Sales Operations Manager (Salesforce)

The Economist Group is the leading source of analysis on international business and world affairs. We deliver our information through a range of formats, from newspapers and magazines to conferences and electronic services. What ties us together is the objectivity of our opinion, the originality of our insight and our advocacy of economic and political freedom around the world.

We are seeking a Sales Operations Manager to work with our global teams in B2B sales, account management, customer service, marketing and finance to optimise and harmonise sales processes, improve the way that Salesforce is used within the business and to deliver operational effectiveness and efficiencies.

How you will contribute:

The purpose of the role will be to develop and own the CRM strategy across The Economist’s B2B businesses, work collaboratively with sales and marketing leadership to optimise Salesforce and to maximise commercial performance. You will also inspire and monitor Salesforce compliance, design and deliver appropriate reporting which will drive commercial progress. You will do this by:

• Fully owning the Salesforce CRM strategy across The Economist’s B2B businesses
• Validate current data structures and develop the optimal blueprint
• Generate detailed process maps for sales, marketing and other business workflows
• Harmonise the currently fragmented sales processes across The Economist’s B2B businesses
• Partner with marketing, database, sales, account management, customer service and finance teams to reflect business requirements
• Drive adoption of activity management, including tracking high-impact activities across the sales and marketing teams
• Work closely with key stakeholders to develop processes and controls to keep the database clean with accurate prospect and customer data
• Act as the guardian of the sales information in Salesforce, ensuring consistency of input from the sales teams and validity of data at all times
• Design and produce appropriate reporting, participate in pipeline and activity review meetings with the sales teams and senior management
• Analyse sales performance to identify trends, working with sales directors, finance and marketing leadership to highlight areas for improvement or opportunity
• Provide ongoing Salesforce training to new and existing users and evaluate its effectiveness
• Create and update training manuals, policies and procedures from lead conversion to opportunity creation

The ideal skills for this role include:

• Excellent understanding of Salesforce Lightning, able to develop and implement best practices
• Proven experience in delivering the CRM strategy in a B2B subscription organisation with the ability to not only develop strategy but also to personally deliver on the implementation
• A Salesforce certification is beneficial 
• Knowledge of B2B sales and marketing processes and the relevant supporting needs
• Creativity, initiative, enthusiasm about the potential of Salesforce
• Excellent business analysis and problem solving skills
• A comprehensive understanding of marketing automation and how it interacts with the sales process and Salesforce
• The ability to inspire commercial teams and evangelise the potential of Salesforce
• Good mix of technical and commercial acumen, ability to provide technical support and communicate complex concepts to a wide variety of stakeholders
• Confident and highly communicative with excellent business insight and a willingness to challenge stakeholders and drive change
• The ability to prioritise, multi-task and work with globally dispersed teams