Sales Operations Manager

Overview

You handle the operational machinery behind Advito's sales process—managing RFP responses, coordinating contract negotiations, and ensuring deals move through their stages without getting stuck on process issues. You're working with AEs who are selling multi-year corporate travel consulting engagements that involve analyzing travel spend, negotiating supplier contracts, and implementing behavior change programs for enterprise clients.

Role Snapshot

Company Context

Stage: Mature (part of BCD Travel, established player)

Size: 113 employees

Growth: Stable player in corporate travel consulting

Market Position: Niche specialist in travel program optimization - competes against general management consultants and other travel management companies' advisory arms

GTM Reality

Pipeline Sources:

• 60% RFP-driven - companies reviewing their travel program every 3-5 years
• 30% Existing BCD Travel client expansion - cross-sell from transaction management
• 10% Outbound to target accounts with visible travel program issues

Deal Structure: Long consultative cycles with procurement involvement. Multiple stakeholders: Travel Manager, CFO, Procurement, HR (for policy). Deals often tied to broader TMC (Travel Management Company) reviews.

Your Role in It: You're the process person keeping deals moving—not selling, but making sure nothing falls through cracks on paperwork, timelines, or internal coordination.

Competitive Landscape

Main Competitors:

• Accenture/Deloitte (general consulting doing travel optimization)
• Other TMC consulting arms (Amex GBT, CWT consulting)
• Boutique travel consultancies

How They Differentiate: Data-driven approach to supplier negotiations and traveler behavior change. Not just policy consulting—they track and optimize ongoing performance.

Common Objections: "We can do this in-house," "Our TMC already gives us reporting," concerns about change management disruption.

Win Themes: Demonstrable ROI on travel spend, supplier relationship leverage, integrated engagement strategies.

What You'll Actually Do

Time Breakdown

RFP Management (35%) | Contract Coordination (25%) | Internal Process (20%) | Deal Support (20%)

Key Activities

• RFP Response Coordination: You get an RFP for corporate travel consulting services. You coordinate with subject matter experts to compile responses—pulling in data analysts for methodology, consultants for case studies, legal for terms. You're project managing a 60-100 page response with a 3-week turnaround. Most RFPs have 15-30 detailed questions about approach, pricing models, and implementation timelines.

• Contract Negotiation Support: Once a deal is verbally agreed, you manage the contract process. This means coordinating redlines between your legal team and client procurement, tracking outstanding items in spreadsheets, and nudging people when documents sit untouched for weeks. Enterprise contracts often have 20+ negotiation points (liability caps, termination clauses, data privacy, SLAs).

• Internal Deal Reviews: You run weekly deal review meetings where AEs walk through their pipeline. You're asking: What stage is this in? What's blocking forward movement? Do we have the right resources allocated? You update CRM, maintain deal tracking spreadsheets, and flag deals that are stalling.

• Sales Enablement/Process: You build templates, update proposal boilerplate, maintain the master pricing model, and document what's working in successful deals. When AEs say "I need a case study about healthcare clients," you either find it or coordinate creating it.

The Honest Reality

What's Hard

• Herding cats across teams: You're constantly chasing people for input—consultants who are billable on client work don't prioritize your RFP deadline. You're sending reminder Slack messages and escalating when things are late.

• Repetitive RFP work: Many RFPs ask similar questions. You're adapting the same content repeatedly. It's detail-oriented work—miss a requirement and you might not advance.

• Long wait times: You submit an RFP and hear nothing for 6 weeks. Contracts sit with client legal for a month. You can't force external timelines, so you're managing ambiguity and keeping AEs patient.

• No glory in the work: When a deal closes, the AE gets credit. When a deal stalls on contracting, you might get blamed. You're behind the scenes making sure operational stuff doesn't kill deals.

What Success Looks Like

• RFP response quality improves (fewer "we don't have this data" moments)
• Deal close timelines shrink because contracting moves faster
• AEs spend more time selling, less time on administrative process
• Win rates improve because proposals are stronger and more consistent

Who You're Supporting Sales To

Primary Buyers:

• Corporate Travel Managers (Director/VP level at Fortune 1000)
• CFO/Finance teams (care about cost savings)
• Procurement (involved in vendor selection)

What They Care About:

• Demonstrable ROI (travel spend reduction, compliance improvement)
• Implementation disruption (how much will this hurt)
• Proof of expertise (case studies, methodology rigor)
• Contract risk (liability, data handling, performance guarantees)

Requirements

• Experience managing complex sales operations or RFP processes—ideally in B2B services or consulting
• Strong project management skills: you're juggling 8-12 active deals at various stages
• Attention to detail: missing an RFP requirement or contract clause has consequences
• Ability to work across teams without direct authority: you're influencing, not managing, most collaborators
• Comfort with ambiguity: deals move slowly and unpredictably in enterprise sales
• CRM/sales tool proficiency (likely Salesforce or similar)
• Corporate travel industry knowledge helpful but not required—you'll learn the domain