The Power of Revenue Operations for Small-to-Medium Sized Businesses

Will Riley is an expert on revenue operations here to discuss why businesses should care about revenue operations and to explain what it does and why it’s booming. This conversation is the first of five more to follow about rev ops.

Aligned is a podcast for executives of emerging middle-market companies; executives of rapidly growing businesses; and executives who are pursuing growth and looking for new levers to pull. FitzMartin is a sales-first company that is driven by those things, and we want to pursue those things, and we know that you do, too.

• LinkedIn did a study last year that found that job titles with “revenue” in the title spiked up to 87 percent last year.
• Marketing in the last four decades has probably evolved faster than any other industry, and marketing is having to shift again.
• In a 30-year career, the power has shifted from belonging solely to sales so that consumers can go around the sales team now to get information. The consumer has more power.
• Marketing evolved from creators of brand and art to integrate more deeply into operations.
• Sales will always be what closes deals, but for many years there was no communication between the two elements. Technology stepped in to connect the two and overcome the lack of alignment.
• We live in a rich technical environment now, and rev ops seeks to connect all the dots among technology.
• Customer success became part of the dialogue. Now, these programs are being innovated more than ever.
• Businesses are buying more tech to automate systems and processes and make more money, but it isn’t enough. It’s important to understand how the technology will produce more leads, generate a higher close rate, and continue with upsell and cross-sell opportunities.
• Rev ops breaks down silos and helps integrate different departments. Three different departments may have three different goals with three different objectives, and rev ops will apply a new operational framework to outline how they should be performing.
• Misalignment has a hidden cost that creates difficulties. It leaves teams working harder than they need to.

Supporting data

• Fifty percent of sales time is wasted on poor prospects and bad leads.
• Sixty-five percent of CMOs can’t measure ROI of marketing activities across multiple channels.
• Ninety-five percent of buyers buy from someone who gives them content at each stage of the buyers’ journey.
• Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50 percent more sales-ready leads at 33 percent lower cost.
• Tightly-aligned companies are achieving revenue growth 24 percent faster and 20 percent faster EBITDA profit growth.
• Misalignment between sales and marketing technologies cost B2B companies 20 percent of revenue more per year.
• Twelve percent of B2B buyers want to meet in-person with a sales rep but 71 percent start their process with unbranded research. We put all this effort into the sales rep and 12 percent are starting their decision there.
• Sometimes customers mask their value and hide from salespeople because they aren’t ready to talk to them yet. The result is poor lead quality. Rev ops will solve that problem by aligning marketing and sales.
• Rev ops is marketing, sales, and training and it must have buy-in from all departments.
• Sometimes it’s easier to hire a third-party firm to focus on the areas of current operations, enablement opportunities, future toolset, and areas where you can make more and spend less.
• Rev ops only work if there’s an internal team left behind after the third-party rev ops team departs.
• Small-to-middle businesses can also elevate their revenues, and data shows that large companies get about a 10 percent lift, and small companies can get about a 20 percent annual growth rate with the integration of rev ops.
• Smaller businesses are more agile and it’s easier to change the culture. As a result, they are better able to leverage this tool.

“The Power of Rev Ops for Small-to-Middle Business” episode resources:

• Download FitzMartin’s Cognitive Marketing Framework, which will apply to anybody’s sales pipeline.
• To connect with Sean Doyle, find him on LinkedIn, or learn more about FitzMartin on the company web page.

You can also connect with Will Riley on LinkedIn.