Nicole Mersch

Responsible for driving revenue growth within Automotive and Industrial Business Unit at Ricardo. Primary objective: optimizing revenue operations processes to yield higher sales productivity and revenue growth:

• Sales Prospecting: Implemented integration with LinkedIn Sales Navigator and enabled field to drive new connections at strategic accounts.
• Sales Process Optimization: Analyzed win/loss data, identified qualification process was not efficient in some regions and was resulting in a loss early in sales cycle. Developed new qualification process for consistency and reporting.
• Sales Forecasting and Reporting: Implemented a new forecasting methodology to help with accuracy, built dashboards for senior management, and enabled GTM teams on new forecast process.
• CRM Management: Oversee implementation and maintenance of CRM.

Hired as first member of Revenue Operations team, part of RTI Sales Management, to be a change-maker.

Primary Objective: Raise Sales Productivity from a below benchmark rate of $783K to over $1.15M in 3 years.

Over time, team grew to include Sales Enablement and Data Analyst to help with the growth of the organization.

The Result: In 2021, we overachieved Account Manager productivity by 20% at $980,875.

How did we do it?

• Identify sales process improvements that improve account teams’ skill sets and productivity.
• Codetermine and track metrics for current and projected business performance, including monthly sales forecast.
• Lead and support quota and sales compensation design and performance metrics; provide related insights to sales management.
• Enable team on new ways of prospecting and discovery through tools like LinkedIn Navigator and ZoomInfo.

Started as an individual contributor, working in a fast-paced environment at a high growth company. Promoted into management role responsible for building an enablement strategy and team to support the tremendous growth of the company (growing from $30M in revenue to $500M in just 2 years).

What did we Do?

• Re-architected existing onboarding program -Ramp times decreased from 9 to 6 months; ASP's increased by over 150%
• Program managed agenda, content, and delivery of sales kickoff, working with key stakeholders to ensure business objectives and success criteria were met.
• Developed ongoing enablement programs related to new product releases or programs delivered directly by Enablement team.
• Created sales messaging playbooks for all GTM roles in organization.
• Drove operational efficiency through data-driven decision-making processes, leveraging analytics tools for informed strategy development.
• Developed and implemented updated sales process to achieve business goals and stay competitive.

Sole Proprietor and independent contractor working on various sales operations/sales enablement programs throughout the Bay Area, continuing to improve upon skills in the following areas of expertise:

• Sales Process Improvements
• Sales Methodology Training
• Sales Playbook Development
• Sales Kickoffs
• Onboarding Programs

Chief of staff to VP of Sales running a 400-person sales staff. Responsibilities included a range of Enablement Programs, Board Presentations, Forecast Meetings, and Special Projects.

• Highly Rated Sales Kickoffs- Solely responsible for agenda, all content and presenters, agencies, and contractors maintaining $2.5M budget to create companies' annual sales kickoff.
• Designed skills workshops that addressed common challenges faced by sales team, leading to increased closing rates.
• Reduced time to first deal through Improved On-Boarding Program- Developed a new strategy for training new hires by creating online portal sales teams could use to reduce time to deliver first deal
• Sales Methodology Program Management- Enabled sales team on Company methodology, Value Selling
• Employee Performance Improvement Program- Worked with HR and sales management in this Sales Development Initiative establishing core competencies of each salesperson against critical success factors, and a customized enablement and training program to help each salesperson improve upon those critical skills.
• Evaluated current tool stack: ensure alignment with company goals and initiatives, recommending adjustments as needed.

Global Alliance Manager responsible for Sun Microsystems and Red Hat relationships. Negotiated mutually beneficial contracts with partners, ensuring long-term success for both parties.

• Managed senior-level personnel working in marketing and sales capacities.
• Defined clear targets and objectives and communicated to other team members.
• Spearheaded cross-functional teams to execute joint initiatives, driving innovation and collaborative success.

Employee number 15, worked as AE, SE and AM.

• Worked closely with sales team on understanding customer requirements, promoting products and delivering sales support.
• Established credibility with clients by demonstrating deep industry expertise and technical knowledge during engagements.
• Facilitated functional and technical discovery sessions with team members, customers, potential customers and vendors.

• Communicated complex sales and engineering concepts to prospective users clearly and with constant customer focus.
• Organized trial installations and post-sale work on projects to help customers meet deadlines.
• Developed strong client relationships for long-term business growth and customer satisfaction.
• Responsible for presales activities for multiple channels including the Direct Sales, OEM relationships, and Systems Integrator partnerships.