What does a sales and operations manager do?
A sales operations manager is an individual who supports a company's sales and marketing teams by optimizing a tool often collectively known as Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Sales operations managers must serve as a liaison between the teams and the upper management while training staff members on new technology and software. They create reports that are used by salespeople and sales managers to help them in sales decision making. They also determine customer outreach methods with the marketing team.
Sales and operations manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real sales and operations manager resumes:
- Develop analytics for time migration from low-margin OEM services to manage services.
- Lead weekly sales reviews and ensure sales activities are properly track in SalesForce.
- Lead operation/inside sales, manage handling over $13million/year sales using ERP system.
- Lead cross functional teams in the integration of several enterprise data stores to SFDC.
- Manage Pardot automation for marketing campaigns.
- Manage and maintain daily operations of high volume Toyota facility.
- Launch a new BDC department, which significantly improve customer service, call-to-sales ratio, and strengthen client loyalty.
- Improve dealership CSI from below regional average to consistently above regional average.
- Report directly to the CEO and SVP.
- Support SVP on annual budget planning for individual sales teams and whole department.
- Hire trained and maintain 8-10 sales staff, including a BDC department and Internet.
- Field questions from the team about SFDC, perform user administration and correct errors as needed.
- position eliminate in acquisition) eCRM (SaaS) provider serving non-profit organizations (B2B).
- Implement process to develop rapid and complete responses to FDA to minimize FDA deficiency letters and demands.
- Create web site concepts to expand company web presence and social media identities including SEO and social media development.
Sales and operations manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 12% of Sales And Operations Managers are proficient in Sales Operations, Customer Service, and Salesforce. They’re also known for soft skills such as Management skills, Problem-solving skills, and Time-management skills.
We break down the percentage of Sales And Operations Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Sales Operations, 12%
Established and standardized a biweekly Sales Operations execution meeting that expanded into a monthly Forecasting (part requirements) validation meeting.
- Customer Service, 11%
Managed sales, operations and customer service * Conducted sales meetings, increased sales and successfully designed new marketing development strategies
- Salesforce, 8%
Co-facilitated and maintained a world-wide CRM System implementation of SalesForce.com.
- CRM, 7%
Introduced capability to link merchant financial record to product type record in CRM reducing product configuration errors by Implementations Team.
- Sales Process, 5%
Developed and enforced a standardized sales process spanning multiple business units, encouraging seamless and efficient order handling.
- Project Management, 4%
Post sales involved order fulfillment and troubleshooting along with project management of installation with engineers at customer data centers.
Most sales and operations managers use their skills in "sales operations," "customer service," and "salesforce" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential sales and operations manager responsibilities here:
Problem-solving skills. Another essential skill to perform sales and operations manager duties is problem-solving skills. Sales and operations managers responsibilities require that "top executives need to identify and resolve issues within an organization." Sales and operations managers also use problem-solving skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "manage team sales performance of 5 second-level sales resources of solutions development managers (sdm's). "
Time-management skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of sales and operations managers is time-management skills. This skill is critical to many everyday sales and operations manager duties, as "top executives do many tasks concurrently to ensure that their work gets done and that the organization meets its goals." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "improved the resolution time for compensation and payroll inquiries from 2 weeks to 2 days. "
Communication skills. sales and operations manager responsibilities often require "communication skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "top executives must be able to convey information clearly and persuasively." This resume example shows what sales and operations managers do with communication skills on a typical day: "manage sales reps docusign registration and communication. "
Leadership skills. Another crucial skill for a sales and operations manager to carry out their responsibilities is "leadership skills." A big part of what sales and operations managers relies on this skill, since "top executives must be able to shape and direct an organization by coordinating policies, people, and resources." How this skill relates to sales and operations manager duties can be seen in an example from a sales and operations manager resume snippet: "average loss prevention audit scores for the year are second in district under my leadership. "
The three companies that hire the most sales and operations managers are:
- Ryder System52 sales and operations managers jobs
- Guidehouse48 sales and operations managers jobs
- Google35 sales and operations managers jobs
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Compare different sales and operations managers
Sales and operations manager vs. Product manager/sales
A sales product manager is responsible for monitoring the sales performance of a specific product and ensuring that the marketing strategies adhere to market standards and client requirements. Sales product managers work closely with the marketing and public relations team to enhance the product's brand image on various market platforms to reach the target audience. They also conduct data and statistical analysis to identify business opportunities that would generate more revenue resources and increase the company's profitability.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a sales and operations manager are more likely to require skills like "sales operations," "salesforce," "strong time management," and "process improvement." On the other hand, a job as a product manager/sales requires skills like "product sales," "product management," "cycle management," and "product development." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Product managers/sales earn the highest salaries when working in the education industry, with an average yearly salary of $108,541. On the other hand, sales and operations managers are paid more in the technology industry with an average salary of $115,157.product managers/sales tend to reach similar levels of education than sales and operations managers. In fact, product managers/sales are 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Sales and operations manager vs. District manager
District managers oversee the operations of a group of stores or areas covered by the assigned district. They are responsible for ensuring that the sales, marketing, quality control, and people management of their community align with the company's direction. They review the district's financial statement, draft ways to improve the district's key metrics, and mitigate any challenges that may come their way. They are also responsible for hiring store or area managers and training them to ensure that they will be significant contributors to the organization.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real sales and operations manager resumes. While sales and operations manager responsibilities can utilize skills like "sales operations," "salesforce," "crm," and "sales process," district managers use skills like "multi-unit," "financial performance," "performance management," and "work ethic."
District managers may earn a lower salary than sales and operations managers, but district managers earn the most pay in the pharmaceutical industry with an average salary of $119,906. On the other hand, sales and operations managers receive higher pay in the technology industry, where they earn an average salary of $115,157.Average education levels between the two professions vary. District managers tend to reach similar levels of education than sales and operations managers. In fact, they're 2.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for sales and operations managers in the next 3-5 years?
Eric Olsen
Professor, Industrial Technology and Packaging, Orfalea College of Business
Sales and operations manager vs. District sales manager
A district sales manager is responsible for supervising the sales team and monitoring the sales performance of the assigned district. District sales managers must have extensive knowledge about the current market trends, adjust strategies and practices as needed to improve sales operations and increase revenues. A district sales manager should also have excellent communication, leadership, and decision-making skills to provide effective techniques in attracting customers to avail of the company's offers and services, while also considering the staff's welfare.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, sales and operations managers are more likely to have skills like "sales operations," "salesforce," "project management," and "strong time management." But a district sales manager is more likely to have skills like "patients," "home health," "rehabilitation," and "territory sales."
District sales managers make a very good living in the pharmaceutical industry with an average annual salary of $100,497. On the other hand, sales and operations managers are paid the highest salary in the technology industry, with average annual pay of $115,157.When it comes to education, district sales managers tend to earn similar degree levels compared to sales and operations managers. In fact, they're 1.6% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Sales and operations manager vs. Regional sales manager
A regional sales manager is responsible for monitoring the sales and distribution of goods and services within a specific region. Duties of a regional sales manager also include analyzing expenses and cost estimates, ensuring that operations meet budget goals with the highest quality, researching current market trends for sales performance development, providing sales training, and presenting sales reports. A regional sales manager must have strong leadership and decision-making skills to enforce policies and procedures to boost operations performance.
Types of sales and operations manager
Updated January 8, 2025
