The Most Difficult Job in the World with Carl-Johan Färnström, Head of Business Operations at Mynewsdesk

In this episode of Sales Ops Demystified, Tom Hunt and Alex Freeman are joined by Carl-Johan Färnström, Head of Business Operations at Mynewsdesk. They discuss CJ’s journey from Sales Ops to Business Ops, cleaning up Mynewsdesk’s tech stack, and how they plan to overcome Salesforce CPQ implementation problems.

• Carl-Johan’s Linkedin
• Mynewsdesk’s Website

Carl-Johan’s journey from Sales Ops to Business Ops

CJ’s role as an Account Manager helped him appreciate the difficulty of a salesperson’s job. Along this journey, he realized his strength for systems and processes while working in a sales role at Projectplace International AB. He got the chance to set up a Business Operations group there that kick-started his career in sales ops. 

During his early days in sales ops, CJ was expected to apply his knowledge on how systems work and how salespeople should use them. He also executed reporting and analytics duties. His current role as the Head of Business Operations at Mynewsdesk is more holistic and managerial in nature and involves a lot of change management.

The structure of Carl-Johan’s team 

CJ adds to his team’s skill set in the business operations area by looking at it from a holistic perspective rather than just from a sales operations view. He works with two other Salesforce admins and serves forty-five sales reps, fifteen customer success professionals, and ten SDRs. 

Managing relationships with reps as the sales team grows

Automate as much as possible, so you don’t have to explain to every new sales rep about Salesforce. This adds flexibility to your systems and allows for scalability in the long run. 

Sales tech stack at Mynewsdesk 

• HubSpot – Marketing automation
• Salesforce – CRM 
• Salesforce CPQ – Quoting and subscription module 
• NetSuite for ERP
• Smaller apps connected to Salesforce for digital signature
• AI prospecting tool 
• Stripe – Card payments 
• LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Focus in the first half of 2021 in the Business Ops team at Mynewsdesk

In the first half of 2021, CJ’s team at Mynewsdesk has been moving away from a fragmented and legacy-like Salesforce implementation. This effort to cleanup data reporting includes the implementation of Salesforce CPQ.

Moving away from a fragmented Salesforce implementation

This fragmentation in Salesforce implementation, especially in European Sales teams, comes from the fragmented working style and disparate processes of teams in different European countries. 

The focus should be on unifying not just the systems and tools but also the core processes. Bring teams together and on the same page with their processes so that you can start straightening out their systems and tools. 

Recommended episodes 

• Riding the Salesforce Wave with Megan James, Director of Sales Operations Lead at Knock
• Director Business Operations: Jennifer Laurie of Bonfire Interactive
• Head of Business Operations: Marvin Varnphruk of StreamSets

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