Future Proofing Your Org With a Revenue Operations Playbook

Time moves fast in business. Blink, and a year flies by. That’s why thinking ahead is essential—especially when it comes to revenue operations (RevOps).

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RevOps is a strategy that aligns multiple departments, giving them the shared goal of increasing operational efficiency, improving the customer experience, and driving revenue.

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In a forever-moving field like RevOps, things are always shifting. But that doesn’t mean you can’t anticipate those changes. As a business leader, your objective is to future-proof your organization, anticipating change as it arrives and building a framework for unexpected obstacles.

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A revenue operations playbook allows you to do just that. This short guide discusses how to develop a RevOps playbook and face the future head-on.

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Understanding Revenue Operations

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Before discussing future-proofing revenue operations, let’s explore what RevOps is.

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RevOps is a business approach that focuses on revenue growth strategies. When you leverage a RevOps implementation in your organization, you choose revenue generation—and the growth that comes with it—as your North Star. Ultimately, the goal behind RevOps is revenue optimization from all angles.

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To accomplish this goal, RevOps preaches cross-functional alignment between multiple teams, including:

• Marketing
• Sales
• Customer success
• Finance

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It’s worth noting that RevOps is still a relatively new concept. Even so, 48% of companies already have a RevOps function. 

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Furthermore, 86% of executives believe revenue operations are vital to meeting goals. Clearly, RevOps is growing in importance in business, especially in the B2B space.

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Why Revenue Operations Is Critical for Future-Proofing

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You likely already understand that future-proofing is crucial. But how does RevOps fit in?

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Well, there’s a reason RevOps is one of the fastest-growing jobs. As it turns out, improvements in existing functions (i.e., RevOps) allow for quicker reactions to issues and opportunities as they arise. When you recognize opportunities sooner, you can capitalize on them.

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But there’s more. Without RevOps, it’s possible to end up in a marketing ops vs sales ops standoff. That’s the last thing you want. Instead, you want those teams to work together, moving toward your shared long-term goals.

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With RevOps, they do. However, this business process improvement is more than sales and marketing alignment. When you follow revenue operations best practices, you enjoy a holistic coming-together of all your teams.

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This integrated revenue operations approach helps you prepare for the future by enhancing your data-driven decision-making. Since every team is sharing data, making informed decisions is effortless.

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Finally, RevOps improves revenue predictability and growth. A robust revenue operations strategy simplifies revenue management over multiple years.

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Developing Your Revenue Operations Playbook

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By now, you should be convinced that RevOps strategies are worth pursuing. But how can you implement RevOps into your everyday affairs? The answer is simple: You need a RevOps playbook.

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A playbook outlines your RevOps goals and needs (in the short and long term), identifies how you can meet them, and defines how you’ll measure success.

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To create your own RevOps playbook, you’ll want to follow these steps:

• Step 1: Lay the groundwork: To start, identify your overall mission. What do you want to accomplish with RevOps? From there, define every member’s role in your RevOps strategy.
• Step 2: Think about metrics: To guarantee alignment moving forward, now is the perfect time to choose which KPIs (key performance indicators) your teams will track together. Possible KPIs to measure include annual recurring revenue, customer churn rate, and customer lifetime value (CLV).
• Step 3: Define your workflows: Keeping revenue efficiency in mind, it’s time to address your business processes. The goal here is to streamline everything, ensuring every team has the same approach to every process. It’s also worth outlining how each team will work together.
• Step 4: Plan for the future: At last, you’ll want to consider your goals more carefully. At this stage, you’re not only setting goals but thinking about what you’ll do once you reach them—and how you’ll pivot if you can’t. This is the key to future-proofing your organization through a RevOps playbook. For example, you may need to create contingency plans.

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Key Elements of an Effective RevOps Playbook

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So, what should your playbook contain? The answer will depend on your business and its goals, but, in general, a successful playbook should follow the “V2MOM” planning framework. This framework encompasses the following components:

• Vision: How does your company present to the public?
• Values: What does your business believe in?
• Methods: How will your business conduct itself?
• Obstacles: What is blocking you from doing your best?
• Measures: How will you track your performance and success?

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Implementing Your Revenue Operations Strategy

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Practically speaking, implementing a RevOps playbook involves building a harmonized revenue tech stack that all departments can harness. You’ll want to think about how to integrate your entire suite of tools, including your:

• CRM
• Marketing automation platform
• Sales engagement platform
• Business intelligence (BI) and revenue data analytics tools
• Customer success platform

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And technology is only the beginning. You may encounter other challenges, including:

• Shifting the culture: Moving from a culture of silos to one of collaboration is no easy feat.
• Having employees buy in: Acceptance is always the biggest obstacle. RevOps can be a significant change, and without solid leadership, teams may be unwilling to learn new processes and platforms.

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Luckily, these challenges can be overcome by measuring and optimizing your RevOps performance over time.

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Case Studies and Real-World Examples

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Don’t just take our word for it. Real organizations have overcome these hurdles by implementing a solid revenue operations framework and RevOps playbook.

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For example, Envision Pharma Group had problems with siloed data and multiple sales processes. RevOps helped them systemize those processes, integrate their tools, and become more efficient.

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Another success story is Lively. The fast-growing company needed RevOps to scale properly. Thanks to RevOps professionals, their orders per week grew 8x year-over-year.

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Make Your Business the Next Example

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The performance metrics don’t lie: A RevOps playbook can significantly impact your organization, setting you up for years to come. When you know how you’ll react to changes and obstacles, you can face them head-on without fear.

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If you want confidence in your business, you need Operatus. Through our RevOps as a service offering, we provide you with the knowledge and tools you need to develop a full-fledged RevOps strategy.

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Contact our team today to learn more.