Operational leaders must focus on empowering frontline teams by ensuring their time is spent acquiring and retaining customers. As sales operations executives, they must have a holistic view of the business through metrics and data insights to develop strategies. By communicating data stories, operational leaders can empower teams at all levels. Building strong relationships across functions helps enable consistent operational excellence. An empowered deal desk can increase efficiency by streamlining approvals, pricing, and contracts to keep deals moving forward.

1. Growth Hacking Sales
Operational Excellence - Fessal Rahman
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2. Sales / Operations
Leadership, Sales Operations & Deal Desk have one thing in common, their sole
purpose is to take care of the people on the frontline, ensuring their time and
attention is spent doing what matters, acquiring new customers, retaining &
growing existing ones.
However, as leaders we are obsessed in making an impact, micromanaging our
teams, believing we can do a better job, and all too often we focus on being an
expert in the business, but this has nothing to do with being a leader. Take care
of the people, be responsible for them so they can do their job.
“You don’t need a title to be a leader”.
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3. Modern Day Operations
As an operational executive, Sales Operations must lead from afar but be
detailed orientated too, have a 30k foot view of the business, whether that’s
opportunity management, data integrity, growth planning or plans regarding
commissions. These are the critical areas to focus on when managing sales
teams and ensuring high performance over time.
Operational leaders also need to be numerate, a data junkie who can interpret
data, look for insights and trends which may well form tomorrows strategy. The
simple things, accuracy of forecasts, to ensure effective pipeline planning,
defining metrics and targets to track against.
“What would you do if you knew”.
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4. Data & Detail
Operations is the detail, translating data into actionable insights over time, if there
is a meaningful way to interpret data there will be a meaningful way to leverage
this. Storytelling, explain the data so your audience listens and is empowered,
convince them, convert them to take steps to improve. Communication needs to
empower at all levels, from SDRs to the C Suite.
“Maybe stories are just data with a soul”
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5. Relationships
Build relationships, be engaging across all functions which support the sales
process, finance, product, customer success and more. Be decisive, have
documented processes, manage disputes effectively, and enable teams
repeatedly. Operational excellence is not about intensity, it's about consistency,
the monotonous things you need to do every day to be excellent. Going to the
gym for 3 days does not get you fit but going every day for 30 minutes does.
”The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken
place”
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6. Deal Desk
Deal desks have been used by sales organizations for several years but are
gaining popularity because they create efficiencies in the sales organization and
offer creative solutions for customers. The deal desk has the detail and authority
to cut through the red tape of approvals and make decisions which matter
regarding pricing and contracts.
An empowered Deal Desk function will have a profound impact on the business,
a key enabler which consolidates and organizes information for all deals and
makes decisions to keep the sales process moving.
“If you want to have clean water, send it through a filter”
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7. Deal Framework
High Touch
 High-value, complex deals, with non-standard pricing and/or T&Cs
 Strategic deals with custom or standard solutions across all markets
Low Touch
 Low-value, complex deals, with non-standard pricing and/or T&Cs
 Standard and custom solution configurations across all markets
No Touch
 Deals which comply with predefined business rules
 Standard configurations across key markets
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8. Deal Desk – The Enabler
Given the right remit and authority, Deal Desk can be a key business enabler
across deal formation and execution including pricing and all commercial
documentation, increasing sales efficiency & effectiveness which allow sellers to
focus on what matters. Allow greater business visibility and global consistency,
and finally a profound impact to the quality and integrity of the Contract Life
Cycle, and controls for audit & compliance.
”Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value”
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9. Summary
If you truly want to scale a business and grow exponentially focus on what
matters, create an operational framework which allows our sellers to simply
thrive, in a global economy where informed customers are truly discontent and
demanding more at a faster pace than ever before, don’t let operational
weaknesses let you down. Plan for success.
“The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change
amid order”.
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10. Own the future
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