Executive Summary At the highest level, the Sales Support function is responsible for ensuring that the Sales & Marketing departments have the tools, resources, and systems they need to achieve current and future sales revenue targets. Read this brief 2-page guide to learn: Director of Sales Support Roles & Responsibilities Action Plan for formalizing the sales support function Read this report to learn how to assess your current level of effectiveness, and if necessary, hire an experienced Director of Sales Support.Download our Director of Sales Support Job Description to get started! Demand Metric's How-To Guides are designed to provide practical, on-the-job training and education and provide context for using our premium tools & templates. If there is a topic that you would like to see covered, please contact us at info@demandmetric.com (link sends e-mail) to make a content request.

1. Executive Summary
© 2009 Demand Metric Research Corporation
Formalizing the Sales Support Function
At the highest level, the Sales Support function is responsible for ensuring that the
Sales & Marketing departments have the tools, resources, and systems they need to
achieve current and future sales revenue targets. Use Demand Metric's downloadable
Director of Sales Support job description to formalize the role of sales support in
your organization.
Director of Sales Support Responsibilities:
• Facilitate Deal Closing - manage multi-region opportunities by building and
managing project specific sales teams, and provide support to facilitate
opportunity conversion.
• Direct and Manage - regional Sales Operations & Application Managers to
efficiently support the sales and marketing departments.
• Develop and Implement - comprehensive strategies, systems, tactics,
metrics, budgets, resource requirements, and action plans to grow and
support sales revenue targets and future growth targets within a specified
geographic region.
• Analyze Business Processes - and collaborate with Senior Account
Managers, Sales & Marketing Directors, Technical Support, and Operations to
identify opportunities to streamline processes, and measure results of
activities.
• Implement and Maintain - enterprise Customer Relationship Management
(CRM) system and provide support for sales, marketing, & customer service.
• Develop Sales Support Metrics - track and report on performance and
productivity of the technical sales support team.
• Build - a collaborative environment by emphasizing teamwork.
• Develop and Communicate - sales support strategy to management team.
Action Plan:
1. Assess your Effectiveness - read our summary Measure your Sales Support
Effectiveness, and download the accompanying Sales Support Effectiveness
Survey to evaluate your current maturity in this area.

2. Executive Summary
© 2009 Demand Metric Research Corporation
2. Determine your Needs - not all organizations require a formal Sales
Support function. If you have requirements in the areas of CRM, multi-region
sales opportunities, collecting sales metrics & benchmarks, and reporting,
there is a good chance that you would benefit from this function.
3. Formalize Job Description - use Demand Metric's customizable Director of
Sales Support job description to outline what you are looking for in a
candidate, and the requirements of the position.
4. Interview Candidates - you may wish to hire internally for this role, as
deep knowledge of company processes, strategy, and methods are essential
for success in this position. Complete a fair, open, hiring process, and select
the candidate who is best for the job. Important skills include business
analysis, sales & marketing operations, communication, and system support.
5. Set Goals & Objectives - once you have selected your Director, complete an
initial meeting to set and document the goals & objectives for this year. Be
sure to discuss how efforts will be measured upon performance review.
Bottom-Line:
If you are serious about CRM or winning multi-region deals, you need a formalized
Sales Support function. Assess your current level of effectiveness, and if necessary,
hire an experienced Director of Sales Support who can optimize this process.