Key Takeaways
In recent times, we have seen a shift in how companies think about revenue. According to SiriusDecisions, B2B companies that have already implemented revenue operations (RevOps) are well-poised to thrive in the next three to five years, compared to organizations that haven’t.
In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of the word “revenue” has steadily grown. In fact, titles such as director of revenue ops, VP of revenue ops, and chief revenue officer are some of the fastest-growing job titles on LinkedIn now.
So why is RevOps gaining such traction and why is it so crucial for success?
To begin with, RevOps addresses the gap between revenue generation and company departments. This helps in streamlining the structure.
But more importantly, RevOps treats revenue not as a result of a quality product–but more like a reflection of the entire supply chain. It paves the way for optimized business processes through the alignment of sales, marketing, and customer success teams into a cohesive revenue-generating engine.
Several questions might be rising in your mind when you think of RevOps. Why is RevOps suddenly so popular? How is it any different from what I am currently doing? What benefits will it get me? And lastly, is it crucial for success in the current business environment? This blog deep dives into this topic.
What is RevOps?
Traditionally, each department in a company has its operation team that works exclusively on its functions.
So, sales will own all the sales systems and report to the Head of Sales. Similarly, marketing operations would own every marketing system and report to their Head.
RevOps attempts to break these silos.
Essentially, the RevOps team is at the forefront of handling everyday processes, systems, and data that are used by revenue-oriented departments.
Rather than sitting on top, this team is an ally to the sales, marketing, and customer success teams. It ultimately frees other departments to dig deeper into building long-term customer relationships.
A RevOps team brings in a whole new structure.
This is a single team streamlining all your company’s efforts to focus on one collective goal which is to maximize revenue. There are no siloes anymore with marketing, sales, and service departments focusing on their own individual KPIs.
The end goal of revenue ops is to enhance the efficiency of the revenue team, optimize the revenue funnel, and increase growth.
The Three Pillars of RevOps
Process, Platform, and People— these are the three pillars on which RevOps is founded. Each pillar represents a foundational building block on which the next pillar has been built.
Companies can have a thriving RevOps team when they have properly defined pillars integrated into the framework of the organization.
Let’s jump to what each of these pillars signify.
#1. Process
The right processes in place will lead to a culture of collaboration company-wide.
A RevOps team activates uniform processes that foster accountability and trust in your organization. You will see more prospects converting into brand advocates, leading to a shorter sales cycle, better retention, and a higher volume of upsells.
#2. Platform
When you have siloed departments, one team’s experiments with shared data can have a huge negative impact on other teams’ goals. This goes against operational efficiency.
RevOps connects and aligns your technology to provide an accurate and a single source of truth. This can help individuals to identify how they impact your revenue pipeline.
#3. People
The final pillar is the people responsible for bringing together and managing your processes and platform.
Based on the size of your business venture, RevOps will either create a new team or distribute functionalities among your existing teams.
5 Reasons to Adopt RevOps Right Now
Experts have long touted the alignment between different departments such as sales, marketing, and customer success.
But with today’s technology finally making it possible, more and more companies are adopting RevOps and certainly benefitting from it.
#1. Data-Driven Decisions
While data is everywhere, in every single action we take online, it is easy to fixate on comparing individual data points. So, while the top metrics may look great, they don’t tell the whole story. Consequently, you might be unable to figure out the metrics that lead to revenue growth.
So instead of multiple parties looking at various data points and putting them together, a RevOps team will approach data in a unified manner that gives you a holistic overview.
#2. Strategic Planning
A major benefit of adopting RevOps is its facilitation in long-term strategic planning.
Siloed structure in organizations may start working with completely different goals in focus. And sometimes, these might even contradict each other. For companies, both small and large, this is a huge waste of time, energy, and potential.
RevOps allows your company to undertake a unified way forward when it comes to planning, where different branches work together.
Working on improving alignment between departments, a RevOps team will ensure that each team has everything that they require to accomplish their part of the plan.
Additionally, organizations looking to scale and enhance their operational efficiency must also focus on the emerging revops trends for overall business transformation.
#3. Consistent Pipeline Growth
In a non-revenue optimized business, teams must gather siloed information, leading to subjective forecasts. You do not have visibility over what works and what doesn’t and consequently, you are unable to predict revenue growth.
Revenue ops will allow you to find the relevant data points. You are more likely to be able to provide leadership with accurate forecasts. While the shift may not happen overnight, it is crucial to ensure that all the pieces of the process are being administered correctly.
#4. Happier Customers
With RevOps, every department of a company is on the same page and communication is consistent. This leads to clear expectations. And when expectations are clear, your customers will be happier.
A RevOps team will align departments together. As they begin to work harmoniously, they will be more attuned to the customer’s needs and pain points. Your customers will know that their queries and concerns are being heard and acted on.
With better retention, you will benefit from increased growth and revenue.
#5. Increased Responsiveness
A RevOps team will allow a company to increase responsiveness in terms of project initiatives that include multiple departments. In this case, the operations team will work together.
An integrated technology stack and process optimisation would further act as an impetus.
Scaling Success with RevOps
There are common symptoms that start showing up when you do not have a revops team. Consider asking yourself the following questions.
“We have too many tools”: If this stands true then you stand to benefit immensely from RevOps as it solves the problem by consolidating the acquisition, implementation, and management of tools under one roof. So you not only save money, but it also leads to better adoption.
“Our processes are not working”: RevOps will build processes for every stage in the customer journey to create a consistent and delightful experience.
“The teams are disjointed”: From poor MQLs to inefficient client onboarding experience, disjointed teams can kill your company’s momentum. As stated before, RevOps will enable you to break the silos and shift the focus from individual departments to a collective mindset.
The Bottomline
Business leaders have a vision and a dream, and they know what an ideal enterprise looks like. However, the process of building it often proves to be a challenge.
An inefficient infrastructure can mess up the process of reaching the ultimate trajectory.
RevOps offers a way out. It can enable businesses to shift their strategy, composing organized workflows across business units, and help each member to focus on the big picture.
We are not finished yet! In our second blog in the 2-part series on RevOps, we take a look at how investing in Revenue Operations can accelerate your business growth while allowing you to transform your pipeline and reduce pain points. Give it a read, right now!
Ready to make RevOps a reality for your business?
