You can watch the whole show here: 

Or dive into the key takeaways below!

TL:DR

• Strategic hiring for your growth stage: Learn how to align your Salesforce Admin hiring strategy with your company’s current stage. Go through pros and cons of fractional/consultancy services & full-time roles
• Strategic CRM management: Which rules to follow
• Techstack: Explore the impact of tools like Sweep in streamlining Salesforce administration for efficient and effective CRM management

When should startups consider Salesforce? 

Deciding when to adopt Salesforce depends on more than just current needs or the stage of development. It’s critical to evaluate if your org is ready for such a technological shift. 

You need to have the right team in place to design and streamline processes effectively BFORE integrating any new technology, Salesforce included. This “people, processes, technology” trio  emphasizes that technology should complement well-established processes, not replace them. Without solid processes—be it in sales, quoting, or pricing—attempting to implement Salesforce can introduce more challenges than solutions. 

The second piece of it is really making sure that you don’t adopt Salesforce before willing to invest in it the way that you need to. When it comes to Salesforce, perception is reality. If you view it as just another CRM — you’ll see minimal investment go into the platform and then little more than baseline functionality come out of it. It’s a lost opportunity. It leads to lower adoption because it’s not adding enough value to the reps or the end-users, which in turn leads to decreased visibility and insights that RevOps teams can get. In that case, the overall ROI isn’t impressive. 

Companies that view Salesforce as the foundation of their GTM infrastructure can leverage it to get a 360 degree visibility into their customer lifecycle.

There’s no end to the implementation, it needs to be an iterative, incremental process and you have to be prepared as an organization to put the money and resources behind it.

If your business has key priorities like planning, processes, and aligning everything for growth, your RevOps person might not have the bandwidth to also manage Salesforce. Recognizing this gap, many startups opt for external help, either from freelancers or firms. 

Typically, by Series B, hiring a dedicated Salesforce admin becomes viable. 

Daily Salesforce tasks are tactical, centered around solving problems and supporting sales teams. It’s a hefty job. So, if your organization is mature enough to involve RevOps early, it’s wise to free up their time for broader strategic efforts.

3 Ways To Get Salesforce Support

There are three main ways to get Salesforce support, depending on your company’s growth stage. 

1. Hiring full-time staff — The most cost-effective strategy for Salesforce projects, helping to build internal expertise and shaping a long-term product roadmap.
2. Partnering with Salesforce consulting firms — Consulting firms are ideal for larger projects, offering a comprehensive team to manage everything from start to finish, especially useful for initial Salesforce implementations or major upgrades like CPQ deployment. However, this is often the priciest option.
3. Hiring freelancers or independent contractors — Freelancers or independent contractors offer a versatile middle ground. They’re great for short-term capacity boosts, filling gaps left by departing staff, or even tackling strategic projects similar to consulting firms but with a more integrated approach. They excel in specialized tasks that might be beyond your team’s current capabilities, allowing for a consultant to lay out the initial plans for complex projects, which your team can then execute.

Ideally, you’d build an in-house Salesforce team, ranging from one admin for smaller setups to larger teams with dozens of specialists for bigger companies. Your team size should match your needs, aiming for an internal group of admins, developers, architects, and product managers. 

It’s crucial to understand your workload’s consistency before investing; you wouldn’t want to hire an admin who’s busy 15% of the time.

Most companies, like Gong, HighSpot, Outreach, and PandaDoc, tend to hire their first full-time Salesforce admin around Series B. However, it’s not a one-size-fits-all situation. Clari waited longer, SalesLoft not until Series C, and Seismic even later. The timing for this hire varies, highlighting the nuanced decision-making process. Generally, the Series B stage marks a point where sales and overall growth velocity justify investing in more dedicated Salesforce support.

Moving to Salesforce around Series B means looking for your first admin, but starting small is okay. There are options like Sweep for smaller teams to easily get into Salesforce without being overwhelmed by the thought of needing a large team later. A key point many miss early on is how much more is spent on Salesforce services than on the licenses themselves.

For every dollar on a Salesforce license, how much is spent on services?

It’s more than $6 on every dollar companies are spending on Salesforce. 

Salesforce offers the chance to build a highly customizable and integrated business infrastructure with virtually no limits. The key consideration is the total cost of ownership: for every dollar spent on Salesforce licenses, additional costs are incurred for staffing and professional services to tailor the platform to specific needs. This cost can appear skewed; investing less in Salesforce initially often leads to higher expenses later due to poor setup or short-sighted customizations that require constant fixes or become quickly outdated.

Larger teams of 40-50 people are typically found in multinational corporations using multiple Salesforce products. Establishing a strong foundation, whether through consultants or full-time employees, can significantly reduce the ongoing management and support costs of Salesforce. This contrasts with the higher averages seen in the market, which result from companies treating Salesforce as an afterthought, leading to costly system habits that are hard to correct.

How do you measure the ROI of Salesforce?

When evaluating Salesforce, it’s important to consider the total cost of ownership. This includes all investments made to optimize its use, which can be surprisingly high. 

The real value of technology, like Salesforce, depends on having a strategic process in place. 

If your strategy requires customization beyond what standard tools and best practices can support, it’s worth reassessing to avoid overcomplication. Many standard solutions integrate well with Salesforce, covering a broad range of needs without necessitating excessive customization.

Buy vs. Build 

Bridging the gap between business people and technical teams is crucial to make the right decision. We should start by asking some basic questions: 

• How would I build this? 
• How long is it going to take? 
• What are the technical dependencies? 
• What’s the potential for the processes to mature beyond what we’re building and changes need to happen. 

Salesforce Over-engineered? 

There are two scenarios when Salesforce can become overengineered:

1. The initial adoption is too broad — this can easily result in excessive customization of elements that will inevitably be outgrown. 
2. Teams have an reactive approach to development — companies tend to address immediate needs as they appear, leading to an accumulation of ad hoc solutions pushed into production without a holistic vision. 

Most companies should view Salesforce as they would any product under development, including those intended for external customers. This means having a multi-year product roadmap in place. While this roadmap doesn’t need to be detailed, particularly for projections beyond twelve months, it’s crucial to have a clear sense of Salesforce’s long-term direction.

Best Practices for Salesforce Implementation

Remember to prioritize process over technology. It’s unrealistic to expect Salesforce to fix underlying issues; instead, focus on refining or re-engineering existing processes before migrating to Salesforce. 

These migrations often serve as a driver for organizations to address long-standing process inefficiencies that may have been overlooked. It’s an opportunity to reassess day-to-day operations and optimize processes before integrating new technology.

Checklist:

• It’s important to start small and iterate. Don’t implement everything at once simply because Salesforce offers extensive capabilities. 
• Begin by redesigning existing CRM functionality and incorporating new features enabled by Salesforce. Leave room for iterative enhancements as priorities, processes, and other tools evolve over time. 
• Be aware that implementing Salesforce is a cultural shift within a company. It’s not just another tool for the sales team but a fundamental change in how the organization operates. Adoption and communication are key; otherwise, you risk chasing after users to comply with processes. 
• Salesforce adoption requires a collective effort—it’s a team sport. Responsibility lies not only on the sales team but also customer success, marketing, and beyond. When everyone collaborates effectively within Salesforce, it becomes a powerful tool for the whole GTM team. 

Watch the whole show here and if you want to learn more about Sweep, a visual workspace for Salesforce, check out their website here. 

The post Salesforce Management for Startups: When and How to Start? appeared first on RevGenius.

This article serves as a follow-up read. Laura Wheeler breaks down the essentials of RevOps, exploring its definition, importance, and key distinctions from business operations. From setting priorities and collaborating with cross-functional teams to understanding the metrics that matter, this post can become your go-to guide for navigating RevOps! Dive in! 

How do you define RevOps?

Revenue Operations is an evolving role that is responsible for people, processes and technology to drive efficient revenue within an organization. Its goal is to unify and define an operational strategy from lead to customer advocacy.  

• What’s the difference between Revenue Operations and Business Operations?

Revenue Operations (RevOps): Revenue Operations is a relatively new and specialized function that focuses specifically on optimizing and aligning all revenue-related activities within an organization. This team’s primary goal is to drive revenue growth and efficiency. Key responsibilities of a RevOps team include:

• Sales Operations: Managing and optimizing sales processes, tools, and strategies to increase revenue and sales team productivity.
• Marketing Operations: Aligning marketing efforts with sales goals and ensuring that marketing campaigns generate qualified leads and contribute to revenue growth.
• Customer Success/Support Operations: Focusing on post-sale activities, such as customer onboarding, retention, support to maximize customer lifetime value.
• Data and Analytics: Collecting, analyzing, and reporting on data related to revenue, customer behavior, and sales performance to make data-driven decisions.
• Technology Stack Management: Evaluating, implementing, and maintaining the technology tools and systems necessary for revenue-related functions.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Facilitating communication and alignment between sales, marketing, and customer success teams to ensure they work cohesively to achieve revenue goals.

Business Operations (BizOps): Business Operations is a broader function that encompasses a wide range of activities aimed at improving the overall efficiency and effectiveness of an organization. While BizOps can also play a role in revenue growth, its responsibilities are more varied and may include:

• Strategy Development: Formulating and implementing strategic plans and initiatives to achieve overall business objectives.
• Financial Management: Managing budgets, financial planning, and cost optimization across the organization.
• Process Improvement: Identifying and streamlining operational processes to increase efficiency and reduce costs.
• Legal and Compliance: Ensuring the organization complies with relevant laws and regulations.
• IT and Technology Management: Managing technology infrastructure, IT support, and other technology-related aspects to support the business.
• Project Management: Coordinating and executing projects and initiatives across different departments.
• Market Research: Analyzing market trends, customer behavior, and competitive landscape to inform business decisions.

What are the key challenges for RevOps teams?

In today’s landscape, tech consolidation is one of the biggest challenges.  Tech M&A + innovations are happening quickly, so it’s difficult to stay up to date on the latest functionalities to drive efficient processes.  The second challenge is ‘change management’ — as the business evolves, communication, skills and tech change all the time, which can be difficult for the employees. Making sure that stakeholders are up to date on the latest information internally can help an organization be agile and innovate faster. 

At what stage does an organization need a RevOps team?

Revenue Operations should start to take shape and centralize when internal revenue starts to accelerate.  Once marketing, sales and CX leadership have come to the table and proved product market fit, then a revenue operations team can come in to start building a repeatable revenue motion.  

At what size do you make your first RevOps-specific hire and what should be the role? 

Most commonly, Revenue Operations starts to take shape at the $ 5-10M ARR mark within an organization.  Based on the make up of current roles within the organization, a strategic Revenue Operations hire would unify the responsibilities across the company, including systems admin, marketing operations and/or sales operations.  

RevOps/ Sales Ops/ Marketing Ops – what structure works best for which stage of a company?

The choice between RevOps, Sales Ops, or Marketing Ops depends on various factors, including the company’s size, industry, business model, and specific needs. Here’s a breakdown of each and how they may be suitable for different stages of a company’s development:

• Sales Operations (Sales Ops):
  • Role: Sales Ops focuses on optimizing the sales process, improving sales team productivity, and ensuring that sales goals are met.
  • Best for: Sales Ops is typically most relevant for companies in the early to mid-stages of growth when they are building a sales team and need to streamline their sales processes. It’s crucial for companies with a strong emphasis on direct sales.
• Marketing Operations (Marketing Ops):
  • Role: Marketing Ops focuses on streamlining marketing efforts, managing marketing technology, and ensuring marketing campaigns are efficient and effective.
  • Best for: Marketing Ops is often suitable for businesses of all sizes, particularly those heavily reliant on marketing for lead generation and customer acquisition. It can be beneficial at the early stages when building a marketing team or at any stage when the marketing effort is substantial.
• Revenue Operations (RevOps):
  • Role: RevOps is a holistic approach that combines both Sales Ops and Marketing Ops with a focus on aligning the entire revenue generation process, from marketing and sales to customer success.
  • Best for: RevOps is typically most valuable for companies in the mid to late stages of growth and those that have complex sales cycles and larger customer bases. It helps to ensure that all revenue-generating functions work together seamlessly and that customer experiences are consistent.

Here’s a breakdown of the stages where each structure may be more appropriate:

• Early-Stage Startups: In the early stages, you may begin with a focus on Sales Ops as you build and scale your sales team. As marketing efforts increase, you can gradually incorporate Marketing Ops.
• Mid-Stage Companies: Companies in this stage may benefit from both Sales Ops and Marketing Ops, working in parallel to optimize the sales and marketing processes. At this stage, considering the transition to RevOps to improve alignment between these functions can be advantageous.
• Late-Stage or Enterprise Companies: Large, established companies with complex sales cycles and a wide range of customers are more likely to benefit from RevOps, as it ensures greater alignment between all revenue-generating functions, including sales, marketing, and customer success.

How can a company transition to a RevOps model (if they’ve never had one before)?

First, start by outlining the roles and responsibilities of a desired Revenue Operations teams. More than likely you have individuals in the organization that are fractionally responsible for that role, or in the role but are disparately aligned to different departments within the organization.  Second, you will need a Head of Revenue Operations to take ownership and drive strategy.  Centralize the team and start building out roles for the gap you need to run a proper RevOps org.  Lastly, prioritize hiring based on the roles that are business-critical to fill and hire for them.  

To whom should RevOps leaders report to?

Revenue Operations works best when it’s closely connected to the level where Marketing, Sales, and Customer Experience come together. This could be under a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), Chief Operating Officer (COO), or Chief of Staff. Being close to the leader of all three revenue functions allows for cohesive strategy development, combining both top-down and bottoms-up approaches.

Does the RevOps leader control the budget?

The budget is assigned by the Finance department and overseen by either the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) or the Head of Revenue Operations. Granting each department autonomy over their profit and loss (P&L) fosters ownership and accountability for every investment made within the Revenue Organization.

How do you set priorities and a working cadence when the majority of RevOps work requires buy-in and support from other teams?

First, define how you work:

• Start by defining & evangelizing clear RevOps charter – what is our function in the business.
• DACI “Charter” may be helfpul – what are things RevOps own, collaborate, need to be informed about.
• Ensure that these align with the broader organizational goals.  
• Analyze how people work with your team 
  •  “Working Styles” exercise
  • Intake form
• Establish a cadence of regular meetings with stakeholders to discuss progress, challenges, and upcoming initiatives. 
• Document processes and decisions to ensure everyone understands the rationale behind prioritization.

Then, set clear priorities:

• Have a philosophy on ‘How you decide on the priorities’
• When do you plan priorities?
• How do you decide?  Who is involved?
• What happens if things change?
• TOPs Down/Bottoms Up
• Collaborate & Win:  With the 2 above as foundational.
• ‘Meet them where they are at’  meaning a CONSTANT communication in channels that your stakeholders use (Slack, Email, Video, Team Meetings)
• Change happens, so be clear with stakeholders

Which part of the revenue funnel needs attention first?

Typically, the middle funnel plays a crucial role in accelerating new revenue, but it’s essential to emphasize that each stage of the funnel requires consistent attention. Being aware of the significant investments and inflows at various stages enables you to channel energy efficiently, ensuring the protection of dollars while maximizing output.

How do the RevOps priorities evolve as an organization grows?

Priorities and strategy evolve as businesses mature.  Depending on what type of investments, models, product releases, personnel that is brought into an organization Revenue Operations is the conduit to help identify efficiency gaps.  By allowing Revenue Operations a seat at the table, they can help formulate and bring to life strategies the business has in HOW things will get done. 

What is the RevOps tech stack?

In a typical Revenue/GTM tech stack you will see the following:

CRM: Salesforce, Hubspot, Dynamics

Marketing Engagement Platform: Hubspot, Marketo, Qualified, Drift

Lead Generation: Sales Nav, ZoomInfo, LeadIQ

Conversation Intelligence Tool: Chorus, Gong, Wingman 

Revenue engagement platform: Outreach, Salesloft, Clari, Scratchpad, 

Data Integrity tools: LeanData, 6Sense, Clearbit

Analytics software: Tableau, Power BI, Looker

Enablement: Seismic, Highspot, Mindtickle, Brainshark, Spekit, Showpad

How to bridge the gap between C-Suite and RevOps Teams?

RevOps helps build foundational processes that lead to healthy, sustainable revenue. But C-Suite doesn’t always recognize the importance and RevOps folks are distanced from leadership decisions. How can Revops help bridge that gap?

First and foremost, having a solid Revenue Operations Charter and making sure organizational stakeholders know how Revenue Operations fits into the strategy of the company is key. Many times leaders don’t know what Revenue Operations full capabilities are, they move too quickly or forget to align properly.  By calling awareness into where you can make an impact as a Revenue Operations team helps leadership understand the value of the role.  Secondly, surfacing data & delivering insights is the best way to drive strategy and visibility cross teams. By showing that you can surface key insights into the business, you can position yourself in a way to be a partner and key stakeholder in decisions.   

How do you collaborate with cross-functional teams?

Aligning cross-functionally with teams is not easy.  It takes constant communication, transparency and trusting relationships.  Communication is key to assuring alignment.  By understanding how your key stakeholders like to be communicated with, helps ensure that information is flowing and builds Transparency. Transparency means surfacing insights and information early, at the expected frequency, and making updates accessible for anyone involved.  Lastly, people are human – so by taking time to listen and get to know your stakeholders, you can build trust and honesty when trying to tackle hard problems together.  

How should the RevOps teams get involved in annual planning?

Revenue Operations will work with Finance + Revenue leaders to model headcount, compensation plans and budgets for next year’s growth targets.  Making sure that the proper data inputs are in the model to output what the plan is for the next fiscal year is based on the data integrity from the Ops team. 

How do organize the metrics (top company ones vs. those tracked by RevOps)?

Metrics have no basement, you can always get more granular and correlative, so make sure that you fully understand what outcomes the company is trying to achieve (lagging indicators) and settle in on the leading indicators that are the correct inputs.  Metrics should be tracked weekly, monthly and quarterly.  Top company metrics are usually tracked quarterly.  Based on the (leading indicators), key stakeholders in Renveue Leadership will look at monthly metrics and usually the Revenue Operations team will monitor the weekly inputs.  By having a waterfall model, the RevOps team can raise a red flag if weekly/daily metrics are missed and track trends to indicate if a pivot is needed. 

What are the top metrics / KPIs that RevOps teams should be held accountable for?

Here are some examples of the metrics: 

• Quota worthy: GRR, NRR, New ARR, New Logo acquisition, 
• NonQuota (Bonus-worthy): CAC, GRR, NRR, New ARR,  

Sales Velocity Metrics: ASP, WinRate/Close Rate, Deal cycle length, AE efficiency (“did we model a good plan”)

How do you measure the success of RevOps initiatives?

You can measure the success of a project without a metric, though all the initiatives should be connected to a company or revenue OKR/goal and have a metric tracking improvement.  By doing this, you can drive impact and alignment to top line goals and can track before and after improvements.  At least 1-3 metrics (depending on how large the project is) should be called out in the project plan, visible to stakeholders and reported on weekly up to leadership to show value and effort of the team.  

How can RevOps influence and align with the wider organization on data and metrics?

Mapping out formulas on what data points make up each Revenue or Business metric is key.  The metrics your team is responsible for & the data integrity can be called out in your Revenue Operations charter.  This can also help you outline other metrics that you may not own and work cross-functionally with those stakeholders to ensure that you have access or visibility. By doing this, you and your team can identify the data that needs monitoring/cleaning and integrate that into your operational cadence. 

The post All You Need To Know About RevOps appeared first on RevGenius.

When executed correctly, RevOps takes a holistic approach to revenue generation. It encompasses marketing, sales, and post-sale activities such as customer success, implementation, support, and account management.

It’s a comprehensive strategy that combines all aspects of the customer journey to drive revenue. (You can check out my RevOps handbook with strategies to leverage RevOps across the funnel). As Mollie Bodensteiner explains:

“I think the word “revenue” tends to imply to business leaders that they need someone with a background in sales operations to lead their revenue operations. But it is important to remember that revenue operations is larger than revenue, it is really operationalizing the customer lifecycle to create predictability and growth throughout go-to-market. While it is important to hire for the skillset your organization needs based on their goals, it is important to not overlook a marketing operations background as you hire for a RevOps leader. This persona likely has the deepest understanding of your customer experience, tech stack and analytics architecture.” 

Unlike many RevOps leaders who grew up in SOPS, I got my start in RevOps from the marketing side of the house. I ran Marketing Operations (MOPS) at Upwork, Box and Culture Amp (and added the other pieces along the journey)

So TLDR:  MOPS is a great background for your RevOps leader, but in a few cases you’ll still want to go with a SOPS background.

• MOPS has broader experience with data (which is rewiring GTM), a more complex systems stack and a deeper understanding of the entire funnel
• SOPS understands how to drive employee behavior through systems and compensation
• If you are focused on SMB/Mid or have a PLG motion, MOPS is likely best.  If you have large enterprise deals, start with SOPS.
• BUT above all else, prioritize the right mentality over background.  

The Power of a MOPS Background for Your RevOps Leader

Marketing operations leads systems and data strategy across the entire lifecycle of the customer. With a strategic approach and data-driven mindset, MOPS leaders bring numerous benefits to your team.

Top of Funnel Experience

Leads are the driving force behind your sales funnel. MOPS know how to maximize conversion throughout the funnel and evaluate return on investment (ROI) for each lever.

“Marketing Ops is better equipped to manage the data and tools that will drive ToFu leads MoFu engagement, and BoFu “self-serve sales”. Plus, the speed at which AI is replacing sales functions, sales teams will see significant HC reductions.”   Matthew Fleming, CEO @ Speed Sync

A Holistic View of the Customer Lifecycle

Marketing isn’t just about attracting TOFU leads. MOPS leaders excel at accelerating pipeline growth, retaining and expanding existing customers, and turning customers into brand advocates.

Marketing Operations is more focused on what’s occurring down-funnel after handoff compared to how much Sales Ops spends time up-funnel.  Max Maeder, CEO @ FoundHQ

Collaboration Across Functions

MOPS professionals work closely with sales teams on lead conversion, customer success and account management on marketing efforts, and finance teams on forecasting and ROI. Their cross-functional relationships ensure seamless coordination.

“Marketing Operations is usually involved through the lifecycle of a customer where sales and CS have clear lanes or touch points.”  Justin Shine

Understanding the Full GTM Stack

While sales operations may be confined to the CRM, MOPS leaders understand the sophisticated marketing stack. They know how to optimize leads and campaigns as they flow through the CRM, giving them a distinct advantage.

It’s more likely that a MOPS lead has CRM knowledge than a SOPS lead has Marketing Automation knowledge.   Ahin Thomas, VP of Revenue Operations @ League Apps

Data Fluency

MOPS leaders have a history of leveraging complex data analysis for marketing insights. As data warehouses and analytics become increasingly crucial across the GTM spectrum, their expertise becomes even more valuable.

“After doing both sales ops and marketing ops I can truly say the marketing ops side is much more important.  Especially with the construction of customer data platforms, you need someone here who understands how to collect information (and drive insights).”  Jesse Oullette, Founder @ Lead Magic

MOPS are systems thinkers, architects, data nerds, and the best plate spinners.  MOPS has learned SalesOps so they can be prepared to respond to any concerns or blockers. MOPs is much more prepared to handle SalesOps than SalesOps is to handle Marketing Ops.

The Counter Argument for a SOPS Background

Obviously, when it comes to choosing the right leader for your go-to-market (GTM) strategy, considering their SOPS experience can be crucial. However, it’s important to determine which type of leader will best fit your specific needs

For SMB/Mid-market deals, prioritizing data and efficiency makes MOPS the ideal choice for your RevOps leader. On the other hand, if your GTM motion revolves around high-value enterprise deals, starting with a Sales Operations background is likely the way to go.

“A MOPs leaning RevOps leader will likely struggle in an enterprise sale where sales cycles are long, sales methodology, comp plans, and sales pipeline management are keys to success. But they will likely flourish and be the best option in a PLG / SMB sale where AI, data management, and growth hacking are keys to success.”  Christopher Turley  VP, Marketing Technology & Analytics @ Bill.com

Some key skills that SOPS brings to the table include:

• Performance-Driven Compensation: SOPS has deep experience creating comp plans to drive the right behavior and aligning hiring plans to growth
• Sales Win Rates: SOPS professionals collaborate closely with sales leaders and enablement teams to analyze wins and losses, identifying areas for improvement and optimizing team performance. 
• Channel:  SOPS leaders often have a deeper understanding of channel partner alignment, streamlining processes and driving better outcomes 
• Revenue Recognition: SOPS specialists are adept at structuring deals, ensuring accurate quoting, and aligning them seamlessly with financial processes.  
• Retention:  Typically, individuals with a SOPS background have experience in implementation, renewals, and expansion, making them invaluable when it comes to maximizing customer retention. 

Regardless of your growth plans, choosing a RevOps leader who can build a team that can amplify your entire GTM motion is crucial . You will want someone who understands the entire customer journey, not just one part of it. Above all though, focus on hiring a leader based on mindset rather than background.  My RevOps handbook talks about it in more detail. 

“It’s the person. But if it’s not and I just have to force myself to answer this I say it’s marketing ops.”   Jesse Oullette, Founder @ Lead Magic

Leading a cross-functional RevOps team requires more than just technical proficiency in data and systems.  It takes leadership and an ability to build a team.

The post Why Marketing Ops Makes the Best RevOps Leaders appeared first on RevGenius.

Too often and for too long, businesses have thrown the full weight of their attention and resources behind the left side of the funnel (i.e. sales and marketing).  Marketing comes up with a bright, shiny object to attract the customer, sales polishes it up and makes it pretty enough to sell, and then, well, that’s often the end.  Businesses will track leads, deals, and accounts through the marketing and sales portion of the funnel, but what they have not traditionally done is continue this type of tracking through the customer success side (right side) of the funnel.  And that’s a shame.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that getting as many customers as possible is the key to long-term success.  Neglecting customer success can lead to a significant impact on revenue, which is why RevOps and Customer Success are crucial for the health of any business.

How Customer Success Creates a Customer-Centric RevOps Approach

The customer journey is a complex process.  However, businesses can get around this by adopting a customer-centric RevOps approach which revolves around enhancing the customer experience.  It’s worth noting that most businesses feel they already do a good job of this, while their customers may disagree.  According to a survey by Acquia, while 87% of marketers say they are delivering engaging customer experiences, two-thirds of customers could not recall when a brand exceeded expectations.

What Does a Customer-Centric Approach Look Like?

When a business places the customer at the center of what they do, they tailor their operations to improve customer experience by understanding and addressing their pain points, leading to a more personalized experience for each customer and increased satisfaction and loyalty.  The benefits flow both ways though, as the business itself will also benefit from this customer-centric RevOps approach as a focus on the customer’s experience can help identify areas where a business can improve their products or services, leading to increased sales and revenue.

Customer success should not be an island, though.  Here’s how good customer success teams work in a cross-functional manner:

• Collaboration:  By working closely with sales and marketing, CS teams can help  ensure a unified customer experience throughout the customer lifecycle, from the initial contact through to onboarding and beyond.
• Insights: CS teams can share valuable customer feedback to drive product enhancements, marketing campaigns, and sales strategies, all aimed at optimizing revenue generation.
• Analysis:  CS teams review customer data to identify trends, opportunities, and pain points.

Customer Onboarding:  A Real Life Instruction Manual

Most people are unaware of the amazing things their iPhone can do.  Why?  Because there’s no training or onboarding for it.  Sure, they could watch hours of tutorials on YouTube, but most people won’t.  However, the Apple powers that be probably aren’t going to lose much sleep over this because their product is so awesome that a person can only utilize about 5% of its capabilities and still be supremely satisfied.  Chances are, your product is not as good as an iPhone though, and that’s why customer onboarding is so crucial.   

Effective customer onboarding helps customers become more engaged with your product or service, which can enhance their experience, provide them with the resources they need to succeed, and lead to loyalty and retention. Customers have become more aware of the positive effects of onboarding as a recent survey by HubSpot notes that 88% of survey respondents agree that customers have higher expectations than they did in previous years.  Here are a few ways to create a successful customer onboarding process:

• Keep it Simple:  It should be very easy for your customers to understand what they can expect from your business.  Make this happen by having a clear and concise message about what your product or service does. 
• Be Informative:  Provide your customers with an easy to use, step-by-step guide on how to use your product or service. This could take the form of videos, tutorials, or a live chat feature to answer any questions they may have.  The key is to reduce time-to-value.
• Great Service:  Make sure your customers have a way to contact you if they have any issues or concerns.  The easiest way to make customers feel valued is to respond to inquiries in a timely manner.
• Make it Fun:  Offer incentives for customers who complete the entire onboarding process, such as discounts, free trials, or exclusive access to certain features.

The ultimate goal, or true north, for a product should be adoption.  Amazing features are meaningless if the product is not being widely utilized by those who purchased it.  Customer onboarding is critical here as a well-designed onboarding process ensures a smooth transition, reducing confusion and frustration, ultimately accelerating adoption.  Here’s how:

• Understanding Value: Onboarding provides an opportunity to clearly communicate the value of the product and how it addresses the customer’s pain points. By understanding the value, customers are more likely to embrace and fully utilize the product.
• Building Confidence:  Customer onboarding offers training, tutorials, and educational materials to enhance their competence and confidence in using the product’s features. When customers feel comfortable, they are more likely to adopt the product and incorporate it into their workflows.
• Maximizing Customer Lifetime Value:  Customers who have a positive onboarding experience are more likely to continue using the product over the long term, maximizing their lifetime value to the business. They may also become advocates, or evangelists, sharing their positive experiences and influencing others to adopt the product.

If not already in place, implement the following:

Develop a Comprehensive Onboarding Program

• Create an onboarding playbook with clear steps and timelines.
• Assign dedicated onboarding specialists to provide personalized support.

Establish Ongoing Communication Channels

• To address challenges and provide guidance, schedule regular check-ins.
• Provide ongoing training and resources to help ensure optimal product usage.

Retention Strategies:  How to Hold on to What You Have

Retaining customers should be a top priority for any business, and here’s why: acquiring new customers is often more expensive than retaining existing ones.  Now, here’s how to do it:

• Make it Personal:  Personalization can be achieved through various means, such as email marketing campaigns that target specific customer segments, or by providing tailored recommendations based on their purchase history or browsing behavior. If you make customers feel understood and valued, they are more likely to remain loyal to your brand.  
• Exceptional Service:  Customers who feel heard and understood are more likely to stick with a brand, even if they encounter issues with their purchases. When a business is able to consistently offer quick solutions to problems, they create a positive customer experience that will encourage repeat purchases.  
• Provide Exclusive Content:  Customers want to feel special, and businesses should do everything they can to make it happen.  By giving customers educational resources, behind-the-scenes access, or early access to new products, businesses can create a sense of exclusivity and loyalty among their customers.  In fact, according to Accenture, 91% of consumers are more likely to shop with brands who provide relevant offers and recommendations.
• Be Proactive:  Customer success teams should monitor customer health, identify at-risk accounts, and intervene to resolve any issues or challenges before they escalate.

Customer success is at its best when it’s not complicated.  Retaining customers is really just an exercise in active monitoring and problem solving.  For example, if a customer success team notices a decline in product usage by a long-term customer, they should reach out, identify the problem, and provide personalized assistance to re-engage them.  A simple action like this could save a customer from churning and prevent the company from losing (potentially) hundreds of thousands of dollars over that customer’s lifetime.

If not already in place, implement the following:

Proactive Relationship Management

• Consistently communicate with customers to help in understanding their needs and challenges.
• When a customer has a concern, offer personalized solutions and proactive support.

Customer Success Programs

• Develop customer success programs that provide ongoing value and engagement.
• To foster loyalty and long-term commitment, offer exclusive benefits, such as training, webinars, or loyalty rewards.

Upselling and Cross-Selling: Extend the Sale

For businesses to maximize revenue, they need to take advantage of every opportunity to increase their customer’s lifetime value. Hello, upselling and cross-selling!  Whether it’s encouraging customers to upgrade their current products or services to a higher-end version (upselling), or offering complementary products or services that enhance the customer’s experience (cross-selling), anytime you can help customers recognize the full potential of the product or service they’re already using and increase their level of satisfaction, it’s a win-win for both company and customer. 

To avoid coming off as too “sales-y” or pressuring, companies should approach these additional sales from the perspective of offering the customer value and aligning customer needs and goals with relevant offerings.

Why is Upselling so Important?

Beyond generating additional revenue, upselling can give businesses a competitive advantage by providing customers with additional options and demonstrating expertise in understanding their needs.  This allows a company to differentiate themselves from competitors and stand out in the marketplace.

Also, the upselling process can provide valuable insights into customer preferences, buying patterns, and behavior.  This information can then be used by businesses to inform decisions about product development, marketing strategies, and customer segmentation.

Why is Cross-Selling so Important?

When the average dollar amount of sales is low, it becomes difficult for businesses to increase their revenue and profitability, but cross-selling increases average order value and also is key to expanding customer reach.  When customers are introduced to a wider range of offerings within a business’s portfolio, this can expose them to products or services they may not have considered initially, expanding their perception of the brand and its offerings.

If not already in place, implement the following:

Personalized Recommendations

• Utilize data and customer insights to identify relevant upsell and cross-sell opportunities.
• Tailor recommendations based on customer preferences and needs to increase the likelihood of conversion.

Strategic Communication and Education

• Proactively communicate the value and benefits of upsell and cross-sell options to customers.
• Provide educational resources and demonstrations to showcase how these additional offerings enhance their existing experience.

Key Takeaways

• Doing RevOps well and maximizing revenue growth is a team effort.  Customer success plays a vital role on the team by focusing on maximizing customer value throughout their journey.
• A customer-centric RevOps approach prioritizes the needs of the customer, delivers on personalization, and drives long-term value for both the customer and the business.
• Good customer onboarding sets clear expectations and establishes a strong foundation for long-term product adoption and success.
• Retention strategies are crucial for reducing churn, fostering customer loyalty, and driving revenue growth.
• Effective upselling and cross-selling are vital to increasing customer value and driving revenue growth.

The post If You’re Neglecting Customer Success and RevOps, You’re Doing It Wrong appeared first on RevGenius.

Immersa’s vision is to democratize the use of data intelligence for all users in the business. To better understand how employees consume data intelligence, we turned to users considered some of the most voracious consumers of data – sales teams at B2B companies.

We started by asking sales executives how they can access the data they need to run their business. While several sales executives explained that they depend on teams across the company – data analysts, data engineers, business intelligence teams – nearly every sales leader called out their Revenue Operations (Revops) team as the most dependable source of data intelligence.

To learn more about the role of the RevOps team we interviewed over 50 sales executives, sales professionals, and revenue operations specialists at companies that are engaged in business-facing sales. We started by asking what do sales reps need from their revenue operations team. We then asked the revenue operations teams how they spend their time in various functional areas, supporting their sales team and the company leadership with their data needs. We also identified the frequently desired use cases that Revops must enable for their sales teams.

The difference between expectations of sales leaders from the revenue operations team and where the RevOps team invested their time was illuminating. Here is what we learned.

What is Revenue Operations?

Simply put, revenue operations make the revenue producing teams more efficient and create a system for selling. Revops is a broad and data-heavy role that provides accurate forecasting, accelerates growth, improves cross-departmental alignment, and enables sales teams to scale efficiently.

While most leadership teams expect revenue operations to provide them with sales forecasts, customer data for quarterly business reviews, or data to support quarterly and annual performance and planning cycles. It seldom recognizes that revenue operations teams are on the hook for a lot more.

Image Credit: Mikael Blomkvist provided by Pexels
Traditionally, this role has been conducted by different teams across sales operations, customer service ops, finance ops or marketing ops. However, as companies move towards providing a more integrated experience across all customer touch points, revenue operations is rapidly evolving to represent operations capabilities across sales, service, marketing and finance as an integrated function.

In fact, the rapid growth of communities like RevGenius and AdaptivOps in bringing together like minded operations professionals exemplifies this accelerating trend.

What do Sales Reps need from Revenue Operations?

Sales reps and revenue operations teams both have the same goal – to increase revenue for the company. However, expectations between sales teams and revops on how they bring in revenue goals differ.

Image Credit: RODNAE Productions provided by Pexels

We found that what sales reps want most from their sales operations team is to provide them with more qualified leads. This, of course, is a no-brainer! However, in a further discussion, we also learned that sales teams also need the following from their revops team:

• Define the Ideal Account Profile: One of the critical reasons sales teams fail to meet their targets is that their sales efforts are targeted at a customer that their product is not designed for. Defining the ideal account profile is no trivial task. It requires gathering information from various internal and external data sources about your accounts, determining which of these data points are relevant to identify target accounts, and experimenting with account segmentation strategies to map the right value proposition, product, and pricing to these accounts segments.
• Map Customers’ Role to Your Target Persona. The process of selling to businesses usually requires a group of users, budget owners, and decision-makers to align around a standard solution. Understanding the role and objective of each person in the decision process, having ‘access to power,’ and leveraging the right resources and relationships at the right time in the sales process are critical to the success of closing any B2B deal.
• Qualify Customers Based on Their Requirements: Customer needs differ significantly from one to another. Often, customers struggle to articulate their business requirements clearly. The ability to ask meaningful qualifying questions, understand customers’ value points, and design a solution at a price point that meets their needs is as much art as it is science. The process is just as often informed by experience as it is by data. Art and science meet in the revenue operations process by distilling these requirements to create a repeatable sales process where art and science meet the revenue operations process.
• Position and Differentiate Products and Services: At most B2B selling organizations, product marketing or product management teams spend significant time positioning and competitively differentiate their products compared to others in the market. However, this content must be packaged and delivered as enablement programs by operations teams to briefly provide the sales reps the information they need to be successful.

In most cases, the content for supporting sales reps with these issues sits in different teams – product marketing, pricing, competitive intelligence, to name a few. However, revenue operations play a critical role in bringing all of this information together and organizing it in a way that allows sales reps to access and consume this content when they need it.

While it may not be as apparent to a sales team, a well-structured and robust enablement program does improve the sales rep’s productivity. This level of support leads to increased conversion rates and greater upsells.

9 Essential Functions of Revenue Operations

Now that we understand what sales teams need from their operations team, let’s look at how they spend their time and resources.

• Data Management and Analytics: Revenue Operations is a data-driven function at its core. Data is the foundation of many of its functions, whether that be strategic or tactical. The Revops team collaborates with data analysts, BI teams, and IT organizations to integrate and access the correct data. Through analytics, revenue operations can shape successful sales strategies and turn sales and customer data insights into action. These actionable, quantifiable insights drive growth and increase sales rep productivity.
• Develop Sales Strategy: Sales strategy outlines how the business is going to sell the product or service. Sales operations collaborate with leadership, finance, product, and marketing teams to create a sales strategy and a set target revenue that is ambitious but still attainable. The sales forecasting, territory structuring, compensation planning, processes optimization, technology implementation, and reporting carried out by RevOps directly shapes and executes the organization’s overall strategy.
• Sales Forecasting: This is both a science and an art. It requires both descriptive and predictive analytics. Descriptive analytics gives insight into historical trends but falls short of providing the bigger picture. It is critical to examine why there was or lack of growth and how those factors may change moving forward. Accurate sales forecasting is essential as it affects the entire business. It impacts the budget, hiring, and production planning. Without it, there is a risk of a supply-demand imbalance which can be incredibly costly to a business.
• Structure Sales Territories: Sales territory planning and management optimize sales resources geographically to improve sales efficiency and sales performance. A substantial territory strategy increased sales, improved customer coverage, and reduced costs. It is critical to get it right early, as frequent changes can hinder productivity and hurt relationships.

Sales territory planning involves:

• Defining the market
• Assessing account quality
• Assessing territory quality
• Assessing sales reps to establish territory alignment

• Define Compensation Plans: Compensation plans are strategically designed to drive the right sales and behavior of sales reps in alignment with sales objectives. Sales compensation plans are one of the most significant financial investments of the organization, so they merit thoughtful construction. It’s critical to strike the right balance of incentives, and plans must be easy to understand. Each compensation plan needs to be tailored to each unique role and set of responsibilities. Revenue operations typically collaborate with finance and business teams to define compensation plans that account for budget constraints, business goals and incent the proper behavior among sales teams.
• Sales Process Optimization: Optimizing the sales process is a continuous effort to identify what is going well and correct what is not. Sales operations identify trends, bottlenecks, and inefficiencies to improve the hit rate and build and maintain a healthy sales pipeline. Sales process optimization involves pinpointing leaks and blockages in the pipeline; automating as much as possible; identifying opportunities to reduce churn rate; aligning sales and marketing goals; looking for ways to shorten the sales cycle; prioritizing the highest-earning sales opportunities; improving communications; upgrading technologies; monitoring essential metrics and KPIs.
• Technology Adoption and Implementation: Since sales teams are primarily responsible for driving revenue, new sales productivity tools pop up frequently to support them. Recent advancements in data warehousing, analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, natural language processing have led to an explosion in the tools available for sales reps to improve productivity and close rates. Revenue operations keep track of new sales technology and vets tools to identify which align with the organization’s needs and increase sales productivity. Once revenue operations have deemed a new technology is worth adopting, they are responsible for training the sales team on how to use it and ensuring the team is using it effectively.
• Reporting: Revenue operations is responsible for reporting on sales metrics across the organization. They create dashboards, metrics, and quarterly business reviews (QBRs) to provide updates and guide decision-making. Reports can be high-level or highly detailed, depending on the need. They are heavily used to form a sales strategy and assess whether the team is hitting established benchmarks and other KPIs.
• Lead Generation and Management: Revenue operations generate and manage sales leads so salespeople can focus on what they do best: sell! They ensure strong alignment between sales and marketing and ensure that the leads generated by the marketing team effectively routes to the correct sales team and rep. This may involve working with product marketing to establish clear value propositions and buyer personas. Leads must not only be routed effectively but also actioned quickly. The longer a lead ages, the less likely it is to close. Focusing on providing sales reps with quality leads versus quantity improves the chances of closing deals. Developing a strong sales strategy and accurate and actionable data results in quality lead generation.

The Untapped Potential of Revenue Operations at B2B SaaS Companies

Revenue operations teams may wear multiple hats to collaborate with several teams to ensure the correct information is available to their sales teams. However, at their heart, revenue operations teams are data gurus focused on driving growth. Data management and analytics are at the core of all functions that they support. We learned from our interviews that they spend a significant portion of their time building dashboards for forecasting meetings, management reviews, and quarterly business reviews (QBRs). These dashboards, metrics, and insights are tailored to the needs of executives and are rarely available to everyone on the sales team.

Image Credit: Karolina Grabowska provided by Pexels

There is a significant opportunity for revenue operations teams to provide live insights to sales reps that accelerate deal close and, at the same time, provide better service to customers. How can sales operations use data intelligence to improve the effectiveness of everyone on the sales team and not just the privileged few? There is an effective service to customers. By providing actionable insights to all users, revenue operations can increase rep productivity leading to higher conversion rates and greater upselling.

There is a Better Way

We learned that there is a huge opportunity to change the game and provide operations teams with tools to use data intelligence that drive growth for their business. BI tools go only so far in providing data intelligence for planning purposes. Immersa takes it a step further – providing data intelligence to every user to drive actions.

We’d love to talk to you about how Immersa can help accelerate your SaaS revenue!

The post The Essential Guide to How Revenue Operations Empowers a B2B Business appeared first on RevGenius.

Pair compensation with the emerging SaaS darling that is Customer Success and headlines like “CS Careers and Compensation Skyrocket in 2021”, one can quickly start to feel the pressure. But how do you start to build your first CSM compensation plan or what should you think about when you need to redevelop an existing plan?

I’m going to share what questions revenue leaders should ask themselves as they’re designing a fit for purpose plan based on monetary payouts ($$$ and not “total compensation” in the form of benefits and potential equity). I also won’t go into what’s market rate compensation for Customer Success Managers and how to determine it. There are many other sources for that like here, here, here and more here.

The three questions you should ask yourself:

• Are CSMs responsible for revenue?
• What behaviors am I trying to reward or incentivize?
• What issues am I trying to mitigate?

Going through these questions will give you a head start in designing a great compensation structure. When you answer these questions, you’ll be able to find clarity and can then fill in the details of the main components of your future structure.

So let’s get started with the first question you should ask yourself.

Are our CSMs Responsible for Revenue?

You’ll want to start with a solid understanding of the role and responsibilities of the CSM. The role of the CSM is still very highly varied across tech. The most important role distinction for compensation is whether CSMs own revenue.

This important question is a much debated topic. But I’m not here to debate you on this. That can be a topic for another day. Either way, you should have a point-of-view and an aligned organizational structure that fits that POV. Why?

Revenue ownership impacts how to structure the variable component and whether to make it MBO, bonus or commission based. If the answer is no revenue ownership, then an MBO or bonus structure would be the default choice. In choosing to pick between both of those options, I’d steer revenue leaders away from MBOs – they are less objective and can sometimes be harder to tie back to outcomes that directly impact the business. A deep understanding of what the CSMs role and responsibilities are, can help clarify whether to focus on MBO or bonus.

If the answer is yes, that CSMs do own revenue, you should steer towards a bonus or commission-based structure. You’ll also want to clarify which type of revenue they own – renewal revenue, expansion and upsell revenue or both.

This further clarification can help you make a call on how to split focus on renewals vs new revenue. And how you split renewal vs new upsell or expansion revenue really depends on the company’s maturity and focus.

Generally, CSMs without revenue responsibility have an 80 / 20 split for base vs variable. Some teams go as high as 70 / 30. But once you start to move base as a smaller percentage, you get into sales-led roles like Account Management.

Designing compensation is all about rewarding and incentivizing performance so you should be clear on the behaviors and outcomes you want to drive.

What behaviors am I trying to reward and incentivize?

The difference between a reward and an incentive is a small but important one. A reward is something that is given to an employee. In terms of compensation, it’s money given for performance achieved. Whereas an incentive is a motivating factor. The idea of a reward can be a motivating factor within itself, so the lines do blur a bit here. Either way, rewards and incentives are interesting considerations when designing compensation.

For my team, I wanted to reward CSMs on gross revenue retention. I don’t think CSMs should own the closing out of a renewal, but I do believe that the work they do, day in and day out, makes our renewals easier to achieve. They are responsible, although not fully accountable, and hence the reward is in the form of their bonus. Another reason why I chose a revenue retention goal is to tie CSM compensation to a measurable and impactful company goal. I could have based it on other metrics like our customer NPS or time to launch, but revenue retention is the ultimate business outcome.

As for behaviors that I want to incentivize, this was tied to the “upside” of the great work a CSM can do, which translates to expansion revenue.

I wanted to incentivize CSMs to look for and assist with new dollar revenue on their accounts through expansion. I don’t want to turn them into sellers, however, so this incentive is not a part of their bonus, but instead, sits on top of it, like extra frosting on top of an already delicious cake. This incentive is structured as a commission for every dollar expanded on their accounts.

Since compensation structures can drive behaviors, rewards and incentives, they can and should also be designed to mitigate certain issues.

The final question you’ll want to ask yourself is – what potential issues am I trying to mitigate?

We’d been evolving our CSM compensation plan and a few issues emerged that I wanted to design for. One issue was that since CSMs weren’t responsible for the renewal, they started to feel distanced from the actual outcome. Of course our CSMs felt bad when a customer churned. That’s months and oftentimes years of hard work and effort that essentially gets wiped away. It’s also the loss of a business and personal relationship.

So yes, CSMs “feel the churn” but they were distanced from the impact as they had little skin in the game in terms of compensation. So I designed the compensation plan to have CSMs have more in it. I wanted a better way to tie pay and performance so I tied bonus to revenue retention with a sliding scale to determine their payout. For 90% revenue retention they get paid out 100%. Below 90% and there’s a sliding scale of 0-100%. If we get 90-100% rev retention the payout is 100-120%.

Now CSMs still focus on the customer’s outcomes but they will also have to focus on our company’s financial outcome as well.

The other issue that I wanted to proactively address was the issue of big expansions on a CSM’s account. We commission our sellers on every dollar in ARR that they sell, and that includes on existing accounts. Often those large expansions happen in part to the CSM successfully showing value and building a bigger vision with our customer. In our old compensation structure if a seller expanded a $50k deal, the seller got their commission and the CSM got a pat on the back. Now we commission CSMs on every dollar expanded or upsold as well.

Bringing it all together

These three questions are important in helping you design a great compensation structure and plan.

• Are CSMs responsible for revenue?
• What behaviors am I trying to reward or incentivize?
• What issues am I trying to mitigate?

Once these questions are answered you can now start to fill in the details and build out the main components of the CSM compensation plan.

To simplify, there’s a list of the components that matter most:

• Base Structure: Options here are Base Salary only vs Base Salary + Variable
• If you choose Base + Variable, The Split: Options here are generally in the range of 70 / 40 to 90 / 10 with a median of 80 / 20
• Variable Structure: Lots of options here from MBO (management by objectives), bonus to commissions; and schedules tied to determining dollar payouts
• Additional Incentives: Lots of short term, longer term and cross team incentives to drive specific behaviors and outcomes
• Frequency: Tied to fiscal quarters or some other time frame (monthly, half year, etc)

You could just jump in head first and start to put details to each of these bullets, but that would be less strategic and comprehensive. Instead, use the 3 questions to thoughtfully craft a compensation plan that accounts for the organization you’ve designed and to encourage the behaviors and outcomes you want your CSMs to exhibit.

The post 3 questions for CSM (Customer Success) compensation structure appeared first on RevGenius.

There are a lot of SaaS companies out there, but only a few truly understand how to market their products and services.

You’ve probably seen this before: A company has an amazing product, but they never seem to get the word out about it.

Why is that?

They don’t use the right marketing strategies or they use the outdated ones from years ago. This results in low conversions and ultimately leads to failure for these businesses.

If you don’t want to be one of those companies, you are in the right place.

In this article we’ll cover 10 strategies that can help improve your conversions and grow your business as a result!

Without further ado let’s get right into it.

What is SaaS Marketing: The definition

SaaS marketing is the process of marketing and promoting SaaS companies, and their services.

Technically, SaaS marketing is a type of B2B marketing (assuming most if not all SaaS marketing is directed at businesses rather than consumers), and it can include content marketing, email marketing, search marketing, and social media marketing, to mention a few.

In this guide, we’ll go over the ins and outs of each of these tactics, but first, let’s look at what distinguishes SaaS marketing from other types of marketing.

The difference between SaaS Marketing and other B2B tactics

Though SaaS marketing has a lot in common with other B2B marketing tactics, it has three key differences:

• Short sales cycle
• Lifetime customer
• Selling a service, not a product

Short sales cycle

The average sales cycle for SaaS companies is much shorter than for other B2B companies.

This is largely because SaaS pricing models are often fairly affordable due to their monthly fee.

This often allows buyers to make purchasing decisions without having to consult with upper management, as is the case with bigger capital expenditures.

Lifetime Customers

At least that’s the goal. After the initial fulfillment, your clients may decide that your software is no longer necessary for their business goals. In general, however, once they’re on board, you’ll want to retain them as long as possible.

Keep in mind that you’re not trying to push a one-time purchase, you’re trying to start a long-term relationship. This is very important for SaaS marketers, because establishing trust early on in the marketing and sales process is critical.

You’re Selling A Service, Not A Product

This may be a difficult concept to grasp because software appears to be a product on the surface. But there’s a reason we call it SaaS (Software as a Service) and not SaaS.

The main distinction is in the method of implementation.

Purchasing Photoshop as a product would be an example of software marketed as a product. You make the payment, download the installers, and complete the setup. There isn’t much in the way of service here. Unless something breaks. And even then, good luck getting in touch with support.

SaaS, on the other hand, handles the implementation, installation, customization, and migration from previous platforms. Furthermore, because clients pay on a monthly basis, a higher level of after-sales service is expected.

This is something that SaaS marketers should keep in mind because it has an impact on the messaging they send out. In particular, rather than focusing on the software program, it becomes more about the company, its reputation, its happy clients, and its level of support.

Obviously, the product is important. That software platform is what gets the work done and solves your clients’ problems, but the support and service element is crucial to guaranteeing their happiness..

Saas Marketing Strategies

In today’s crowded market, attempting to market SaaS platforms as a standard B2B solution will almost certainly fail.

Given the rising number of SaaS competitors, most SaaS platforms are so preoccupied with lead generation that they often rely on features and price to close sales. This is where you can fine-tune your SaaS marketing strategies to reduce customer churn, optimize pricing, and grow your SaaS business.

The more your sales-ready messaging focuses on your target customer’s future state and how your SaaS platform solves for those challenges, the more likely your brand will stand out and convert a website visitor into a free trial user on your SaaS platform (at the very least).

Traditional SaaS marketing methods aren’t working anymore. New strategies are needed to match the level of innovation in these new services.

While some SaaS growth hacking strategies may derive from more traditional marketing strategies, the overall strategy needs to be reconsidered, given how different SaaS marketing is.

Let’s take a look at the top 10 SaaS B2B strategies to improve conversion:

1. Content Marketing

SaaS companies are in a unique position to use content marketing as the main growth strategy. Customers that are already looking for a solution to their problem on the web are most likely to adopt a new SaaS platform.

They often concentrate on features rather than outcomes.

Today’s SaaS marketing is different, and strategic SaaS marketers create and distribute relevant content to answer the most common questions that potential customers have.

Unfortunately, it isn’t as easy as writing a few blog posts.

To stand out in the crowded SaaS content marketing industry, you must consistently produce high-quality, persona-driven content that is not only keyword optimized but also provides value to your potential SaaS customers, allowing them to sell your SaaS platform to their boss.

This shouldn’t be an issue for SaaS businesses, yet it is very often. Your SaaS platform is ideally positioned to write as a thought leader on the topic if you’ve put enough effort into generating persona-driven content that speaks to key pain points.

Since you’ve analyzed their pain areas and produced a solution that helps them solve their specific problem, you should already know what questions ideal consumers are asking.

Conversion rates, acquisition costs, and associated SaaS customer onboarding processes should all be considered when developing a SaaS marketing strategy.

How do you keep the communication going and draw leads deeper into your sales funnel without bothering them with cookie-cutter marketing automation emails when someone discovers you as a source of information and a solution to their problem? Do you personalize sales-ready messaging for specific industries or personas?

One option is to use persona-driven content offers to give away some of your more valuable content in exchange for contact information.

High-growth SaaS businesses have made it normal to offer free infographics, eBooks, videos, white papers, and other resources in exchange for an email address as part of any efficient SaaS marketing strategy.

This allows you to transform a potential consumer into a marketing qualified lead in your sales funnel.

2. Free SaaS Trials

One of the most effective SaaS marketing methods for client acquisition is to offer free trials to entice customers to sign up and start using your service.

If you want people to use your service and see the value you have to offer, this is a great way to get them to take the first step.

When it comes to using free trials, SaaS companies are in a unique position, as new customers can help move the needle in terms of recurring revenue.

Allowing a potential buyer to try out your product often comes at little or no cost, depending on the product you’re offering.

This is a chance to showcase the quality of not only your product but also your customer service and support. Conversions to paid SaaS subscriptions may happen without additional effort if the product is a good fit.

After the trial period ends, you can reach out to consumers to get useful insights about their likes and dislikes since they’ve tested your SaaS platform and looked beneath the hood. This feedback is invaluable to your product team, as well as your sales and marketing departments.

However, if you use this SaaS marketing strategy, make sure you provide a long enough free trial for people to see the value of your product.

3. Pay Attention to SEO

When it comes to SaaS marketing, SEO (search engine optimization) is very important, especially if you rely on inbound marketing strategies.

There are three main components of SaaS SEO:

1. Technical SEO
2. On-page SEO
3. Off-page SEO

Technical SEO is all about how your website is set up, how it functions, and how it influences the user experience. Broken links and slow page load times, for example, might have a negative impact on your technical SEO.

Your content marketing approach should include both on-page and off-page SEO. All of the material on your website, including blog articles and landing page content, is referred to as on-page SEO.

Building links from other websites to yours is what off-page SEO is all about. Writing guest posts on other websites or appearing in a listicle that mentions your business are two common ways to accomplish this.

It’s critical to recognize that while SEO can help you attract leads into your sales funnel, it can’t help you turn those leads into customers.

From that perspective, the ideal long-term goal of SEO is to improve your search rankings so that you don’t have to pay ads for those exact search phrases.

The first thing to do is to understand your primary audience and conduct keyword research, followed by a review of all of your content and meta-data in order to boost your ranking. Also, don’t overlook the importance of backlinks in terms of search engine ranking.

Investigate ways to boost your domain authority by generating high-quality links and referrals.

Rather than making assumptions, rely extensively on A/B testing to gain information and visibility that will help you make data-driven decisions in support of your overall content marketing strategy.

4. Refine PPC Campaigns

Do you know what your Google ad quality score is? If you don’t, this could end up costing you a lot of money.

Consider a PPC campaign if your content marketing strategy and SEO rankings aren’t generating enough organic search traffic and leads.

Make sure you’re utilizing the proper keywords, long-tail keywords, and variations to get your links in front of the right people at the lowest possible cost-per-click.

This is where your SaaS marketing strategy should consider PPC vs. SEO. Your SEO efforts should be used to help you get top ranks for your top performing PPC keywords or phrases.

Keep an eye on the quality of your ads as well. Most companies create a few ads and landing pages, then question why they are spending so much money on PPC keywords with the highest level of buyer intent.

No in-house team member will be able to do this effectively, as they are wearing many hats within your organization. Ideally, this is a place where your SaaS platform should look to hire SaaS marketing agencies that only focus on conversion rate optimization.

If your company does not provide a compelling value proposition to potential clients, or your ads may not perform as well as you would expect, they may opt to sign up on a competitor’s platform instead.

5. Show the price

Some SaaS businesses make it difficult for site visitors to see how much their service costs.

This is presumably done in an attempt to get customers more interested before revealing the price, but this can also hinder customer acquisition as a lack of transparent pricing will frustrate many potential buyers right off the bat!

How would you respond if you were looking to buy something and couldn’t find out how much it cost?

You’d probably leave the site and look for another place to make your purchase. This can be a significant source of churn, therefore SaaS marketers should be perfectly aware of it.

No matter how brilliant the rest of your marketing efforts are, hiding or deliberately obfuscating prices makes potential buyers suspicious. Be upfront about your service’s price or pricing model. Make sure your pricing structure allows you to easily demonstrate how each plan or package adds value.

6. Incentivize Referrals

Referrals are one of the most effective strategies to reach new clients in SaaS marketing.

A long-term customer who enjoys your product is eager to recommend your product and get you referrals.

Find ways to incentivize your current SaaS customers to spread the word and reward them for doing so, whether it’s through subscription discounts, free premium features, or a full-fledged SaaS referral program.

One thing we should mention here is that there’s been a lot of discussion about whether or not businesses should reward referrals…

One school of thought believes that without an incentive, you won’t get many referrals, while the opposing position believes that if you encourage too much, you’ll end up with low-value, low-quality referrals. The best advice is to see what works best for your SaaS company and then optimize around that.

There is software available that can manage your referral program from start to finish, but at the very least, we recommend that you develop a referral landing page on your website.

Explain what makes a good referral to ensure you receive high-quality referrals. This could include the person’s job title, industry, or the size of the organization they are working for. You should also specify whether, how, and when people will be rewarded.

By creating templates that sales, customer success, and support teams can utilize, marketing teams can make it easier for them to ask for referrals. Making it simple for sales reps to ask, as well as giving them the authority to do so is essential.

7. Make SaaS Sign-Ups Easy

It’s essential to make signing up as quick and easy as possible, especially if you’re offering a free trial to get customers started. Too many steps upfront can ruin the process, especially if the prospect isn’t completely sold on your offering.

Analyze your signup / onboarding procedure to determine if there are any methods to streamline it so that customers can start using your product right away.

8. Introduce Deals & Discounts

Deals and discounts are also crucial to your SaaS marketing strategy. Offers can help show prospective customers that they can get higher value with you. Deals and discounts are also great for upselling and cross-selling.

While you can profit from running deals and discounts, make sure you only run them on occasion.

If people are offered discounts all the time, they will stop perceiving them as special offers. Instead, people will view these deals and discounts as the regular price they expect to pay.

9. Improve Customer Experience

This is surely the most important of all the SaaS marketing strategies recommended by experts.

Making your service as personalized as possible is an excellent strategy to improve the customer experience. For example, when they complete the sign-up procedure, send them a personalized welcome email. If you find that your active clients are dwindling, you could send out an email too.

What else can you do?

You can include a live chat feature on your website to help customers with their questions as they interact with it. This will aid them in navigating the site and locating answers to any questions they may have. There are many tactics to improve customer experience. Just make sure you are considering their experience first.

10. Refine Call To Action

Simply asking your SaaS customers to try or purchase your product is one of the most reliable ways to attract more of them to do so.

Analyze your overall marketing plan and define the steps you want your visitors to take after visiting your site.

After that, double-check that your CTAs are clear and visible in all of the right places on your site. Make sure the CTA is clear whether you want visitors to join up for a free trial, make a purchase, download a white paper, or subscribe to your newsletter.

Conclusion

These SaaS marketing strategies are intended to increase the number of high-quality leads and SaaS customers. But keep in mind that in high-churn industries like SaaS, the market is constantly evolving, so your team needs to stay up to date with SaaS marketing trends and focus on client engagement to keep churn to a minimum.

The post SaaS Marketing: Top 10 B2B Strategies to Improve Conversions appeared first on RevGenius.

And it’s one of the things that RevOps boasts as a big asset to the GTM teams. But what does alignment actually mean?

What Exactly is RevOps?

First, let’s break down what RevOps is and what it is not. RevOps is both a tactical AND strategic partner to the GTM organization. The go-to-market teams, the revenue generating engine of the business, can count on RevOps to unite these business units under the processes, systems, and reporting which enable them to do what they do best. Bring. That. Money. In.

In their article, What is Revops, Builtin quotes Mike Griebenow, Director of Operations at Blendtek Ingredients, “If you’re in operations, I would say your exposure to RevOps was day one. You just didn’t know it was called RevOps.” This statement has never felt more true. I come from a background in operations and have felt aligned with RevOps since day one. I just didn’t know it yet.

RevOps is not just your local Salesforce, Marketo, Outreach, Gainsight, insert-your-GTM-tech-stack-of-choice-here administrator. And while it is true RevOps provides support to the GTM team, RevOps is not a support team in and of itself. Sure we have a ticketing process and we capture all of the bugs, feature requests, report builds, and systems integration needs, but we are not a help desk. We are tactical because we manage the day-to-day ins and outs of the inner workings of the revenue funnel, and we are strategic because we can be proactive in defining processes, frameworks, and allowing the organization to be flexible and adaptable.

So what does this all have to do with alignment anyway? Alignment means everyone is on the same page. It means everyone understands the goals and objectives of initiatives. It means they have a clear understanding of how changes big or small affect your top of funnel all the way through your post-sale motion. Coming together around the same customer-centric goals is the key to growing and scaling your company.

Masters of Revenue writes, “Creating a single organization with some combination of aligned goals, processes, technology, and people allows you to focus on the business in a more holistic fashion. In subscription businesses, both marketing and sales need to be aligned with the customer success organization so they can upsell, cross-sell and manage renewals and prevent churn.”

To expand further, they also write, “In addition, with the rise of software-as-a-service and subscription business models, renewing customers year-after-year is critical for recovering customer acquisition costs and continued growth. Every touch point from the first time they see an ad or blog to what happens after the ink has dried on the contract is equally critical.

As a result, a new way to work is emerging to accommodate every stage of the modern buyer’s journey: Revenue Operations.”

But How Do You Gain Alignment with RevOps?

Thinking this all sounds great? Sure, Asia. It sounds great. We want alignment among our marketing, sales, and customer success teams. What does that look like? And what can it look like when there is no alignment?

Our company is aligned. We talk every day on Slack. We have a meeting every week. There is a document somewhere in Google Drive that we looked at once. Alignment is more than the same conversation in multiple Slack threads. Alignment is ensuring each team has the same definition and understanding of key metrics, GTM processes, hand-off points, and anything that has potential to impact the buyer’s journey.

What does it look like when this fails? Picture this. You are heads down in deep focus on an operations project. You look up and there are several Slack messages (or emails, or text messages if you’re really lucky). The CFO, CEO, and CMO have all messaged you separately and asked why SQL (sales qualified lead) conversion rates are down. Each of them has sent a different report and upon first glance, they all look mostly correct. Each person insists the one they are looking at is correct and there must be a bug in your tech stack. Uh-oh. Not a system bug.

After minutes of going back and forth, you discover all three reports are technically correct, but not everyone is in agreement about what constitutes an SQL. So this prompts you to gather (probably virtually or in a Slack thread) and come to final agreement of what an SQL is. While you’re at it, you remind them there is a dashboard with all the metrics they need and they can get the same report whenever they want. No system bugs, sales to marketing handoff stays intact (because SQL conversion rate was a bit higher after all).

But imagine you have a cross functional business partner in the organization at day 1. This person keeps your teams aware of these things before they become an issue. They know when people are busy and stressed, they can forget things. So your RevOps team member pulls up the documentation for “What is an SQL”, how do we measure it, and where is that report anyway? Cross-functional projects that touch sales, marketing, customer success, product & engineering has the cross-functional glue from RevOps to make sure impact across the entire GTM team is understood and communicated. (Even if that means constant reminders. Trust me, it’s worth it.)

So you want to level up your RevOps. Or, you’re an organization that has decided to make the jump and invest in a RevOps leader/team. You can rest assured your teams are going to be aligned with everyone on the same page for definitions of all the key aspects of your business. What does that translate to? More revenue in the door of course. Now where’s the ToFu? I’m still hungry.

The post What is Alignment and How Can RevOps Help? appeared first on RevGenius.

Well, not necessarily in the clinical sense. More in the “always trying new things, multi-tasking with sporadic hobbies” sense.

As a kid, it was sports. I played every sport under the sun at some point. Soccer, basketball, golf, hockey, swimming…you name it; I tried it. It wasn’t until high school that I narrowed in on soccer as my sport of choice.

Then, like many entering college, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do. But I was ‘good’ at math, so I picked Engineering. And no, I haven’t touched it since.

My personal life is similarly filled with sporadic hobbies. I’m the type of person that is ALL IN on something for a 3-6 month period. I obsess over a new hobby, live and breathe it daily until *whoosh* on to the next one, leaving a trail of random gear and items in my wake.

Naturally, this has translated into my career journey. With roots at a start-up boutique consulting firm, I’ve been the traditional “jack of all trades” many times.  I’ve spent significant time in business development, sales, consulting, customer engagement, marketing, and now revenue operations.  Not to mention the random hats I’ve worn from time to time filling gaps.

I know I’m not alone on this journey. While it’s a fun ride, it’s natural to feel “behind” at times, especially watching others become more specialized in their craft when I just start a new “fad” of my career.

But then a mentor recommended the book Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. And it changed my perspective.

As David Epstein quotes, “Our work preferences and our life preferences do not stay the same because we do not stay the same.” It’s OK to be a Generalist, an all-around athlete, a jack of all trades. You aren’t falling behind, and in many cases, you are getting ahead. What matters most is how you leverage the lessons along the journey.

At around the same time, I realized that I was beginning a new portion of my career in sales and marketing operations.  I immediately was enthralled by my Ops role with constant problem-solving. And my new perspective created a match made in heaven.

It wasn’t until I made a random LinkedIn post on “11 Reasons you know RevOps is for you” that I realized I wasn’t alone. This was BY FAR the most engagement I’ve received on a post because every RevOps leader had the same experience.

That’s when it hit me.

In the highly specialized world of Sales/Marketing/Revenue Operations, Generalists thrive. Before we get too far ahead, let’s set the groundwork on Revenue Operations and what it means to be a “Generalist.”

What is RevOps?

Revenue Operations, or RevOps for short, focuses on driving growth by creating alignment and improving operational efficiency across Sales, Marketing, and Customer Engagement.

As Jeff Ignacio outlined, Revenue Operations is an old concept but a new organizational structure. At its core is continuous problem solving across an organization. Effective RevOps leaders can break down a problem, zoom in and out of detail based on the audience, and lead a team to create both technical and strategic solutions.

While specialization is required in some cases, effective RevOps leaders solve problems that span a wide spectrum of complexity across multiple departments.

So, What is a Generalist?

In Range, David Epstein explains the concept of Generalists through incredible stories. My personal favorite compares the careers of Tiger Woods and Roger Federer. Most people recognize these individuals as legendary figures in Golf and Tennis, but few know their background.

Tiger Woods was coached by his father from a very young age to focus exclusively on golf. He embodied Malcolm Gladwell’s “10,000 Hours” theory to become hyper-specialized in golf, leading him to become arguably the greatest golfer of all time.

Federer, on the other hand, was more like me as a kid. He tried every sport imaginable. His mom was a tennis coach, yet he was encouraged to try everything, which eventually led him back to tennis. Despite a different path, Roger Federer is arguably one of the greatest tennis players of all time. He didn’t excel because of hyper-specialization. Instead, he excelled because of the balance of skills he gained through varying life experiences.

Generalists adaptively learn through new experiences. They excel personally and professionally by applying lessons learned to novel situations. They are the MacGyvers of real life, solving problems in unique ways that many would overlook.

Why Generalists Make Great RevOps leaders

RevOps is a field where technical expertise is often required. There are markets of individuals with careers in hyper-specialized areas of RevOps like Salesforce administration, Marketo consulting, and more.

But effective leaders? They are able to step away from the technical weeds and embrace their inner-generalist.

Now sure, there are many leaders from technical backgrounds, but the skills required to effectively lead in Revenue Operations align directly to the advantages gained by Generalists.

So why are they so effective?

1. Generalists understand the true nature of a problem

“Whether chemists, physicists, or political scientists, the most successful problem solvers spend mental energy figuring out what type of problem they are facing before matching a strategy to it, rather than jumping in with memorized procedures.” – David Epstein

Before solving a problem, effective Rev Ops leaders MUST be able to diagnose the situation properly.

“Is this problem as serious as it seems? Is this a short-term fix or a more strategic overhaul? What is the appropriate priority, and who owns it?” These are only a few questions that often run through RevOps leaders’ minds when diagnosing the problem.

Generalists understand how to break down a problem with a diverse set of problem-solving experience before launching into execution mode.

2. Generalists use cross-functional learnings to solve problems

“Everyone is digging deeper into their own trench and rarely standing up to look in the next trench over, even though the solution to their problem happens to reside there.” – David Epstein

When individuals are hyper-specialized, or worse, working in silos, solutions can often be overlooked. Or even if the correct solution is found for one team, the cross-functional impacts aren’t fully understood.

With responsibilities that span across multiple departments, RevOps leaders understand cross-functional problems and embrace cross-functional solutions. They align teams and processes together to enable growth for the entire organization.

And when problems aren’t cross-functional? They recognize learnings that can be applied from one group to the next, one system to the next or one process to the next.

3. Generalists leverage the benefits of a breadth of experience

“Breadth of training predicts breadth of transfer. That is, the more contexts in which something is learned, the more the learner creates abstract models, and the less they rely on any particular example. Learners become better at applying their knowledge to a situation they’ve never seen before, which is the essence of creativity.” – David Epstein

Breadth of experience is how Roger Federer has excelled. It’s how most Generalists excel. And it’s why RevOps leaders excel.

The vast majority of RevOps leaders, at least currently, didn’t grow up dreaming of becoming a “Head of Revenue Operations.” Instead, they grinded their way through a journey like mine, trying new things along the way until they stumbled upon Operations.

This breadth of experience often passed through roles they currently support, both as an individual contributor and a leader. In addition to helping their problem-solving abilities, this previous experience places them in the shoes of those they support, leading to more effective solutions.

Embrace your Inner Generalist

Never thought of yourself as a Generalist? Or have you felt like you are being ‘left behind’?

Then it may be time to embrace your inner-generalist.

Practice new things. Use personal and organizational change to your advantage. Encourage new experiences, both professionally and personally. Embark on the journey of a Generalist by keeping an enthusiastic attitude towards continuous learning.  That extra hat you temporarily put on doesn’t have to be a stressor. It just might be the key to unlocking a future solution.

And if you are ever in doubt, I’ll leave you with one last quote:

“Compare yourself to yourself yesterday, not to younger people who aren’t you… you probably don’t even know where exactly you’re going, so feeling behind doesn’t help.” – David Epstein

The post Why Generalists Make the Best RevOps Leaders 2021 appeared first on RevGenius.

For startups, going too deep into any of these areas will be overkill. For longstanding enterprises, there will be entire teams with specialists who own a small sliver of each workstream. Earlier stage companies will be forced to make trade-offs as they are busy designing the engine while flying the plane; the depth and quality of the work will not be as thorough compared to their enterprise counterparts.

As the business grows, these capabilities become more extensive, and role specialists start to fill the Operations ranks. I hope that this guided series for the business will help you think through evolution in scaling.

Revenue engine framework: PEAS focus areas and FAST principles

A useful tool for headcount planning and execution is what I call the Three C’s (3C): capacity, coverage, and capability. In this article, we’ll focus on one of the most important sales planning items: capacity. Developing an understanding of capacity all along the funnel will better equip operations teams to better-supporting Marketing, Finance, and Customer Success. Covering all of the areas below would take an entire book, so we’ll focus on a small sliver geared towards earlier stage companies.

The First C: Capacity

Much like the floor of a manufacturing facility, the goal is to find the perfect balance of capacity and output. The key focus for sales teams is to perform the right activities to yield maximum revenue most efficiently. The first C of the 3Cs is capacity. Breaking this down further, we’ll optimize capacity for headcount, time management, territory size, and lead volume.

Headcount

Sales leaders need to know they have sufficient bench strength to achieve targets. Key factors to consider are expected attrition, ramp time, and time to hire. People leave their roles for various reasons, including finding better jobs, moving away, or getting promoted. This is the nature of business and should never be ignored. Backfilling critical roles is important because it takes time to post a requisition, interview, offer, and ramp-up new hires.

Revenue Operations helps to build out a headcount planning model factoring in these considerations. Aside from looking at roles in a silo, the headcount number will also require a look at supporting casts such as overlay roles and managers. Depending on which benchmarks are used, AEs-to-SDRs can range from a 3-to-1 to a 2-to-1 ratio. Sales reps-to-managers can sit between the 8-to-1 to a 6-to-1 ratio. When it comes to capacity planning, the macro factor starts with bringing in the right people.

Time management

Let’s face it: humans aren’t robots. We need to sleep, eat, and have lives outside of work. Sales productivity is, therefore, limited by the finite hours available to the business. Using time wisely is paramount for sales success. Every call, in theory, would feature research, call preparation, and a meeting structure. But that doesn’t always happen.

Revenue Operations can perform a time audit. Breaking down sales rep calendars between selling and non-selling activities will usually result in one of two hypotheses.

The first is that selling activities are too voluminous to provide a high-quality sales motion. In this case, the team does not have enough capacity. Dividing territories or reassessing segmentation allocation can be useful here.

The second outcome is that non-selling activities may be overly cumbersome. Keying in on process improvements such as system automation can give time back to sales reps.

In either situation, the time audit can and will lead to deeper personalization for enterprise selling motions. For transactional motions, it will provide thawed out call blocks.

Territory size and lead management

Sales reps can only focus on so many accounts within a year without compromising their effectiveness in outreach. Managers will often find shallowly developed account plans for their team’s top tier accounts. A lack of preparation in these areas is a canary in the coal mine for whole batches of accounts not receiving attention. Sales reps simply cannot service the size of the territory given to them. Revenue Operations can help recalibrate territory sizes.

The same goes for sales development reps with inbound leads. Effective call management requires dedicated time to research, prepare, and execute. Typically, the larger the organization sought after, the more front-end work is needed. SDR managers will find themselves examining how many leads are simply too many for anyone SDR to reasonably handle. Revenue Operations provides an evidence-based capacity assessment. A solution to consider is to increase the size of the team or prioritize leads so that only the ones of highest priority are pursued.

Setting up for success.

Sales or Revenue Operations practitioners do not have to specifically use these frameworks, but having a model will serve as a roadmap for both the head of sales and support teams. Every year the business will need to evaluate if it has enough capacity to meet its revenue targets. Capacity needs to be further broken down into actionable decisions ranging from headcount to time management. Experienced leaders will be able to leverage mental maps to their new situations. Operations leaders must come in with a perspective. Use the Sales 7 as a starting point, and best of luck with your annual planning.

The post How to Create Better Capacity Planning for Sales and Sales Operations appeared first on RevGenius.