with different types of selling models and cultures across the world as well as. “Improved ability to empathize with the regions.”
For Internal Use Only. Not for Distribution without IDC Permission.
© 2010 IDC 15
IDC Guidance for the Sales Operations FunctionIDC Guidance for the Sales Operations Function Sales operations must provide greater strategic insight and impact
SO initiatives must have greater impact in a shorter amount of time (i.e., short-term achievements in parallel with long-term initiatives)
Process consistency and technology adoption: More consistent adoption and leverage of processes and sales automation, allowing for regional nuances
Improved ability to foresee future challenges and improve organizational agility (e.g., acquisitions, shifting coverage models, greater reliance on the channel)
Greater rigor in sales performance measurement will help SO and the sales organization as a whole (e.g., drive dashboard development)
Sales Operations needs to be the driving force for productivity improvements across sales, setting its vision for the future and maintaining the path towards this vision.
For Internal Use Only. Not for Distribution without IDC Permission.
© 2010 IDC 16
Contact InformationContact Information
Michael Gerard Program VP Sales Advisory [email protected]: 508-988-6758
www.idc.com/salesadvisory
Irina Zvagelsky Research Analyst Sales Advisory [email protected]: 508-988-6916
For Internal Use Only. Not for Distribution without IDC Permission.
