RevOps Partner Accountability

Congrats, you’ve hired a dedicated RevOp person or consultant for your organization. Hopefully as part of your onboarding process you’ve established accountability metrics. Not yet? Or it’s sorta loose right now? Read on. I’ll walk you through what to measure and why. 

Ability to Influence

RevOps’ ability to influence depends on where in your organizational hierarchy they sit. Broadly speaking, regardless of where this role sits, RevOps is all about working with others, following processes from start to finish, and influencing change that inconveniences individuals or departments and yet benefits everyone in the organization. To be effective, your RevOps point person needs to balance interpersonal skills with processes, flexibility with rigidity, quantitative with qualitative data. If they can’t straddle these dichotomies, it may be time to re-evaluate your choice.

• C-Suite or Executive Team

  At this level in the organization it’s easier to make broad-sweeping edicts. RevOps can put a stake in the ground to the tune of “this is the software we’re going to use.” They are unapologetic for compromises needed to be made by individuals, departments or entire groups. The benefit of having RevOps represented at the most senior level of the organization is that they have extensive knowledge and perspective of the business, including operational considerations, growth goals, and financial game plans. They often have the inside track with VC or board mandates.
  
  If RevOps initiatives go poorly, they are at fault. When things go well, it’s because they’ve enabled others to do their best work. They have exceptional leadership skills, meaning they:

  • Hold others accountable

  • Ensure teams have the guidance and resources needed

  • Make timely decisions to facilitate speed

  • Model EQ in conversations by participating in meetings, asking pointed questions aimed at discovering roadblocks, and noticing patterns of failure or success.

  • Are continuous learners of their industry, their organization, and emerging trends

• Directors & Managers

  Depending on the size of an organization, this RevOps point person is not necessarily the doers. Rather, they are directly measured by the work of others -- their direct reports -- and their ability to implement across departmental functions. They need to be very knowledgeable about their company’s processes at a high level. Essentially they could do 60% of everyone else's job due to their cross-functional knowledge. They may not get a passing grade but they have the necessary perspective to get stuff done. Basically this RevOps person’s superpower is their adeptness at asking questions; they can go broad as well as dig deep into the weeds as necessary. 

• RevOps Admins or Doers

  At this level your RevOps are the closest thing you have to a subject matter expert (SME). They have the technical ability to manifest higher-level requirements. They know how to create automations, administer platforms, and run internal enablement. From a personal communication skill perspective, they are curious and respectful in their conversations. Additionally, they have the discernment to verify details and understand who owns what (processes, systems, data).

Internal Stakeholders Are RevOps Customers

An integral component of measuring RevOps’ effectiveness and holding them accountable rests on customer satisfaction. In this case, customers are internal stakeholders. Satisfaction can be measured by:

• Questions answered

• Requests for enhancements added to roadmaps

• Bugs fixed

• Explanations as to why the answer is “no” 

• Others helped to do their job better and faster

If there is a trail of burnt bridges where working relationships have soured, that’s an obvious red flag. It’s inevitable that projects will have hiccups, compromises, and delays. Despite these challenges, RevOps fosters positive working relationships. At the core, RevOps makes sure the internal customer is taken care of.

RevOps Metrics

The success of RevOps is realized by incremental improvements to KPIs quarter over quarter. At the C-Suite, the Chief Revenue Officer is measured by revenue growth at its most macro perspective. As a Director, it’s measured by increased standardization and operational efficiencies. At the implementer level, it’s measured by how long to deliver on issues that are brought to their attention (think internal SLAs).

CRO-specific KPIs look like saving time and calculating their dollar impact. It relies on time stamps -- expansion or contraction over time. It relies on accurate measurement and estimates before and after project implementation. 

At the more granular level, RevOps metrics include:

1. Reduced CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost).

   It could be the time to close (overall sales cycle reduced) or decreased effort expended during the sales cycle (emails, meetings, dinners, gifts, whatever goes into your selling process). It could include quality of lead generation or encompass the entire funnel -- lead gen, qualification, sales process -- and the associated business model thresholds.

2. Increased Sales Pipeline Velocity

   Each organization has different points of contact in their pipeline management. How quickly are deals moving from through that pipeline to close? I’ve found that middle school teachers are perfect at addressing pipeline velocity issues and sales enablement in general. Why? They are trained to teach people. They build curriculum (templates) to use over and over. They identify knowledge gaps and build bridges.

3. Higher Renewal Percentage

   Customers tend to renew for three reasons: they forgot they had auto renewal set up, the product/service works and they see value, or they don’t see value but they like you. When RevOps figures out why customers renew or don’t, you can accelerate improvement.

4. Faster Close to Cash

   Once a contract is signed, how quickly does money land in your bank account? RevOps works through your eSignature platform of choice and follows the process all the way through to invoicing and account receivables. Fixing issues often include automated alerts, payment processing and reminders, collection processes, and clawbacks.

5. Increased Percentage of Lead Gen to Accepted Opportunity

   Regardless if you use a BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timing) methodology or something else, your RevOps is working through the lead gen process to fine-tune and filter what’s working and what’s not. For instance, are you targeting the right keywords, accurately defining your Ideal Customer Personas, placing ads where buyers actually are. These are examples of where inefficiencies and misalignments lurk. RevOps’ job is to ferret them out for incremental improvements.

Support Your Plan for Growth

Need additional support for your RevOps endeavors -- or better measure your RevOps initiatives, Alternative Partners can help you fill the gap and plan for growth.