The RevOps Spot

In this episode, we start with the fundamental principles of RevOps, unpacking what has to be one of the most non-uniformly defined critical business functions. We explore the ways key industry players like HubSpot and Salesforce see RevOps, as well as looking at some research by people like Forrester into what revenue operations is all about. We then share our own take on the matter, informed by our 30+ years of experience in the area working with both major blue-chip brands as well as high growth SMEs and tech startups.

We end by talking about the metrics that matter in RevOps and how to start defining the type of metrics you need to track to understand the success of revenue operations in your organisation.

Key Takeaways:

1. RevOps is one of the fastest-growing business areas, but with only 46% of execs being able to define what it is, it is still in a low state of concept maturity, with the big CRM providers trying to shape what RevOps is around the software offer they are trying to bring to market. Take a wide view of RevOps and define how it can add value to your business by taking into account a broad range of opinions.
2. For RevOps to truly deliver value it can't just be a rebrand of your sales operations function in the same way many Sales Directors have become Chief Revenue Officers. It needs to be a function that transcends marketing, sales, onboarding and customer success teams. It must take the role of aligning all of the people, processes, technology and data in these functions.
3. The metrics you track to measure the health of your revenue operations function must take into account the full customer journey Accepting that it is not linear and allow you to understand the velocity of a deal/customer from first touch to ongoing customer lifetime value and success. As well as the quality of a prospect or customer in all of the various forms that 'quality' can be measured. Part of this is retraining your exec team that not all charts should go 'up and to the right' in the early days at least.

Resources:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/revopslab

https://www.revops-lab.com/

Connect with the hosts:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-bayliss-enquirylab/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-proctor-marketingauto/

We hope you enjoyed the episode, join us next week when we explore systems thinking in RevOps.

In this episode, we are joined by a special guest - James May, who heads up Revenue Operations at tech scale-up hackajob. Together we discuss the metrics that really matter in the world of RevOps and how to get your internal teams to embrace them and align around them.

We get James' thoughts on how he uses key metrics at hackajob not just to track performance and evidence success, but to diagnose issues and hypothesis solutions. We discuss the different categories of metrics that any successful revenue operations function needs to be using day in, day out and how to apply them to the challenges you may be facing in your own business.

Key Takeaways:

The metrics: What are the critical metrics a RevOps function needs to measure?

Data capture: - How much is too much, when is the appropriate time to capture data and what data capture technology should you be employing.

Leadership team buy-in: How to use data to move leadership team opinion from a focus on quantity of interactions to quality of interactions.

Focus - People do what they are measured on, how do you ensure we are measuring the right things to drive the right behaviours?

Alignment - How do you drive alignment around a common set of metrics and a single source of truth?

Resources:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/revopslab

https://www.revops-lab.com/

Connect with the hosts and guests:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-bayliss-enquirylab/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamespaulmay/

We hope you enjoyed the episode, join us next time when we discuss how to drive real and meaningful organisational alignment.

In this episode, we talk about the tech stack, how to assess what you have and how to build it around the needs of your people. We explore the technology landscape and how it has evolved and how this is having a detrimental impact on the ability for firms to make good decisions about the technology they need to power growth.

We end by discussing how to audit what you have using a systems thinking approach to ensure that your technology is being an enabler of great outcomes based on a strong alignment with the processes and most importantly the people in your organisation.

Key Takeaways:

• The marketing, sales and service technology landscape has changed beyond all recognition in the last 10 or so years. In 2010 there were around 150 tools on offer to organisations, today there are around 10,000, which leads to considerable issues finding the right ones to meeting the needs of a particular business.
• This is leading, directly or indirectly, to a 33% annual churn rate of technology in the average business, with a similar percentage of marketing budget being spent on tech. In addition this is also causing significant overlap in functionality with many tools doing many of the same things, but being selected by firms on the basis of one of their functions.
• The roll of the revenue operations team is to help navigate through this web of problems by having broader operational objectives rather than just functional ones in mind. But also to ensure there is cohesive system design within the organisation that takes into account not just what technology is onboarded, but what process are crafted in and around it and what structures are put in place to ensure that the way your people interact with them delivers the right outcomes.

Resources:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/revopslab

https://www.revops-lab.com/

Connect with the hosts:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-bayliss-enquirylab/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-proctor-marketingauto/

We hope you enjoyed the episode, join us next time when we explore systems thinking in RevOps.

In this episode, we talk about how to choose the right CRM system to power your RevOps function. A CRM is now so much more than a contact database; it’s the engine that powers your customer’s experience with your brand.

Whether you’re looking to invest in CRM software for the first time or move your organisation away from a legacy solution, your new CRM should effectively balance your business goals and customer needs while also accounting for long-term growth and profitability.

We share our experience of managing countless CRM implementations, making recommendations to inform your decisions about which system is the right fit for your business and to set your teams up for success. You’ll learn how to define your ideal CRM, navigate the software market, and prepare your organisation for benefiting from revenue operations.

Key Takeaways:

We talk through our multi-step process for defining and selecting your CRM:

Step 1: Consult with Stakeholders and Key Users

Step 2: Identify Your Goals

Step 3: Assess Your Tech Stack

Step 4: Compare Critical Features and Capabilities

Step 5: Consider Costs and ROI

Step 6: Outline Your Adoption Plan

Resources:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/revopslab

https://www.revops-lab.com/

Connect with the hosts:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-bayliss-enquirylab/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-proctor-marketingauto/

We hope you enjoyed the episode, join us next week when we are joined by our first guest to discuss the RevOps metrics that really matter.

In this episode, we talk about systems thinking, which is to our mind the guiding light for effective revenue operations thinking. It is, in a nutshell, the theory and indeed practice of considering the business itself as a system and how people, processes, data and technology work together to deliver against the organisation's primary purpose.

We talk about the theory in some detail and then discuss its practical application in revenue operations.

Key Takeaways:

• A system has three elements - components, interconnections and purpose, to be a systems thinker you need to understand all three parts to effect meaningful change.
• Technology is not a system, despite the fact we often use the words interchangeably. In fact, changing the technology in your system is generally the least effective way of effecting a change in outputs.
• The interconnections in your system can be the most powerful elements that affect behaviour and output but are the hardest to influence and often the most overlooked in projects that aim to transform the way a business operates.
• People are one of the components of your system and are one of the things that can be modified, but they are also the most important because they are the arbiters of behaviour which is the ultimate thing system design aims to change for the better.

Resources:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/revopslab

https://www.revops-lab.com/

Connect with the hosts:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-bayliss-enquirylab/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-proctor-marketingauto/

We hope you enjoyed the episode, join us next week when we look at how to select a CRM to put at the centre of your RevOps tech stack.