Why Your Company Needs a RevOps Team

In January 2023, LinkedIn released its list of the 25 fastest-growing job titles in the US. The #1 job on that list? Head of Revenue Operations. But here’s the thing: roles dubbed as Revenue Operations can be amorphous blobs, with one company’s job description different from the next.

If “Firefighter” topped that list from LinkedIn, every applicant would show up to their interview expecting to put out some fires. So why can’t we have our own clear expectations? Furthermore, if this type of job is becoming so popular, where is the blueprint for building a thriving Revenue Operations function living up to those expectations?

Let’s start by actually defining Revenue Operations.

How do you define Revenue Operations?

The core reason why people can’t seem to get on the same page about Revenue Operations is that it is inherently cross-functional. As companies grow, silos naturally pop up between functions. Teams make decisions based on what is best for them to solve whatever challenge is directly in front of them.

That’s not always a bad thing. A Sales leader should focus on what their own team needs to be successful, but that focus, no matter how well-intentioned, doesn’t necessarily yield what’s best for the company. A decision made in Marketing has ripple effects on Sales. A change in Sales can be felt by your Customer Success team.

Revenue Operations or RevOps, is meant to break down those silos and create an objective, comprehensive view of the entire customer journey. Instead of having Marketing Operations, Sales Operations, and Customer Operations stand alone as individual functions in your company, RevOps brings together those Operations teams into one. This role now serves as the three legs of the go-to-market stool in SaaS organizations. To further the RevOps identity crisis, some companies have taken an additional step to re-brand their RevOps team as a “Go-to-Market Ops” team. We cover more about different Ops team models in our book, but there are three primary motivations for this consolidation:

1. Efficiency: Silos between teams create inefficiencies. Break them down and the productivity of your organization improves.
2. Continuity: Every hand-off in your customer journey is an opportunity for friction and disjointedness. A team owning the customer journey from end to end can design and instrument the processes and technology necessary to ensure a seamless customer journey, for both your customers and your internal colleagues.
3. Source of Truth: Every one of us has walked into a meeting where Marketing had one version of a report and Sales had a different one. Instead of spending half of the meeting figuring out whose report is right, RevOps serves as the source of truth for all go-to-market reporting and analytics.

That’s where most RevOps definitions end. They talk about the cross-functional nature of the team, the organizational benefits of forming a team like this within your company and send you on your way. But to what end?

Interest in "RevOps" has exploded. But we worry people are drawn to it because it's a trendy buzzword or someone told them it's a team they’re supposed to have at their company. Just choosing to invest in RevOps is like signing up for a marathon, but never putting on a pair of shoes.

Choosing to invest in RevOps is not the finish line – it's the beginning. You have to commit to running your business in a specific way. Otherwise, all you've done is commit to a diagram of an org chart.

If the mere existence of the RevOps team is where we as Operators see our teams’ value, we’re missing the point. Marketers aren’t excited their company has a Marketing team. Building a Revenue Operations function is just an input, not an outcome. Your companies care about – no, they need – outcomes.

So what’s a better definition? What are the outcomes we should strive for?

Revenue Operations transforms siloed, unpredictable businesses into high-achieving, predictable and scalable revenue machines.

The mindset shift to outcomes is a critical one for Operators of any kind. Don’t invest in RevOps just because you want to solve your internal reporting woes (though this is a lovely side effect). Invest because you are committed to building a high-achieving, predictable and scalable revenue machine.

You’ll be floored by the results when one of these teams is built well. Operational command of the business will increase, more people in your organization will be comfortable leveraging data to make hard decisions, and when done correctly, high achievement against your business targets will follow.

Finally, you, the people building these machines, will become among the most valuable employees in an organization. Through the work we do, Operators come to know our business better than anyone else in the company.

When to invest in RevOps

One of the most common questions we hear is, “How do I know when it’s time for my company to invest in Operations?” The most likely answer is, “Yesterday.”

Most start-up companies put off investing in any sort of operational function because they view it as a “nice to have” instead of a “need to have.” And who can blame them? Founders are trying to get their companies off the ground, find product-market fit and convince some customers to take a risk on a brand-new product, all while making sure they don’t run out of money. There’s plenty else to distract their focus.

Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of one of those founders for a moment. Typically, at least one person on the founding team at a company is responsible for the Product. That person’s job resembles a Product Manager, shepherding the development of the product and plotting the future roadmap of what’s in store. No founder would go for long without having someone in this Product Management position.

Now imagine that exact same scenario, but consider the company itself as the product. Once again, you need someone in charge of shepherding the development of the company along with plotting the future roadmap of what’s in store. That someone is an Operations hire.

If your company is the product, your Operations team is the Product Manager.

So when is it actually time to put a dedicated Operator in place to shepherd the development of the company? We’ve found that three things should be true:

1. The company has found basic product/market fit
2. The Founder/CEO is no longer the sole seller
3. There is a proven, repeatable sales process

When these three things are true, it’s time for a dedicated resource to develop a high-achieving, predictable and scalable revenue machine. That someone is an Operations hire with what it takes to make a difference.