Case story
How Bizzkit created a scalable sales organization
Who is Bizzkit?
Bizzkit is a Danish company that creates innovative e-commerce solutions that suit any business and their needs. As an e-commerce platform, Bizzkit is one of the three most used in Denmark with transactions of over 8 billion DKK annually.
What Christian, CCO & Bizzkit achieved – and how we did it
Challenge and Goal
When a sales organization aims to grow in new markets and countries, it’s necessary with a scalable method to drive sales successfully as more sellers are involved.
As a forward-moving SaaS company, Bizzkit wanted to expand and therefore needed a common commercial approach.
The goal was to develop a Sales Operating Model that could create a new common commercial approach and increase efficiency in the sales process across markets and countries.
The Solution: A Sales Operating Model
A Sales Operating Model contains a description of the sales organization’s common approach to sales, and how products, services, and solutions are sold to customers. At the same time, it provides inspiration and tools for how sales are conducted in the most effective way throughout the entire sales process.
Specifically, the model includes, among other things, how we create and talk about a sales pipeline, how we conduct outbound sales, how we follow up, and how we work with sales. The latter to share best practices across the sales organization.
In that way, a Sales Operating Model is a help in always making the right decisions during the sales process.
More Effect of Sales Efforts — Without a Rulebook
Bizzkit’s sales operating model contains guidelines for how they achieve goals with both customers, recruitment and training of sellers more quickly and more effectively.
Often, recruiting and training sales reps can be a long-term process when it comes to complex sales as in Bizzkit’s case. With a Sales Operating Model, Bizzkit can get new salespeople up and running more quickly, as well as ensuring that all salespersons have the necessary skills and the right knowledge.
A Sales Operating Model is therefore not a rulebook. It is more for inspiration for the salespersons, where they can also quickly gain insight into what works.
A Concrete Tool as Help in Daily Life
Even though the development of the new Sales Operating Model is largely research-based, the output is concrete and usable in daily life for the sellers. It was important for Bizzkit that the model actually comes out to live among the salespeople across countries and markets. Both to standardize processes and optimize sales.
Bizzkit’s Sales Operating Model serves as a tool that should establish common ways to drive sales. In Bizzkit’s case, the model does not change anything existing that does not work, and this has probably helped the implementation well on its way.
Christian Solmunde Michelsen considers it highly relevant for companies at all stages to create a Sales Operating Model. Mostly to put shape on what is perceived as the ‘right’ in the sales organization and to create a common starting point.
Side Benefit: More Commercially Attractive to Partners
The goal with Bizzkit’s Sales Operating Model was to create a new common commercial approach, which was a huge success. The new Sales Operating Model has not only created a common commercial approach. It has also contributed with extra (and unexpected) value.
The implementation of the new Sales Operating Model has indeed made Bizzkit more commercially attractive by creating a clear understanding for Bizzkit itself of who they are and where they are strong. This especially benefits the collaboration with the partners, as the clear understanding can be translated into sharp insights, which the partners can use when they talk about Bizzkit’s products and solutions.
Summary
As the SaaS company Bizzkit grew, they were challenged by the lack of a common direction for the sales department. Therefore, we have developed a Sales Operating Model with a new common commercial approach.
Their new Sales Operating Model contributes with guidelines for how sales are conducted, made more efficient, and coordinated, and it creates uniformity among salespeople across countries and markets.
As a tool, the new Sales Operating Model has particularly benefited Bizzkit by putting a concrete shape on what is the right thing to do in different situations. At the same time, the sales operating model is a scalable starting point for the sales function, which only becomes more and more important as Bizzkit grows and gets a larger sales department.
