March 6, 2006

My new VP responsibilities kick into high gear this week.

I’ve identified the sales and channel management functions for my CEO. Now, I have two transition plans and one channel partner Sales Training that I need to move on quickly. The following reflects my plans, CEO’s expectations, and our Management Team’s specific goals for my new role.

Transition Plan for Sales Management

• CEO rolls-out my new sales management role to Sales Team today.
• Schedule one-on-one meeting with each of the Sales Directors for this week to review their results.
• Assessment and analysis the past performance of sales team, past performance - individuals, sales cycle, Webinar audit, and post-mortem review on closed lost deals.
• Alignment Sales Team to business strategy as defined by Management Team, assumes Management Team identifies sales weights for our direct sales and VARs (value-added reseller); align to Channel strategy & goals; align Marketing to Sales Team’s efforts; and align individual Sales Directors.
• Sales management deliverables with include working with CEO on Sales Plan and individual Sales Plans, create individual performance measures reports for each Sales Director, outline sales management process, update Sales standards with new process, and train sales directors on Salesforce.com changes in Webinar attendee opportunities.

Transition Plan for Channel Management

• Channel Manager Position: write Channel Manager job description and recruit for Channel Manager position.
• Channel Strategy: author situational assessment for VAR strategy, VAR plan with management team review, establish key areas of responsibilities; develop & prioritize alternate strategies; and draft and present VAR Channel requirements for management team approval.
• Transition from CEO and execute: identify key success factors and VAR-specific plans for all channels.

Kick-off VAR Sales Meeting

I have another VAR to implement. Here’s my preparation for this month’s roll-out to third key partner. Here are the action items:

• Initial call with VAR 3’s VP of Sales
• Finalize agenda and send to partner’s VP of Sales
• Create VAR branded sales and marketing tools
• Update COO document for this partner
• VP of Sales setting date and time for Sales meeting in a week
• Establish sales cycle process between our company and theirs

Lots to do, I’m relieved that I always use my 90-day template to manage my deliverables.

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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