AMA: Databricks Director - Sales Strategy & Operations, Ken Liu on Revenue Ops KPIs

When developing successful OKRs that maximize impact and have greatest impact, I recommend two rules: Develop OKRs that directly or indirectly align with your company's topmost business priorities Keep the same OKRs throughout the year and have quarterly targets rather Align OKRs to Company Prios - you set and track OKRs ultimately to help your company achieve its key priorities (e.g. grow revenue, increase margin, increase market share, etc.). If you aren't able to articulate how your OKRs dire ...Read More

Here are some red flags for KPis that you are asked to own: There is not support for the KPI The KPI definition is not clear and well defined The levers for achieving the KPI are unclear Lack of Support - adoption of KPIs and achieving their targets is extremely difficult if you don't have buy-in from the parties responsible for doing the work required to meet the KPI. Say you're tasked with a KPI to drive AE adoption of a new account planning SaaS software, but the AEs weren't consulted on the ...Read More

Here are some pitfalls I've seen when defining rev ops KPIs: Focusing on just lagging indicators Missing KPIs that cover the entire GTM market team Focusing on generic leading indicators Lagging Indicators - in rev ops its natural to think about the number of contracts sold and their dollar amount. However, more sophisticated rev ops teams build out a portfolio of leading indicators they regularly analyze to drive contract conversions. Hypothesize all the key activities of your pre-sales and sal ...Read More

It's rare that you are the first company to set KPIs when entering a new market. Here are some best practices I've used to set realistic KPI goals when I helped advise clients at Google measure the efficacy of their marketing campaigns when they first entered a new market: Benchmark - look at how your company performed with a similar product or campaign, make adjustments on assumptions for the new target market (e.g. competition, brand name recognition, product demand) and adjust the targets for ...Read More

Since what constitutes a good OKR is contextual by org, I'll share guiding principles I use to develop strong rev ops OKRs: Align OKRS directly/indirectly to the company's top priorities Vet OKRs with key stakeholders in the org Define OKRs with key results that are easily understood and measurable Company Alignment - you define OKRs to ultimately help your org/team achieve your company's top priorities. If you can't easily articulate how your OKR helps achieve a top company goals, consider revi ...Read More