When I started my career, I was told that there are two types of roles in every organization – roles on the Revenue side and roles on the Cost side.
I recall a specific mentor in my early days at Microsoft whose career advice was this: “Whatever you do in your career, make sure to always be on the Revenue side because when things tighten up, companies cut back on anything seen as a Cost.”
Unfortunately, I am seeing too many RevOps professionals being perceived as a Cost these days. Layoffs are happening with concerning frequency. This is because leaders do not see RevOps as strategic to the business. That’s not surprising if RevOps spends all of its time managing spreadsheets, performing system integrations, writing custom code, or updating routing logic.
Of course sales reps are always seen as being on the Revenue side. Typically at this time of year, those Revenue teams would be out at SKO taking in their Nth Margarita — often oblivious to the behind the scenes work that Ops undertakes to make sure they are set up for success.
Now more than ever it is time to invest in Ops and get away from seeing it as a cost center. On the contrary, Ops efficiency is gold to Revenue. When given the time and tools to succeed, RevOps provides critical insight into where to invest and how to drive revenue. That’s because they have a deep understanding of the entire GTM organization, from Sales to Customer Success. If you want to cut costs, the best way to do it is to equip your RevOps team with automation so that they can maximize efficiency and productivity across the entire revenue engine.
Well-functioning RevOps teams are the difference between achieving average Revenue or great Revenue. It’s not the best product that wins, it’s the company with a good product and an equally great GTM execution that does. Ops leads the way forward by smoothing out the GTM execution.
All that said, not all Ops resources are created equal. For example, if you are an Ops resource who loves system integration projects, you are in danger. If you are not seen as being strategic to the organization, helping to drive down costs, and enabling agility that gives your organization the ability to withstand the storm, then you will be marked as a Cost. The choice is yours – Cost side or Revenue side. Pick one thoughtfully.
Most Ops folks are quiet, diligent, and love working in the background. The old adage about a tree falling in a forest applies here. If you are working on helping drive down costs and making things more efficient, then be certain to communicate that connection to leadership. When leadership understands the value that Ops brings to the table, their trust and investment in the function grows.
It’s easy for RevOps to get bogged down in day-to-day minutiae and constant fire fighting of territory disputes, data issues, and commission errors. Now that everyone is being asked to do more with less, it is a golden opportunity for RevOps to shine. But it won’t happen just by wishing it so. You must invest in RevOps tools or a GTM Planning Platform that automates manual tasks, so the team has the time and bandwidth to provide strategic insight and deliver true value. Don’t wait! Your company’s future depends on it.
To learn more about the ROI for Territory Management Software and how it can help drive RevOps efficiency and Sales productivity, check out this blog, The Business Case for Territory Management Software.
