We’d like to extend our sincere thanks to Marci Reynolds for her gracious welcome and for the outstanding job she has done establishing The Sales Operations Blog as a valued resource for sales operations professionals around the globe.  We’ve got big shoes to fill and are committed to carrying forward the standard of excellence she has set for timely, relevant, and well-researched thought leadership that delivers actionable guidance to our readers.

We’re excited to share our insights into the science of selling at a time when sales operations is really taking off.  As the wealth of information and opinion available over the Internet allows prospective customers to enter the sales cycle more informed than ever before, the challenges facing today’s sales organizations are considerable:

• Sales cycles are compressed
• More leads are necessary to close a given amount of business
• Prospects demand knowledgeable salespeople who understand their business

While automation offers the promise of greater efficiency, it also raises its own challenges; selecting the right tool, ensuring sales force adoption, and making sure you’ve got your processes optimized before automating them.  Finally, a weak economy is driving the need for improved productivity wherever possible.  With sales leaders needing to keep their eyes on the pipeline and their time spent on managing the team, it is no wonder they increasingly turn to sales operations professionals to manage these complex issues.  As a result, sales operations is truly a career in its ascendency.

As sales productivity consultants working with companies that sell technology and related services, we spend our days talking to sales operations leaders, VPs of sales, and CEOs about their sales challenges and opportunities.  Because of our diverse backgrounds and regular conversations with so many different companies, we are able to have a well-rounded perspective on the world of sales operations, spot trends, cross-pollinate best practices, and note which innovations promise to deliver real value.

So, we have some great ideas and are anxious to put them in motion!  In addition to maintaining Marci’s high quality of content, we hope to leverage the views of other thought leaders we know, tap into your viewpoint through polls and surveys, and provide greater utility as an information resource through the implementation of improved searching and navigation features.

Please feel free to let us know if you have any suggestions regarding how we can make the blog a more valuable destination.  We’d be happy to hear from you at feedback@salesoperationsblog.com.

— Tom Barrieau and Brian Geery