The Optimal Sales Operations Organizational Structure (And Why RevOps Must Play a Role)

Last updated on Wednesday, August 23, 2023

Sales operations are the backbone of any successful business. It ensures the smooth functioning of the sales process, enhances efficiency, and improves the overall customer experience. However, building an effective sales operations team structure can be a daunting task, and companies often struggle to get it right.

The rise of revenue operations (RevOps) promises to improve on the old sales model by aligning sales, marketing, and customer success teams to maximize revenue growth. This guide will discuss the optimal sales operations team structure and why RevOps must play a crucial role in it.

What Does Sales Operations Do? Sales Operations Functions

The purpose of the sales operations is to support and enable the sales team to achieve their revenue targets. Typically, sales operations functions include:

- Sales planning (setting targets, developing sales strategies, and forecasting sales)
- Process optimization (identifying inefficiencies in the sales process and implementing improvements to enhance efficiency and reduce costs)
- Sales enablement (providing sales reps with the necessary tools, training, and resources)
- Data analysis (tracking and analyzing sales data to identify trends, opportunities, and areas for improvement)
- Technology management (managing the sales technology stack, including CRM, sales automation tools, and analytics platforms)
- Sales compensation (designing and administering sales compensation plans to incentivize sales reps to achieve their targets)

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The Optimal Sales Operations Organizational Structure

The optimal structure for a sales team includes four main divisions: technology and equipment, planning and strategy, operations, and performance.

1. Technology & Equipment

Key questions:

- What sales tools are available to the team?
- What new technologies can enhance the sales process and improve productivity?
- What hardware needs to be maintained and stored?

A technology and equipment team is responsible for managing and optimizing the equipment as well as the sales technology and software stack used by the sales team, as well as managing the sales team’s hardware ( such as computers and mobile devices). The team collaborates closely with other teams to ensure that the technology and equipment support the overall sales strategy and goals.

2. Planning & Strategy

Key questions:

- What is our current sales strategy and is it in alignment with overall business objectives?
- What are the market trends, customer needs, and competition?
- What key performance indicators (KPIs) should we be working toward?

The planning and strategy team sets sales targets, identifies KPIs, and develops tactics to achieve sales objectives. They also establish sales territories, assign sales reps to those territories, and develop quotas for each rep.

This team will also take on the task of forecasting sales and making adjustments as needed, and therefore play a critical role in driving revenue.

3. Operations

Key questions:

- Is the sales process functioning smoothly?
- How efficiently are we making sales and serving customers?
- Are we providing the right data to the leadership team?

The operations team manages the sales pipeline, which includes identifying, qualifying, and nurturing leads to convert them into customers. They are responsible for optimizing sales processes, such as lead generation, lead nurturing, and order processing.

Also, they manage the sales data and ensure the right reports are getting to the right people to make data-driven decisions that will boost revenue.

4. Performance

Key questions:

- Are we meeting our sales goals?
- How are we doing in key metrics like conversion rates and win rates?
- How can we improve our performance going forward?

A performance team is responsible for monitoring and optimizing the sales team’s performance. The team tracks and analyzes sales metrics, such as conversion rates, win rates, and sales cycle length, to identify trends, opportunities, and areas for improvement.

The performance team collaborates with the planning and strategy team to establish sales targets, quotas, and KPIs for sales reps. They also work with the sales compensation team to ensure that sales compensation plans are aligned with sales performance and business objectives.

Key Roles in a Sales Operations Team Structure

Here are some of the most important roles in a sales operations team, and in which of the above categories they belong:

- Sales Operations Manager (all): Responsible for overseeing the sales operations team, developing and implementing sales strategies, monitoring sales metrics, and ensuring alignment between sales and other departments.
- Sales Analyst (planning & strategy/operations): Responsible for analyzing sales data, identifying trends and opportunities, and creating reports to help sales managers make data-driven decisions.
- Sales Enablement Manager (operations/performance): Responsible for creating and delivering sales training programs, developing sales collateral, and ensuring sales reps have the necessary tools and resources to succeed.
- Sales Operations Coordinator (operations): Responsible for managing sales processes, tracking sales leads and opportunities, and ensuring data accuracy in the sales CRM.
- Sales Technology Manager (technology & equipment): Responsible for managing the sales technology stack, including CRM, sales automation tools, and analytics platforms, and ensuring they are integrated and optimized for the sales team.
- Sales Compensation Manager (performance): Responsible for designing and administering sales compensation plans, ensuring they are aligned with business objectives, and motivating sales reps to achieve their targets.
- Sales Operations Specialist (operations): Responsible for supporting the sales operations team in various activities such as data entry, report generation, and research.

How Does RevOps Play a Role?

Revenue operations (RevOps) is a strategic approach that aligns the sales, marketing, and customer success teams to maximize revenue growth. Basically, RevOps provides a holistic view of the customer journey – from lead generation to customer retention – and helps ensure that all teams are working toward the same revenue goals.

In a sales operations team, RevOps may be responsible for integrating the sales technology stack and ensuring that the data flows smoothly between systems. A RevOps team may also be responsible for developing and implementing processes and procedures that streamline the sales process, reduce inefficiencies, and improve the customer experience.

In addition, RevOps may play a role in sales planning — as well as creating a revenue strategy — by providing insights into customer behavior and market trends that can help the team develop a sales strategy and tactics. RevOps can also help ensure that sales compensation plans are aligned with business objectives and performance metrics.

Boost Revenue by Uniting Sales Operations With Other Facets of Your Business

Organizations increasingly are recognizing that it’s not enough to have an effective sales team to grow revenue — it has to be integrated with all other aspects of your business, from accounting to marketing. But that’s a big challenge for any company.

That’s where revVana comes in. Contact revVana if you want to take the guesswork out of revenue forecasting and get accurate, up-to-date revenue insights that can help you make better business decisions. With their expertise in revenue operations management and Salesforce integration, they can help you optimize your revenue processes and achieve sustainable growth. Set up a demo today.