- Structure, Process, and Methodology
- Sales org structure & role design (incl. ideal talent profiles; hiring strategy = sourcing + assessing; sales support functions incl. sales/value engineering, SME/evangelists; to specialize or not to specialize)
- Sales operating rhythm design (incl. line management)
- Sales process: includes your opportunity stages (with exit criteria) by type – new business, expansion (upsell & cross-sell), and renewal. Should vary by segment (ENT vs SMB). Deeper elements include
- Proof-of-concept (PoC/PoV) strategy: Demo & Trial; ROI calculators
- Value-based selling pre- and post-sales (incl workshops/assessments)
- the role of peer-to-peer executive introductions/sponsorship
- Mutual Plans (MAP, MSP, JEP)
- Account Planning (esp. org. mapping & relationship assessment)
- Bookings linearity (in quarter and across the year)
- Sales methodologies:
- Qualification & deal health inspection. Ex: BANT; MEDDPICC; etc.
- Call/meeting (Demo; Discovery; etc.)
- Negotiation
- Sales approach: relationship vs. consultative vs. challenger
- Competitive sales approach (greenfield; knock-out; defense)
- Internal alignment/collaboration (esp. between Sales, Marketing, Finance, & Product)
- Systems & Data Management
- Tech stack administration (incl. support, system changes, license allocation) for CRM, MAP, ABx, CS, PRM, etc.
- Systems budget management
- Tech stack vision & roadmap
- System & field governance
- Data governance (master data management)
- Data acquisition (incl. vendor selection)
- Data management/data quality/workflows
- Operations Management (incl. performance & planning)
- Strategic project management (& decision support)
- KPI Selection/Governance/Definition
- Forecasting (new business & renewals; non-recurring revenue); also sales & operations planning for manufacturing
- Translate financial plan into the operating plan (esp. projected bookings by source)
- Churn forecasting & analysis (including NRR measurement)
- Pipeline management (incl. reviews; hygiene processes; etc)
- Reporting & dashboards for sales – systematic and adhoc (esp. activity, pipeline, results; productivity & repeatability); sales finance (LTV/CAC)
- Account Scoring/Prioritization (new & existing accounts)
- Territory/Account Coverage Planning & Assignment/Ownership
- Quota assignment
- Compensation plan design & commission administration
- Recognition/Incentive programs (SPIF)
- Sales policies
- Field operations (ROEs for multi-location/geography)
- Deal desk/contract management/quote management (incl. discounting policy, CPQ, and quote-to-cash)
- Provisioning (users & accounts)
- Budgeting (incl. headcount capacity/coverage planning)
- Readiness aka “Enablement”)
- Onboarding & ongoing training/certification for reps and managers
- Process & Methodology (incl. selling skills)
- Market/Customer Knowledge
- Product knowledge
- Tech stack/systems knowledge
- Soft skills (ex: time management; communication; leadership)
- Sales content & collateral (ex: pitch decks; proposals; playbooks; battle cards)
- Sales communications
- Competitive Intelligence
- Win/Loss Analysis
- Internal Sales events (esp. SKOs, President’s Club)
- RFP/Proposal Management
- Executive Briefing Centers
- Customer journey mapping
- Onboarding & ongoing training/certification for reps and managers
- Success/Services Operations Management (non-commercial)
- Proactive motions
- Implementation/account onboarding
- Gather & respond to feedback (ex: NPS)
- User onboarding/provisioning & ongoing training
- Drive usage of existing & new features
- Source new users
- Seek referral
- Value Plans & executive value reviews (quarterly or mid-contract; QBR; EBR)
- Exec relationship building
- Identify & cultivate advocates
- Source qualified customer leads
- Offboard accounts
- Reactive triggers
- Facilitate support requests
- Engage loud (high support volume) & quiet accounts (no support requests)
- NPS response
- React to key user person change
- React to low/high/non-compliant usage
- React to outages or security breach
- Late invoice payment
- Retention measurement & optimization
- Account health scoring
- Customer Support
- Professional Services
- Proactive motions
- External channel & partner relationship management
- Channel partner management with VARs, Systems Integrators, Distributors/Resellers, and/or Service Providers
- Reseller partners vs. referral partners
- Channel marketing & channel pipeline generation
- Approach to prevent & resolve channel conflict
- Marketing Operations Management
- TAM (incl. penetration & whitespace) & ICP/persona
- Analytics (incl. attribution / contribution)
- MQL definition
- Funnel: Lead Scoring, Nurturing, Routing, Engagement, and Conversion (MQL, CSQL, SQL, SAL, SAO)
- Intent capture (1st party & 3rd party)
- Pricing & Packaging
- Campaign management (ABx; nurture; etc.)
- ABx definition & execution
- Segmentation (Tiering – vertical, geography, size, etc.)
- Value proposition (with compelling differentiation) & use case management
- Field Marketing Ops (incl. owned & sponsored events)
- PR/Influencer/Analyst/Peer Review Site Marketing
- Demand Generation (strategy & execution/impact, & analytics)
- Product-led Growth (PLG)
- SEM
- SEO/Content
- Social (paid; brand)
- Mix of agency vs. in-house
- Customer marketing (in-app and traditional)
- Community (owned and/or 3rd party engagement)
- Customer advisory boards/user groups
- Reference database