What are the responsibilities and job description for the Vice President, Sales Enablement position at Forward?
Position: Vice President, Sales Enablement
Job Description:
The Vice President of Sales Enablement will develop and execute a comprehensive sales enablement strategy designed to enhance sales team productivity, align cross-functional teams, and drive revenue growth in a highly competitive market.
The ideal candidate will bring extensive experience in sales operations, enablement strategies, and logistics, with a proven ability to lead transformational change in a large-scale organization. This individual will serve as a key partner to the executive leadership team, aligning sales goals with overall business objectives while fostering a high-performing and results-oriented sales culture.
Core Duties and Responsibilities:
- Strategic Leadership:
- Develop and implement a comprehensive sales enablement strategy to align with the company’s revenue and growth objectives.
- Serve as the strategic bridge between sales, marketing, , and product teams to ensure seamless integration of sales initiatives and resources.
- Partner with senior leadership to refine and implement sales methodologies, tools, and metrics that optimize sales effectiveness.
- Build, lead, and mentor a high-performing sales enablement team to support regional and international sales operations.
- Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, and accountability, ensuring team alignment with corporate objectives.
- Provide ongoing coaching and development opportunities for sales leaders and individual contributors.
- Sales Enablement & Optimization:
- Lead the design, development, and deployment of training programs, playbooks, and tools to improve sales performance and effectiveness.
- Establish scalable frameworks for sales processes, lead management, and customer engagement to support domestic and international sales teams.
- Learning and Development
- Equip the sales team with the knowledge, skills, and confidence needed to succeed in a dynamic logistics and transportation industry.
- Develop role-specific training focusing on core skills, industry trends, and customer engagement best practices.
- Deliver ongoing workshops, micro-learning opportunities, and certifications tailored to sales personas and career stages.
- Establish a cadence of regular knowledge-sharing sessions, webinars, and e-learning courses.
- Build systems for post-training assessments to refine program effectiveness and relevance over time.
- Sales Collateral Development
- Ensure sales representatives have access to high-quality, relevant, and impactful resources to drive customer conversations.
- Develop templates, presentations, and case studies tailored to specific verticals, geographies, and customer profiles.
- Leverage storytelling techniques to demonstrate the value and differentiation of the company’s solutions.
- Maintain a centralized, easily accessible repository of all sales collateral.
- Create dynamic sales playbooks that guide representatives through the customer journey, including objection handling, competitive positioning, and value articulation.
- Product Marketing Alignment
- Build a bridge between product teams and sales to ensure accurate communication of the company’s offerings and value proposition.
- Implement quarterly updates and training sessions on new products, features, and services.
- Lead product marketing to ensure sales messaging aligns with product capabilities and market positioning.
- Develop resources to articulate competitive differentiation and customer-specific use cases.
- Lead Generation Support
- Empower the sales team with high-quality leads and actionable insights to accelerate pipeline development.
- Partner with marketing to ensure seamless handoff of marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) to sales teams, with proper context and tools to engage.
- Train sales teams on strategies to nurture and convert inbound leads effectively.
- Equip sales representatives with personalized outreach templates, industry insights, and prospect-specific value propositions.
- Sales Rep Onboarding
- Establish a best-in-class onboarding program that accelerates ramp time and ensures new hires contribute effectively to revenue goals.
- Develop a phased onboarding process focusing on product knowledge, sales tools, and customer engagement strategies.
- Provide clear benchmarks and assessments to measure onboarding success.
- Pair new hires with seasoned sales representatives to foster a supportive learning environment.
- University Recruitment Strategy
- Build a pipeline of future sales talent by engaging top-tier universities with sales programs.
- Partner with universities offering sales and business programs to identify high-potential candidates early.
- Sponsor workshops, case competitions, and industry panels to showcase the company’s brand and career opportunities.
- Develop structured internship programs to provide students with hands-on experience in sales and logistics.
- Collaborate with university faculty to co-develop coursework that highlights real-world applications of sales in the logistics and transportation industry.
- Market & Industry Expertise:
- Stay abreast of market trends, competitor activities, and customer needs in the domestic and international supply chain sectors.
- Identify emerging opportunities and develop innovative sales approaches to capitalize on them.
- Partner with the marketing team to refine go-to-market strategies and messaging that resonate with target audiences.
- Other duties as assigned
Qualifications:
- Minimum of 15 years of experience in sales enablement, sales operations, or sales leadership roles, with at least 5 years in the transportation, logistics, or supply chain industry.
- Demonstrated success in leading sales enablement initiatives for large-scale, multi-billion-dollar organizations.
- Proven ability to align sales strategies with business objectives and drive measurable revenue growth.
Skills & Competencies:
- Exceptional leadership and team-building skills, with experience managing cross-functional teams in complex environments.
- Strong analytical and strategic thinking capabilities, with a data-driven approach to decision-making.
- Proficiency in CRM platforms (e.g., Salesforce) and other sales enablement tools.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to influence and inspire at all levels of the organization.
Leadership Characteristics:
The ideal leader will be an engaging and collaborative executive with excellent listening skills, along with a decisive style. With all of this must come a hands-on, detailed, action-oriented personality and style. S/he will have delivered a compelling marketing plan that was successfully implemented using wise judgement and inspiring trust. Stylistically, this person should be savvy, highly credible and collaborative, and have a partnering mindset across the company.
This individual will possess the following characteristics and skills:
- Proven Change Agent: Desire and ability to lead by bringing bold thought leadership to the Product and Marketing team. An inspiring leader who communicates passion, energy, and excitement with high emotional intelligence.
- Broad Business Perspective: Exceptional strategic skills and the ability to balance the intuitive and analytical. Has the proven ability to blend high level strategic skills with short-term focused initiatives.
- Strong Relationship Builder, Communicator, and Influencer: An outstanding relationship builder with strong communication skills who can articulate concepts, initiatives, and goals with clarity to a range of constituents. Significant team-building experience with proven success in developing strong relationships throughout an organization and achieving buy-in across various constituencies.
- Innovation Mindset: Providing support and vision for the Product & Marketing group’s relationship with IT, ultimately driving precise cross department collaboration with proper resourcing, vision, and aligned goals.
Forward is an Equal Opportunity employer.
