Revenue operations, or RevOps for short, is the hottest new role in business and the fastest growing role in the US.
Did you know there was a 52% increase in Google searches for RevOps in the last 12 months alone?
It’s kind of a big deal.
But what exactly does a RevOps team do? And how can RevOps help your company hit its revenue goals?
Let’s dive into the rock and roll of the business world – loud, a bit chaotic, but undeniably the beating heart of revenue generation.
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RevOps alignment with wider business teams
RevOps: the future of revenue growth
You've got Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success all doing their thing in different corners of the business. RevOps is the force that swoops in to unite them all.
Aligning these teams, breaking down silos, and ensuring everyone's marching to the same beat is RevOps’ ultimate goal. It's not just about increasing revenue; it's about doing it with strategy, efficiency, flair and finesse.
The RevOps team uses data to strategize the GTM function and systems to improve efficiency, increase revenue, and enhance the customer experience.
In other words, RevOps is a mashup of revenue-focused skills and specialties. It brings together all the critical pieces needed to keep revenue flowing smoothly. This includes sales operations, marketing operations, analytics, technology, and more.
RevOps is often compared to DevOps, which combines development and IT operations. Just like DevOps streamlines software releases, RevOps aims to create a well-oiled revenue machine.
In terms of their day-to-day, the role of a RevOps professional will vary hugely depending on the size of the team. If you’re lucky enough to have a Marketing Ops, CS Ops, Sales Ops or General Operations manager working alongside you, the projects you undertake as RevOps will vary in number and scale.
With so many moving parts and working across so many departments, RevOps face plenty of challenges. Here are some of the most common:
As you can see, RevOps comes with its fair share of challenges. But when implemented effectively, the benefits far outweigh the growing pains, if you can focus your energy in the right areas of opportunity.
Revenue growth
By optimizing processes, technology, and collaboration across revenue teams, RevOps can directly accelerate revenue by numerous means.
Operational efficiency
RevOps eliminates cost, leverages automation, and makes revenue teams more productive.
Customer retention
With better alignment on the customer experience, RevOps can increase retention and lifetime value.
Data centralization
RevOps breaks down data silos into integrated analytics platforms. This single source of truth powers strategic decision-making at all levels of the business.
Agility & innovation
Unified systems and processes make it easier to test new revenue strategies and technologies.
Predictive analytics
Advanced analytics help forecast revenue more accurately and spot issues before they escalate.
Competitive advantage
In today’s revenue-focused business climate, RevOps can be a differentiator and drive market share gains.
Opportunities in RevOps span from the tactical to the transformational. But success ultimately comes down to one key outcome: helping your company reliably hit its revenue goals.
Data is the fuel that powers RevOps. Robust analytics and reporting are essential for optimizing revenue strategies. Here are some key types of RevOps reporting:
While all of this data is helpful, true data-driven decisions need to come from a concise set of internal benchmarks that you, as the RevOps leader, obsess about.
These metrics will be different for every business but will likely include leading indicators combined with lagging indicators to see where you are and where you're going in the future. That way, if you’re already on track to miss target next quarter, you can make changes this quarter to course correct or patch a leak, buying time to course correct long term.
In addition to internal benchmarks, RevOps teams should compare revenue metrics to industry standards to help assess performance. It can also uncover new revenue opportunities and areas needing improvement.
Here are some examples of key RevOps benchmarks:
Always remember - no two companies are exactly alike, so static benchmarks should be guidelines rather than hard targets.
RevOps, whether a fully formed team or a one-man band, needs to be organized. And that means PLANNING.
Just like any other department, RevOps needs its own departmental plan for each year. This plan should lay out what the department aims to achieve, which metrics it wants to improve and how. These plans should refer to
Some areas to consider in RevOps planning are:
Annual planning
Setting overall revenue targets and growth strategies for the next financial year. Align budgets, headcount, and investments.
Quota planning
Establishing sales quota targets based on growth goals.
Marketing planning
Getting aligned on lead generation and campaign strategies to deliver the required pipeline.
Capacity planning
Ensuring revenue teams are properly sized and staffed to hit goals.
Incentives planning
Designing effective sales compensation plans to motivate team behaviors in the right direction.
Territory and expansion planning
Mapping sales regions, accounts and geo assignments to balance workload and optimization.
Product planning
Developing new products or service levels and packages tailored to customer segments and opportunity areas.
Pricing planning
Set optimal per-unit pricing and discounted packages to maximize revenue.
While RevOps focuses on sales, marketing and revenue-facing roles, its impact spans the entire company. Aligning other groups to the revenue engine is crucial for hitting growth targets.
For example, does the new comp plan encourage the right kind of deals? Are the product team prioritizing features that will encourage the most new customers or customer retention?
At its core, RevOps is about breaking down silos and boundaries to rally the entire company around revenue generation. This alignment ultimately speeds an organization's overall success in the market.
Revenue operations represents the future of coordinated, data-driven revenue growth. While still evolving, leading companies are already using RevOps to gain a competitive advantage.
However, RevOps is not a quick fix or a one-and-done project. It requires a commitment to ongoing change management and advancement. When done right, though, RevOps creates a customer-centric, digitally transformed revenue engine. This next-generation revenue machine will power predictable growth and market leadership for years to come.
Starting your first RevOps role? Here’s 6 things to do in your first 30 days in a RevOps role.
Dan Wilson is the Head of Revenue Operations at Jiminny, implementing new strategies and procedures to improve efficiency, performance, and customer satisfaction across the sales cycle and beyond. With over eight years in operations and five years with revenue teams, Dan has managed and coached teams through numerous challenging situations. He is endlessly passionate about using data, insights and human interactions to drive business decisions and optimize business processes.