Most RevOps Teams are set up to fail

There’s never a shortage of new ideas, a new report needed, a new solution that needs to get implemented, new territories created, comp plans for new reps, EOM contracts getting created and sent, board decks that need to be created, or the "Must Have" Salesforce field that needs to get added.

So many tactical requests every day makes it borderline impossible for RevOps to be the strategic function that we need it to be.

The tactical items are essential and need to be done. In addition to keeping the lights on, we need to make sure there’s enough dedicated time for the strategic programs that will have impact 3, 6, 12, & 24 months from now.?

Some RevOps "Teams" are a one-person show. Some are multiple resources reporting into different parts of the business. Some teams have resources in MarOps, SalesOps, SuccessOps, ParternOps, and Finance.

No matter your situation, it's safe to say that ALL RevOps Teams are understaffed!

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Here is a 6-step plan for RevOps to facilitate and align the organization on the same goals that are of the highest priority:

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1.Start by documenting a typical week/month and strive to create a 12-month roadmap.

You’ll want to create this view for everyone in an operations role (SalesOps, MarOps, SuccessOps, PartnerOps, ...)?

A spreadsheet is usually the easiest way to list everything out and tally up directional correct estimates of how you spend your time.

Start by documenting how much time you spend on the recurring tasks? (System updates, Deal Desk, Forecasting, Reporting, Board Reports, etc)

List out all the new programs in flight or planned over the next 6 to 12 months and estimate how much time they will consume. Here are some possibilities you may want to ask about to get conversations started:

• Implementing new technology
• Creating an onboarding program
• Creating a new comp plan structure
• Launch a new sales methodology

Take a pass at prioritizing everything you currently have in flight to determine how much bandwidth (or lack thereof) you have.

2. Help your team create a "Tops Down" capacity plan/model?

Finance usually owns this, but this is critical to aligning everyone on the same goals and should NOT be a once-a-year activity.

This model should factor in the following:

• AE Hire Dates
• Ramp Time
• Quota by Segment
• Anticipated AE Attrition

The goal is to have a real-time view into the next 24 months of sales capacity factoring in future hires and forecasted attrition.

• A few paused hires can get everything out of wack fast and jeopardize your ability to have enough AE bandwidth to hit plan.

3. Create a "Bottoms Up" baseline model

Create a "Bottoms Up" model that factors in metrics such as:

• Historical pipeline creation
• Win rates
• Average sales cycle
• Average deal size

In most cases, you'll need to have a model for each Segment (SMB, MM, ENT) and each Demand Generation Channel (Marketing, Outbound, Partners, AE SelfGen)

Protip #1: Leave joint attribution out of the initial model. You can layer on joint attribution in the future.

The hardest part in this baseline model is factoring in anticipated close dates for new pipeline that is yet to be generated. You need the model to factor in close ratios by month to get an accurate view of what is expected to be won each month in the future.?

• For example, Month 1: 0.1%, Month 2: 1.3%, Month 3: 2.1%, Month 4: 1.9%. Month 5: 1.2%, Month 6: 0.6%, Month 7: 0.4%,...

4. Document all the programs that COULD be run to make up any gaps

Your bottoms-up model is most likely going to show a gap in what is needed to achieve your company plan because it’s not factoring in any new programs?or improvements

RevOps needs to take the lead on presenting the data and then orchestrate the meeting(s) to get all the potential programs captured?

Ideally, you can pull the functional leaders into an offsite to conduct a brainstorming session on what programs to put in place

Hot Tip: Make sure to include a few AEs and SDRs when brainstorming ideas

Make sure every potential program has the following:

• One Owner? (i.e., 1 person, not a team)
• Target Launch date (For example, Product is releasing a new feature on Sept 15th that we will upsell into the existing base.)
• What levers will be impacted (For example, some levers and KPIs that would be impacted would be “Increase Avg Deal Size by 5% AND Increased Win Rate by 3%”)
• Define the ramp time for the program (For example, adding (2) more SDRs in January will give us 8 new opportunities per month starting in April after they're ramped.)
• Document how each team will be enabled for success?(Here’s an example: “Implementing Gong will be led by {{insert.leader.here}}, who will start with sales leadership on 8/14/23, sales managers on 9/2/23, and AEs and SDRs on 9/8/23. Follow-on weekly enablement sessions will occur for 4 weeks, with {{insert.leader.here}} joining each team meeting to answer questions and provide adoption metrics” - A more detailed plan than this is needed, but you get the point)
• Show how you'll measure success (For instance, attending MOps-Apalooza in November will generate an additional 50 leads, converting into 9 opportunities and 3 closed deals for a total of $102K of ARR that will be won by June 24’. We'll track those leads with via campaign association to MOps-Apalooza23 in {{insert your CRM/MAP here}}'

5. Create a "Plan to Hit the Plan"

This will need representations from all functions that will impact plan attainment and, most likely, CFO and CEO approval (depending on the size of the company)

Sales, Marketing, Partners, Success, and Product should always have representation in the creation of The Plan.?

• (This is ideally done at an offsite in a room together)

Start by prioritizing the potential new programs as a team and decide which ones will have the most significant impact AND highest likelihood of success

Consider a scoring methodology to prioritize the efforts, such as “RICE” scoring.?

You CAN'T do them all!

You can't expect the AE’s to learn a new sales methodology, start doing self-generation, learn a new pricing model, and launch a new product in the same quarter...

This is a game of trade-offs and, if done correctly, can be a great way to unify all GTM teams to the same goals.

Document what programs you will start and what current programs you will stop. Make sure you have clear ownership of the key program items (Owner, Start Date, Impact Levers, Ramp Time for results, How you'll measure)

You'll need to layer the programs into your Bottoms Up baseline model to make sure you have enough expected ARR to achieve your company plan AND, ideally, enough expected ARR that aligns with your total quota capacity.

• RISK: The most common program that companies default to is AE’s doing Self Generation to make up any gaps. This rarely happens to the extent that it is needed to make up the gaps.

Make sure you’re factoring in how all the other programs will impact bandwidth for AE's, and everyone required to get the needed results for all the programs combined.

6. Setup a "Plan to hit the Plan" recurring meeting

Create a dashboard that is easy to digest with the 5 to 10 key metrics of the business that drive the future-looking expected ARR (Pipeline Generated, Win Rate, Sales Cycle, Avg Deal Size, etc…)?

You’ll want to be able to break the company view down by segment quickly

If you have a big push to move upmarket, you need to make sure you’re hitting the pipeline and conversion targets required to set those reps up for success

Most of the meeting should be leveraged to discuss progress against the Plan to Hit the Plan.?

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Sample Agenda

10 minutes for a roundtable on the key metrics dashboard (required that everyone reviews in advance)?

10 minutes status update on the prior week To Do’s

30 minutes for Key Program Updates?

• Owners of each program provide an update on the status of their program.?
• Is there anything needed from anyone in the company to stay on track??
• Was there a misassumption that needs to be adjusted? If so, document it and make the change so the model is accurate for the expected ARR in the future. (Negative adjustments mean you have to find a way to make it up somewhere else)?

10 minutes for decision-making and documenting action items and next steps?

Leverage a document (GoogleDoc) to track all the action items and owners?

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RISKS:

• Someone is inevitably going to challenge the accuracy of data… Keeping the number of metrics tracked to a small amount will help. Document any discrepancies and build a plan for how data will be cleaned up.?
• You will get a program assumption or two or ten wrong…. That’s ok.? Work as a team to document them so you make better assumptions for similar programs in the future.?

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Once those 6 steps are completed, you should come out of that with much stronger alignment across Sales, Marketing, Partners, Product, Finance, Success, and the Executive Team.?

"This sounds great, but I still have all the tactical work that is not going anywhere."

That is why building out your roadmap is so powerful. If everyone is aligned with the Plan to Hit the Plan, but there isn’t enough bandwidth to complete programs, there needs to be a tough conversation on what will be done.?

• Do you need to hire a salesforce admin or consultant to help with some of the tactical requests that come in every day??
• Do you need a compensation expert to help take on comp plan creation and monthly management??
• Is there a new technology that could be implemented to help free up time??
• What things can be put on pause?
• Do you need to pause one of the programs needed for the Plan to Hit the Plan? If so, is the company plan going to get adjusted because of the anticipated miss??
• Is there someone else in the org who wants to be in operations that can help??

If you’re at a company that is <500 employees, RevOps should have at least a monthly cadence with the CEO and CFO. I’d recommend a bi-weekly to start so that programs can be reviewed and recommendations can be provided.?

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If you would like to discuss any of these steps in more detail or see a few examples, please message me

Jeramee Waldum

[email protected]