What is RevOps?

What is RevOps?

RevOps stands for revenue operations. The goal of RevOps is to operationalize revenue. In plain English, that means it's an organizational strategy that works to maximize an organization's revenue potential by bringing all parts of a business together.

So far, we haven't heard anything too groundbreaking. Businesses have been looking to crack the code on bringing sales and marketing teams together since the beginning of time. What's different about RevOps?

It's actually working. PLUS RevOps does so much more than just bring sales and marketing together. It's a holistic approach to business growth that focuses on bringing every department — sales, marketing, service, and even finance — into one single aligned growth strategy. 

Why Does RevOps Work?

Alright, so what makes RevOps better than smarketing, sales ops, and all the other alignment strategies we've been buying into for years? Like I said, it's actually working. And that's because two key things have changed in the world of business.

Consumers are buying differently.
On average more than 80% of consumers prefer to walk themselves through the sales cycle. That means that how you're selling has changed. The work your marketing team does to bring a prospect in has a significant impact on whether that MQL will convert to an SQL. When prospects can self-serve their own solutions, your sales team has to be on it — 24/7.

New technology and data are giving us unprecedented visibility into the success of business operations.
With improved software and technology, businesses have access to, and greater visibility on so much data — data that we've never had or known how to use before.

From sales stats like how long on average it takes to close a deal to conversion rates on specific marketing campaigns, and profit margins on every sold deal, these numbers are huge. And being able to see and interpret them at the click of a button is even bigger.

Unlike any other business alignment strategy we've seen before, RevOps works because it's designed to meet the changing sales and marketing funnel.

When implemented properly, RevOps helps businesses rewrite internal organizations to improve client acquisition, create true brand promoters vs. traditional customers, and establish a company culture that's focused on whole-organization growth. 

Now that you've got the sales pitch for what RevOps is and why it works, let's dive into the nitty-gritty. 

How is RevOps Different from Sales Ops?

Or any other Ops, for that matter?

In traditional business development, it's pretty common to have a marketing operations seat, a sales operations seat, a service operations seat, and the list goes on. These operations seats all report to the head of their respective departments, making improvements based on data specific to their team.

The problem with traditional sales and marketing ops strategies is that they're not accounting for all of the data. It's a siloed approach to business development. The marketing ops team is doing one thing, while the sales ops team is doing another, both usually on their own separate data and goals.

With RevOps, you bring all of those ops into one place. This creates a centralized hub where all data and goals are shared, and you're able to create a business plan and growth strategy that aligns and serves sales, marketing, customer success, and systems. 

What Problems Does RevOps Solve?

Let's take a look at a few real-world challenges that RevOps solves.

Disconnected Teams & Processes That Just Don't Work

Maybe your marketing team isn't delivering the leads your sales team wants to close. Maybe your sales team is selling projects that your service team doesn't have time to complete. Maybe your accounting team is upset that recent deals closed aren't as profitable as they should be.

Whatever the pain points are, RevOps brings everyone into the same room to solve them, and develop a plan for growth that's actually successful.

Then, RevOps builds processes for each point of the customer journey — from first touch to five-star review — helping your team develop a successful, consistent experience that adds to your bottom line.

Messy, Disorganized Data & Tech Stacks

Tired of looking at a messy HubSpot reporting dashboard? Just can't seem to get the data you need from Google Analytics? RevOps helps here, too. A key part of RevOps is establishing one tool you can use to oversee all of that data. With simple-to-use technology that offers at-a-glance data analysis and insight, this is a problem of the past.

Unclear, Untracked Revenue Streams

Tired of looking at a messy HubSpot reporting dashboard? Just can't seem to get the data you need from Google Analytics? RevOps helps here, too. A key part of RevOps is establishing one tool you can use to oversee all of that data. With simple-to-use technology that offers at-a-glance data analysis and insight, this is a problem of the past.

With better processes and greater visibility in place, RevOps helps you track the flow of revenue through your business. This might be one of the single biggest benefits that RevOps offers. When you can see exactly where revenue is going, and why, you know exactly which levers to push and pull to deliver the strategic growth you're planning for. 

What Do You Need to Implement RevOps?

Would you believe me if I told you that you only needed three simple things to implement RevOps?

Yeah, I didn't think so. RevOps truly is built on just three foundational pillars, but the "simple" part is subjective.

Luckily, none of these three pillars are out-of-this-world, and you might actually already have a great foundation to start from!

01. Process

For RevOps, process is the big one. To achieve the strategic growth your business is looking for, you need the right processes in place. Great processes start with your company's business goals and look to achieve them through simple, repeatable procedures that your customers will love.

Repeatable processes make it easy for your customers to know what to expect, but they're also important for your team, too. With established processes in place, your team can easily measure success. Your processes function as the control that you measure your data along.

Plus, the more comfortable your team gets with your processes, the more benefits you'll see — improved retention, shorter sales cycle, and more upsells are all great signs that RevOps is working for you.

02. Platform

The entire RevOps strategy is centered around data. For RevOps to be effective, you need a single source of truth that can collect and help you interpret your data. For most companies, this is a CRM like HubSpot or Salesforce. 

Whether you pick one of those or another option, it should be able to capture all data related to your company's marketing, sales, service, and finances, and clearly present that information to your entire team. Any team member should be able to log in and see exactly how their work impacts your business's pipeline. 

03. People

Of course, there's no success in business without people. Your team is the lifeblood of your growth strategy and your RevOps initiative.

Everyone on your team plays an integral part in the RevOps process, but it's important to make sure you have team members who are dedicated specifically to RevOps. If you're part of a larger organization, maybe that's a RevOps team. If you're a smaller business, having a few people who can delegate RevOps responsibilities among the rest of the team is also a great way to go. 

When it comes to implementing RevOps, you need the right processes, platform, and people to get the job done. Each of those three pillars provides a key part of your larger RevOps strategy and gets your team that much closer to strategic growth. 

Remember— RevOps isn't a Quick Fix. It's a Business Mindset Shift

The biggest thing for any business to remember when implementing RevOps is that it isn't a quick fix. In fact, most B2B organizations that implement RevOps will be best positioned to thrive in the next 3-5 years. 

Why does it take so long? Remember, you're implementing big, business-wide process shifts. It takes time to build those processes, but also to test them, tweak them, and arrive at a final destination that's delivering the results you want. And process is just one of the three pillars.

While RevOps isn't a quick fix, it is one of the most effective business strategies you can implement now to ensure continued growth for your business over the next three to five years. When you put in the work now, you'll start to see results immediately (10-20% increase in sales productivity and 15-20% increase in internal customer satisfaction are nothing to sneeze at!), but the final product is likely to be something you never imagined was possible.

RevOps: Where Should I Start?

If you know the Evenbound team at all, you know we're going to say strategy. If your business doesn't have a sales or marketing plan, that's a good place to start. Want help getting one going, or just looking for a little advice to get you moving? Let's chat!