Managing RevOps
While the term of “RevOps” is relatively new, it’s concept is not. Revenue-based operations have typically been siloed across sales, marketing, customer success, or even finance. If you’re scaling an organization, undoubtedly you’re seeking ways to streamline, leverage, and amplify activities that improve the bottomline. In pursuing that endeavor, you’ve either hired a dedicated RevOps person or outsourced to an expert. If you’re still contemplating adding to staff or outsourcing RevOps, I provide detailed advice on when to hire and what problems they solve.
Either way, monitoring RevOps activities is on your managerial to-do list. To help you make the most of your resource, the following chronicles my advice on what you should be asking, reviewing, and assigning to RevOps.
Problems Not Prescriptions
RevOps is tasked with aligning an organization’s internal processes around revenue growth along the entire customer journey. It’s highly unlikely that your current processes are smooth and without hiccups. You may think the solution is “solving for x.” Let’s put a spotlight on that for a moment. All of us have biases, based on our experience and areas of expertise. Having a bias and opinion is normal, desirable even. Yet RevOps is all about searching for additional perspectives that are pivotal to scaling success.
To effectively manage your RevOps person or agency, present them with problems. Describe that problem in detail. On that note, if your RevOps expert doesn't like -- or push back -- on your prescribed solution, they probably aren’t a good fit. The point here is that they look at the problem from all angles and actively pursue answers from multiple sources.
Expect Self-Initiation
Effective RevOps are natural and pathological problem solvers. If you haven’t given them a problem or project, they should be on the hunt to find one. Their job requires developing relationships across the organization, digging into how things work and where things go awry. Ideally they are coming to you with ideas on how to streamline and develop avenues that accelerate revenue growth.
Metrics With a Side of Accountability
How you hold your RevOps person accountable obviously depends on their place within an organization’s hierarchy. Broadly speaking, their customers are internal stakeholders. Regardless of status, your RevOps person needs excellent interpersonal and communication skills (aka EQ) and project management chops. If they leave a trail of burned bridges and missed deadlines, reach out to your HR business partner on how to coach and solve those issues.
Now for the analytics and analysis.
A good place to start is with your current metrics dashboard. When working with my clients I typically focus on where room for improvement hides. In essence I’m looking for where time may be saved. For example, you’re calculating hours by using time stamps (expansion or contraction over time) and money (salaries, expenses).
Here’s my list of metrics in priority order:
Reduced Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Increased sales pipeline velocity
Higher renewal percentages
Enhanced close-to-cash (signed contracts to money in the bank account) timeframes and fulfillment ratios
Improved rates for leads generated to opportunities accepted
What RevOps Needs from You
Fundamentally RevOps is a holistic framework. Your RevOps is digging through siloed information, searching for bottlenecks, and creating solutions that will make everyone a bit uncomfortable. Their role is to negotiate where all parts of the organization -- marketing, sales, success, finance -- compromise for the greater good.
Their role is rooted in being a subject matter expert for an overarching process. They are a generalist that can visualize the entire customer data journey -- in its current state and its future/improved state.
Their role bridges silos. They ask non-obvious, astute and sometimes challenging questions. They gain buy-in by explaining the “why” in addition to the “what” changes are needed.
So, as you contemplate how to manage your RevOps resource, think about how you can best support them. What obstacles can be removed as they navigate problems throughout the organization? What data points best showcase their successes and revenue wins? What feedback motivates them to produce their best work?
Support Your Plan for Growth
Need additional support for your RevOps endeavors, Alternative Partners can help you fill the gap and plan for growth.