Revenue Operations: Align Sales and Marketing for B2B Growth
Dmytro Chervonyi
CMO at Forecastio
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Introduction
Aligning sales and marketing efforts in an ever-growing business landscape is crucial for the success of the businesses. Unlike traditional methods, most organizations must have a seamless process for sustainable growth and revenue.
If we look back to the historical business operations, they used to be siloed resulting in unattained issues, challenges, communications gaps, and failure to achieve business goals. Over the years, decision-makers have become smart enough to find tools and strategies to make the most of customer data, and thus a new framework of revenue operations has emerged. It is an integrated approach that brings together sales, marketing, and customer operations to design a cohesive strategy and ensure business success.
RevOps streamlines team capabilities and ensures collaboration at different levels of your organization. Moreover, its biggest strength is how it brings together the diverse teams of sales and marketing. This leads to stronger revenue performance. It also creates better customer experiences and improves the accuracy of forecasting.
In this article, we will explain what revenue operations are. How RevOps removes barriers between sales and marketing and why it is important for businesses that want to scale efficiently.
What is Revenue Operations (RevOps)?
Revenue operations, or RevOps, is the process of bringing together sales, marketing, and customer success teams while leveraging the technology, and data for seamless revenue operations. RevOps aims to align these teams under a unified strategy and framework that maximizes revenue growth. It minimizes the gap between the sales and marketing processes and breaks down barriers among various departments. In short, RevOps is a cohesive approach to achieving shared business goals.
RevOps does not just focus on cultivating sales or marketing efforts—it optimizes the entire revenue process, from lead generation to customer retention, creating a more streamlined and predictable revenue pipeline.
RevOps includes:
Designing a holistic revenue structure.
Creating easy-to-follow processes and systems for sales, marketing, and customer success teams to work efficiently.
Identifying a set of non-negotiable key indicators to monitor and track performance.
Ensuring data integrity across all departments throughout the revenue cycle.
Designing go-to-market strategies.
Collecting, cleaning, managing, and analyzing data through a unified approach.
Why Revenue Operations is important
In the past, businesses have had departments that worked independently. This means each department whether it’s sales, marketing, or customer success has fragmented goals. As a result, data often gets isolated, and goals don’t always match up. This leads to disconnected business processes and poor results.
RevOps fixes these issues by offering a centralized approach to managing data, processes, and systems for all revenue-generating functions. This approach gives a complete view of the customer journey. It helps all teams work together toward shared objectives.
According to HubSpot, RevOps improves:
Sales output by 10-20%.
Company productivity by 15%.
Company growth 19% faster.
Digital marketing ROI 2-3 times.
Alternatively, here's what happens when a business lacks a RevOps team or a department.
Demotivates your team.
Reduces sales' perception.
Results in sub-par conversion rates.
Bad customer experiences.
Disconnect between sales and marketing.
The Disconnect between Sales & Marketing Departments
Before examining how RevOps has revolutionized the business process, let’s look into some of the challenges businesses have been facing historically in sales and marketing. There has been a disconnect at various levels of the different departments. These gaps and disconnections are due to the following reasons:
Miscommunication.
Conflicting priorities.
Missed opportunities.
Lack of collaboration.
Siloed organizational structure.
Inefficient training.
Lack of trust among various departments.
Failure to align sales and marketing goals
While salespeople are often focused on bringing in results instantly, marketing teams focus on building business branding in the long run. Marketing teams focus on goals like brand awareness, lead generation, lead nurturing, etc, whereas salespeople focus on closing the deal. Aligning those efforts towards a common goal which is generating revenue is crucial, otherwise, the disparity between these two aspects can bring a huge gap in overall business success.
Diversified KPIs and Metrics
In the absence of RevOps, each department works independently. Both sales and marketing teams focus on varying sales KPIs in business development which are unique to their goals. Data is diversified through CRM, email, communications, and more
For example, the marketing department would strategically put efforts into the following goals;
Improving traffic.
Increasing engagement on social media.
Decreasing churn rates on website, and ecommerce stores.
Strengthening brand awareness.
Strengthening media partners.
Expanding lead volume.
etc.
Whereas, the goal of the sales team or sales personnel includes;
Improving conversion rates.
Achieving annual targets for both sales and profits.
Ensuring upsells and cross-sells.
Strategically improving customer retention.
Focusing on bringing in more sales, and cutting time spent on non-sales actions.
Increasing the total number of paying customers.
Since these goals are very diversified, therefore a unified approach is crucial for measuring the performance and ensuring the overall success of the business, effectively, and efficiently.
Lack of Communication
Sales, marketing, and customer success teams need crisp communication to achieve business success. Lack of communication between these departments becomes very expensive for most of the businesses. It includes failure to achieve revenue targets, profits, failed campaigns, etc.
For example, if your marketing team is running a campaign for mid-career professionals who want to save more money, and your sales team is approaching young professionals who are struggling to get a secure job. This communication gap could bring poor results, and your sales team will close fewer deals - and in the worst case, they will have zero results.
Data Silos
Data silos were common in the past because each department has been working independently using unique tools for CRM, campaign management, and lead nurturing. This makes it difficult to have a unified view of the customer approach.
According to TIBCO, a data silo is defined as;
“A data silo is a collection of information isolated from an organization and inaccessible to all parts of a company hierarchy. Data silos create expensive and time-consuming problems for businesses, but they are relatively simple to resolve.”
The Role of Revenue Operations in Aligning Sales and Marketing Teams
The impact of RevOps on business performance is significantly high, that's the reason why businesses have started investing in RevOps instead of growing economic challenges. Companies that follow RevOps receive benefits, such as increased revenue, improved customer retention, better business branding, etc.
RevOps can easily improve the performance metrics including:
Reduced Cost Per Acquisition (CPA).
Improved Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).
Decreasing Customer Churn.
Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR).
Better Lead Qualification
Lead qualification is often based on lead scoring. This means, the leads are identified whether they are a good fit or not based on their level of engagement on various touch points including website, social media, email, landing pages, product pages, etc.
Once sales, marketing, and customer success teams work together, marketing teams ensure they pass leads to the sales team based on their propensity to buy - instead of providing a list of uninterested prospects.
As a result, it creates an end-to-end view of the revenue engine while enhancing customer experience. This holistic approach minimizes and breaks down silos that keep various departments fragmented. It ensures a seamless customer journey, improves internal processes, and ultimately, maximizes revenue.
The following visual shows accurately how RevOps improves business operations.
Sales Enablement
RevOps strengthens sales operations by providing the right tools, strategies, and resources for a seamless sales funnel. With this, the goal is to strategically train, and prepare teams for creating an irresistible sales funnel.
RevOps improves sales by preparing teams for closing deals easily, efficiently, and accurately. It enhances the whole customer journey by preparing teams, systems, and technology to create a seamless sales funnel. Together this focuses on creating a cohesive customer experience.
RevOps improves sales enablement by;
Forecasting sales more accurately.
Setting quotas.
Implementing sales methodologies.
Overseeing the customer relationship management (CRM) system for better data monitoring.
And more.
Customer Journey Mapping
Customer lifecycle is a very complex process. RevOps focuses on creating a cohesive customer experience throughout the customer lifecycle at various stages including,
Awareness.
Consideration.
Decision.
Retention.
Advocacy.
RevOps focuses on understanding the buying behavior of customers, measuring their satisfaction based on real-time data, and identifying key milestones of the customer journey. Customer satisfaction rate is measured based on various parameters like churn rates, feedback scores, renewal rates, upsell/cross-sell rates, etc.
Increased Revenue Growth
Better business decisions, seamless business processes, and streamlined operations are the result of RevOps. This enables both sales and marketing to work towards achieving shared goals and metrics. Therefore, they achieve revenue targets 24% faster than others. RevOps tightens the teams to have aligned efforts for them to grow.
Improved Customer Retention
RevOps is the silent hero behind improving customer retention. It minimizes customer churn rates by implementing the right tools, strategies, and technologies to provide effective offers that keep the customers in the long run. Since RevOps relies heavily on data, therefore it enables businesses to accurately understand the needs, wants, and preferences that resonate with customers more accurately. It enables businesses to have a multi-faceted approach to attract and retain customers.
Operational Efficiency
RevOps results in frictionless operations by enabling cross-functional collaboration among teams. Once teams set shared goals, targets, and objectives, they can foster alignment with less friction, and better communication.
Strengthens Feedback Loops
It encourages teams to have a growth mindset. RevOps strategically collects insights, identifies the weak areas, and makes necessary changes to improve them. The goal is to improve processes both at an individual level and in teams.
The sales team can provide insights into what’s working and what’s not, allowing marketing to adjust its campaigns accordingly. Conversely, marketing can share data on lead engagement and behavior to help sales tailor their pitches more effectively. As a result, your organizations will have agile and effective business processes.
Best Practices to Leverage RevOps
Build a RevOps Team
First and foremost, have at least one person on your RevOps team who understands data analysis, reporting, forecasting, and predictive analytics. He would be the guiding leader in implementing RevOps.
With RevOps, companies use data-driven insights to make more accurate sales and marketing forecasts. RevOps teams analyze pipeline performance, lead conversion rates, and customer behavior to help various departments make more informed decisions.
This predictive approach helps marketing adjust its campaigns using real-time sales data. It also enables sales teams to forecast more accurately by considering the potential impact of upcoming marketing initiatives.
Streamline Processes with Automation
Automate business processes as much as you can. In recent years, automation has been the talk of the town. Automate marketing and sales workflows to save time and reduce manual tasks. Use tools like CRM and marketing platforms to handle lead generation and email campaigns. By automating across different departments, you can improve efficiency, reduce mistakes, and boost revenue growth.
Increased Focus on Revenue Forecasting
Collect, clean, organize, and analyze data more efficiently than ever. Use historical data and statistical models and leverage advanced analytical tools to accurately forecast your revenue streams.
Better forecasting can help track market trends, identify opportunities, minimize risks, set realistic budgets, and allocate resources accordingly. This will help your business achieve revenue goals faster and with reduced uncertainty.
Closer Collaboration Between Customer-Facing Teams
Encourage strong collaboration among sales, marketing, and customer success teams.
Conduct regular meetings.
Encourage open communication.
Integrate technology stacks.
Define Unified KPIs and Shared Goals
Align the key performance indicators (KPIs) of sales, marketing, and customer success teams. Create common goals that everyone can work for, helping to remove competing goals. Regularly review and discuss these goals to ensure all teams are on the same path. This unity fosters collaboration and helps track overall performance effectively.
RevOps helps create shared metrics for both sales and marketing. These metrics include;
Revenue growth.
Customer lifetime value (CLTV).
etc.
Ensure Centralized Data Management
Effective revenue operations are fueled by data. Great datasets result in the best decision-making, and it ensures setting SMART business goals. Collaborate with a professional B2B data provider to ensure you’ve accurate data sets to analyze.
Data silos are a barrier to alignment, but RevOps introduces centralized data management, providing both sales and marketing with access to the same real-time information. So that both teams work from a single source of data when making decisions about prospects and customers.
RevOps Tech Stack
Let’s be honest, sales and marketing teams use 100s of different tools for business operations like email marketing and automation, calculating metrics, analyzing web traffic, CRM, social media, etc. Data that comes from all these tools and technologies is diversified, and there’s a lack of alignment between business objectives, and software projects causing the failure of business operations.
RevOps Tech Stack ensures the implementing business and tech applications have a seamless revenue process. It’s crucial to have a suite of technologies that can create a cohesive approach for all business operations. Businesses should incorporate RevOps tech stack based on:
Ease of use.
Functionality.
Feasibility.
Current and future fit.
Etc.
Continuous Training and Skill Development
RevOps is not a strategy that requires one-time input to design it, rather it has to be improved, changed, and enhanced based on your go-to-market, customer acquisition, and product launch. It’s a dynamic approach that keeps various departments together in real-time.
Encourage learning and development.
Learn from failure and replicate success tips.
Analyze the performance metrics, and train your teams accordingly.
Introduce new trends, technologies, and strategies among your team members.
Provide continuous training so that teams understand each other’s roles and collaborate effectively.
Case Study: CorkSol
CorkSol is a construction equipment supplier in Halifax, England. CorkSol hired the RevOps team and the results were incredible.
By implementing a seamless RevOps strategy CorkSol improved its 1st-year revenue by 100% and it became the market leader in 18 months.
The results were impressive. Keyout comes included:
The company gained sales traction.
It transformed into a licensed distributor.
It was able to mobilize a statistical business model.
The Future of Revenue Operations
As businesses become more agile and data-driven, the role of RevOps will continue to evolve.
The future of RevOps will likely involve even greater integration of AI and automation, helping sales and marketing teams make smarter decisions in real time.
Companies will focus on enhancing C-suite capabilities for long-term commercial success.
Businesses will utilize advanced analytics tools to gain deeper insights into customer behavior and revenue performance.
Implementing RevOps will be essential across businesses of all sizes and kinds to promote personalized experiences.
This approach will ensure that sales, marketing, and customer success teams align with customer needs.
Key trends will include advanced analytics and predictive modeling, seamless integration of sales, marketing, and customer success.
Additionally, businesses will adopt agile and adaptive strategies that will emphasize adaptability, problem-solving, and process optimization to respond swiftly to changing market dynamics.
Conclusion
RevOps is a dynamic process for revenue operations where sales, marketing, and customer success departments work together to improve the overall company revenue. RevOps defines proven strategies, and processes, for seamless business operations. It helps businesses to design a technology stack so that they can use the data in the best possible way.
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Dmytro Chervonyi
CMO at Forecastio
