Job Responsibilities
My job responsibilities encompass a combination of project and
employee management.
Employee management is pretty easy, as the employees I coach are
generally MBA recruits and highly motivated to do well. So,
tasks surrounding this include determining project assignments
and staffing, giving formal quarterly feedback, employee
recruiting, and general coaching/mentoring. The most
challenging part of this aspect of the job is in filling
positions, as our employees tend to move up quickly in the
organization. On average, I spend about 5 - 15% of my time
recruiting and interviewing, 5 - 10% on
coaching/mentoring/feedback, and minimal time on project
staffing.
All of the work is project-based, and responsibilities on
different projects vary greatly. I lead some projects, and I am
a team member on others. Other team members span from associate
level employees to VPs. The nature of projects is long-term,
cross-functional in nature, and has significant impact on the
company's bottom line. A few examples of projects include sales
force sizing, deployment, and incentives, B2B segmentation
studies, channel development, and tools to enable communication
of the value of B2B offerings and partnerships.
Here are some details on the types of work surrounding projects:
- In most cases, you manage the resources to ensure project
completion. Also, when leading a project, it is up to you to
determine and gain leadership concurrence on resourcing, project
timelines, and deliverables. On projects not led by Sales
Strategy, the role played is often consultative.
- Team recommendations to make often include determining the
strategy to develop for the sales channel, the product to
develop for field sales use, revenue benefits, and capital
spending requirements. Recommendations are approved by key
leaders in the sales organization up to the CEO, depending on
the project impact.
- Actions taken on projects to make these recommendations are
highly varied. Presentations to senior leadership ?? and in a
few select cases, even the CEO - are required if you are the
project lead. Most projects (80%) involve a high degree of
quantitative analysis and modeling. Some projects (20% or so)
involve negotiations with outside vendors and customers. Many
involve applying customer segmentation research and insights to
develop the best customer-focused solutions. You could even
participate in immersion exercises with the field sales force or
customers to identify problems and possible solutions (30% of
projects). The strategy group sometimes gets involved in
product execution (40% of projects).
- Resources include associates in your group, sales operations
employees, field sales managers and directors, trainers, IT
employees, consultants, and business managers.
- Project timelines range from a few weeks to several months.
Most projects lead by Sales Strategy last 2 - 3 months.
Time spent on all these tasks varies, over the past year on
average 60% of my time was spent on projects I led.
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Job Requirements
Education requirements are simple: you need an MBA, and you
need it from an excellent school (i.e., Kellogg, GSB and
Michigan are all schools heavily recruited by our group).
Backgrounds beyond this vary, but many people tend to fall into
the following groups based on the fact that the projects are
strategic, require quantitiative skills, but also a marketing
focus:
- Former consultants sick of the lifestyle requirements do
really well here.
- Former engineers also do really well in the group.
After that, people come from many walks of life. Some notable
under-represented backgrounds:
- Surprisingly, we have yet to hire a former sales rep, but not
for lack of trying. This is primarily due to the high level of
quantitative skills required.
- Also, not as many people as expected come from within the
airline industry. I don't know why this is the case.
- Process-driven analysts also do not normally do as well,
mainly because quantitative skills required include analysis
development.
Career pathing from Sales Strategy is to anywhere in planning
functions within the company. This happens very quickly for the
company, usually within a year to manager level positions for
newly hired associates, and a little longer for managers to
senior managers. The project exposure is very high, which
enables movement to other areas of the company fairly easily.
External movement involves generally staying within the
industry, moving to vendors or large travel agencies.
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Uppers
This can be summed up pretty easily:
- The variety of work, straddling both traditional finance and marketing
functions
- The control you have over your projects
- The exposure and influence with senior management
- The impact you personally have on the company's bottom line
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Downers
There are certain downers with the job:
- At times, the time commitment can be very high, especially if
you don't plan project resources well (or if they don't deliver)
- The responsibility is very high, considering the job level
- The salary is too low considering the above
- Politics can play a big role, but once you understand how to
maneuver the personalities, it can be okay
- In the airline industry, change can be excessive and
violent. For example, after 9/11, 45% of my group was let go,
and we've had at least 4 reorganizations that I can recall, 2 of
which my job function completely changed (happily, for the
better). This can be exciting, but sometimes too much so.
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Lifestyle
Lifestyle can best be described as consulting lite, but much more fun. Work
hours are generally better than consulting, usually 50-60 hours. Business travel
is not extensive, and when it happens it can be great fun (i.e., some specific
examples I can draw upon include travel in business or first class, a week spent
in Tokyo in immersion interviews, a "fun" tour of Rio as part of a sales blitz
team, taking a canal boat with an open bar to a wonderful dinner in Amsterdam).
Being part of the sales organization, social events can get creative and can
include travel (i.e., trips to go wine tasting with our group in Napa), but
mostly encompass happy hours, dinners, recognition lunches, and holiday parties.
They are all usually laid back. Dress code is casual (jeans) on Fridays, but I
try to wear a suit at least once a week, especially when presenting to senior
leadership, and always when meeting customers.
Diversity is truly great here, with people originating from many countries
including India, China, Turkey, Taiwan, Brazil, Argentina, Japan, UK, and
Australia. However, there are less women in senior positions than I'd prefer.
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Compensation
As a manager, benefits include the following:
Base: 83k (due to longevity with my company, low versus most
others in similar roles - should be 95k+)
Bonus potential: 20%
Stock options: none (but is available at a senior manager level)
Health/Dental/Vision: plans are available with a monthly copay
(around $50 per family)
Flight benefits: unlimited for your family (including domestic
partners), parents, plus discounts on purchases, plus standby
flights for friends. Also, as a travel industry employee, you
qualify for other airline, hotel, cruise, and other travel
discounts.
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Advice to Jobseekers
Some advice:
- Get your MBA before you join, and from a top tier school.
You'll use, you'll need it, and the industry values it (but
doesn't pay for it - untrue for other industries, however).
- Weigh the positives against the salary, because you likely
won't get an equivalent salary versus similar functions in other
industries.
- When you interview, prepare for traditional consulting case
questions, because you will get them.
- Be prepared to work with (and manage) all walks of life on
your teams, without being arrogant. Influencing skills are a
must.
- Be comfortable with change, and be prepared for anything: in
Sales Strategy, you foster change. In the airline industry,
change is also the norm. Due to this, the outlook for the
industry is in flux (the next year will be telling).
- However, if you are willing to switch industries (most don't
once they join), the Sales Strategy function exists elsewhere,
and is in demand. The ability to manage a mix of marketing and
finance aspects of the job will also be in more demand, per
Professor Kotler (a.k.a. Kellogg marketing guru who wrote the
marketing book used in virtually in all MBA programs).
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