Sales Operations Playbook (Sales Ops / RevOps)

⬅️ Back to Day 4: Convert

If you're a B2B SaaS at $5M+ ARR with a real sales team (5+ reps), you'll feel the pull toward Sales Operations (Sales Ops / RevOps) — the function that owns CRM hygiene, forecasting tools, comp plans, territory design, deal-desk, sales analytics. The naive approach: founder + first sales rep handle everything; Salesforce becomes a mess. The structured approach: hire dedicated Sales Ops; design CRM data model; instrument funnel; build comp plans; run quarterly review cadence; integrate with marketing + CS for unified RevOps. Sales Ops is the lever that turns 5 reps into 15 productively. Without it, scale exposes every ad-hoc decision.

What Done Looks Like

A working Sales Ops function:

1. Decide if you need Sales Ops

Stage matters; not everyone needs dedicated Sales Ops yet.

Decide Sales Ops readiness.

Right time signals:
- 5+ sales reps
- $5M+ ARR
- Multiple GTM motions (inbound + outbound)
- Forecast issues (off by >20% regularly)
- CRM hygiene concerns
- Comp plan getting complex (variable / accelerators)

Wrong time signals:
- <3 reps (founder can manage)
- <$3M ARR (process overhead exceeds value)
- Single-product, single-segment
- One closing motion

Alternatives at small scale:

Founder doing it:
- Manages CRM, forecast, comp
- Limit: 3-5 reps

Hire RevOps Generalist:
- 1 person owns sales + marketing + CS ops
- Used at 10-50 employees

Outsource fractional:
- Specialist 10-20 hrs / week
- Cost: $5-15K / month
- Used as bridge

Hire dedicated:
- Sales Ops Manager full-time
- Stage: 5+ reps; $5M+ ARR

Senior team:
- VP / Director of Sales Ops + analyst(s)
- Stage: 20+ reps; $20M+ ARR

For [COMPANY], output:
1. Recommendation (DIY / fractional / hire)
2. Stage fit
3. Cost
4. Timing
5. First-year priorities

The "Sales Ops at <5 reps" mistake: hiring full-time generates more process than value. Founder + Salesforce admin is fine.

2. CRM single source of truth

Sales Ops's first job: clean CRM.

Establish CRM discipline.

Choose CRM:

Salesforce:
- Most-used at scale
- Most-customizable
- Most-expensive
- Steep learning curve
- See vibereference

HubSpot:
- Mid-market default
- Easier than SF
- All-in-one (marketing + sales + CS)
- Limit at large enterprise

Pipedrive:
- SMB friendly
- Pipeline-focused
- Less powerful

Attio / Folk / others:
- Modern alternatives
- Smaller scale

Selection by stage:

<$5M ARR: HubSpot or Pipedrive
$5-50M ARR: HubSpot or Salesforce
$50M+ ARR: Salesforce typical

Data model:

Required objects:
- Account (company)
- Contact (person)
- Lead (pre-qualified person)
- Opportunity (deal)
- Activity (calls, emails, meetings)

Custom objects (as needed):
- Product
- Asset
- Renewal
- Implementation project

Required fields:

Lead:
- Source (UTM)
- Score
- Status (new / qualified / disqualified)
- Owner

Account:
- ICP fit (yes / no / partial)
- Tier (1 / 2 / 3)
- Industry, size

Opportunity:
- Stage (with exit criteria; see sales-forecasting)
- Amount, close date
- Source
- MEDDIC fields
- Owner
- Loss reason (if lost)

Hygiene rules:

Stale opps:
- No activity 30+ days → flag for review
- 60+ days → close-lost or push out

Required at stage:
- Stage 2+ requires: discovery notes, pain points
- Stage 3+ requires: economic buyer identified
- Stage 4+ requires: pricing discussed

Validation rules:
- Required fields enforced
- Date logic (close date in future)
- Stage progression rules

Reporting cadence:

Weekly:
- Pipeline + commit
- Activity (calls, meetings)

Monthly:
- Funnel conversion
- Stage velocity
- Win/loss

Quarterly:
- Forecast accuracy
- Cohort retention
- Plan vs actual

Output:
1. CRM choice
2. Data model
3. Required fields
4. Hygiene rules
5. Reporting cadence

The "CRM hygiene drives everything" rule: bad data → bad forecasts, bad comp, bad coaching. Sales Ops's #1 deliverable.

3. Sales process documentation

Process beats heroics.

Document sales process.

Stages (see sales-forecasting-pipeline-management):
- Discovery
- Qualification
- Demo / Proof
- Proposal
- Negotiation / Contract
- Closed (won / lost)

Per stage:

Entry criteria:
- What needs to be true to enter

Exit criteria:
- What proves stage is complete

Required activities:
- Discovery call
- Demo
- POC if applicable
- Decision-maker engagement

Required artifacts:
- Discovery notes
- ROI analysis
- Proposal
- Contract redlines

Roles:

SDR / BDR:
- Outbound prospecting
- Inbound qualification
- Hand off to AE

AE (Account Executive):
- Owns deal closing
- Discovery → contract

Sales Engineer (SE):
- Technical support during sales
- Demo expert
- Solutions design

CSM:
- Post-close
- Onboarding + retention

Handoffs:

SDR → AE:
- Qualified meeting handoff
- Required: company, contact, pain
- See sales-discovery-call-playbook

AE → CSM:
- Deal closed; handoff
- See sales-to-cs-handoff

Cadences:

Outbound cadence:
- Email + call + LinkedIn over 14-21 days
- 8-12 touches typical

Stage progression:
- Time-bound expectations
- Discovery → Qualification: 1 week
- Qualification → Demo: 2 weeks
- Demo → Proposal: 2-4 weeks
- Proposal → Close: 2-4 weeks

Anti-patterns:

Heroic culture:
- Top reps "just know"
- Doesn't scale; new reps fail

Process by exception:
- Different for each rep
- Forecast unreliable

No documentation:
- Tribal knowledge
- New hires lost

Output:
1. Process doc
2. Per-stage criteria
3. Role definitions
4. Handoff specs
5. Cadence templates

The "process doc as onboarding" benefit: new rep reads doc + shadows = ramped faster. Without doc, ramp is months not weeks.

4. Funnel instrumentation

Measure every stage.

Instrument sales funnel.

Metrics per stage:

Entry rate:
- Leads / opps entering each stage

Conversion rate:
- % progressing to next stage
- Track per-rep, per-source, per-segment

Velocity:
- Days in each stage
- Track median + p90

Drop-off:
- Where do deals die?
- Loss reasons captured

Aggregated metrics:

Win rate:
- Closed-won / total closed
- Per-segment / per-rep

ACV:
- Average deal size
- Trend

Sales cycle:
- Lead-to-close time
- Different by segment

ARR per rep:
- New ARR / rep / quarter
- Ramp curve

Activity metrics:

Calls / emails / meetings per rep:
- Per-week target
- Quality + quantity

Meeting set rate:
- % of outbound that books meeting

Show rate:
- % of meetings that happen

Conversion to opp:
- Meeting → opp creation

Per-rep dashboards:

Rep score card:
- Pipeline coverage
- Win rate
- Cycle time
- Activity level

Manager dashboards:
- Team rollup
- Outliers (high / low)
- Coaching focus

Exec dashboards:
- Top-of-funnel health
- Forecast vs plan
- Quarterly trends

Tools:

Built-in:
- Salesforce / HubSpot dashboards

Specialized:
- Gong (conversation intelligence)
- Chorus (similar)
- Outreach (engagement)

BI:
- Looker / Mode / Tableau
- Custom revenue dashboards

Anti-patterns:

Vanity metrics:
- "5000 calls!" without conversion
- Measures activity not outcome

Lagging only:
- Win rate tells you past
- Need leading: pipeline coverage, activity

Output:
1. Per-stage metrics
2. Per-rep + team dashboards
3. Tooling
4. Cadence
5. Coaching loop

The leading indicator: pipeline coverage 90 days out. Tells you next quarter's revenue. Lagging metrics like win rate explain past.

5. Compensation plan administration

Comp plans are Sales Ops's hardest job.

Administer comp plans.

Components (see sales-compensation-plans):

Base + variable:
- Mix typical 50/50 to 60/40

Quota:
- Annual or quarterly
- Should be hitable (60-70% rate)

Accelerators:
- Above quota → higher rate
- Common: 2x for 100-150%; 3x for 150%+

SPIFs:
- Special incentives (new product, specific accounts)

Sales Ops job:

Plan design:
- Annual; aligned with company goals

Quota setting:
- Realistic; based on history + segment

Comp calculation:
- Monthly / quarterly payouts
- Reconcile with CRM data
- Catch errors

Disputes:
- Reps will dispute calculations
- Documented process

Tooling:

Spreadsheet (small):
- Excel / Sheets
- Up to ~10 reps
- Error-prone

Compensation software:
- Spiff, CaptivateIQ, QuotaPath, Performio
- Automates calculations
- Integrates with CRM

Cost: $30-100/rep/month.

Plan documentation:

Per-rep plan doc:
- Quota
- Variable structure
- Accelerators
- Dispute process

Signed by rep:
- Acknowledgment of plan
- Annual

Year-end true-up:
- Final calculations
- Bonus payments

Anti-patterns:

Plan changes mid-cycle:
- Demoralizing
- Document and announce in advance

No clawbacks for churn:
- Reps close bad-fit deals
- Add: comp clawback if customer churns in 90 days

Quotas too high:
- 30% hit rate = bad design
- Aim 60-70%

Output:
1. Plan documentation
2. Quota-setting framework
3. Comp software (when to add)
4. Dispute process
5. Annual review

The 60-70% quota-hit-rate target: too high (>80%) and reps not stretched; too low (<40%) and morale tanks. Calibrate.

6. Territory + account assignment

Who-gets-what matters.

Design territories + accounts.

Methods:

Geographic:
- US-East, US-West, EU, APAC
- Simple; clear ownership

Industry / vertical:
- Healthcare reps; FinTech reps
- Specialization; vertical fit

Size / segment:
- SMB / Mid-market / Enterprise
- Different motion + skill

Account-based (named accounts):
- Top 100 accounts assigned by name
- Strategic ABM
- Used at enterprise scale

Round-robin / random:
- New leads distributed evenly
- Simple; low specialization

Hybrid:
- Geo + segment
- Most common

Reassignment:

Annual:
- Reset based on performance + growth
- Cleansing event

Mid-year:
- Only for major changes
- Disruptive; minimize

When rep leaves:
- Accounts redistributed
- Continuity for customers

Conflict resolution:

Two reps claim account:
- Rule of thumb: who engaged first
- Documented in CRM
- Manager arbitrates

Customer changes geography:
- Original rep often retains
- Or transfer with continuity

Tooling:

Salesforce territory management:
- Built-in module
- Powerful; complex

LeanData / Distribution Engine:
- Lead routing automation
- Per-rule assignment

Anti-patterns:

Hot vs cold territories:
- Some reps get easy; others hard
- Reset annually

Reassignment chaos:
- Frequent changes
- Customers confused

Sales Ops favoritism:
- Top rep gets best
- Resentment

Output:
1. Territory design method
2. Reassignment cadence
3. Conflict resolution
4. Tooling
5. Annual review

The "fair-but-stretching" territory: each rep can hit quota with effort but not without. Equal-opportunity territories build trust.

7. Sales tooling stack

Sales Ops manages the stack.

Manage sales tooling stack.

Core stack:

CRM:
- Salesforce or HubSpot

Sales engagement:
- Outreach, Salesloft, Apollo
- Email + call sequences
- $50-150/user/mo

Conversation intelligence:
- Gong, Chorus
- Call recording + analysis
- $50-150/user/mo

Data / enrichment:
- ZoomInfo, Apollo, Cognism
- Contact data
- $20-100/user/mo

Forecasting:
- Clari, BoostUp, Aviso (enterprise)
- Or CRM-native

Quote-to-cash / CPQ:
- Salesforce CPQ, DealHub
- For complex pricing
- Enterprise

Contract management:
- DocuSign, Pandadoc, HelloSign
- E-signature

Compensation:
- Spiff, CaptivateIQ
- Comp calculation

Analytics / BI:
- Looker, Mode (cross-functional)

Total cost:
- Mid-market sales team (10 reps): $5-20K/month
- Enterprise (50 reps): $50-200K/month

Sales Ops's job:

Vendor evaluation:
- Pilot before commit
- Avoid bloat (10 tools when 5 sufficient)

Integration:
- Tools must talk to CRM
- Single source of truth

ROI tracking:
- Justify each tool
- Cut underperformers

Adoption:
- Train reps
- Track usage; if <50% adopted, kill or fix

Consolidation:

Periodic audit:
- Are we using everything?
- Negotiate consolidation

Bundle leverage:
- HubSpot Sales Hub vs separate Outreach + Gong
- Less powerful but cheaper + simpler

Anti-patterns:

Tool sprawl:
- 15 tools; reps confused
- Most underutilized

No integration:
- Data in silos
- Reporting impossible

Reps build their own stack:
- Inconsistent
- Sales Ops can't measure

Output:
1. Stack recommendations by stage
2. Vendor evaluation process
3. Integration requirements
4. Cost / ROI tracking
5. Annual audit

The "consolidate if you can" wisdom: 5 tools well-integrated > 12 tools partially-integrated. Sales Ops's leverage.

8. Marketing-Sales alignment

Sales Ops increasingly = RevOps (Marketing + Sales + CS aligned).

Align Marketing-Sales.

Service-Level Agreements (SLAs):

Lead handoff:
- Marketing delivers MQLs
- Sales follows up within X hours
- Documented; tracked

Lead quality:
- Marketing: % MQLs that become SQLs
- Target: 30-50%

Pipeline contribution:
- Marketing-sourced vs sales-sourced
- Track per channel

Joint metrics:

Marketing-attributed pipeline:
- $X pipeline this quarter
- Conversion rate

Marketing-attributed revenue:
- $X closed-won
- 6-12 month attribution window

Cost per opportunity:
- Marketing spend / opps generated

Cost per closed-won:
- Marketing spend / new customers

Operating cadence:

Weekly:
- Marketing-Sales standup
- Lead flow + pipeline

Monthly:
- Funnel review
- Channel performance

Quarterly:
- Strategic review
- Plan adjustments

RevOps consolidation:

Combined function:
- VP RevOps owns Sales Ops + Marketing Ops + CS Ops
- Used at $20M+ ARR
- Strategic + operational

Tools:

Aligned CRM:
- Single CRM for marketing + sales

Marketing automation:
- HubSpot Marketing, Marketo, Pardot
- Integrate with CRM

Attribution:
- Bizible, Dreamdata
- Multi-touch

Anti-patterns:

Marketing throws leads over wall:
- No follow-up tracking
- Sales blames marketing; vice versa

Different definitions:
- "MQL" means different things
- Aligned definitions matter

No joint metrics:
- Each function reports separately
- No accountability

Output:
1. SLA framework
2. Joint metrics
3. Operating cadence
4. RevOps org option
5. Tooling alignment

The MQL definition discipline: marketing + sales agree what an MQL is. Without alignment, half of MQLs are unworked; sales blames marketing.

9. Quarterly business review

QBRs surface Sales Ops's value.

Run Sales Ops QBR.

Audience:
- VP Sales + leadership
- Sometimes: CEO + CFO

Agenda (90 min):

Min 0-15: Headline numbers
- Revenue vs plan
- Pipeline health
- Forecast accuracy

Min 15-30: Funnel deep-dive
- Conversion rates
- Velocity
- Drop-off

Min 30-45: Per-rep performance
- Top performers
- At-risk reps
- Coaching focus

Min 45-60: Territory / segment
- What's working
- What's not
- Adjustments

Min 60-75: Tooling + process
- Wins
- Friction
- Investments needed

Min 75-90: Forward-looking
- Next quarter forecast
- Risks + mitigations
- Asks

Outputs:

Action items:
- Decisions made
- Owners + dates
- Follow-up

Insights:
- Trends spotted
- Hypotheses
- Test plans

Strategic asks:
- Headcount
- Tooling investment
- Process changes

Prep:

2 weeks before:
- Pull data
- Build slides

1 week before:
- Manager review
- Refine

Day-of:
- Present
- Discussion

Anti-patterns:

Numbers-only report:
- No insights
- Reads as data dump

No decisions:
- Discussion without action
- Wasted time

Sales Ops as scribe:
- Just present numbers
- Not strategic

Output:
1. QBR template
2. Cadence (quarterly minimum)
3. Audience + agenda
4. Decision-making
5. Follow-through

The "Sales Ops as strategic partner" elevation: best Sales Ops becomes part of strategic discussion, not just data report. Quarterly insight vs monthly numbers.

10. Hiring + scaling Sales Ops team

Build the team thoughtfully.

Build Sales Ops team.

Stage progression:

Stage 1 ($1-5M ARR):
- Founder / VP Sales does Sales Ops
- Salesforce admin contractor (10-20 hrs / week)

Stage 2 ($5-15M ARR):
- Hire Sales Ops Manager
- $130-200K base + bonus
- Generalist; CRM + reporting + ad-hoc

Stage 3 ($15-50M ARR):
- Sales Ops Manager + Analyst
- Maybe: Salesforce admin in-house

Stage 4 ($50-200M ARR):
- Director / VP RevOps
- Sales Ops + Marketing Ops + CS Ops
- 5-15 person team

Stage 5 ($200M+ ARR):
- VP RevOps + senior leaders
- Specialized functions (deal desk, comp ops, planning ops)

Roles:

Sales Ops Manager:
- Generalist; do everything
- Stage 2

Sales Analyst:
- Reports + dashboards
- Stage 3

Salesforce Admin:
- CRM hygiene + customization
- Stage 3

Sales Process Lead:
- Process design + enablement
- Stage 4

Deal Desk:
- Pricing + contract approvals
- Stage 4

Comp Ops:
- Compensation administration
- Stage 4

Profile:

Sales Ops Manager:
- 5-8 years experience
- Sales background OR analytics + sales exposure
- Salesforce / HubSpot expert
- Stakeholder management

Hiring:

Pipeline:
- Network referrals
- Recruiters specializing in Ops
- 2-4 month search

Interview:
- CRM expertise (live exercise)
- Analytics (case study)
- Process design (mock scenario)
- Stakeholder mgmt (behavioral)

Comp:
- Stage 2: $130-200K base
- Stage 3-4: $200-350K
- Stage 5: $350K-500K + equity

Output:
1. Stage-appropriate hiring
2. Role definitions
3. Profile
4. Comp
5. Team progression

The Sales Ops Manager hire at $5-15M ARR: most-leveraged hire in sales org. ROI through process + tooling + accuracy compounds.

What Done Looks Like

A working Sales Ops function:

The mistakes to avoid:

Hire Sales Ops at <5 reps. Process overhead exceeds value.
Tool sprawl. 15 tools; reps confused.
No CRM hygiene. Bad data → bad everything.
Vague sales process. Heroic culture; doesn't scale.
Comp plan changes mid-cycle. Demoralizing.
No forecasting accuracy tracking. Don't improve.
Sales Ops as scribe. Underuses strategic value.
No marketing alignment. Pipeline gaps blame.
Quarterly review with no decisions. Performance art.
Underpay Sales Ops Manager. They have alternatives.

Sales Operations Playbook (Sales Ops / RevOps)

What Done Looks Like

1. Decide if you need Sales Ops

2. CRM single source of truth

3. Sales process documentation

4. Funnel instrumentation

5. Compensation plan administration

6. Territory + account assignment

7. Sales tooling stack

8. Marketing-Sales alignment

9. Quarterly business review

10. Hiring + scaling Sales Ops team

What Done Looks Like

See Also