Getting Started with Revenue Operations

Thanks to automation, personalization and machine learning in the digital era, business owners have been equipped with more efficient and streamlined processes across all departments. Revenue Operations, also known as RevOps, speaks of the power that comes with digitization in the workplace. This tactic refers to the alignment of marketing, sales and customer service operations across the entire customer life cycle and is used to improve operational efficiency and ensure teams are accountable to revenue. 

This holistic approach is now being used to break down departmental silos, helping make for smoother communication, better processes and more streamlined operations throughout a business. 

At its core, RevOps refers to the process that is responsible for contributing revenue to a business, but this goes further than sales departments and includes marketing, customer service and even finance departments. Think about it like this - any area of business that affects revenue should be a part of RevOps. 

The methodology is weaved into the full buying cycle and makes for the most streamlined and smooth purchasing process. It gives marketers, sales teams and customer service specialists the opportunity to work hand-in-hand to improve company revenue and increase business growth. 

What is important to note is that the methodology acknowledges that revenue is not simply an “end goal” it is a full end-to-end process for driving revenue, from the first point of contact (marketing to prospects) to lead acquisition (lead generation), the closing of a deal (sales) and customer nurturing (customer service). 

This kind of methodology centered around revenue makes for better business growth and greater profitability. In this article, we take a look at why you should choose revenue operations as part of your overall business strategy, and help you begin your RevOps journey.

How it Works

As stated previously, a RevOps strategy refers to the alignment of sales, marketing and customer service operations to drive operational excellence and keep teams accountable to revenue. 

But what is needed to align these departments and break down the silos? Let’s take a look:

1. Agreements on metrics and goals
2. Trust between departments and teams
3. Defined ownership of technology

By working through the above three steps you are able to create focus on important areas of business responsibility, including:

• Operations Management: Managing resources to ensure outcomes are inline with business goals. This extends to sales operations, project management and marketing operations.
• Enablement: Sales enablement is used to empower the sales team to sell and in RevOps, this tactic extends to marketing and customer service. The enablement efforts include coaching, onboarding, continuous learning and professional or career development.
• Tools: RevOps technology is used for sales, marketing and customer support, and comprises Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology.
• Insights: Data will be gathered to ensure you are making the best decisions when it comes to increasing revenue and business efforts.

RevOps is a strategy that ensures synchronicity and accountability among the goals of an organization and helps drive revenue. And while goals may vary from business to business, there are some key insights/metrics that a RevOps strategy uses to measure and accelerate revenue including:

• Annual Recurring Revenue
• Sales Cycle Time
• Win Rate
• Customer Turnover Rate
• Customer Lifetime Value

With the above best practices and focus in place, a RevOps strategy will increase collaboration across departments, lessen the “blame game,” make room for more accountability and transparency, better sales productivity and increase customer retention - resulting in business growth. 

Getting Started with Revenue Operations 

Launching your RevOps strategy varies based on the size of your business as well as your industry and business model. Below, we take a look at 2 options you can choose from when implementing your RevOps venture:

1. Specialized Roles: This tactic means that you will have to appoint or hire a leader who is able to bring the RevOps roles together. This tactic works best if you are a larger business as you will already have siloed operations in your organization and relationships will need to be consolidated and managed.
2. Distributed Capabilities throughout Teams: This means that your RevOps may simply begin with a single person taking on a variety of roles. Essentially, this person would oversee your enablement, insights, operations and tools and as your business grows you can create dedicated roles for your Revenue Operations team.

By building your Revenue Operations you will soon be able to fine-tune an entire team that will boost success through planning, operations and execution. Your team will also be able to spot any possible issues and identify red flags before they cause damage and are able to see opportunities in resources that are yet to be identified. All members of your team need to work together and have mutual accountability in order to implement a successful RevOps strategy. 

The Wrap Up

Today, RevOps is vital for B2B organizations (and is quickly becoming important for businesses of all industries) and is used to accelerate, analyze and assess business growth. This tactic has almost become mandatory for businesses in the B2B space and for good reason. In fact, a survey conducted by marketing and sales experts called the State of Revenue Operations 2019 study, concluded that there was a 55% growth in Revenue Operations adoption, and RevOps groups grew from 20% to 31% between 2018 and 2019. 

And as of 2021, LinkedIn has reported an increase in Revenue Operations job titles across the board, in fact, VP of Revenue Operations titles increased by a staggering 300%. These stats prove that Revenue Operations are becoming an integral part of business strategy and businesses need to get on board before they get left behind.

The reason RevOps is growing across industries is simple: it is through sales, marketing and service alignment, analytics, technology and operations that a strong RevOps strategy will help drive revenue - and who doesn't want to drive revenue?

How We Can Help

In the world of business, no word is more important than GROWTH. Standing still should never be an option. If anything, it's a backward business move.  We understand the importance of enablement, departmental alignment, technology and insights and will help you build the ideal revenue operations strategy to drive business growth. 

Contact Nexa today for all your RevOps requirements and grow your business, better.