Why RevOps, Charlie?
I come from a 20 year background in sales, so as I embark on my independent consulting career it’s worth explaining why I’m building my brand and work around Revenue Operations.
A book about selling
During the pandemic the ‘laptop class’ had much more time on their hands as those of us that were used to commuting no longer had to spend 2 or 3 hours hauling themselves around the country each day.
Over that summer I had read two books back to back:
Atomic Habits - that provided a structure for building good new habits by focusing on the input “I will go for a run at 12pm each day” instead of the output “I will lose 10kg”.
Write Useful Books - a guide to writing recommendable non-fiction, books that actually solve problems and get referred amongst friends.
At my employer of the time I worked alongside an SDR who was preparing for his interviews for his first full cycle SMB AE role and in our 121s he asked me about the role beyond the SDR responsibilities,
“How do you present to large groups of people?”
“How do you negotiate?”
“How do you forecast?”
Basic foundational aspects of the job that often aren’t covered in sales books which assume you have a grounding in the role.
In September 2021 I had the time, I had the framework, and I had the topic - so I started to write a book.
Every morning from 8am-9am in what I called my “Power Hour”.
I’d think of a topic in my morning shower, and then draft up a chapter in my power hour.
Every morning.
Weekends included.
By December I had finished the first draft, by January 2022 it went to a copy editor, and in March it was available on Amazon as a paperback, hardback, ebook and audiobook.
Over the last year the book has continued to grow, alongside the accompanying website How To Sell Academy providing coaching and advice for first time sellers.
This started to give me an opportunity for some independent consulting - sales training, sales coaching, presenting at team meetings.
“Ah Charlie, you are the SDR guy…”
A wonderful opportunity, but as I started the explore it - I didn’t feel the challenge was strategic enough.
Who was the customer?
The SDR or first time seller? I want to be able to help them, but they either have no budget or a small personal L&D budget.
The sales manager? They might bring in a coach or trainer for a QBR or a team meeting, but coaching should really be their responsibility.
The VP Sales or CRO? They may have a training budget, but sadly these are the line items being cut as businesses strive for profitability.
No, I shut this route down before it gathered any pace.
But it got me thinking.
What are the meaty strategic challenges for a high growth business?
Where can my 20+ years of experience across direct, channel, product, consulting, SMB and Enterprise, IC and leader provide impact?
Four big trends in revenue generation
There are significant trends in how customers buy that are changing the way companies need to sell.
Buyers want to self-serve for as much of the buying process as they can
Think about buying a car. You’ll speak to your friends, read auto magazines, read independent reviews, watch car TV shows.
The very last place you will go is the car dealer - and when you do arrive there you’ll likely know the model, the engine, the colour and the price you want to pay.
You know the dealer is there to serve their own interests, not yours, and so you’ll get yourself educated before you walk in the door.
Why should we think it is any different in business?
Buyers are way more educated, and they need to be met with a much higher standard of seller when they do put their hand up to speak.
We need to think about how we can support that buyer in their journey before they walk in the showroom.
AI is eating up low level sales activities
Over the last 15 years the SDRmy has been the standard operating procedure - teams of junior sellers armed with email, phone and LinkedIn issuing streams of identical messaging “Noticed you are a retail company….”
But AI can now prioritise accounts based on intent.
AI can draft and send emails.
AI can write up notes.
AI can respond to inbound enquiries.
Do we need warm bodies for this kind of work? Maybe today, but in one year? In five years?
Instead, we might return to the full-cycle AE model focused on higher level activities requiring emotion and experience.
Data is everywhere but isn’t creating insight of value
The entire tech stack from marketing, through sales, customer success and product usage is spewing out data on buyer behaviour, seller activities, call recordings, customer engagement.
Most of these data sources are not integrated and companies are not learning from them.
Imagine knowing that if a seller discussed a certain onboarding challenge in the negotiating phase that a customer had a 20% reduced chance of churn.
Imagine being able to target account based messaging to potential users based on the existing product usage of their colleagues.
The customer journey is a circle not a line
For decades companies would draw their customer journey from left to right.
Marketing raises awareness and creates demand
Sales takes that interest and converts it into a closed won deal
Customer Success (and onboarding/support) gives that customer a great experience and moves them to upsell, expansion or renewal
But today, Net Revenue Retention (how much existing customers go on to buy next year) is a north star metric that determines if a SaaS business is scaling profitably.
The right hand of that customer journey needs to feed staight back into the left side of the process, with marketing raising awareness and creating demand for new modules, products, or in different customer business units and teams.
Revenue Operations removes siloes
One of the main challenges facing companies trying to capitalise on these trends is that they are siloed.
Marketing has their leadership, their objectives, their metrics. “We do a unique job - you couldn’t possibly understand it.”
Sales has their leadership, their objectives, their metrics. “We do a unique job - you couldn’t possibly understand it.”
Customer Success has their leadership, their objectives, their metrics. “We do a unique job - you couldn’t possibly understand it.”
These siloes creep in from the very earliest stages of a business - Series A and B, as the team moves beyond the founding team and bring in new leadership for each function.
Each team’s viewpoint is inside out instead of outside in.
The focus of my work is helping clients to take the buyer’s perspective, and to look into their business from the outside.
I work with clients through the top and bottom halves of the Revenue Acceleration Flywheel, including the external aspects of your revenue engine.
Does our content educate and inspire buyers about the problem and possible solution?
Do our systems provide the buyer (and sellers) with a seamless process as the buyer travels through their buying process?
When a buyer puts their hand up to speak, do they get to speak (quickly) with someone educated who knows more than the buyer?
Are we using all our different data sources to provide the buyer and seller with meaningful insight they could not get anywhere else?
RevOps is often seen purely as the internally focused function below the line in the flywheel, but with my background in sales and love of learning from customers, I’ll be bringing an external viewpoint as clients rebuild their revenue engine for the new world.
If your company is experiencing these siloes, or seeing revenue growth stall as your buyer’s needs change - let’s talk!
Get started
Whenever you are ready, there are two ways that I can help you accelerate your revenue growth.
Buyer Experience Audit - I’ll impersonate a buyer researching your segment and company and let you know what I find. Ideal for planning your RevOps strategy.
RevOps Impact Playbooks - I’ll help you implement one or more tactical processes across your revenue teams - content, referrals, testimonials, adoption and more.