Good Revenue Operations / Bad Rev Ops

Good Revenue Operations is a Strategic Leader for the business. They have a deep understanding of the market, the competition, and the current Go to Market. Good Revenue Operations strategically guides the business with a long-term perspective, questioning the status quo. They do business calculus, finding a way, regardless!

They are responsible for driving efficient Revenue across the business. A cross-section between Sales, Marketing, Customer Success, and at their best Product. A great Rev Ops person knows enough to be a Seller, Marketer, or Product Manager. They care about the broader business and don’t get stuck in siloed thinking, understanding the interconnectedness across the business.

Bad Revenue Operations is an Operational Cost Center. They have a strong technical skill set but are too in the weeds to think strategically about the business and/or not empowered to be strategic. They are firefighters, moving from fire to fire without addressing the root cause. They primarily follow directions and focus on statistics/reporting.

They lack a long-term perspective, which manifests in a lack of prioritization. A constant game of whack-a-mole. They report on the business but do not provide actionable insights and strategic direction. They have great intentions but focus on the loudest work streams vs. the ones that drive results. The lack of strategic vision leads to a lack of funding, and they are always playing catch up.

Good Revenue Operations understands anything worth doing is worth repeating. They think of scale in everything that they do. Understanding an extra 10 hours this week on automation will save 2 hours a week over the year, a 10X+ return on time spent. They cannot stand inefficiency, seek it out, and provide effective solutions.

Good Revenue Operations says no, and is empowered to do so. They practice radical candor, aren’t afraid to make a mistake and fail fast. They do not get stuck in the way things are done, understanding this thinking limits progress. They regularly ask “What is it we are not doing?”. They are flexible enough to reprioritize based on the needs of the business. Bad Revenue Operations become yes persons, missing commitments, and not driving business results.

Good Revenue Operations thinks about how to solve problems with systems vs. people. They understand headcount has diminishing returns on investment at a certain scale. They first explore processes, systems, and policies that may drive productivity, and think about adding headcount lastly. Bad Revenue Operations first inclination is to add headcount, they believe sellers times average productivity per seller equals bookings.

Good Revenue Operations does not need all the fancy tools to get the job done. They subscribe to the thought, “Where there is a will there's a way”. They are skilled at trolling through the business data as necessary. They start simple and expand solutions over time.

Good Revenue Operations understands data needs to be accessible across the organization. Rather than using data to build silos, they use data to break silos.

Good Revenue Operations creates platforms for business users to immerse themselves in the business data. They create well-understood self-serve Dashboards, KPIs, Dictionaries, and Business Reviews. Bad Revenue Operations create reporting only understood by themselves. They operate in silos using their data and perspectives.

Good Revenue Operations understands data can be deceiving. They are naturally curious and want to understand things deeply. They do not take data at face value. They establish processes that produce actionable data, establish monitoring, and create a clean data environment over time. They do not report on data that cannot be trusted. Bad Revenue Operations have a prima facie relationship with data. They report on whatever data is available, do not double-click, and use mostly ad hoc reports.

Good Revenue Operations has ruthless strategic prioritization. They understand in any fast-moving business, there is too much to do. They size the level of effort, the expected gains, and tradeoffs across the business. Good Revenue Operations subscribes to the thought that anything more than 5 priorities, means they do not have any priorities. They always deliver on their priorities.

Good Revenue Operations are trapeze artists, balancing a fine line between Running the Business and Strategic Projects. They beautifully balance between the two. They classify workstreams as Run the Business or Strategic Project based on the level of effort required. They always can focus on Running the Business, without losing track of the strategic vision of the business. Bad Revenue Operations lump all projects together. They deliver a lot of work, but not the work that is needed, when it is needed.

Good Revenue Operations understands the value of training in a business. They believe the math is simple; 3 hours of prep, 3 hours of course time, 12 hours, 10 participants, 20,000 hours worked, 1% improvement, 200 hours of work time gained (16.7X return). Good Revenue Operations prioritizes training and the creation of templates. They establish scalable, engaging, and relevant training that drives productivity.

Bad Revenue Operations is too busy firefighting to train, and employees are thrown right at fires. They have differing understandings and visibility into the business, resulting in an inconsistent approach.

Good Revenue Operations focus across the entire Customer Journey. They have a clear and understood way of monitoring the entire journey. They think both upstream and downstream, working upstream while understanding the impact on the full system. They ensure the business revenue stream is efficient. Bad Revenue Operations focuses on a silo in the journey. They have a charter that focuses them that way or doesn’t look upstream, looking for solutions at the point of observance vs. occurrence.

Good Revenue Operations is the Oracle across the business. They forecast short-term and strategically plan long-term. They are current on market trends, understand the competitive landscape, and use benchmarking to establish realistic growth plans. They work closely with Finance to ensure there is alignment between Sales and Financial Forecasts and Plans. Good Revenue Operations nails the forecast within +/-5% every time and drives the strategic vision into reality.

Good Revenue Operations unlocks Profitable Revenue Growth. They drive real returns for the business by 1) Finding a New Revenue Stream, 2) Removing Friction from the Customer Journey 3) Improving Internal Processes 4) Deal Reviews / Executive Sponsor Programs 5) Training. They are the strategic partner across Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success.

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