Main Responsibilities and Required Skills for Sales Operations Specialist

A Sales Operations Specialist is responsible for managing the sales process in order to enhance sales productivity. They prepare and analyze forecasts and inventory and provide market analytics and insights. In this blog post we describe the primary responsibilities and the most in-demand hard and soft skills for Sales Operations Specialists.

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Main Responsibilities of Sales Operations Specialist

The following list describes the typical responsibilities of a Sales Operations Specialist:

Activate

Activate eligible contracts and orders in Salesforce.com when manual provisioning is required.

Administer

Administer all credit / rebills to customer maintaining correct accounting.

Align with

Align closely with customer operations team to ensure consistency with the forecasts and orders.

Assist in

Assist Commercial team with proposal development.
Assist customers with orders, renewals, and contract and procurement processes.
Assist in hardware quality checks and staging prior to final delivery to the client.
Assist in promoting seamless communication between Sales, and other involved departments.
Assist in the development, adherence to, and refine contracting policies and procedures.
Assist Order Management and Customer Service teams to solve post-sales issues.
Assist Sales Manager with any ad-hoc administrative tasks that might arise.
Assist Sales team in data organization and integrity through Mass Updating tools or Merging features.
Assist to update contract, proposal and business term templates.
Assist with complex and / or time-consuming administrative tasks for the sales team as needed.
Assist with coordinating and running events, conference and event attendance.
Assist with fulfillment and order creation of Hardware to ensure ongoing stock availability.
Assist with on-boarding new sales reps by procuring tools required.
Assist with order assignment, reporting and entry into SFDC.
Assist with reporting needs as required.
Assist with sales data cleanup and migration efforts to ensure sales data is accurate and compliant.
Assist with the management of our product catalogue.
Assist with the positioning of our offerings and related marketing materials.

Build

Build client-facing materials such as RFPs and presentation decks.
Build out documentation to support processes.
Build partnerships with Business Unit counterpart and become the "Voice of the Customer”.
Build relationships with all key vendor contacts.

Carry out

Carry out market research and competitive analysis including product monitoring.

Check

Check out our Careers page to consult other available positions and learn more about Stingray.

Collaborate with

Collaborate on client and prospect guest visits.
Collaborate with cross functional teams to identify process optimization opportunities.
Collaborate with finance to ensure a smooth "quote-to-cash” handoff.
Collaborate with suppliers for activities related to hardware purchasing.
Collaborate with suppliers for hardware purchasing and returns (RMAs).
Collaborate with team to improve or define processes that promote efficiency and effectiveness.

Communicate

Communicate with HQ for any pending issue of production delay and inform the customers.
Communicate with sales representatives and account representatives.

Complete

Complete ownership of the transfer process of all orders flowing from CRM to SAP.

Conduct

Conduct standardized initial training for all new SOS.

Connect

Connect and maintain relationships with other internal teams that support operations or sales.

Contribute to

Contribute ideas and innovations to improve upon existing systems, work processes and procedures.
Contribute to the continuous refinement of a sales technology playbook for repeatable success.

Coordinate

Coordinate and deliver training to the sales team via email updates, training room and WebEx.
Coordinate and schedule client opportunity planning meetings across internal teams.
Coordinate contract approvals as required.
Coordinate repeat orders for past purchasers including quoting and order fulfillment.

Co-work

Co-work with Logistics team with forwarder's delivery and custom clearance status.
Co-work with SCM team with production plan to meet customer's demand.

Create

Create an automatic information display based on regular database updates.
Create and distribute regular reporting to various business teams.
Create and maintains marketing materials inventory.
Create and manage Salesforce reports and other ad-hoc reports for the Sales organization.
Create and / or assist Network team with Provider presentations.
Create and update internal departmental Policies.
Create, maintain reports and dashboard in Salesforce.
Create operational efficiencies and assist in driving sales of assigned vendor line (s).
Create opportunities and outbound quotes for Sales Account Managers.
Create pricing templates, vendor groups, and special pricing procedures for vendors.
Create / update tools to support sales operation processes.

Cultivate

Cultivate sales leads utilizing multiple resources.

Design

Design and implement improvements to Salesforce and Salesforce CPQ to enhance the user experience.

Develop

Develop relationships with Business Unit counterpart and become the "Voice of the Customer”.

Document

Document, communicate, and train sales teams on existing and new sales tools and processes.

Draft

Draft new contracts and agreements as assigned.

Drive

Drive entire maintenance renewal business with partners & customers.
Drive executive reporting on key performance metrics weekly.
Drive team alignment by detecting, highlighting, and resolving data anomalies.

Enforce

Enforce sales boundaries, rules of engagement, and fair play across sales channels.

Engage

Engage with our Slack community when team members need assistance.

Enhance

Enhance sales productivity by enabling the team to work smarter by simplifying processes.

Ensure

Ensure accuracy of ownership and address data on all new upgrades.
Ensure all CRM data is clean, accurate and complete.
Ensure all customer account information are up to date and maintained in our systems.
Ensure compliance with all company policies and responsible for SOX compliance.
Ensure proper completion of contracts, marketing agreements, and documentation of sales targets.
Ensure sales team alignment to sales processes, policies and procedures.
Ensure that sales comply Accounting and Finance.
Ensure that sales meet financial and legal requirements.
Ensure the integrity of sales and subscription data for reporting purposes.
Ensure timely release of orders and provide shipping updates to customers.

Enter

Enter forecasts into the revenue forecasting tool.
Enter your email to apply.

Establish

Establish sales compensation program rules, policies and procedures.

Evaluate

Evaluate and interpret trends and patterns in practice performance data.
Evaluate new and existing tools and platforms.

Foster

Foster an environment of continuous improvement.

Generate

Generate weekly reporting statistics.

Handle

Handle data requests from different stakeholders.
Handle other duties and responsibilities as defined by management.

Help

Help drive insights for market opportunities.
Help managing the sales process with the VP Sales Operations.
Help to shape the future of Revenue as a Service.
Help troubleshoot and answer general inquiries around use and protocols of Sales team tools.

Import

Import trade show leads and prepares logistics for follow up.

Initiate

Initiate contact with inbound leads and vets the opportunity.

Input

Input complaints, feedback and tech support cases for Sales Account Managers.

Interact with

Interact with clients helping them with many aspects of products and sales.

Lead

Lead all Programmer logistics, ensuring appropriate traceability.
Lead generation, management, and engagement.
Lead other projects as needed to assist in attainment of Revenue team goals and objectives.

Liaise with

Liaise with Finance Teams internally and externally to make sure payments are on-time and accurate.

Maintain

Maintain and enhance quarterly business performance reporting.
Maintain and update all documentation of processes & procedures relating to Customer Service.
Maintain data integrity and accuracy.
Maintain / Open customer records by updating and recording account information.
Maintain physical and electronic files.
Maintain positive vendor, partner, and customer relations.
Maintain quote templates in collaboration with Solution Architecture.
Maintain renewal forecasts and dashboards for the sales organization.
Maintain SalesForce.com with key artifacts during the sales cycle.
Maintain team's budget and keep track of spending and budget for each month.

Make

Make a difference in the lives of thousands of students as they explore educational opportunities.
Make corrections and provide guidance to the sales team as required.
Make recommendations for changing go to market in order to maximize sales productivity.

Manage

Manage and ensure month-end closing procedures in order to reach the sales goal.
Manage and track orders for retail customers.
Manage a pipeline of Payments applications with existing customers.
Manage content calendar and oversees process to hit deadlines.
Manage contract "important dates” calendar.
Manage cross-functional projects that require sales inputs.
Manage inbound leads, conducts initial vetting and needs analysis.
Manage incentive payouts and compensation.
Manage maintenance renewal process.
Manage sales projects as required.
Manage the administration of sales budgets as well as sales business plans.
Manage the resolution of Hardware order queries from Customers, Partners, and internal stakeholders.
Manage weekly, monthly and quarterly reporting and dashboards for the Sales Forecast meetings.

Mange

Mange, track, coordinate and reconcile customer's merchandise orders to ensure timely delivery.

Monitor

Monitor team email box and route questions to respective therapeutic area.

Optimize

Optimize messaging and assist sales team during Hardware and Payments journeys.

Order

Order processing subject matter expert by vendor.

Own

Own data integrity between Salesforce.com and other company systems.

Participate in

Participate in projects involving technical and financial concepts providing recommendations.
Participate in promotional and commercial events as well as in meetings with customers.

Perform

Perform account research.
Perform ongoing management of sales tools and technologies.

Plan

Plan, develop and deploy solutions supporting company's internal training modules.
Plan and manage meetings, events, conferences and trade shows.

Prepare

Prepare accurate reports for management.
Prepare and analyze forecasts and inventory.
Prepare and validate contracts based on sales programs and agreements set with customers.
Prepare quotes for partners and / or end-customers for their service renewals.
Prepare reports to monitor and boost team efficiency and streamline daily operations.

Propose

Propose modifications and improvements to commercial agreements to optimize sales targets.

Provide

Provide ad hoc reporting to sales management team.
Provide assistance as required on SFA applications.
Provide data and generate reports for the sales team and executive management.
Provide feedback and recommendations for improvement of departmental processes where appropriate.
Provide insight and support to members of the Sales department.
Provide market analytics and insights.
Provide regular coaching to field sales on company best practices.
Provide regularly scheduled reports to management.
Provide remote, phone-based support to ~30+ salespeople on a daily basis as needed.
Provide review and support during heavy contracting periods.
Provide sales support to ensure deals, forecast and pipeline data is accurate in CRM (Sugar).
Provide support for sales ad-hoc reports preparation.
Provide support to and help execute marketing campaigns.
Provide support to the sales team's usage of our sales tools.
Provide technical solutions for salesforce development to increase user adoption strategy.
Provide the management team with forecasts, sales reports and KPI.
Provide the weekly consolidated Billings and Backlog report for MDC accounts.
Provide troubleshooting assistance for customer orders, account status, and related problems.
Provide updates for new and existing collateral.

Receive

Receive, process and route orders and order changes, tracking for timely response.

Recommend

Recommend Salesforce dashboard and reporting improvements, including enhanced views and formats.

Redefine

Redefine and automate processes.

Report

Report weekly on customer activities / issues.

Research

Research and recommend sales and marketing related technology systems - mostly cloud-based.

Resolve

Resolve all customer and internal department invoicing issues.

Respond to

Respond quickly and professionally to customer emails and calls within the defined stipulated time.
Respond to requests for assistance in a timely manner.

Review

Review, consolidate and reconcile orders, contracts and payments.
Review opportunities with Sales VP's to manage pipeline and ensure up to date forecasting.

Revise

Revise quotes and closes opportunities for completed sales orders.

Run

Run sell-in and sell-out updates and work with Sales teams for more frequent data submissions.

Set

Set up, monitors and reports on Hubspot marketing data an dashboards.

Stay up to

Stay up to date with existing sales tech, emerging tools and business trends.

Submit

Submit accurate and timely forecast through Salesforce.com.

Support

Support AM sales calls with customers on individual opportunities.
Support Business Development & Sales team regarding CRM tools and related business rules.
Support monthly and ad-hoc reporting needs.
Support overall strategic and operational cadence for the sales organization.
Support Sales Operations leadership in HubSpot use and management.
Support sales team with creating and finalizing appropriate sales documentation.
Support team members and coordinate assignment changes for various platforms.

Take

Take pride in error-free data and documentation.

Track

Track and administer all logistics involved in expired product.
Track Invoices for client contracts and partner with finance on revenue recognition.
Track record of achieving sales goals and objectives.

Train

Train new CRM users on processes and workflows, and create supporting resource materials.
Train Sales and in particular less experienced AE's and facilitate cross-training among the team.

Understand

Understand the company's business processes and cross-functional operations.
Understand sales operations / procurement workflow.

Update

Update shipping report / receipt logs daily / weekly for all models and monitor customer's updates.

Upsell

Upsell to multi-year renewals by positioning value to the customer.

Validate

Validate and update customer account information.

Verify

Verify product availability and shipping information and follow up to ensure client satisfaction.

Work with

Work across teams (Sales, Finance, Legal, Operations) to complete contracts.
Work cross functional to remove any operation / organizational barriers.
Work hard and play hard with table tennis and foosball.
Work in collaboration with channel sales managers to elaboration of specific sales programs.
Work to define and build best practice processes in our CRM environment and beyond.
Work with customers to resolve billing and subscriptions inquiries.
Work with department leadership to highlight and address known training gaps in the field.
Work with finance team to ensure that sales reporting and forecasting are accurate and timely.
Work with Marketing vendors on consolidating data and importing to Salesforce.
Work with our Customer Success team on contract and subscription management.
Work with the Business Intelligence team to develop appropriate dashboarding and communications.

Most In-demand Hard Skills

The following list describes the most required technical skills of a Sales Operations Specialist:

Most In-demand Soft Skills

The following list describes the most required soft skills of a Sales Operations Specialist:

Written and oral communication skills
Attention to detail
Analytical ability
Organizational capacity
Interpersonal skills
Detail-oriented
Work independently with little direction
Problem-solving attitude
Team player
Multi-task
Bilingualism
Organized
Planning
Self-motivated
Established goals
Presentation
Time-management
Collaborative
Creative
Sense of urgency