Titles mean different things at different companies, so I'll answer the question more along the skills you need to be promoted to more senior roles within revenue Ops. The big skill is the ability to think big and think ahead. It's very easy to spend your entire week or month fire fighting as a line manager. As you grow your role and scope, you need to allocate time to think about the future and innovate. How can the company accelerate growth? Reduce costs? How does the team further the goals of the business? How do we measure the strategic programs? How do you retain and develop talent? These are questions that great managers start thinking about and they are table stakes for "senior managers / directors."

When there are only one or two team members, I would have the team focus on mission-critical projects only. The three main areas would be 1: Sales process & forecasting, 2. Define and measure KPIs, 3. Sales Compensation design. Initially, individuals will cover broader responsibilities but will not have the capacity to go very deep in each area. All of these can evolve throughout the business, but I would clearly define and set the structure by working closely with your sales leader. * Sales Process & Forecasting: You can be simple with the process. In the beginning, set 2 - 3 action items and 1 - 2 exit criteria for each stage. Don't worry too much about getting the fields or validation rules right. The key is to train the sales team so that it becomes easy to remember and follow. In one of my roles, we used to print and laminate a 1-pager, and all reps had it on their desks. Also, investing in solid forecasting tools (Aviso, Clari) will be foundational. Making sure there is visibility and enforcement on forecast categories (pipeline/upside/commit) goes a long way. * Define and Measure KPIs: For SaaS businesses, there are ~10 metrics you should care about. (ARR (by region, business type, segment), Average Deal Size, # of Deals, Cycle Time, Conversion Rates, Win Rates, # of Customers, Retention Rate, Rep Productivity, Rep Attainment). You should define these metrics and build your SFDC data structure so that anyone can easily pull these numbers. It will save you time to focus more on strategy and insights if you get the fundamentals in place. * Sales Compensation Design: Again, comp plans can be simple. There are many standard comp plans out there. I would stick to those and not do anything crazy. As the business evolves and business goals change, you would want to add components, but in general, I will keep it to the basics.

I like to think about KPIs for any revenue organization in a 3 P's framework : 1. Performance 2. Predictability 3. Productivity Performance: It's important to understand the performance trends of the company and the most common KPS in this category include: - ARR - Retention - Number of Customers (Existing + New Logos - Churned Logos) - Gross Margin. For each of these KPIs, I like to look at the numbers vs. goal, vs. last year (YoY) and vs last quarter (QoQ). These are the basic health markers of any company and ones that all revenue ops leaders should know by heart for their companies/business units. Predictability: For any company, it's important for a revenue org to be able to deliver a forecast. And Revenue Ops plays a big role in this process, working with sales leadership. Typically, I like to see: - Week 1 and Week 7 Currrent Qtr Fcs Accuracy - this is usually measured in % terms and is calculated using the final bookings or retention results divided by the forecast at the start and halfway points in the quarter. I am for at least 90% accuracy in Week 1 and 97% accuracy in Week 7. - Starting Qtr Pipeline Coverage - how much pipeline (signing in the same quarter) is needed at the start of each quarter to hit the bookings/revenue goals, usually represented in X.X coverage ratio form. This one is good becaause it combines your win/converstion rate with your team's ability to predict accurate close dates. For volume and velocity-based businesses, it's important to also note how much pipe gets generated and closed within the quarter and incorporate that component as a KPI. - Push Counter - how often are opportunities pushing from their original close dates in your CRM? If you see this number start to creep up over time, you're likely going to start to see some forecast accuracy challenges down the road. It means your team's pipeline hygeine is getting sloppy or deals in your market are becoming tougher to predict close timing, Productiviity (or Effiency): Over the course of 2022, many companies have made productivity and efficiency metrics a much bigger part of their corporate narrative. And I think a lot of companies will come out of this year in a stronger position because of it. To me, there's not just one or two metrics that can tell you how well a revenue engine is working. I think it takes a variety of productivity-related KPIs including: - % of AEs hitting quota (Attainment) - I like to use the rule of thumb that when 75% or more of your AEs are hitting 75%+ quota attainment, then you should hire more AEs. If you're not quite performing at those levels, there is more to do before you start hiring rapidly. - % of AEs winning a new opportunity (Participation) - It's important to look at what % of your sales team is getting a deal across the finish line each quarter (or every month for shorter sales cycles). - Win Rate / Close Rate - I prefer the $-based metric (win rate), especially if you're tweaking your ICP and trying to sell larger ASP deals. - Contacts per Qualified Opp - a good metric to dermine if you're single-threaded in your opportunities. More contacts on each opp almost always equals a higher conversion rate. Growth Efficiency - this metrics looks at how much incremental recurring revenue was generated from new investment in sales and marketing $ - Activity - I'm and old school guy in that I still llke to look at seller and SDR activity levels. You can't sell when you're not in front of customers and I think it's a good idea to hold revenue team members accountable to a set of activity metrics, including meetings held, pipeline generated, new accounts touched to name a few.

To be successful in revenue operations you must 1. have a data analysis foundation 2. be a strong problem solver and 3. be a good story teller. 1. Data foundation: the requirements will change depending on your company's tech stack (SQL, Tableau, SFDC, etc.), but you must have experience analyzing, visualizing and synthesize takeaways from data. Almost everything you do in rev ops must be data driven, and understanding how to pull actionable takeaways from large data sets is key. 2. Problem solving: Know different problem solving frameworks and apply them in your day to day to get experience with how they work. The most basic being 1. start with a hypothesis 2. test that hypothesis 3. debrief on results and iterate. It is also ok to test in an unscalable / manual / simple way. One of the biggest fallacies operators run into is trying to run the perfect test--use the 80/20 rule and be a scrappy problem solver 3. Story Telling: A large part of the rev ops role is aligning different teams (sales, marketing, product, finance, leadership, etc.) to work towards the same goal or on the same initiative--and story telling is a huge part of getting this cross-functional alignment. An operator needs to 1. get buy in (show the business impact and why the team should be excited to work on this) 2. clarify how the team is going to execute (demonstrate a well thought out plan with deadlines and DRIs) 3. assign ownership (identify who is responsible for each aspect of the plan).

My recommendation to anyone trying to craft a good 30/60/90 day plan is to first read the book The First 90 Days (https://www.amazon.com/First-Days-Updated-Expanded-Strategies/dp/B00CH7FE1O/ref=sr_1_1?crid=332LCCJEJ62Z8&keywords=first+90+days&qid=1678744873&sprefix=first+90+day%2Caps%2C111&sr=8-1) It is an incredible guide to how you prioritize your time coming into and during your first 90 days in any new role. Revenue Operations specific tasks are not as relevant as understanding what actions anybody should be taking during this time and then fitting your role-specific needs within that framework.

I'd consider a format that is easily accessible and that is easy to keep up to date. As such, I'd suggest something like a company wiki and/or link directly from your BI tool or whichever platform teams across your company access data and analytics. When creating this data dictionary, I'd spend the time upfront to get alignment from all the key stakeholders across the company that touch data that this will be the single source of truth and align on the process, timing and owners for updates to maintain the relevance of the content.

Within the first few weeks I will meet with my immediate and extended stakeholders to understand: * Top of mind concerns/pain points * Existing processes, current state, and potential gaps in resources, tools etc This will then drive my list of: - Quick Wins/Goals (30 Days) - Mid-Term Wins/Goals (60/90 Days) & - Long-Term Wins/Goals (>90 Days) * Quick wins/goals ideally would be something that is top of mind for my stakeholders, visible and attainable within the 30-day timeframe. As an example, in one of my prior roles a pain point I kept hearing during early conversations was around lack access to actionable data. In that instance I was able to work with my team to create a Tableau dashboard that provided visibility to the relevant stakeholders. Although the solution was pretty straightforward in this case the impact was fairly visible and notched a quick win for me as well as my team. * For mid-term wins/goals I like to think of efficiencies in terms of team structure and alignment, tools that are underutilized and/or could be consolidated. * Finally, for the long-term I like to think of what my northstar should be to align with the overall company strategy. As an example if the company plans to go upmarket in the next 1-2 years I would want to think about the systems, processes and tools from that lense and make certain that the short and mid-term plans are not a bandaid fix but more of a longer term solution.

At LinkedIn we use the TAM (Total Addressable Market) approach to tackle this problem. First, we separate the "New Business TAM" from the "Existing Business TAM", in order to understand penetration and "headroom" in each category. Startups, early stage companies (and even mature companies potentially) tend to have a "New Business TAM" that vastly exceeds their "Existing Business TAM". This tends to be the main reason companies prioritize New Business over Existing Business. A secondary and more mundane reason is, from a financial standpoint, all new business sales contribute to growth; however, a flat renewal has zero growth contribution. I believe both motions are critical to achieve short and long term growth aspirations. A B2B Tech firm should have a well oiled New Business Engine (Marketing Lead Generation -> Sales Development -> Sales Hunters/ Closers) to capture the New Business TAM as fast as possible. At the same time, we know that successful customers tend to expand their relationships with LinkedIn over time, leading to revenue growth. Therefore having a Go-to-Market model that ensures value is being delivered to customers is also critical for future growth. P.s.: in SaaS, it can be difficult to measure growth within existing customers - especially when a portion of customers are on multi-year deals. A "same store sales methodology" can be an effective way to measure existing customer growth.

Soft skills are most important. Hard skills can be learned. The majority of my team did not have RevOps experience prior to joining Paycor. We have some amazing Salesforce and Marketo admins that had not used these apps in the past. Hire smart people that are quick learners and teach them what they need to know.

I think this is a great question, because RevOps as a role becomes exponentially more impactful the more stakeholders that we have bi-directional, empowering relationships. New and existing RevOps teams should constantly evaluate how they are delivering for their stakeholders, and proactively gather feedback to build this positive improvement loop. We need to build upon trust and accountability. Let's first define what is momentum. I see this as a two different scenarios. * You are likely looking for a C-level executive to be a champion for your initiatives, to act as a sponsor and use their influence and relationships on your behalf. This applies in both situations where RevOps has a seat at the leadership table and does not, and senior collaboration is critical for getting C-Suite attention. * You are new to an organization, and eager to make a big impact. You are weighing where and with whom do you focus your efforts, knowing this is a stepping stone to broader organization wide change. In RevOps, your time is precious, and the initiatives and leaders you support implies that there will be others that you will support less (until capacity becomes available or increases of course). There is no magic answer here, because this alignment is conditional on the current objectives of the business. 1. Make sure you know, in granular detail, the strategic objectives for your organization in the current half and fiscal year. 2. Internalize the message from the leadership team. Be able to explain what is important right now, and what focus areas are cascaded down to the various teams. There is definitely at least one direction the ELT is leading the organization, maybe a few. This can be a number of things: like focusing on customer growth, reducing churn, building a high performance new business team, implementing consistent quarterly marketing campaigns, driving penetration/attachment rates of multiple products across the customer base, etc. 3. With that in mind, examine the teams accountable for delivering on that objective. Those C-level leaders and their respective teams are going to be the best candidates for your alignment and proactive focus. I think it will be a theme in my responses today, but everything needs to be tied to a measurable (and believable) revenue impact. If your organization for example is focusing on churn, and building the infrastructure and strategy to mitigate it. Perhaps your organization has a Chief Customer Officer, with respective CS leadership. Maybe you have a joint team reporting to a CRO, where CS and Account Management leaders will be working side by side. 4. Look at their priorities, and the current state of the business in respect to the change that needs to happen. To be a partner, you need to be an expert on their business, as if it were your own. Invest the time to build an intimate understanding of the nuts and bolts of their organization's day to day and how they work towards delivering towards that strategic objective. 5. Get time with the accountable leaders. Pick their brain. Trust their input, as they see problems and opportunities through a different lens than you. Relationships take work, in every aspect of our lives. You need to show that you are committing the time to listen and internalize their way of thinking. 6. Start block and tackling these big initiatives into bite sized wins distributed across, now, soon and later timelines. Partner with their teams, aligning on these specific bodies of work, and get to work. Use your skillset to deliver insights, process, data, and systemic wins to build credibility for your efforts. 7. Repeat. This takes time, and as you progress you will be able to look back and see just how much momentum you built. P.S. If you are a new RevOps leader, or are going to be joining as a new leader, pick up the book The First 90 Days. Some of it may seem obvious but it is a great playbook to bolster your communication ability to establish those relationships early.