I have led commercial strategy across the full arc — from sales enablement and operations to pre-sales, business development, and carrying a personal quota. My approach to commercial work is grounded in the same human-centered thinking I bring to everything else: understanding what customers actually need before building the case for how to reach them.
“Fantastic all-around leader, with motivating and innovative ideas and ways to meet client needs — especially in new places. She gives great advice and helps strategize in ways that move me, my work, the team AND the clients forward.”
— Peer feedback, ZS Associates
At ZS Associates
I moved into consulting at ZS, which required building commercial skills I hadn’t needed in the product organization. I established revenue goals for the service lines I led, developed go-to-market strategies aligned with the ZS operating model, built relevant collateral, and refined both messaging and offerings in response to the market. In 2023 I achieved 125% of personal quota and represented our team’s capabilities in ZS’s largest, most strategic opportunities.
The most exciting commercial work of my ZS tenure was leading pre-sales for what became ZAIDYN Field Insights. The product UX team led primary and desk research, identified key moments in the sales journey, and crafted a prototype that was widely circulated, iterated with clients, and eventually built. Because I deeply understood user motivations and the tasks the solution was meant to enable, I led the effort to identify and engage pilot clients. Our UX insights later informed the marketing messages for launch — completing a full commercial lifecycle that remains a career highlight.
ZAIDYN Field Insights: Conceptualized, tested, and built a novel field enablement solution with AI-powered behavioral nudges.
“We had a really fantastic partnership on my client. Her availability was outstanding — very responsive. The client doesn’t think of us in this space and Natalie did a lot to help establish credibility. The proposal was very strong and she was very good at anticipating the client’s questions and being prepared for them.”
— Peer feedback, ZS Associates
SAP
Most of my non-technical roles at SAP were in sales operations and enablement — both in the Americas and globally. The scope was broad: CRM implementations, mid-market business development programs, a $3M Demo and Pre-Sales Initiative with eight workstreams and 120 team members, and the Americas’ Sales Incentive event with a ~$3.5M budget.
SAP CRM Usability case study: Usability testing and proposed improvements that generated ~$200K in annual bottom-line improvement..
Commissions Workflow and Experience: Reimagined solution that improved sales productivity by 20% and reduced Finance calls by 40%.
Contract Management for Sales: Digitized and summarized client contracts for remote consumption by sales reps.
Later, working in a global Operations role and running Board and C-level programs, I conducted an ethnographic research study with enterprise sales reps to understand where they were spending their time and what was causing friction. As the lead researcher and project manager, I documented pain points and proposed solutions — which I reviewed with the SVP of Sales Operations and later the CFO. Together we introduced improvements that led to a 20% lift in large enterprise account executive productivity.
That project is the clearest example of what I mean by human-centered commercial strategy: start with the people doing the work, understand the system they operate in, and design solutions that address root causes rather than symptoms.
“Natalie adds a ton of value. She partnered very effectively with me and my team. She has built a very strong team with the required areas of expertise and they have had a tremendous impact on a big project. The client has given very positive feedback and has given us additional opportunities.
— Peer feedback, ZS Associates
What This Means for Clients Today
Commercial strategy is where product and customer intersect — and where most scaling technology companies struggle most. I understand how to build a go-to-market motion from scratch, how to enable a sales organization to sell something new, and how to use customer insight to sharpen both messaging and offering. If your commercial organization is outgrowing its current model, or you need someone who can bridge product and revenue, I can help.