Back in 2013, I launched our very first Salesloft product for salespeople, and made a big mistake.
It began with my early sales calls. I had made contact with some sidelined sales operations folks with little influence over the purchase, but a strong desire for control. I remember a call with the company’s VP of sales who, at the time, said they wanted the product. He told me, “Let’s not go through sales ops. They can tell you ‘no,’ but they can’t say ‘yes’ (like I can).” It was from that fatal counsel that I thought I knew who to avoid if I wanted the “yes.”
It didn’t take long for me to realize the mistake I had made. Later, after launching our (now) core product for sales engagement, I vowed to never make the same mistake again. I made it my mission to meet and build relationships with the best modern sales operations leaders in the game. These new inspirations opened my eyes to what sales ops winners can do for the growth and success of an organization.
That’s when I learned that the modern sales operations leader can be the biggest force multiplier in your GTM.
The modern sales “go to market” strategy is an intricate game of chess, each piece representing individual specialized roles across the organizational board. The modernization of process, along with an endless supply of new technologies, increased market competition, and a swelling sales development movement have only intensified the game’s complexity.
And the best allies are modern sales operations leaders are exceptional. The ones that go beyond technology management and process implementation. They assemble data, they summon insights, and they employ best practices with authority. They strategically design the GTM to propel their company to exponential growth.
For too long, the sales operations leader has been seen simply as a pawn in the game of sales — just a Salesforce.com admin or commission calculator.
But this couldn’t be more wrong.
The modern sales operations leader can be your business’s most forceful lever to success during the biggest shift to happen to sales organizations in the last decade.