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How long is appropriate to plan for the initial implementation of the revenue strategy?

The C Suite wants an estimation and I am not sure where to target.
3 Answers
Cambria Moreno
Cambria Moreno
Highspot Director of Revenue OperationsMay 31

This will highly depend on what sort of headcount you have in place. In order to get basic infrastructure built it would take roughly a quarter to map out things like sales methodology, sales process, marketing philosophy, incentive compensation, etc. If you have a quarter to focus on flushing all of this out then you just need to hire to plan and execute.

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Eduardo Moreira
Eduardo Moreira
LinkedIn Director of Sales Strategy and Operations (EMEA & LATAM)July 6

The short answer: one quarter for the first actions to be making measurable impact. Anything longer can lead to demotivation and immobilization. Anything shorter and you risk blunders and blind spots, a launch with poor buy-in or asking for unrealistic resources / behaviours from the business.

The not-so-short answer: in my journey I’ve encountered enough strategy programs (and C Suites) to know the answer above can and should be pressure-tested. A few tips:

  • Understand your C Suite’s sense of urgency: analyse how they articulate time horizons for similarly critical programs (e.g. large product releases, organization redesigns);

  • Understand your company’s culture relative to bias to action vs. status quo magnetism. Identify and double down on change champions that will help clear your path;

  • Lead with impact, even if small: pricing, payment terms or sales comp tweaks can create a quick lift, getting you execution credibility for deeper action (e.g. funnel overhaul, marketing reset). Starting from existential topics can be (and is often) met with incapacitating resistance;

  • Be clear and aggressive with timelines: It is better to reprogram/re-partition execution later upon meeting acute constraints than to embrace a “let’s see how it evolves” mentality;

  • Share merit and redirect the spotlight often, a strategy’s success is measured by its results and authorship will be established in the long run, not by stage minutes.

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Kayvan Dastgheib
Kayvan Dastgheib
Tegus Global Head of Revenue Strategy & OperationsMarch 28

Determining the right timeline for implementing a new revenue strategy hinge on various factors, including the organization's size, the complexity of the sales process, and the existing infrastructure supporting the go-to-market engine. it is so important to remember that perfection is the enemy of progress, as aiming for perfection can lead to delays and missed deadlines.

Stakeholders on your senior leadership typically will convey a targeted go-live date for the new strategy, as they base their commitments and resource allocations on this timeline. As the architect of the strategy, your role is key in understanding their perspective on the end state materializing. Work backward to identify key milestones and hurdles that need to be overcome by the deadline.

For instance, if the plan is to launch the strategy at the beginning of the fiscal year, you will need to ensure that critical components such as financial planning, organizational design, compensation structures, systems infrastructure, and enablement programs are in place. These are the "big rocks" that require careful planning and execution. Collaborating with stakeholders and business partners, you can break down these big rocks into actionable tasks and workstreams, taking into account the capacity of each team to deliver on their respective responsibilities.

This collaborative approach allows you to create a high-level project plan that outlines the pace and sequence of activities needed to meet the stakeholders' expectations for the go-live date. A good timeline is based on a deeper understanding of the milestones on the way. It allows you to be flexible with that timeline, as you can align with both stakeholders and business partners on the opportunity cost of additional changes, or how velocity can be ramped up by deferring some of the action items or big rocks altogether.

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