How to build your GTM dream team with RevOps

Siloed sales, marketing, and operations teams can often deliver disappointing commercial results. Here’s how a RevOps approach can transform your business performance by building the Go-To-Market (GTM) dream team your company deserves.

Why we work in silos

In many ways it makes sense to specialise. Separating sales, marketing and account management teams means they can focus their specialist skills on the different tasks that makes a company function in the most efficient way.  

You don’t want to waste your operations teams’ organisational skills trying to sell stuff - and you don’t want a sales team wasting their time servicing clients; otherwise, you’d never win new business.

The problem with silos

But when sales, marketing, and operations teams operate in silos, it can also create a number of challenges that stand in the way of business and effective revenue growth:

• Fragmented processes: Each team develops its own processes and uses different tools, leading to inefficiencies and inconsistent results.
• Lack of unified data: Teams often have their own data sources and metrics, making it difficult to have a clear, unified view of the customer buyers' journey.
• Misaligned goals: Sales, marketing, and operations often work toward different objectives, leading to friction, slow growth and poor customer service.
• Inconsistent customer experiences: Without a cohesive strategy, customers receive mixed messages and inconsistent experiences, damaging brand loyalty.

How we got here

It’s understandable that this fragmentation has happened.

In the early days of digital, each business unit invested in its own software solutions to solve its own specific problems. This caused different platforms to proliferate and information to be siloed. Think of all those ERPs, CRMs, CMSs, and other software solutions that have been developed over time. Different teams built unilateral strategies based on the data they controlled.

But if we knew then what we know now about how critical data would become to drive cross-selling, lead identification, nurturing, and lifecycle optimisation - we would have built our digital infrastructure in much more integrated ways!

RevOps is the answer

A RevOps approach involves back-solving many of these issues. It involves formally working together to harness all our customer insights, technical capabilities, and data to get our teams working in service of revenue growth.

How RevOps reimagines the business structure

In the old world, teams handed off responsibility for customers in a strict order. Marketing captured and qualified leads, then handed them over to sales. When the deals were closed, sales handed them to account management, who would look after them and (try) grow revenue from them.

But in a new world of intense competition and opportunity, if teams work more closely together, we can identify more right-fit opportunities faster, build larger accounts and drive revenue much more effectively.

And that’s the point of RevOps.

In the RevOps approach, the customer is at the centre of all our thinking, and by continually improving the quality of every aspect of our service, we build more revenue:

• Sales and account management teams continually share customer data, insight and expertise to feed into lead-scoring strategies, workflow definitions, and content creation processes.
• Operations teams continually optimise the way they work using insight from marketing and AM to improve the customer experience.
• All these activities help to secure new revenue opportunities through a relentless focus on customer satisfaction.
• A stream of content ideas and case studies powers discovery by new clients and more effective cross-selling.  
• The quality of your market insight and support turns existing customers into powerful advocates on your behalf, driving further revenue growth.

What does a great RevOps team look like?

For some companies, implementing RevOps might involve a top-down transformation, starting with the appointment of a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) and the establishment of an entirely new team. This team would be tasked with creating fresh structures and workflows, potentially reshaping how the company operates.

However, a shift to a RevOps approach doesn’t always require such a sweeping change. Instead, you can build your RevOps team by appointing a project leader from within your existing teams, supported by representatives from each relevant department. This cross-functional team can collaboratively define new ways of working, identify necessary technology stack requirements, and streamline processes to align with RevOps principles.

Steps to implementing a RevOps approach

1. Appoint your team:

Identify a team leader and select representatives from each department who can help drive and implement your organisation's RevOps priorities. Focus on individuals with a blend of technical, analytical, and cross-functional experience. Prioritise collaboration to break down silos and enhance communication across departments.

2. Map out current processes:

Begin by thoroughly understanding your current sales, marketing, and customer success processes. Conduct a process audit to pinpoint overlaps, gaps, or bottlenecks that RevOps can streamline. Highlight areas where RevOps can deliver immediate impact, such as reducing departmental silos or automating manual tasks.

3. Define the tech stack:

Evaluate your existing technology to ensure it meets your RevOps needs. Focus on integrating tools that work well together (especially with platforms like Salesforce), ensuring seamless data flow across systems. The right tech stack is crucial for supporting the RevOps team’s goals.

4. Define your processes

Begin by defining and refining your core processes, ensuring they are aligned with your RevOps goals. This includes clearly mapping out new workflows across sales, marketing, and customer success, identifying key touchpoints, and establishing standard operating procedures (SOPs). Process definition is crucial to ensure that everyone is on the same page and that the RevOps team has a clear framework to work within.

5. Implement

Once processes are defined, initiate pilot projects to test these new strategies. Select a specific area or department where you can implement the RevOps approach on a smaller scale. For example, you might start with automating the lead handoff process between sales and customer success. Measure the impact of these pilots by tracking relevant metrics such as customer satisfaction scores. Use these insights to refine your approach.

5. Set up regular meetings

Establish a routine for regular meetings to ensure continuous alignment and communication within the RevOps team. These meetings should include status updates, discussions on progress towards goals, and any challenges faced. Regular check-ins help keep the team focused, foster collaboration, and allow for timely adjustments to strategies. Consider holding daily stand-ups for quick updates and weekly or bi-weekly deeper dives to review key metrics, project milestones, and any required course corrections.

6. Measure success

Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with your RevOps objectives. Regularly track these metrics to monitor progress and demonstrate the value of RevOps to your organisation. Utilise analytics tools to create dashboards for real-time tracking and decision-making.

Tailoring the team structure

There's no one-size-fits-all approach to building a RevOps function in your business. The structure of your team should be tailored to the size of your business, industry, available resources, and current operations. Smaller businesses may need only a few individuals, while larger corporations might require a comprehensive team.

Working with an agency can certainly give your team the edge as they plan their approach, identify and implement the required tech stack, and begin to automate and optimise workflows and reporting.

By following these steps and focusing on collaboration and technology, you can effectively build a RevOps team that enhances your GTM strategy and drives revenue growth.