What Is RevOps? (and how it actually helps your business)

Marketing hands over a lead. Sales chases it. By the time it turns into an invoice, no one can agree on what actually happened, or why the deal took four months instead of four weeks.

That gap between teams has a name: RevOps.

What RevOps actually means

RevOps (revenue operations) is the function that gets your marketing, sales and customer success teams working off the same numbers, in the same system, toward the same goal. Instead of three teams each running their own spreadsheet and their own version of the truth, RevOps makes sure everyone is looking at the same dashboard.

Think of it like the mechanic who tunes every part of the car to work with the others, not just the engine on its own. You can have a great sales team and a great marketing team, but if they're not connected, you're burning fuel you don't need to.

The problem RevOps fixes

Most SMBs don't have a growth problem. They have a plumbing problem. Leads fall through the gap between marketing and sales. Nobody owns the CRM, so the data goes stale within weeks. Forecasts are really just guesses dressed up in a spreadsheet. And by the time finance finds out a deal fell over, it's too late to do anything about it.

None of this means your business is broken. It usually means it grew faster than your systems did, which is a good problem to have until it isn't.

What RevOps actually does day to day

• Keeps your CRM clean and up to date, so the numbers you're looking at are real

• Builds one dashboard for pipeline and revenue, so sales, marketing and leadership are reading from the same page

• Maps the handoffs between marketing, sales and customer success so leads don't go cold in the gap

• Turns forecasting from a guess into a number you can actually plan around

• Takes manual admin off your reps' plates so they spend more time selling

  
  

How this helps your business

• You stop losing deals to slow handoffs and bad data

• You can trust your forecast enough to make hiring and spending decisions off it

• Your team spends less time updating spreadsheets and more time with customers

• You get a clear view of where revenue is actually coming from, and where it's leaking

One of our clients went through this process and grew company revenue by 26% in 12 months, off three months of RevOps work - that's without adding headcount or new technology.

That's what happens when you fix the plumbing instead of just pouring more leads in the top.

Do you need to hire for this, or bring it in?

RevOps is a function, not necessarily a job title. Some businesses build it in-house with a dedicated hire. Others bring it in as an outsourced service that plugs into the team they already have.

If you want to know more about that second option, we've covered it here: What Is RevOps-as-a-Service?

And if you're not sure which one makes sense for your business, contact us for a free assessment.

---

What's the difference between RevOps and RevOps-as-a-Service?

RevOps is the function itself. RevOps-as-a-Service is when you bring that function in from an outside team instead of hiring for it in-house. Read more about RevOps-as-a-Service.

Do I need to hire someone to do RevOps, or can I outsource it?

Either works. Some businesses build it in-house with a dedicated hire, others bring it in as an outsourced service that plugs into the team they already have.

How is RevOps different from a CRM?

A CRM is just the tool. RevOps is the function that makes sure the data in it is accurate and that sales, marketing and customer success are all using it the same way.