Smart Lemming Diary: A Repeatable Process - Creating Department Functions 101
February 21, 2006
Creating something from nothing is my specialty. I get bored maintaining things, but love the act of creating new stuff.
Currently, I’m in the process of creating the new day-to-day sales management and channel management functions in my Marketing department. Yesterday, I outlined the sales management function into its major work blocks of activity, which is my MacGyver tool in my knowledge worker toolbox.
Outlining the New Department Function
Below are the things I’ll be flushing out, documenting, and presenting to my CEO on Friday:
- Assess and analyze: assess and analyze past performance for sales team, individuals, and sales cycle. Audit webinar follow-up of marketing leads to sales, review performance to date, review 2005 sales performance, identify sales issues in sales cycle, and post mortem on closed/lost deals.
- Function, roles, and responsibilities: define what day-to-day sales management is, my role, Timothy’s role, sales team member’s role, identify management oversight as it pertains to weekly calls to each sales team member, performance measures reports, and management team reports.
- Alignment of departmental function: document management team strategy and how this new function aligns to it, align to channel management, and align marketing support to sales management.
- Identify my responsibilities and deliverables: create sales plan for sales team (Sales Situation Strategic Positioning, Sales Objectives, Sales Forecast by CFO, Sales Model as defined by the Management Team, Sales Budget, Timeline, Key Success Factors, Next Steps) and individual sales team members, identify required reports, document new process on how sales team members will be expected to adjust their individual work flow to accommodate new reports required by lead investor and CEO, identify new management oversight details like weekly calls with each sales team member, and set up and maintain reports for weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual review.
- Individual sales team member’s performance measures: identify Salesforce.com reports to be used in monthly performance measures, identify key measures for individual reports, update monthly board/management team report with additional measures that should be monitored.
- Repeatable reporting structure: update the sales standards document with new sales management requirements and reports and prepare message to communicate to sales team.
- Transition plan: outline the transition plan with target dates for hand-off and messaging to sales team members.
Action Items
I’ll document the process, create the templates, and start assessing and analyzing the data. I have my marketing team working on Salesforce.com’s key reports and metrics, so they can add to my monthly board/management team report and the new individual sales team member performance measure reports.
I have my team in Secret Squirrel mode, since the Sales team hasn’t been informed about the new sales management function. Only the Management team and lead investor are aware of this management change.
Teaching My Team My MacGyver Tool and Process
I’ve also met with my team, so they can understand how approach new functions and create an entire process and infrastructure to support it.
I figured that this would be a valuable knowledge worker lesson for them. When I was new in my knowledge worker career, I would have loved to see what was involved in this type of management work. It’s great to see how my direct reports connect the dots in their minds or don’t get it or struggle to understand why I do what I do. I’m glad my team feels safe to ask me when they don’t understand my process.
The Smart Lemming Diary is a series that chronicles a journey of laid-off worker, who becomes a Vice President of Sales Operations & Marketing for a small entrepreneurial healthcare technology company. For previous entries in this series, click here. For the first diary entry, click here. For the highlighted Smart Lemming Diary entries, click here.
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