Sales Ops 101: Aligning Marketing and Sales with a CRM

 

Sales Ops 101: Aligning Marketing and Sales with a CRM

What is Sales Operations?

Sales operations is the function responsible for all the non-selling tasks that support and optimize the sales cycle, from lead management to data analysis and technology implementation.

In short, sales ops helps sales professionals close more deals faster.

Many administrative tasks need to be handled for a sales process to run smoothly. When these tasks are removed from your sales reps' plates, they can focus on what they do best: closing deals.

A sales ops team covers these tasks within the sales process while also optimizing processes and structures outside the sales process, which are vital to keep the team running smoothly.

What Does a Sales Operation Team Do?

A sales operations team can be responsible for many different tasks depending on what your sales team needs. Common sales op tasks include:

Building the Sales Strategy

Sales operations teams often work closely with sales leaders to help them create sales goals and strategies and align those with the company's overall business goals. A good sales operations team can provide data-driven insights into more effective sales strategies.

Sales Process Optimization

A sales operations team has a high-level view of the sales process and its key metrics. They optimize the sales process by identifying bottlenecks, streamlining workflows, and implementing automation to boost overall sales productivity.

This can include using data analysis to see which parts of the sales cycle take too long or cost too much money or using automation to streamline repetitive tasks in the sales process. It can also involve improving customer satisfaction and increasing sales revenue.

Creating Sales Forecasts

Figuring out how much you're likely to sell is a complicated process. But because sales ops has access to so much data, it's a great team to task with predicting your revenue using the right sales forecasting strategies.

‎This means knowing how many leads you need to acquire each month, how many of those will convert into opportunities, and how many of those opportunities will result in closed deals. By helping you better forecast sales volumes, the sales operations team can help your organization make better business decisions.

Leveraging Sales Tools & CRM

Sales technology is becoming a vast expanse of specialized tools and plug-ins. It’s the job of a sales operations team to ensure that your sales reps are using the right tools and getting the most out of them. The ops team monitors sales productivity and continuously works to set up a tech stack that enables the team to perform at their highest potential.

Handling Data Management & Analysis

Using data to make better decisions is key to the success of your sales ops team, which is a growing trend in sales operations. The best sales operations teams can provide insights to improve your performance by analyzing sales trends or providing insights into customer behavior, answering questions like Are reps making the most of their time? Are our customers delivering maximum lifetime value? Are we reducing turnover?

A good sales operations team can help your organization understand what data is most important to you. They can then use that information to help build tools and processes that make sense for your business. This could mean creating reports and dashboards that provide key metrics or making changes to your CRM system based on the needs of your sales team members.

3 Key Sales Operation Roles for SMBs

Many smaller companies get by just fine with one person in sales operations, but as your team grows, it's a good idea to start thinking about expanding your sales operations team.

Here are three key roles in the sales operations team:

• Sales Operations Manager: This person ensures the sales team is set up and ready to go. They'll be responsible for building out your CRM system, ensuring that all the data is accurate, and training new hires on how to use it effectively. They might also assist with sales planning by helping the rest of the team develop those plans based on what they see coming through their systems.
• Sales Operations Analyst: This person will work closely with the Sales Operations Manager, but they'll focus on building the systems themselves and ensuring they are set up correctly. This includes creating reports to track sales performance by territory or account type, developing a workflow for how new leads should be managed (including who should be responsible for reaching out when), and ensuring that everyone works within the same guidelines.
• Sales Operations Specialist: This person will work on the frontline with sales reps, helping them set up their systems and ensure they use them correctly. They'll also help with training and coaching to ensure that new and entry-level reps understand the best ways to use their tools and how they can hit specific goals.

Some companies may include other sales operations roles, like "coordinator" or "business development/sales and operations rep." Most of these roles align with those listed above or combine them.

When starting your sales ops team, start with a sales operations manager. They'll help you build out the rest of the team.

So, where does your sales ops team fit in with your sales and marketing structure? There's no right answer. Companies have different needs and existing sales team structures.

Sales Ops 101: Aligning Marketing and Sales with a CRM