Chitra is available for hire
Hire ChitraChitra Ramanan
Verified Expert in Finance
Growth Expert
Location
Irvine, CA, United States
Toptal Member Since
January 20, 2022
Chitra is a highly strategic and dynamic thought executive with 17+ years of leadership experience in sales strategy, process and operations, training and development, consulting, project management, and business transformation. She brings a demonstrated ability to successfully inspire, mentor, and lead diverse teams to deliver outstanding business results across a broad product portfolio. Chitra was multiple times recognized with the Presidents' Club award for leading operational excellence.
Career Highlights
Consultant | Sales Strategy & Transformation Projects
Self-employed
Western Region Sales Manager - Veritiv Corporation
Veritiv Corporation
Education Highlights
Master’s Degree
Pepperdine University
Certification Highlights
Lean Advisor
Pyzdek Institute
Lean Six Sigma Black Belt
Xerox Corporation
Software Expertise
Other Expertise
Work Experience
Consultant | Sales Strategy & Transformation Projects
2020 - PRESENT
Self-employed
- Worked on a combination of short-term projects and recurring engagements across industries. Provided actionable strategies and feedback to companies to improve their efficiency and sales performance.
- Developed an overall sales strategy, territory or segment structuring, recruiting, compensation plans, training and curriculum development, data analytics and reporting, sales automation, and sales process optimization.
- Designed a customer-centric sales strategy to sell to today’s connected customers; constructed with a deep understanding of what they value and care about, providing a consistent customer experience across different channels and geographies.
- Organized sales territories and segments for complete coverage to allocate the right sales capacity in the proper channels to capture the market opportunity and maximize returns.
- Optimized sales capacity and resource requirements and assisted with recruiting the right sales talent to invest in the segments and channels that will yield the most growth.
- Drove utilization of internal analytics to gain visibility of win and loss trends, sales cycles, and conversion ratios, helping companies analyze trends and tailwinds to ensure that the focus was placed in the right segments, channels, and markets.
- Developed sales curriculum and training on an ongoing basis to create sales teams that are constantly evolving and in lockstep with the new changing conditions, solutions, technology, and trends.
- Implemented continuous improvement projects to maximize productivity, cut costs and increase sales.
- Built an inventory management process to optimize supply chain management, establish cost control, and improve vendor management and strategic sourcing.
- Leveraged my considerable experience within the packaging space to predict future trends and tailwinds, assess growth factors, and share perspectives on the biggest players' performance trends and critical mergers and acquisitions.
Focus areas: Business Strategy, Sales Strategy, Sales Effectiveness, CRM APIs, Management, Sales Compensation, Sales & Channel Enablement, Marketing, Microsoft Office, Salesforce, Tableau, Anaplan, Analytics, Business Transformation, Customer Engagement, Process Design, Process Flows, Process Mapping, Project Management, Accounting, Finance, P&L Analysis, Organizational Design, Organizational Behavior (OB), Microsoft Dynamics CRM, SAP Sales Cloud, CRM Systems, Six Sigma, Strategy, Customer Analysis, Profit & Loss (P&L), Profitability Analysis, Gross Profit Margin Growth, Business to Business (B2B), Sales Transformation, Sales Process Management, Lean Certified, Lean Six Sigma, Process Redesign, Business Process Re-engineering, Process Improvement, Cost Analysis, Continuous Improvement, Lean Analytics, Data Analytics, Recruitment, Channel Optimization, Sales Training, Training & Training Content Development, BI Reporting, Financial Data Analytics, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Sales Commission Structure, Sales Management, Channel Sales, Inventory Management, Supply Chain Management (SCM), Sales
Consultant | Fractional Director of Sales Operations | Super Secure Packaging
2020 - 2021
Self-employed
- Led all support functions critical to Salesforce productivity and revenue growth. Worked very closely with the sales team to deliver leadership and guidance to maintain the effective execution of the company strategy.
- Established a go-to-market strategy, business planning, quota setting and forecasting, sales process optimization, customer relations, coaching and development, compensation implementation, and ongoing sales talent recruitment.
- Drove the achievement of sales, profit, and strategic objectives of the company. Developed and executed new pricing strategies on the portal and improved sales by 20% within six months.
- Oversaw the achievement of annual sales revenue of $45M and increased gross profit by 25%. Strengthened distribution channel integrity and revamped inventory systems to improve revenue by 15% immediately.
- Optimized product mix and allocation of sales resources, designed incentive plans, sales quotas, and performance objectives to increase revenue. Collaborated with functional leaders to develop KPIs to increase visibility on key indicators.
- Developed standardized processes for managing typical customer requests and exception handling approaches to enhance and provide quality customer service. In addition, implemented upselling strategies for 30 clients.
- Executed root causal analysis and implemented solutions and countermeasures to effectively solve problems requiring a strong critical thinking ability to evaluate large amounts of information accurately.
- Increased organic new sales growth within enterprise accounts by 10% by developing a client-focused product strategy.
- Conducted the deployment and adoption of Salesforce.com and Power BI. Rolled out a new performance management process to maintain strong pipeline conversion rates, consistent sales growth, and customer retention.
Focus areas: Business Strategy, Sales Strategy, Sales & Channel Enablement, CRM APIs, Recruiting, Marketing, Microsoft Office, Salesforce, Tableau, Anaplan, Analytics, Business Transformation, Customer Engagement, Process Design, Process Flows, Process Mapping, Project Management, Accounting, Finance, P&L Analysis, Organizational Design, Organizational Behavior (OB), Microsoft Dynamics CRM, SAP Sales Cloud, CRM Systems, Six Sigma, Strategy, Customer Analysis, Profit & Loss (P&L), Profitability Analysis, Gross Profit Margin Growth, Business to Business (B2B), Sales Transformation, Sales Process Management, Sales Effectiveness, Management, Sales Compensation, Lean Certified, Lean Six Sigma, Process Redesign, Business Process Re-engineering, Process Improvement, Cost Analysis, Continuous Improvement, Lean Analytics, Data Analytics, Recruitment, Channel Optimization, Sales Training, Training & Training Content Development, BI Reporting, Financial Data Analytics, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Sales Commission Structure, Sales Management, Channel Sales, Inventory Management, Supply Chain Management (SCM), Sales
Western Region Sales Manager - Veritiv Corporation
2017 - 2020
Veritiv Corporation
- Spearheaded the recruitment, training, and coaching of skilled packaging sales professionals to attain sales objectives, maintain a healthy pipeline and control a portfolio of profitable customer relationships in a fast-paced environment.
- Leveraged strong leadership and communications skills, knowledge of packaging and supply chain, and expertise in sales process management to develop and retain successful sales professionals adept at closing large and profitable opportunities.
- Supervised revenues exceeding $90 million in annual sales. Overachieved targets with 85% to 90% customer retention and strong organic sales growth.
- Boosted the adoption of Salesforce.com in the SW region by almost 50% by executing a simple and effective sales process in lockstep with the go-to-market strategy.
- Trained and coached sales professionals from the ground up to grow the business 20% YOY due to implementing a robust sales process, managing VOC, monitoring a strong pipeline conversion rate, and closing new business.
- Led enterprise C level client meetings and directed quarterly business reviews with Fortune 1000 customers to review mutual goals, create new growth opportunities, reiterate our value and maintain 85% retention.
- Played a key role as a trusted advisor to customers across segments such as government, aerospace, eCommerce, health and beauty, food, medical devices, and technology.
- Placed a strong focus on cost takeout initiatives and projects with customers by leveraging my expertise in Lean and continuous improvement, business transformation, and process improvement.
Focus areas: Business Strategy, Sales Strategy, Sales Effectiveness, Sales & Channel Enablement, CRM APIs, Marketing, Microsoft Office, Salesforce, Analytics, Business Transformation, Customer Engagement, Process Design, Process Flows, Process Mapping, Project Management, Accounting, Finance, P&L Analysis, Organizational Design, Organizational Behavior (OB), CRM Systems, Six Sigma, Strategy, Customer Analysis, Profit & Loss (P&L), Profitability Analysis, Gross Profit Margin Growth, Business to Business (B2B), Sales Transformation, Sales Process Management, Management, Sales Compensation, Lean Certified, Lean Six Sigma, Process Redesign, Business Process Re-engineering, Process Improvement, Cost Analysis, Continuous Improvement, Lean Analytics, Data Analytics, Recruitment, Channel Optimization, Sales Training, Training & Training Content Development, BI Reporting, Financial Data Analytics, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Sales Commission Structure, Sales Management, Channel Sales, Inventory Management, Supply Chain Management (SCM), Sales
Education
1990 - 1992
Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA)
Pepperdine University - Malibu, CA, USA
1985 - 1986
Master's Degree in Economics
University of Pune - Pune, India
1981 - 1985
Bachelor's Degree in Economics
University of Pune - Pune, India
Certifications
JUNE 2018 - PRESENT
Lean Advisor
Pyzdek Institute
DECEMBER 2010 - PRESENT
Lean Six Sigma Black Belt
Xerox Corporation