SellingBrew

Insights & Tips

Already a subscriber? Login

Become a subscriber and unlock an information arsenal focused on making your sales operation more effective.

5 Sales Ops Skills That Help Weather This Storm

It goes without saying that these are some very odd times that we’re in. Both our business lives and personal lives are having to comprehend and deal with the drastic changes of the past few weeks. Our daily routines have been upended with many of us adapting to work from home and finding new ways to connect with our colleagues.

I’d wager that few, if any of us, would have had the foresight to anticipate the exact reality of where things stand now. And I’d also wager that being able to accurately forecast the next few weeks and months is equally as challenging. And while so much is uncertain right now, we have a responsibility to do our best to manage that uncertainty.

Those of us in Sales Ops are in a unique position at a time like this. The skills and traits that make us effective in our roles are great assets at helping to understand the various scenarios that may play out and chart the course forward. Here are 5 traits that come to mind:

  1. Big Picture Perspective
    Great sales ops teams recognize that there are many parts of the equation and they’re often able to understand the variety of resources, departments and market dynamics that come into play.
  2. Diagnostic Thinking
    Effective sales ops teams have the ability to investigate, identify, and fully understand underlying issues and root-causes. As companies map out responses and next steps right now, these skills are vitally important.
  3. Scenario Analysis
    The ability to estimate likely outcomes and determine the potential ramifications of various actions can be a godsend at times like these.
  4. Data Visualization
    Data visualization techniques become more important now to not only aid in presenting scenarios and investigative processes, but also in helping others better understand and interpret what the data is saying.
  5. Problem Solving
    Good sales ops professionals can identify potential problems before they occur. And great sales ops professionals are also able to devise and test a variety of solutions to those problems to help stave them off.

Those are just 5 of dozens of skills that those of us in Sales ops have that are almost universally helpful at a time like this. If you’re not doing it already, now’s a great time to look around and see where you can put those skills to work—whether it’s in sales ops or helping out in another tangential area of the company.

These are very odd times that we’re in, but they’re also a great opportunity to find new ways to put your skills, knowledge and expertise to use.

Get Immediate Access To Everything In The SellingBrew Playbook

Related Resources

  • Exposing Your Differential Value Step-by-Step

    From our best practice research, we’ve cut through the complexity of value-based selling to provide a simplified, step-by-step tutorial for understanding and exposing the differential value of your offerings.

    View This Tutorial
  • The Pitfalls of Sales and Marketing Alignment

    Sales and marketing alignment can sometimes do more harm than good. These real-world case studies expose the costly downsides of alignment and reveal the mindset that's often more effective to adopt.

    View This Case Study
  • Arming Sales to Protect Value

    The balance of power in quoting and negotiations has clearly shifted in the buyers’ favor. In this report, we highlight seven approaches B2B companies are using right now to help their salespeople protect value and margins against today's savvy business buyers.

    View This Research
  • Designing Effective CRM Dashboards for B2B Sales

    How do you make your CRM dashboards an effective tool your salespeople will utilize long after the "shininess" has worn off? This Express Guide details ten strategies and tactics we’ve gleaned through our research with leading B2B sales operations and sales experts.

    View This Guide