While much of a RevOps leader’s work happens behind the scenes, the impact they make is profound and far-reaching. For Clay Blanchard, a pioneer of revenue operations, the mission of these “custodians of the company’s revenue” is clear: drive growth responsibly and optimize outcomes for both shareholders and the business at large.
In this episode of Go to Market with Dr. Amy Cook, Clay explains how this role demands a delicate balance of crafting go-to-market strategies and designing territories that challenge sales teams while remaining grounded in data and achievability. It’s a thrilling responsibility, and it’s what makes Rev Ops such a vital and rewarding field.
Here are some interview highlights.
Amy: What is it about the RevOps role that makes it so effective?
Clay: Rev Ops is a great mix of strategy and execution where you get to engage on a broad variety of topics. Although much of what we do is behind the scenes, I love it because it’s very strategic in nature, but you also get to translate ideas into reality.
We are custodians of the company. Ultimately, we are responsible for driving revenue responsibly, and so as we do that, and in that function and role, it is our job to stretch the organization to get the optimal output for shareholders and for the business overall.
It’s this very fine balance where we are building a go-to-market strategy, and we’re building territories that will stretch people and create something that is achievable within reason and based on data.
Amy: One of the things you mentioned earlier that doesn’t get a lot of attention, despite its importance, is territory management. Can you tell me a bit more about that?
Clay: I think about territory management a little bit more broadly. One of our core responsibilities in RevOps is the design and deployment of the coverage model. How are we as a company deploying resources against the market opportunity? What are the go-to-market rules that we’re going to use to go after this? And then, how do we allocate this across segments, across verticals and geographies? That relies on data.
I think that is where a lot of companies struggle for a host of reasons, not the least of which is, these become kind of territorial battles at all levels. RevOps plays a key role in leveraging that data, and orienting people around TAM helps us take the emotion out of this process. How are we going to grow the business? What are your segments, verticals, and geographies? Let’s be objective; let’s build great alignment. That’s a really critical role that we play as a function. And territory management is the tail end of that process.
Amy: You’ve mentioned before that data has a calming value to it. What do you mean by that?
Clay: Essentially, you’re building the sales team’s work. It affects their careers, their livelihoods, and so it’s highly charged and highly sensitive, and it’s a moment in time when they’re looking around and comparing themselves to their peers. I understand that it can be fraught with emotion and ego, if you let it.
I think that’s where RevOps plays an important role in bringing data. Data is our shared language that we all use to understand the problem and/or the opportunity. And so if we keep coming back to that shared language, it becomes a safe space. Once we have good data, this becomes a calming, common factor that we can all use to as reasonable business people, to come to decisions about where we headed this business. Then we can address some of the tactical decisions about how much you get, both at the leadership level and all the way down to the rep level.
Click here for more from Clay’s Go to Market podcast interview with Dr. Amy Cook.
