Sales operations are a set of business activities and processes that help a sales organization run effectively, efficiently and in support of business strategies and objectives. Sales operations may also be referred to as sales

Sales

A sale is the act of selling a product or service in return for money or other compensation. It is an act of completion of a commercial activity....

 operations, sales support or business operations

Business operations

Business operations are those ongoing recurring activities involved in the running of a business for the purpose of producing value for the stakeholders...

.

The set of sales operations activities vary from company to company but often include these eight categories:

1. sales strategy: design, planning, execution
2. measurement of results: reporting, analytics & sales data
3. compensation, sales quota, policies
4. technology & tools, including CRM
5. Training & sales communication
6. Sales territory
   Sales territory
   Sales territories are the customer groups or geographic districts for which individual salespeople or sales teams hold responsibility. Territories can be defined on the basis of geography, sales potential, history, or a combination of factors...
   
    design & optimization
7. Contests/spiffs
8. Lead generation/sales programs

The sales operations team members are often the liaisons for sales to other parts of the organization such as finance

Finance

"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...

, marketing

Marketing

Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...

 and IT. They will represent the needs of sales in meetings and cross-functional projects.

Sales operations as a function

More and more mid to large size companies are forming sales operations departments within their organizations. and, per the sales operations excellence center, 54% of sales operations groups are less than three years old.

In the past, these functions were non-existent, handled by sales managers or scattered throughout an organization. Companies are now recognizing the significant benefits of sales operations activities and the need for centralization and formal leadership.

The benefits of sales operations

Sales operations activities; help sales leaders make sound and timely business decisions to drive short term and long term performance, help sales leaders align selling resources with the greatest opportunities in the most cost effective

Cost-effectiveness

Cost-effectiveness analysis is a form of economic analysis that compares the relative costs and outcomes of two or more courses of action. Cost-effectiveness analysis is distinct from cost-benefit analysis, which assigns a monetary value to the measure of effect...

 ways, help ensure all sales personnel are treated fairly and are paid accurately, help improve sales performance through better processes, technology and methodologies, help to improve employee morale

Ultimately sales operations activities significantly contribute to the success of a sales organization and that organizations ability to meet/exceed business targets.

Sales quota

Sales quota is the minimum sales goal for a set time span. A sales quota may be minimum amount of dollars or product sold. Sales quotas may also be for sales activity like: number of calls per day. Management

Management

Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...

 usually sets the sales quota and the sales territory

Sales territory

Sales territories are the customer groups or geographic districts for which individual salespeople or sales teams hold responsibility. Territories can be defined on the basis of geography, sales potential, history, or a combination of factors...

. The time span could be set for the day, week, month or fiscal quarter or year.

Sales territory

Sales territory

Sales territory

Sales territories are the customer groups or geographic districts for which individual salespeople or sales teams hold responsibility. Territories can be defined on the basis of geography, sales potential, history, or a combination of factors...

is a usually a geographical area assigned to a salesperson or group of persons. The geographical area may also be assigned to franchisee, distributor

Distribution (business)

Product distribution is one of the four elements of the marketing mix. An organization or set of organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption by a consumer or business user.The other three parts of the marketing mix are product, pricing,...

, or agent. A sales territory may also be assigned by type of customers, as all retailers or all wholesalers in geographical area. A sales territory may be as large as: a continent, a nation or half a nation, or as small as a: town or city. A sales manager may have a sales territory different than the sales persons overseen.

See also

• Choice architecture
  Choice architecture
  Choice architecture describes the way in which decisions are influenced by how the choices are presented , and is a term used by Cass Sunstein and economist Richard Thaler in the 2008 book Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness...
  
  
• Customer service
  Customer service
  Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase.According to Turban et al. , “Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer...
  
  
• Point of sale
  Point of sale
  Point of sale or checkout is the location where a transaction occurs...
  
  
• Retailing
  Retailing
  Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
  
  
• Sales (accounting)
  Sales (accounting)
  In bookkeeping, accounting, and finance, Net sales are operating revenues earned by a company when it sells its products. Revenue are reported directly on the income statement as Sales or Net sales....
  
  
• Sales incentive plan
• Sales process engineering
  Sales process engineering
  Sales process engineering has been described as “the systematic application of scientific and mathematical principles to achieve the practical goals of a particular sales process". Selden pointed out that in this context, sales referred to the output of a process involving a variety of functions...
  
  
• Sales promotion
  Sales promotion
  Sales promotion is one of the four aspects of promotional mix. Media and non-media marketing communication are employed for a pre-determined, limited time to increase consumer demand, stimulate market demand or improve product availability...
  
  
• Sales management
  Sales management
  Sales management is a business discipline which is focused on the practical application of sales techniques and the management of a firm's sales operations. It is an important business function as net sales through the sale of products and servicess and resulting profit drive most commercial...
  
  
• Sales variance
  Sales variance
  Sales variance is the difference between actual sales and budget sales. It is used to measure the performance of a sales function, and/or analyze business results to better understand market conditions....
  
  
• Selling
  Selling
  Selling is offering to exchange something of value for something else. The something of value being offered may be tangible or intangible. The something else, usually money, is most often seen by the seller as being of equal or greater value than that being offered for sale.Another person or...
  
  
• Trade
  Trade
  Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...
  
  
• Transaction
  Financial transaction
  A financial transaction is an event or condition under the contract between a buyer and a seller to exchange an asset for payment. It involves a change in the status of the finances of two or more businesses or individuals.-History:...
  
  
• Customer service
  Customer service
  Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase.According to Turban et al. , “Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer...
  
  
• Customer relationship management
  Customer relationship management
  Customer relationship management is a widely implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing,...