Sales  opera*ons  in    the  Life  Sciences  industry:    

driving  commercial  excellence  

Xavier  Sanso.  Frankfurt,  March  2013  

Context  •  Industry  driven  by  large  capital  equipment  investment  decisions  of  

over  EUR  250,000  on  average  amidst  the  2008/2009  financial  crisis  •  Company  was  s*ll  too  much  science  focused,  not  commercially  

focused  •  Company  had  lost  market  share  since  2008  because  of  technology  

shiQs  and  lack  of  investment.  •  Not  enough  business  focus  following  two  very  large  M&A  deals  in  

2008  and  2010  •  Sales  organiza*on  was  stable,  but  enabling  func*ons  consisted  of  a  

small,  entrepreneurial  team  newly  put  together.  No  formal  processes  

•  Owned  by  huge  US  corpora*on,  $  30Bn  turnover,  highly  focused  on  processes,  efficiency  and  lean  organiza*on  

Sales  Ops  ini/a/ve  #1  

• Development  of  KPI  dashboard  • Circula*on  with  commercial  team  •  Iden*fying  customer  trends  and  leading  indicators  • Set  forth  performance  metrics  

Sales  Ops  ini/a/ve  #2  

• Work  with  senior  EMEA  leadership  to  design  and  disseminate  a  standardized  sales  process  • Put  metrics  and  performance  measures  towards  all  phases  in  the  process  

Sales  Ops  ini/a/ve  #3  

•  Cross-­‐func*onal  leadership  of  Service,  Presales,  Customer  Service,  Logis*cs,  Compliance  and  Credit  Controlling  to  ensure  fric*onless  order  to  revenue  conversion  • Design  and  sustain  robust  process  

Sales  Ops  ini/a/ve  #4  

• Partner  with  sales,  marke*ng  and  commercial  opera*ons  at  an  EMEA  leadership  level  to  foster  a  data-­‐driven  discussion  on  key  KPIs.  Clear  ac*onable  items  when  variances  happen.  

Sales  Ops  ini/a/ve  #5  

•  Deliver  salesforce.com  project  to  the  commercial  organiza*on,  lead  the  best  prac*ces  and  the  circula*on  of  cri*cal  commercial  informa*on  •  Create  comprehensive  and  standardized  pipeline  repor*ng  process  to  op*mize  lead  to  order  conversion  

Sales  Ops  ini/a/ve  #6  

•  Present  to  EMEA  leadership  the  sales  actuals  and  forecast  data,  plus  market  insights.  Proac*ve  use  of  data,  lead  indicators  •  Create  a  learning  organiza*on  through  clear  and  concise  business  reports,  promote  horizontal  best  prac*ces.  

Sales  Ops  ini/a/ve  #7  

•  Support  the  launch  and  monitoring  of  commercial  strategy,  ensure  deployment  • Monitor  individual  sales  representa*ves  quotas  and  performance  •  Sales  enablement  tools:  pricing,  compe**on  analysis,  lost  orders  analysis  

Achievements:  •  Be`er  understanding  of  lead  to  order  cycle,  faster  and  more  accurate  reac*on  when  problems  

•  Fluid  order  to  revenue  cycle  •  Organiza*on  works  with  smart  metrics  and  relevant  market  insights  

•  Op*miza*on  of  working  capital  through  less  redundant  inventory  and  less  customer  disputes  

•  Be`er  forecast  execu*on,  transparent  risk/opportuni*es  view,  more  efficient  strategy  deployment