Revenue operations

“Our sales team just isn’t performing.”

Which data tells you that?

Revenue tells you something is wrong. It doesn’t tell you where. The where is in the gaps between departments, in systems that each hold part of the picture, in process steps nobody owns. Revenue operations finds those gaps and closes them.

Shima, revenue operations, Sales Scaleur
25 yearsin sales, the last 10 in revenue operations

Shima · Sales Scaleur, Amsterdam

  • 3×inbound leads, year on yearMaritime
  • +237%recurring revenue in one yearSaaS
  • +150%revenue in one yearHR tech
  • 3×annual revenueLighting design

What it costs

Three numbers worth knowing

1–5%

of EBITDA leaves most companies unnoticed.

Accounts that aren’t followed up, work delivered but never invoiced, payment processes nobody owns.

5%

more revenue growth and 5% lower costs.

That is what two thirds of finance leaders expect from getting finance and sales to work from the same numbers.

5%+

of company valuation.

That is what an unreliable forecast can cost when someone decides what your business is worth. It matters most if you plan to sell, refinance or bring in an investor.

Revenue leak calculator

What do these numbers mean for your company?

Seven questions about your business, about two minutes. You get an estimate of where revenue is most likely leaking and what it costs you each year.

Calculate your revenue leak

Revenue operations

What gets looked at

Marketing, sales, operations and production each have their own processes, data and systems. To your customer, it can feel like talking to three different companies. Revenue operations brings people, process and data together.

Process & handovers

Work that gets lost between people and departments

What you seeEvery salesperson works their own way. Operations hears about a deal when it’s already signed. When someone leaves, their knowledge leaves with them.

What I look atHow a lead becomes a quote, an order and an invoice, and every handover between departments along the way. Written down, owned and measurable.

The customer deals with one company, and the work runs the same way no matter who does it.

System

Data and reports nobody can use

What you seeEvery department has its own system and its own figures. A simple question takes a week and gets two answers.

What I look atWhatever you already run, made to work together and used by the team. One set of numbers, one source for your reports.

Decisions based on data instead of gut feeling.

People

New salespeople who take too long to perform

What you seeA new salesperson needs months before they sell, and some leave before they get there.

What I look atBasic sales skills for everyone who talks to customers. Onboarding so new salespeople start faster.

A team that walks into every customer conversation prepared.

Pricing

Pricing and discounts nobody manages

What you seeDiscounts are given in the room. Nobody knows what they cost over a year.

What I look atWhat you charge and why, what the discount costs over a year, and which customers carry your margin.

More margin from the same customers.

Customer

No clear focus on the right customers

What you seeSales chases every opportunity, marketing targets everyone, and every department tells the customer a different story.

What I look atWho is growing, who is shrinking, who left without telling you, and where the next order comes from.

Time and budget go to the customers with the most potential.

Forecasting

A forecast nobody trusts

What you seeSales says one number, finance plans on another, and the quarter still ends with a surprise.

What I look atA forecast built on your own history and a pipeline you can trust, so the number gets more accurate every quarter.

A number you can plan on, and meetings about what to do instead of which number is right.

Recognise one or more of these in your company?

Plan a first conversation

How I work

Where are you now?

1Find the leaks

“Something is off, but I can’t tell where.”

Start with a Revenue Clarity Session. In half a day we find where revenue leaks and where to begin.

Half day

2Map the leaks

“I need the full picture before I decide.”

A Revenue Audit shows how your commercial process really works, and what to fix first.

2 to 3 weeks

3Close the leaks

“I know what’s wrong. Nothing changes.”

With Interim Revenue Operations, I join your team and make the changes with you.

3 to 6 months

The challenge

Finding the leaks is the easy part

Ask the people who do this work what stops it, and most of the answers are about people.

Managing change inside the business62%
Getting departments to work as one team62%
Technology and data complexity53%
Too many things to fix at once47%
PeopleTechnology and scopeSource: Revenue Enablement Institute, 53 revenue operations leaders

The top two are about people. Technology comes third, and it’s usually what companies buy first.

A new CRM or sales tool is easy to buy and hard to judge. Without a clear process and reliable data, you spend money without knowing whether it helps. Process and people come first. Then you know what the technology needs to do.