Gartner stated eloquently in their latest State of Sales Operations report:
“The most effective sales operations departments also serve as “chiefs of staff,” coordinating everything from sales strategy to execution — both within the sales function and among stakeholders outside of sales. The organizations that succeed will be those that can successfully leverage sales operations as a focal point for the key decisions their sales leaders make.”
With so much at stake, are Sales Operations professionals earning a salary commensurate with their responsibilities? To find out, we analyzed Payscale’s Sales Operations salary data on 20 US cities, according to the following parameters:
- Years of experience: 2 years, 5 years and 7 years
- Sell at the National level
- Employed by a Company that is not publicly held
- Highest degree completed: BA for Manager, MBA for Director
- What was your job title 5 years ago? Sales Operations Specialist
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What Factors Will Influence Sales Operations Salary Evolution?
As the role of Sales Operations continues to evolve with the constantly changing business and technology landscape, we anticipate that the salary levels will grow as well. The role is shifting away from an administrative management function to a strategic role focused on data and technology, with accountability to Revenue Operations.
Data Analysis and Governance
Gartner’s State of Sales Operations study reveals the evolving skills needed for sales operations. Data and analytics skills are expected to be more crucial to sales operations in the coming years than they are today.
In five years, the following ten skills will be most essential to Sales Operations success (in order of importance):
- Data visualization
- Quantitative skills
- Analytical problem solving
- Forecasting and modeling
- Data governance
- Strategic planning
- Technical aptitude
- Experience with a specific CRM platform
- Application management
- CRM expertise
Skills that are sought-after by hiring managers today are expected to become less important, including effective oral and written communication, previous experience in sales, project management and sales compensation administration.
Technology Skillset
In an increasingly complex selling environment, sales organizations face challenges related to technology implementation and adoption. Sales Operations leaders are tasked with solving these issues while scaling their sales organizations.
A study by Miller Heiman confirms the Gartner findings. According to Miller Heiman’s 2nd Annual Sales Operations and Technology Report, there is increasing pressure placed on Sales Operations managers to “better leverage data, analytics, AI, and tech tools” to meet sales operations objectives.
Sales Operations leaders are required to grow their technology skillset, so they are prepared to source, install, and train their staff on the technology that will help their teams perform better and grow revenue. They must be adept at the use of CRM and CPQ to support their teams in preparing pricing and proposals. And, it’s imperative that they have the ability to interpret the data generated within those systems.
How Sales Operations Can Overcome Skillset Challenges
An article on Harvard Business Review explored the challenges of the Sales Operations function and how the role cuts across two dimensions: strategy and operations. The strategic aspect (data visualization, strategic planning) best suits someone with creative thinking and problem-solving skills. On the other hand, the operational role (data analysis, technical aptitude, CRM expertise) is best performed by someone who craves efficiency, quality control, and structure. The problem is that these two opposing characteristics seldom live in the same person.
The solution is not to expect the Sales Operations leader to possess both of these dimensions. Rather, they must be strong leaders who hire and develop a team with “diverse and specialized competencies who do fundamentally different jobs and likely have dissimilar career aspirations. The team must not only cover a broad range of sales force issue expertise; it must also include process/detail experts and analysis/design experts working together aligned around the goal of sales force success.” (HBR)
How DealHub Supports the Success of Sales Operations Leaders
DealHub’s sales technology platform includes CPQ, Subscription Management, Contract Management, Sales Proposal, and e-Signature and is designed as an extension of your Sales Operations workflow within your CRM. The software allows you to manage your entire deal flow from one location – with zero gaps in your view of the buyer journey.
DealHub’s Deal Acceleration Platform supports both the strategic and operational needs of Sales Operations leaders. Our platform provides the data required for strategic planning while streamlining the sales process and improving sales team efficiency and productivity.
DealHub Provides Value for Sales Operations at Every Career Level
- Entry-level – DealHub is an easy solution to implement and maintain, even if your sales process is complex.
- Manager – It’s easy to make changes to the Sales Playbook and maintain control of your guided process.
- Director – As you scale your sales team, the dynamic solution accommodates that growth without disruption.
- C level – Benefit from unique data insights into your sales performance, and gain the most accurate revenue reporting with complete margin controls.
DealHub integrates seamlessly within Salesforce CRM, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and Freshsales CRM. All fields feature bi-directional synchronization, so your information is updated in real-time.
DealHub is fast to implement and easy to use: plug in your sales process data, configure your business rules, and start quoting. No coding necessary, so you can be set up and ready to go in minimal time. DealHub’s customers also appreciate our competitive price point.
Learn how DealHub supports your Sales Operations needs. Contact us for a demo today!
