Ellicott City, Maryland 21043
443-420-8547
david@keelan.com

Readers;

In my business career I have worked across multiple disciplines to achieve professional and business goals.  In my capacity as part of various leadership teams I have collaborated with all levels of management, individual contributors, and departments to craft and drive strategies that improve growth, revenue, and sales results.

Being responsible for five sales teams comprised of five managers and forty sales representatives, and three individual contributors I was responsible for the entire sales function of a two state region.

• I designed and implemented reports to allow sales and operations to measure revenue realization. The reports enabled the sales organization to collaborate with operations on customer deliverables, and set proper customer expectations for the purpose of transforming sales results into revenue results.
• Instituted and led monthly sales director and operational meetings to review post sale processes and procedures in order to identify bottlenecks and areas of improvement in order to improve revenue results.
• Directed the sales activity and network planning strategy sessions, and tactical implementation meetings with engineering and operations in order to expand market opportunities.
• Identified over $9 million in capital projects and worked with direct reports, operational teams, and vendors to launch and complete.

I was instrumental in developing the Key Leading Indicators (KLI) for the sales and operations department moving them away from trending performance to measuring actual performance based on actual orders, and sales analysis of funnels and forecast. I accomplished this by implementing a “funnel culture” in the organization.  A funnel culture begins with a formal sales and account management processes and accurate tracking of the post sales operational functions.  KPIs allowed the organization to identify bottlenecks and performance issues in order to ensure proper controls and procedures are in place.

These reports included:

• The sales process (including but not limited to the sales funnel and sales forecast)
• Post Sales Work Queue Reports (inclusive of order quantity, associated revenue, age of order, expected installation time frame, and revenue realization)
• Daily, Weekly, and Monthly sales, operations, and revenue reports

My ability to analyze critical data from disperse sources (business intelligence) led directly to improved implementation processes and procedures and assisted capturing “sales time” for the sales representatives.  Utilizing Business Intelligence tools I have crafted and implemented territory based sales organizations aligned to maximize customer acquisition and revenue objectives, position product solutions, and market opportunity. Through the use of available marketing data and systems I was able to analyze market opportunity by customer size, industry, and zip code.  Based upon this information I created sales territories that were geographically contiguous to minimize travel time, of similar market characteristics to maximize training opportunities, and of similar network size in order to streamline capital budget requests from the field.

I have created and implemented the KLI for sales processes.  Following a sales process is a critical function of a sales leader. Where a sales process does not exist it is important to create and implement one.  This is critical to consistent sales and operational performance. It is also imperative to the training and development of a sales force, and maximizing individual performance as it identifies gaps in the training and development process and assists in performance management. I have always advocated that the best way to identify training and development opportunities for the sales teams is to measure how well directors, managers, and representatives understand and follow the companies defined sales process.

The sales process is part of an organization’s culture and it has to be embraced by the entire company.  All levels of management must have access to the sales forecast.  They must have the ability to inspect and question the veracity of the sales forecast because the sales process does have an impact on functional departments, the development of strategic initiatives, and it aligns the organization to enable an effective work flow and deployment of resources.

It is required that one understand the market they serve and the processes for delivering a product to the customer in order to have an effective sales process.  It is just as important to have a process that is adaptable based upon how the customer buys products and services.  However, the sales process is not only about understanding the sales cycle and internal processes.  It is about developing sales people into sales professionals.  A clearly defined and thought out sales process focuses the sales professional on the critical and repeatable tactics of sales, and enables them to reasonably predict when a customer will make a decision:

• Prospecting
• Identifying needs
• Identifying solutions
• Identifying capabilities to meet needs and deliver solutions
• Understanding the customer’s decision making process
• Closing the business
• Collaborating with various organizations to deliver the solution
• Creating a delighted customer.

With multiple sales channels in my territory I often intervened in sales disputes and assisted in developing and enforced the sales rules of engagement relative to account ownership. Very often decisions on account ownership were derived based upon where each representative was in the sales process.

As the sales leader in my region responsible for 48 FTE, processes and procedures I also assisted my senior representatives in identifying major sales opportunities including quote management, ROI, and project management. In 2010 we identified over 10 major sales opportunities realizing over $2 million in new revenue.

I authored the sales processes and methodology for my sales teams encompassing the entire sales process. Corporate and divisional sales structures had not implemented or created a sales process but recognized the value of my work.  As such my processes and methodologies were adopted and implemented nationwide  as part of the national “sales playbook”.

As a group product manager I have launched new products into sales channels ahead of schedule driving impressive revenue results.  In addition, I led teams in the management of products through the continuum of the product life cycle.  Launching and managing products have provided a great appreciation for the market metrics in terms of identifying market opportunity for the company and the sales organization.  Being able to launch ahead of schedule and exceed revenue results demonstrates a strong grasp of business fundamentals, and the ability to collaborate with various departments and disciplines.

I hope to interview with you in order to discuss my abilities and skills and how they will benefit your organization.

Regards,

David W. Keelan
 

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