Sprout Social is looking for a collaborative and data-driven Head of Sales Development with experience in building B2B SaaS leadership teams. Sprout Social is used by over 25,000 brands worldwide including Make-A-Wish Foundation, Chicago Bulls, Subaru and Edelman. These businesses rely on Sprout to create stronger relationships with their customers through social media.

We are looking for an energetic and driven leader who has a strong command of B2B SaaS leadership and sales experience. The ideal candidate should be a data-driven and consultative sales leader with a proven track record of managing sales teams to achieve aggressive goals. They must be driven on meeting (and exceeding) appointment setting, revenue, operational goals, and strategic goals as well as foster the professional growth, development, and success of their team members. They will spend the majority of their time coaching, counseling, and mentoring their team in all aspects of sales and effectiveness. They will also provide timely and practical feedback to senior leadership in both sales and marketing for interesting go-to-market strategies that will elevate the team. 

Responsibilities

• Leading and inspiring a team of experienced Sales Development Leaders and a broader Sales Development organization.
• Overseeing the sales execution strategies and tactics focused on quota attainment by the Sales and Business Development teams. This includes best practices in prospecting, outreach, qualification and objection handling.
• Working with senior leaders across the organization to identify successful Sales Development strategies and tactics by sales segment as well as developing a strategic business plan to successfully achieve the targeted top of funnel objectives.
• Coaching and driving the Sales and Business Development teams on a daily basis to achieve stated goals and quotas. This will be accomplished by measuring and monitoring prospecting and outreach, and time-to-appointment setting.
• Working hand in hand with our VP of Acquisition Marketing to understand our inbound and outbound funnels in real time. 
• Driving accountability through performance management and commitment to sales coaching and development of every team member.
• Partnering with Sales Enablement to ensure constant development of the team.
• Accurately forecast weekly, monthly and quarterly sales projections.
• Attracting, recruiting, onboarding and retaining top sales talent in a proactive manner to ensure full staffing.
• Collaborating with peer groups and leadership to share best practices as well as problem solve and implement solutions that will drive team performance.

If you are an energetic and driven individual who has a strong command of B2B SaaS sales leadership and has managed sales development teams, we'd love to talk to you!

Qualifications

These are the minimum qualifications that our hiring team is looking for in this role:

• 8+ years of sales leadership experience including 3+ years managing front-line leaders 
• Consistent and measurable track record of success that you can easily speak to and highlight.
• Experience working closely with cross-functional stakeholders across marketing, sales operations, enablement, and product.

Additionally, these are the preferred qualifications that would indicate a particularly strong candidate:

• Deep understanding of prospecting, outreach, qualification and objection handling within B2B SaaS 
• Demonstrated passion for hiring, developing and coaching top sales talent
• Exceptional communication skills and analytical acumen 
• Expertise with Salesforce  and Outreach

Within 1 month, you will…

• Complete Sprout Social’s new hire training & onboarding program alongside other new Sprout team members. You’ll gain a broader understanding of our products and how your role fits into the organization.
• Partner with the President and Sales Development Leadership to define key success metrics for your role and how you will measure against them.
• Meet your team in 1:1s to understand what’s working, what’s not, and gather learnings to implement into your role.
• Dive right into our platform to learn about what makes our platform unique and why customers love our solutions.
• Learn Sprout’s go-to-market messaging, key differentiators, develop and personalize segment-specific value propositions.
• Learn the relevant customer stories and case studies to justify your value propositions with real ROI examples from the field.
• Review relevant metrics for the Sales Development business.

Within 3 months, you will…

• Meet with leaders throughout the Sales & Customer Success organization that share responsibility for obtaining similar targets and identify areas of opportunity.
• Partner with cross-functional leaders in Sales & Customer Success, Marketing, Sales Operations and Sales Enablement to build relationships and understand working models. 
• Establish a strong understanding of sales enablement, create/analyze team reports, and identify coaching opportunities.
• Begin coaching and mentoring team with call shadowing and role plays to help them improve, both professionally and personally.
• Assist in  deal strategy.
• Create an early concept of the future plan for your team and begin prioritizing.
• Understand the inputs/outputs of the Sales Development business and develop a perspective on where we can improve.
• Participate in weekly Pipeline meetings with Acquisition Marketing to ensure we have transparency and accountability over our funnels.

Within 6 months, you will…

• Understand our inbound and outbound funnels intimately; be able to proactively identify when we’re falling short and ways to modify to ensure we exceed target on a monthly basis.
• Have deep relationships with Acquisition Marketing and have shared accountability over our funnels.
• Measure initial process improvements and make adjustments where appropriate.
• Have built strong cross-departmental relationships with Marketing, Sales Operations, and Product teams.
• Step up as a leader to share best practices across the Sales & Customer Success organization and help others grow from your experiences.
• Meet agreed-upon goals and targets relating to revenue targets and team productivity.
• Continue to develop your team, both personally and professionally.
• Become a Sprout Social and social media expert to confidently speak to ever-changing trends, new product features and platform enhancements to help our customers realize their full potential and accomplish their goals.

Within 12 months, you will…

• Consistently meet and exceed monthly pipeline and revenue targets.
• Obtain (solicited and unsolicited) and act upon peer, customer, and leadership feedback.
• Be recognized as a subject matter expert and leader at Sprout.
• Establish and begin executing against the long-term plan for your team.
• Promote members on your team and begin creating a bench of new talent.

Of course what is outlined above is the ideal timeline, but things may shift based on business needs and other projects and tasks could be added at the discretion of your manager.

About Sprout Social
Sprout Social powers open communication between individuals, brands and communities through elegant, sophisticated software. We are relentless about solving hard problems for our customers and committed to both customer and team success. Our team’s shared belief in Sprout’s mission promotes a culture of openness, empowerment and fun. 

We’re proud to regularly be recognized for our team, product and culture. Our benefits program includes:

• Insurance and benefit options that are built for both individuals and families
• Progressive policies to support work/life balance, like our flexible paid time off and parental leave program 
• High-quality and well-maintained equipment—your computer will never prevent you from doing your best
• Wellness initiatives to ensure both health and mental well-being of our team
• Ongoing education and development opportunities via our Grow@Sprout program, employee-led diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and mentorship programs for aspiring leaders
• Growing corporate social responsibility program that is driven by the involvement and passion of our team members
• Beautiful, convenient and state-of-the-art offices in Chicago’s Loop and downtown Seattle, for those who prefer an office setting

Whenever possible, Sprout wants to provide our team with the flexibility to work in the location that makes the most sense for them. For those that prefer an office setting, this role may be based in our Chicago or Seattle locations. If you prefer to work from your home, we can accommodate that for many locations across the United States. We are not set up in all states, however, so please take a look at the drop down box in our application to see whether your state is listed.

Sprout Social is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer and an Affirmative Action Employer. We do not discriminate based on identity- race, color, religion, national origin or ancestry, sex (including sexual identity), age, physical or mental disability, pregnancy, veteran or military status, unfavorable discharge from military service, genetic information, sexual orientation, marital status, order of protection status, citizenship status, arrest record or expunged or sealed convictions, or any other legally recognized protected basis under federal, state, or local law. Learn more about our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in our 2020 DEI Report.

If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the employment process, please contact us by email at [email protected] and let us know the nature of your request and your contact information. We'll do all we can to ensure you're set up for success during our interview process while upholding your privacy, including requests for accommodation. Please note that only inquiries concerning a request for reasonable accommodation will be responded to from this email address.

For more information about our commitment to equal employment opportunity, please click here (1) Equal Opportunity Employment Poster  (2) Sprout Social's Affirmative Action Statement (3) Pay Transparency Statement.

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