How to Build a Winning Revenue Operations (RevOps) Strategy

Across industries, revenue operations (RevOps) are increasingly seen as a symbol of organizational unity and sustainable progress. In fact, an analysis performed by the Revenue Enablement Institute discovered that companies that rely on traditional methods of managing their sales, marketing, and service teams grapple with staying a step ahead of their strategically aligned, data-driven competition.

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But what is revenue operations, exactly?

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The quick answer is that RevOps is a transformative, end-to-end organizational solution that fuels growth through improved inter-department alliances and enhanced processes. The approach is catching on, too: The RevOps market is expected to skyrocket beyond the $18 million mark by the end of 2033.

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A well-structured Revenue Operations strategy may contribute to a more holistic organizational ecosystem that boosts customer satisfaction, sales productivity, and business efficiency. To that end, here’s how you can build a RevOps blueprint that delivers.

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Key Elements of a RevOps Strategy

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Eighty-five percent of executives assert that revenue operations are crucial to accomplishing their business goals, but 41% confess they’re not confident they know what “RevOps” means. 

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Let’s look at the essential elements that characterize the strategic revenue growth procedure.

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Aligning Sales, Marketing, and Customer Support

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In traditional (and what’s become outdated) organizational systems, sales, marketing, and customer service/success teams work independently rather than interdependently. 

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This can lead to a host of complications, like:

• Disorganization
• Inefficient processes
• Duplicative work
• Communication issues
• Data silos (and incomplete data)
• Cross-department rivalry 

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And this doesn’t just affect your internal environment: A lack of team collaboration may result in privacy and compliance problems and a less-than-seamless customer experience. In turn, businesses may face reputational harm, a higher churn rate, and decreased profits.

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Revenue operations focus on undoing this through service, sales, and marketing alignment. (Depending on the organization, it may include operations, IT, and finance departments.) How this is achieved hinges on the specifics of the business and the issues they’re struggling with. 

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Typically, though, it involves:

• Aligning revenue targets
• Defining roles
• Improving communication
• Creating processes that concentrate on customer lifecycle management

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Data Integration and Management

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Unifying disparate departments within an organization also involves updating and refining how data is collected and shared. Enriched data integration and management aim to provide all teams with a comprehensive, accurate, and transparent view of business operations and the customer journey. 

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Technology Utilization

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A large part of a sound revenue operations strategy is identifying the most cost and time-efficient tech stack for process optimization. This may include:

• A powerful, singular customer relationship management (CRM) system
• Advanced data analytics for data-driven decision-making
• Automation technology
• Data management software

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Developing Your RevOps Strategy

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So, what does strong RevOps planning look like in action? 

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Revenue operations best practices encompass the following.

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Setting Clear Objectives and Goals

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Your first order of business is to pinpoint your organization’s goals and the reason for adopting a revenue operations strategy.

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This will vary from business to business. To jumpstart your thinking, however, consider examining your performance metrics and outlining the issues you may be currently encountering, such as:

• Gaps in communication between departments
• Data complications
• Increased customer acquisition costs
• Revenue leaks
• High churn rates

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From there, you can decide where to turn your attention and devise realistic, cross-department objectives. 

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Identifying Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

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The adage is true: What cannot be measured cannot be managed nor improved. 

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To this end, it’s vital to zero in on the KPIs that will contribute to long-term, scalable revenue growth. In fact, a 2023 survey demonstrated that tracking metrics is the chief function of RevOps experts. 

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These revenue operations metrics may include the following:

• Monthly recurring revenue (MRR)
• Annual recurring revenue (ARR)
• Revenue retention rates
• Net revenue retention (NRR)
• Average customer lifespan
• Customer churn rate (CRR)

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Naturally, your biggest and most important KPIs may be different. But that’s one of the benefits of partnering with a RevOps consultant: Their role and the metrics they monitor and work to improve can be adapted according to your specific needs. 

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Strategy Mapping and Implementation Planning

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Remember: A Revenue Operations strategy is a roadmap towards accelerating and sustaining your revenue. This entails gaining a “big picture” view of your company (and your ultimate vision) and planning its implementation across departments, such as:

• Detailing the end-to-end customer journey and honing strategies to expedite it
• Developing a consolidated, go-to-market (GTM) strategy 
• Establishing a centralized data platform

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All of this, and more, may include refining the roles of certain team members so they “fit” within the RevOps ecosystem. In other words, employee training may be key to strategy mapping and implementation planning. 

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Implementing and Optimizing Your RevOps Strategy

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Implementing a RevOps strategy—and maximizing its potential—generally requires the following. 

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Cross-Functional Collaboration and Communication

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To recap, RevOps is all about encouraging team collaboration for a more harmonious and effective organization. This calls for:

• Breaking down silos
• Sharing dashboards that monitor performance across teams
• Simplifying communication channels so team members can collaborate with ease
• Ensuring all employees associated with revenue growth are working toward the same goals
• Improving accessibility on tech platforms to guarantee that all relevant workers have the information they need

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Additionally, some experts recommend “job shadowing” so that departments better understand their colleagues’ obligations.

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Continuous Learning and Adaptation 

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Market changes, internal shifts, new technologies, fresh business goals, and more can directly impact your operations. With this in mind, you may want to incorporate continuous learning into your RevOps planning and execution, such as:

• Hosting employee trainings and cross-department meetings
• Conducting regular audits
• Following trends that may benefit your organization
• Identifying, integrating, and learning new technologies

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Leveraging Feedback for Improvement 

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There are few better ways to build unity than actively seeking feedback from your employees and stakeholders. This will allow you to stick to what’s working and eliminate or modify what’s not. 

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Case Studies: Successful RevOps Strategy Implementation

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Need further proof of RevOps’ efficacy? Consider the following.

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Real-World Example

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Lively, a healthcare company based in New York, needed specialized help when it started growing rapidly, particularly in meeting consumer demand, tracking its employees’ day-to-day activities, and managing its time. 

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By partnering with Operatus’ team of RevOps professionals, they were able to:

• Streamline order processing workflows
• Update communications 
• Support the roll-out of a new product line

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The outcome? Their order per week surged by eight times YoY.

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Harness the Power of RevOps With Operatus

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Revenue operations aren’t just the future of sales operations: It’s here, now, and increasingly viewed as a critical component of sustainable growth. Or, as the Revenue Operations Alliance recently put it, RevOps is “fast establishing itself as an essential C-suite capability for long-term commercial success.”

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If you’re intent on enriching your customer journey, fostering a more collaborative environment, and bolstering revenue, you might create a revenue operations strategy for yourself. Alternatively, you can partner with Operatus. 

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From idea to implementation, Operatus’ RevOps experts help companies like yours optimize their sales and marketing processes and accelerate growth with customized RevOps strategies featuring CRM integration and more.

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Intrigued? Set up a time to talk about up-leveling your business.