Getting from data to decision in “boring” companies
This revenue letter was sent on the 4th of May 2023. Want it in your inbox? Sign up here.
I recently had a discussion with a RevOps leader of a “boring” (aka mature, profitable and predictable) company.
We discussed how RevOps can elevate itself in an organization (especially in his “older” team).
He mentioned MBRs and QBRs – and while I felt I know it all already, he ended up giving me 3 golden nuggets I wanted to pass on to you:
Keep your QBRs short, simple but very valuable.
His first few reviews had 150 slides with insights for days. It felt good. Valuable. “Deep”.
It resulted in 15 odd projects for a group of 25 people.
The realization was that this much data and insights show that RevOps are doing their job, but in reality, it’s just noise and not much help to anyone.
Instead, he focused on 5 insights and takeaways. 5!
The more focused we can be on single elements, the more actionable GTM teams can actually be once the QBR is over.
(And yes, you need to do some math to figure out what really drives the most revenue.)
Second, interpret the data and make it a story.
As part of keeping QBRs simple, there’s no point in throwing data at your stakeholders if you can’t explain it.
To start with, answer these questions:
- What is happening?
- Where is it happening?
- What’s the impact?
- What’s the actionablility?
If you can answer these 4 questions for every insight that you present, then you’re creating value out of the meeting.
Finally, you’re not the expert in all things revenue, so don’t pretend that you are.
It’s a sign of an over-inflated ego to think that you have all the answers and you can fix everything.
The true power of RevOps during QBRs is the ability to combine data and storytelling to create insights across the GTM.
But you’re not a marketing expert. You’re not in the trenches with sales. And you’re not dealing with CS issues on a daily basis.
But what you do have is a squad of big brains leading these teams.
A QBR should empower these GTM leaders to find and suggest solutions.
Just like your revenue engine, improving your QBRs is a process of incremental steps.
And I know that “incremental” is not a word that gets anyone excited (yes, I study the stats on these Podcasts, Linkedin Posts, and RevLetters).
But this is one of those things that mature, profitable, and predictable businesses do to become… well… mature, profitable and predictable.