Here is the RevOps Questionnaire that we walk new clients through. Feel free to use it if helpful, and hopefully, it will make more sense after reading the information below.

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Definitions in the vaguest of terms

At Everpeak, we  say “Revenue Operations” as seldom as possible. Why?  Because it means something different to everyone.

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We say that we “bring the right technology, data, and strategy to sales & marketing.”  Companies are messy mixes of people, technology, data and process. Any effort to make RevOps a paint-by-numbers guide inevitably falls short.

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However, there are useful industry-wide concepts that sales, marketing and customer success leaders should know.

• Ideal Client Profiles (ICP)
• Bow Tie Funnel
• MQLs & SQLs
• TOFU, MOFU & BOFU (top, middle, buttom-of-funnel)
• Lead Scoring

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Ultimately, the real goal of Revenue Operations is to accelerate both time and efficacy of all sales, marketing and customer success functions to obtain and retain customers.  A codified set of concepts, definitions and frameworks is key to doing this.

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Why Is RevOps Growing?

In 2023, RevOps was the fastest growing job posting. As a discipline, RevOps is growing. There are a few reasons. First, there’s the recognition that an incremental dollar of revenue requires coordination. Sales Operations cannot happen in a vacuum.  When it does, you get sales reps complaining about marketing’s inability to bring in the right customers.

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You get marketing complaining about the sales team’s ability to close well-qualified leads. And when a deal is signed, you get customer success complaining that expectations were misaligned and promises made that are now leading to churn. And they will all have valid points.  It takes someone waking up every morning thinking about this to provide the appropriate level of coordination.

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Second, there’s the increasing complexity and importance of technology.  Every year, new tools gain traction that have the ability to transform companies. Selecting the right ones, implementing them, and using them properly is a full-time job. And it’s a necessary one. Sales reps aren’t having an in-person meeting to sign a contract and introduce the new account manager anymore. No, it’s an asynchronous process that spans multiple tools, teams and time zones.  Unfortunately, the power of technology works both ways. Everpeak often sees significant “technical and process debt” as companies have built technology stacks without a clear owner and vision.  They end up with far too many software subscriptions and frustrated employees.

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Third, there’s the recognized power of data.  You’ve seen the stats. “Each year, your company is producing more data than humanity produced prior to 1900” or whatever.” I don’t know what a petabyte of data looks like. I do know what an organization paralyzed by bad data without realizing it looks like. Without the right data strategy, any organization’s data will devolve into disorganization.  Full stop. It will compromise all team functions as well as IT security (credit: Isaac Newton).  Revenue Operations teams and agencies often focus first on getting the data right, as this is the foundation for analytics, insights, and process.

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Whose job is it, anyway?

Sometimes I'm asked, “Isn’t RevOps really the responsibility of the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO)?”  We see ownership by CRO, CEO, CMO and COO, but by definition, RevOps must span departments.  And these individuals, including the CEO, were not elevated to their positions because they understood data, technology, and process.  They have other skills.

So while a dotted line for ownership is fine, your customer success team does NOT want the CRO deciding what project management tool they should use or creating the standard operating procedure for it (if your CRO actually wants to do that, God help you). The same could be said for any c-level title.

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How Do I Get Started with RevOps?

Hopefully, this content has given you some ideas, but I’d recommend starting by evaluating your ICP.  This is the first question we ask on calls, and it’s often debated internally by our clients.  Follow this up by listing the top 3-5 reports (Key Performance Indicators) that you should be able to access as a company.  Do you have them? If not, why not? Be forewarned that this simple question may take you down a very deep rabbit hole.

In the meantime, you can set up a free consultation with Everpeak.  Some companies execute our recommendations in-house.  Some hire us.

There’s no obligation, and we love this stuff.

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