AMA: Shopify Leader of Post-Sale Revenue Operations, Melissa Sinclair on Establishing a Revenue Ops Function Team

I usually go through the following flow... 1. Current State: Know the current state. Identify the gaps, pain points, and areas for improvement. Use the data where you can here. You need to gain both qualitative and quantitative feedback on the current systems/processes/tools/etc for a holistic picture. 2. Align with Business Goals: Understand the company's overall business goals and objectives. Collaborate with key stakeholders to align revenue operations with these goals, ensuring its relevance ...Read More

My specific team is focussed on post-sales revenue operations. We are structured around a few aspects:1. The Craft: Meaning merchant facing roles (ex. Customer Success, Sales, etc). My team is first split by that grain so they can really get to know the roles of those areas and develop strong stakeholder relationships to build the best process/systems/etc they can.2. Segment: The second grain they are structured to is customer segment. The customer experience can differ greatly between segments ...Read More

I suggest you follow something like below. You will have to adapt this accordingly to size of the company and where it is at in operational maturity. But the following themes should be able to apply to different degrees when coming into a Startup that doesn’t already have an operations team established. ps. The First 90 Days by Watkins is a great book!30-Day Plan: Get curious/DiscoveryTime to be a sponge. Get incredibly curious and go into deep discovery.  1. Understand the Customer: Gain insigh ...Read More

First and foremost, you need to understand what is important to your team(s) and the individuals within it. At the end of the day, not everyone is motivated by the same thing(s). However, I have found usually someone's motivation will fall into one or combination of the following buckets: Compensation: Offer competitive salaries and benefits that align with industry standards/for your size of a company. See where you can differentiate yourself with perks too. Career Development: Provide clear ca ...Read More

A few things come to mind for me when reading this, I've worked both at small and large companies. This is what I've noticed: 1. Scope: The scope of responsibilities is often narrower due to limited resources in a small company. Ex. could be you have enablement individual/team, process optimization focussed individual/team. At a large company may involve multiple teams, complex processes, and a broader range of functions, including various enablements teams, role specific operations (ie. marketi ...Read More

I think there are a few critical aspects to look at (and I would echo this even if it wasn't a small but growing team ;) ): Understand the Current State: Begin by thoroughly understanding the existing revenue operations process. Identify pain points, bottlenecks, and areas for improvement. Gather insights from team members and stakeholders to gain a holistic view. You can't build a great future state until you understand the current state and its issues/opportunities. It is SO critical that if t ...Read More