Sales operations is an emerging corporate function that guides and supports the sales force, for the purpose of maximizing sales productivity. Many firms have deployed some form of this idea, sometimes using alternative names, among them “sales effectiveness,” “commercial excellence,” “revenue operations” (or “revops”), and “sales enablement.” This overview course examines distinctions present in these various ideas and labels, though thereafter uses the term “sales operations” broadly to include all of these variations.
This overview identifies the contributions and role of sales operations departments — how they work and what they do, and their impact on corporate sales force effectiveness. Sales operations is shown as a system of systems, made up of multiple operating disciplines which contribute to overall sales force effectiveness.
Topics include:
- Modeling the effective sales organization
- A brief history of sales force effectiveness functions, their core capabilities and typical responsibilities
- The productive sales force: a system of systems
- Planning and strategy
- Sales process management
- Structuring the sales organization
- Salesperson assignments and territory design
- Managing opportunity pipelines
- Sales performance measurement and management
- Incentive compensation design
- Managing the sales tech stack
