How do you build better relationships with demand generation?

These days, it's hard not to agree that Demand Generation is one of the most metrics driven teams focused on pipeline creation, whether it’s Marketing Demand Generation or BDR/SDR teams. Over the past 3-4 years, I would argue that Marketing Operations consistently dives even deeper than Sales Operations when it comes to early-stage funnel analysis. Understanding that Demand Gen has become truly data driven, with potentially more complex data access requirements, is one of the keys to building an ...Read More

This is an age old adage - more often than not, Rev Ops & Demand Gen teams tend to have friction. I think the root of the cause usually stems from a handful different items Data Standardization - Most ops and demand gen teams view the same data differently, and have different sources of truth for how they report on KPIs. Promoting data standardization practices within the demand generation/ops teams helps create a common starting point. Encouraging the use of standardized data formats, namin ...Read More

We’ve structured our RevOps team so that we have horizontal functions like systems and data/analytics that support all GTM teams and then we have vertically-aligned functions, such as Sales Operations and Marketing Operations, that go deep in the teams they support. This allows us to flex resourcing to the parts of the business that are the most critical at the moment while also ensuring all teams are supported and streamlining communications. The vertically-aligned functions are the connective ...Read More

It helps that I used to do Demand Generation and have a deep understanding for how challenging and fast paced it can be. One of the best things you can do to improve your relationship with Demand Generation is to partner with them to improve their alignment and connection with Sales. As a “neutral” party, RevOps can be the glue between Sales and Marketing – help champion Demand Gen programs with Sales and help bridge miscommunications or misperceptions about Demand Gen programs. Another effectiv ...Read More

This is a question I hear often, largely due to the historical friction between sales and marketing leadership. While RevOps may report to sales leadership in some organizations, it must act as connective tissue between sales, marketing, customer success, finance, and product. That means building strong relationships across all functions, rather than operating as “Team Sales”. Relationship-building is rooted in trust, and trust comes from consistent work and demonstrated alignment with shared go ...Read More

Regardless of function, building a better relationship requires a level of trust. One of the best ways to do this is understanding one another and their functions, get curious. You want to make it safe to tell the truth, define what “good” looks like, and be explicit about commitments and tradeoffs. Share your constraints, ask for theirs, and treat clarity as a kindness and accountability as a sign of respect. When people trust the process and know the rules, conflict becomes productive and spee ...Read More

I don't think Demand Gen is any different from building a relationship with other stakeholders. In another answer, I talked about the Trust Equation (https://trustedadvisor.com/why-trust-matters/understanding-trust/understanding-the-trust-equation) which is a great framework to use for anyone. It's also crucial to understand what Demand Gen needs from RevOps/Marketing Analytics and Marketing Ops. You want to make sure you are delivering on that and advising them on best practices, new opportunit ...Read More