The term “Revenue Operations” is soaring in popularity these days. In fact, Chief Revenue Officer, VP of Revenue Operations, and Director of Revenue Operations are among the fastest growing job titles right now on LinkedIn.

But what is Revenue Operations?

Does your business need it?

And, if you do, how do you establish a Revenue Operations framework?

Revenue Operations (or RevOps for short) is an approach that aims to align sales, marketing, and customer service teams to give them the tools and resources needed to drive predictable revenue. As Bhaskar Roy explains in an article on the rise of Revenue Operations, “RevOps treats revenue not as a fortunate outcome of a quality product, but like a mirror of the supply chain — a pipeline that needs to be powered by optimized business processes.”

“Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you’re going to do now and do it.” – William Durant

Executive leaders know there is always a push to generate more profitable revenue. However, the end of a fiscal year creates added pressure as companies strategize and plan for the coming year.

Your company’s success next year depends on the planning you are doing now.

So, what does your strategic revenue plan look like for next year? Ask yourself:

• Where will revenue come from?
• How will you prune your client base and modify offerings to increase profitability?
• Can you trust your forecasts and existing sales processes, or do they need to be updated?
• How will you encourage cross-functional efficiencies between sales and marketing?
• Who will provide unbiased advice to leadership when big decisions must be made?

An effective revenue plan answers these questions and more.

Turning Market Disruptions into Strategic Growth

The pandemic has led us to ask many questions.

“Are we really more productive working from home?”

“If this is the future of work, how do we keep making sales and growing revenue?”

And mostly, “How are some businesses thriving right now when so many are struggling and failing? How are they turning barriers and disruptions into revenue growth, and how can we too?”

The answer is antifragility.

The conversation happening at most organizations right now is centered around pivoting strategy to make up for lost revenue in 2020. When this is the topic, the focus is on simply getting back to neutral – filling in the hole that the pandemic caused when it upset the market this year and hoping that next year will provide an easier opportunity for growth.

But what if these sweeping disruptions could be a catalyst for growth right now instead? What if the conversation were about how much your business could grow instead of whether it would survive?

We are currently in a recession that is being felt across all industries. An April McKinsey & Company survey indicates, “Consumers are feeling the impact of COVID-19, with about 34 percent noting that either their income or ability to work has been negatively impacted.” Rising unemployment and consumer economic uncertainty are rippling through organizations in both B2B and B2C arenas.  

However, consumers and businesses are still spending. How and what they are consuming is changing. Those changes will likely stick around after the pandemic is over. The same survey indicates, “The next normal has started emerging, with consumers indicating that they will adopt long-term behavioral changes that will last beyond the current situation. Consumers who have switched to new brands or retailers largely intend to stick with them, with almost two-thirds of consumers indicating an intent to continue.”

Businesses are following suit – making purchasing changes based on supply chain availability and selling changes based on necessity. Additional survey data on B2B sales indicates that “Almost 90 percent of sales have moved to a video conferencing(VC)/phone/web sales model, and while some skepticism remains, more than half believe this is equally or more effective than sales models used before COVID-19.”

Do you know how to move forward in a restart? Ask yourself these questions:

• Do you know how to control your spending without thwarting growth?
• What will you do to preserve essential customer relationships?
• Are you equipped to find revenue in new ways?
• Do you understand where new revenue opportunities exist?
• Can you change your way of thinking to adapt?

In a recent webinar Paul Single, Managing Director at City National Rochdale, explained the forecasted economic curve as being shaped like a Nike swish – with a sudden drop-off and a slow but continuous upward swoop. While the economic rebound will almost certainly happen slowly, your business needs to be poised for revenue growth now to capitalize on opportunities as they arise.

Motivational speakers will tell you that we are constantly surrounded by opportunities and all you need to do to is just reach out and seize them. In fact, this advice is so common, that the phrase “carpe diem” has been around for over 2,000 years and has ingrained itself into virtually every aspect of popular culture.

Are you a new business that needs to develop its sales process? Or, maybe you're an established firm that sells things the same way today as you did 10 years ago.

Many companies are finding that their sales processes aren't keeping up with the times. Selling techniques have evolved significantly over the years, and companies must adapt their sales methods to meet customers' changing needs.

The vast majority (83%) of senior-level B2B executives report that business needs and priorities have resulted in them either accelerating or postponing purchase decisions in the past year.

While creating a mission statement is typically an early step in starting a business, many mature companies have outdated versions, poorly written attempts, or are missing them altogether.

Most frequently, time is the limiting factor. Business owners and founders can be reluctant to invest the time needed and effort required to craft an effective mission statement. They wonder whether it is truly essential for growing their businesses and if customers will ever read it. These doubts can relegate creating or updating a mission statement to non-critical status, freeing up valuable time for other essentials.

However, a mission statement is a crucial document that describes the purpose of the business. It states what the business is going to do, for whom, and why. A successful organization should know the answers to these questions because they speak to the most basic elements of a business plan. As such, the company mission should essentially write itself. Yet, owners, founders, and executive leadership still struggle with formulating an effective mission statement.