Sales and Rev Ops leaders have long been the unsung heroes of revenue generation – until now.
We realized that Ops needed a voice, especially in the European market. That’s why we’ve created this Inside Modern Sales Operations series. You’ll find each article packed with; real, unfiltered advice from one Rev and Sales Operations leader that’s influencing the B2B SaaS industry worldwide.
Today we’re featuring Tommy Taylor, International Sales Operations Manager at Lookout. Let’s jump on in!
Tell us a bit about yourself
I’ve worked in technology for over six years for both North American and Dutch startups in various stages of maturity. After a short stint in Sales Development, I’ve been focused on Sales Operations. I support the alignment, process, and technology used by global sales teams.
How do you contribute to your Sales team’s success?
In my role overseeing International Sales Operations at Lookout; I work hand-in-hand in driving local strategy with the SVP of International Sales; while maintaining consistency with the Sales Operations team in the United States.
With our sales team being enterprise-focused and channel-driven, my role looks to identify the bottlenecks stemming from a complicated process; So that our sales team can close more new logos. From a data and CRM aspect, I need to enforce consistency in collecting and storing our data, making sure that conclusions drawn from analyses can be used to drive the right business decisions.
What’s your sales operations best practice?
One of the best learnings in my career has been in the importance of building a network. Meeting new people is a daunting task, especially when conversations with those people feel work-related. Still, the effort is definitely worth the reward in both solving current business challenges as well as career growth.
A network is a great way to make sure you don’t repeat the mistakes made by others in your role.
In a role like Sales Operations, where the majority of time will be internally focused; it is very easy to remain isolated from what happens outside of the organization. This unintentionally limits effectiveness and the ability for one to innovate by being closed off to how people in similar roles are solving the same problems but in very different ways. A network is a great way to address this and make sure I am not repeating others’ mistakes.
Some software vendors have been great to foster communities where it makes it easy to connect with other people, something I value and consider when purchasing new products.
So in the past, I’ve bought tools based on an exciting vision; but then I only end up using a fraction of the functionality; because I can’t apply it to my everyday world. In conclusion, having other people to work with and be inspired by how they have driven value is a great way to get over this hurdle.
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Want to check out the rest of the Inside Modern Sales Operations series? Read more articles.
