How do revops leaders quantify the metrics of success? What does a good year look like according to you?

This is a good question and I hope other people can comment and provide their perspectives as well. I think defining and quantifying success metrics for RevOps is challenging. We're surrounded by probably the most quantifiable parts of a business - sales quota attainment and revenue generation, marketing leads and pipeline, etc. - and yet none of those directly reflect our work.

As a general rule, I don't find time savings metrics from SaaS vendors very compelling. I think small time savings for reps or RevOps tends to evaporate rather than add productivity (e.g., "My solution X saves AEs 5% of time so they can prospect more" doesn't lead to more pipeline, they just go home earlier or socialize more with colleagues). The exception is when you save considerable time by eliminating entire processes, either by making it unnecessary or automated. This might be a 20% time savings for a team and then it starts to get large enough that I find it interesting.

If you can make your value prop about eliminating manual processes, streamlining operations, or reducing the need for resources that becomes compelling and ties in better with the kind of metrics I would point to in a QBR or other review. Some examples I might point to about my team's contributions:

• # of processes eliminated or automated

• # of steps eliminated or automated in the end-to-end sales process

• # or % reduction in tickets related to account ownership, hygiene, etc. issues

• % increase in throughput without adding headcount (e.g., deal desk handled X% more deals this year with the same team size) due to changes we implemented

• % reduction in sales cycle time due to changes A, B, and C

• % increase in completeness or quality of data (e.g., capturing competitors on new business opportunities or better populating fields for MEDDPICC)

• % increase in usage of a tool (e.g., +10% more opportunities came from our PQA analytics engine)

At the end of the day, RevOps success is largely viewed in the context of sales and marketing success. I personally would not say we had a great year if we did a lot of automation and process simplification, and had good metrics for all the above items but the sales team hit 75% of their plan. So whatever the the value prop for addressing RevOps issues, it also needs to at least have a clear tie to sales and marketing outcomes that are logical. If you're offering me clean data and an easier time for my team, I still want to know how that is expected to show up in the business outcomes even if it's not a direct "do X and get Y revenue."

Quantifying RevOps leaders’ success criteria consists of setting clear, measurable results that directly connect operational improvements back to tangible business outcomes. here are some key metrics you can potentially address when talking to Rev Ops leaders about your products, and bear with me as I'm not an expert on that:

1. Increased operational efficiency: Gauge the time saved on manual tasks such as data entry, data cleaning and healing breaches at rack level. If, for example, Sonar could allow you to reduce the time you spend on these activities by 30%, every man hour you save can be translated into so many financial savings.

   Enhanced Data Accuracy and Integrity: Track improvements in data accuracy and the concomitant reduction in errors or discrepancies that crop up within Salesforce. This will help build confidence decision-making and improve forecast accuracy. For example, you can measure the impact on revenue adjustments due to more accurate forecasting.

2. Reduced Tech Debt: How much are you saving by reducing tech debt? For this, consider introductory data maintenance prevention against streamlined operation accessibility. Metrics to include the average length away from production due to downtime, the costs of faults that are corrected in real-time and times diverted from strategic projects to meet urgent, unplanned repairs.

3. Faster Problem Resolution: Quantify the reduced average resolution time for salesforce issues. This would help you show how Sonar helps to identify and resolve problems faster and more thoroughly. Also, analyze any improved system saved up-time from a sales productivity and monetary viewpoint.

4. Improved Adoption and Utilization: Show that Sonar promotes user adoption and mastery of Salesforce functionality. This links in increased sales performance metrics, such as more frequent logging in sales activities or the visibility of one's own sales pipeline.

Now, in terms of what a great year would look like for me, these are the things I would normally consider:

1. Revenue Impact: Tangible impact on your revenue, whether it be a direct increase from improved sales processes or a better goal attainment by the sales team.

2. Reduced Operational Costs: A great improvement in operating efficiency leads to much lower operational costs.

3. Strategic Project Completion: More staff for strategic projects that have previously been shelved because of the burdens on operations which took up all our resources.

4. Enhanced Team Satisfaction: More satisfying work and less burnout among team members due to there being less in the way of low value-added, repetitive task-type work. This is leading to higher retention rates and morale all round.

5. Customer Satisfaction: A rosier picture than before includes greater satisfaction among stakeholders like sales teams as well as executive leadership. GTM activities have improved operation and there is clearer visibility into them.

In selling to RevOps leaders, highlight how Sonar can affect each of these key areas. Use case studies and hard data to show similar tools have led to gains in efficiency and benefits that are financial. Understanding which metrics resonate with RevOps leaders, and aligning your product's features accordingly, would significantly help enhance your sales strategy.

I will detail my answer around as a revenue operations leader, how do I identify the set of KPI’s and metrics to measure success? How do we know if we are trending in the right direction or a course correction is needed and how do I know if me and my teams have delivered what the organization needs from a revenue operations organization? 

First step, make sure that you as a RevOps leader do not operate in a vacuum. Some key considerations to identify the KPIs and metrics:

• Company Goals: Align metrics with the overall business goals. Is it about revenue growth, customer retention, improving sales efficiency or rep productivity?

• Key Objectives: Break down company goals into specific objectives for each function or business unit (sales enablement, marketing, Customer success.. etc.).

• Industry Benchmarks: Research industry standards for key metrics to understand your performance relative to competitors or key benchmarks. 

• Data Availability & Reliability: Choose metrics that can be readily and accurately tracked and measured based on the data your systems capture.

• Stakeholder Input: Involve key stakeholders from sales, marketing, and customer success to identify metrics that matter to them.

Make sure you are looking at both Leading & Lagging Indicators to track performance and measure success. 

• Leading Indicators (Early warning)

  These are proactive measures that predict future performance. For example, a high customer health score suggests a lower churn risk in the future (leading). If you are implementing a new system or a tool, rep adoption - logins, use of key features, improved engagement rates, saved time (call prep took 3 hours before and now it takes 10 min) are all great leading indicators.

• Lagging Indicators (Results & Outcomes)

  These are reactive measures that reflect past performance. Customer churn rate is a lagging indicator, showing the actual percentage of customers who canceled service in a period.Using the example of implementing a new system or a solution, in addition to updating the solution, did we really move the needle on outcomes. Reps engaged with more customers with contextual insights and that resulted in improved retention rates!

A Good Year in RevOps:

A good year for a RevOps leader depends on the specific goals of the company and what as a team we ended up delivering. Some key wins I would look for -

• Revenue Growth: Increased win rates, higher average deal size, improved retention rates and improved customer lifetime value.

• Improved Efficiency & Effectiveness: Shorter sales cycles, reduced manual tasks, improved customer experience  and streamlined processes.

• Stronger Alignment: Improved communication and collaboration between sales, marketing, and customer success.

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Leveraging accurate data to optimize decision-making across the revenue lifecycle.

Last but most important for you as a leader, high team morale and satisfaction amongst your ops team is the key to success!