RevOps ≠ Sysadmins, so let’s stop acting like them

Can you really call yourself RevOps if you’re only fixing and managing CRMs all day?

I see a lot of folks fall into this trap.

And struggling to get out while yearning to be more strategic.

Don’t get me wrong, processes and tools are important in an organization (and the first step in the evolution of the RevOps role).

But If that’s most of what you do, you’re more of a systems admin. RevOps is 10x more than that.

If you feel like you’re stuck in operations land, keep this in mind.

If you own the entirety of things like Salesforce, Marketo or Hubspot, do you understand how much power and leverage you actually have?

You have a birds-eye view of the entire funnel and understand the customer journey.

That’s the true superpower of RevOps.

But I see a lot of people not realizing they have that superpower, nor how they can leverage it to deliver true strategic value to the organization.

I was in this position myself, and this is how I got to C-Level:

Start organizing QBRs & MBRs with revenue leaders.

Now you can open up conversations about how many opportunities the organization created. How did they convert and why? Are we on track? And if not, where are we falling behind?

By bringing leaders to the table on a regular basis, you can understand what’s going on now and flip the conversation and start asking: what can we do to make sure we don’t miss the next target?

Once you go down that road, people in the organization will begin to ask, what about 6-months away? Or 12-months?

Once you’re part of those conversations, you’re basically being included in the budgeting for next year and working with the CRO towards predictable revenue.

It can mean the difference between being stuck where you are and getting promoted.

If that doesn’t work, you may have to look for greener pastures.

After all, if your company just wants to have someone to roll out a CRM, they should hire a system admin instead.

And if you are reading this from a Revenue Leader perspective, think about whether you are enabling your RevOps team to play that strategic role.

The reason more RevOps pros are not doing the above is that they lack the imagination to pull it off. Help them by pointing them in the right direction. It will transform their careers – yes. But also your business.