Revenue Operations: Aligning Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success

And Customer Success Date: December 2022 As we close out 2022, the economic landscape is shifting, and the need for efficiency, predictability, and sustainable revenue has never been more critical. This is why the concept of Revenue Operations, or RevOps, has moved from a niche idea to a fundamental business imperative. ## The Emergence of RevOps: Moving Beyond Silos For too long, the revenue engine of a company has been structured like a relay race where the baton is frequently dropped. Marketing generates leads, throws them over a wall to Sales, who then closes the deal and tosses the customer to Customer Success. Each department has its own goals, its own tech stack, and its own definition of success. This siloed approach is not just inefficient-it actively sabotages growth. RevOps is the answer to this fragmentation. It is not a new piece of software or a single department; it is a strategic function that unifies and optimizes the processes, technology, and data across the entire customer lifecycle-from the first touchpoint to renewal. It’s about creating a single, seamless, and predictable revenue engine. What RevOps really means is a fundamental shift in mindset. It means viewing the customer journey as a single, continuous loop, rather than a series of handoffs. It’s the infrastructure that ensures Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success are not just coexisting, but actively collaborating toward a single, unified growth strategy. ## Breaking Down Silos: A Unified Growth Strategy The most common challenge I encounter as a Fractional CMO is the misalignment between Sales and Marketing. I recently worked with a mid-sized B2B software company where Marketing was delivering a high volume of "qualified" leads, but Sales was rejecting over 60% of them. The Marketing team was focused on MQLs (Marketing Qualified Leads), while the Sales team only cared about SQLs (Sales Qualified Leads). They were speaking different languages. Our RevOps solution was simple but powerful: we created a single, shared definition of a "Sales-Ready Lead" and mapped out the exact process for lead acceptance and rejection. We then consolidated their disparate reporting into a single dashboard. The result? Within three months, the lead rejection rate dropped to under 15%, and the sales cycle shortened by two weeks. This is the power of RevOps-it turns friction into flow. For my clients in Law Firm Marketing, this alignment is crucial. A law firm's marketing efforts generate inquiries, but if the intake team (Sales) isn't aligned on the criteria for a high-value case, time and resources are wasted on low-potential leads. RevOps ensures that the marketing spend is directly fueling the firm's most profitable cases. ## Metrics Alignment: The Single Source of Truth One of the core pillars of RevOps is the alignment of metrics. When each department measures its own success in isolation, the company as a whole suffers. Marketing might celebrate a high volume of website traffic, while Sales laments low conversion rates, and Customer Success struggles with high churn. RevOps demands a shift to shared, revenue-centric KPIs. The focus moves from departmental vanity metrics to holistic, end-to-end performance indicators: * Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): The total revenue a business can expect from a single customer account.*

• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): The total cost of acquiring a new customer, measured across all three functions.
• Net Revenue Retention (NRR): A key indicator of sustainable growth, showing how much revenue is retained from existing customers.
• Sales Cycle Length: The time it takes for a lead to become a paying customer. By late 2022, the conversation around data hygiene and tech stack management had become paramount. RevOps is the function responsible for ensuring that the CRM (often the single source of truth) is clean, integrated, and accessible. Without a unified, reliable data foundation, any attempt at alignment is built on sand. ## How to Implement RevOps: Practical, Actionable Advice Implementing RevOps is a journey, not a switch. Based on my consulting experience, here are the four practical phases for any business looking to adopt a RevOps model: ### 1. The Revenue Audit and Process Mapping Start by documenting your current state. Map the entire customer journey from initial awareness to advocacy. Identify every handoff, every system, and every point of friction. Ask the tough questions: Where do leads get stuck? Why does data entry fail? This audit is your blueprint for change. ### 2. Tech Stack Consolidation and Integration In 2022, many companies are suffering from "tool sprawl." RevOps requires a streamlined, integrated tech stack. This doesn't mean buying one mega-tool; it means ensuring your core systems (CRM, Marketing Automation, Sales Engagement, CS Platform) talk to each other seamlessly. Focus on data flow and automation to eliminate manual tasks and ensure data integrity. ### 3. Establishing the RevOps Function Whether you hire a dedicated RevOps leader or assign the responsibility to an existing team member, this function needs executive support. The RevOps team should report to a neutral party, often the CFO or CEO, to ensure they have the authority to enforce cross-functional standards. Their mandate is to own the revenue process, the tech stack, and the data. ### 4. Continuous Optimization and Governance RevOps is an ongoing commitment. The team must establish a governance model for process changes and data standards. They should hold regular "metrics analysis and planning" sessions (a trend I saw growing significantly in 2022) to identify bottlenecks and areas for improvement. This continuous feedback loop is what drives predictable, scalable revenue. ## Common Mistakes That Derail RevOps Initiatives While the promise of RevOps is clear, the path is fraught with potential missteps. Here are the three most common mistakes I see companies make: ### Mistake 1: Treating RevOps as a glorified IT role RevOps is a strategic function, not just a technical one. If you hire a RevOps manager and task them only with fixing broken integrations, you've missed the point. Their primary role is to design and optimize the business process that drives revenue, with technology as the enabler. ### Mistake 2: Failing to get Executive Buy-In RevOps requires Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success leaders to cede some autonomy for the greater good of the company. This will not happen without a clear, unwavering mandate from the CEO or executive leadership. If the C-suite isn't fully committed to breaking down silos, the initiative will fail. ### Mistake 3: Over-Automating a Broken Process Automation is a core trend in RevOps, but automating a bad process only allows you to make mistakes faster. Before you implement a new automation sequence, the process must be meticulously mapped, tested, and agreed upon by all stakeholders. Fix the process first, then automate. ## Conclusion Revenue Operations is more than a trend; it is the operating system for modern, scalable growth. By aligning your people, processes, and technology, you can build a predictable, efficient, and resilient revenue engine that will power your business well into the future. Author Bio:Jacovia Cartwright* is a highly sought-after Fractional CMO and marketing leader based in Houston, Texas. With a focus on driving predictable revenue growth and operational efficiency, Jacovia specializes in helping B2B and professional services firms, including those in Law Firm Marketing, optimize their go-to-market strategies through the implementation of strategic Revenue Operations frameworks.***