Inside Microsoft-scale sales operations with Chinesh Gandhi

What does it take to turn business strategy into clear priorities for more than 37K+ sellers across 140 countries? Chinesh Gandhi, Director of Sales Operations at Microsoft, joins Nabeil Alazzam on the show to share how an engineering mindset can strengthen quota setting, cross-functional planning, and Sales Operations at enterprise scale. He also explores the significant role AI can play in quota setting, and shares his take on whether a healthy quota system *should* put every seller above 100% attainment.

At enterprise scale, Sales Operations is where strategy either becomes executable or begins to unravel. Chinesh Gandhi, Director of Sales Operations at Microsoft, joins Forma.ai CEO Nabeil Alazzam to explore how leaders can connect business priorities to the systems, processes, and decisions that shape seller performance.

Drawing on a background in mechanical engineering and Six Sigma, Chinesh approaches Sales Operations as an interconnected system where every handoff matters and every process should ultimately make it easier for sellers to sell and customers to buy.

His team supports the delivery of targets to more than 37,000 sellers across 140 countries and contains multiple products. At this scale, quota setting becomes much more than assigning numbers. It is a critical mechanism for aligning a global sales organization around changing strategic priorities.

In this episode, Chinesh shares:

Why Sales Operations leaders should be measuring effectiveness and efficiency together
How to determine whether strategy is truly reaching the field
Why business process should come before technology
AI application in quota setting for helping teams navigate complex rules, constraints, and planning scenarios
How to preserve accuracy, explainability, and human accountability in AI-supported quota setting
How leaders can distinguish seller underperformance from a quota or territory design problem
And whether universal 100% attainment is something you should actually strive for

Chinesh also reflects on lessons from a major Sales Operations transformation, and challenges leaders to rethink how strong Sales Operations teams are defined.