Andrew Kodner

When it comes to cross functional items, ownership has to be a partnership to succeed. While Revenue Operations may be the primary on Territory planning and Pipeline target setting, IT might take the lead on systems and tools, in close partnership with RevOps. In earlier stage environments, most teams will work together because there aren’t enough resources to get the work done any other way. As the company grows, teams will often look to take ownership of specific areas, but to what end? Ownership can be approached in different ways, with some leading to better outcomes than others. * Ownership versus credit: Ownership should be synonymous with responsibility and accountability. If something gets done it’s not necessarily because the owner made sure the steps were taken to get there. That owner might also be seen as “getting credit” for the outcome. While responsibility and accountability are team focused, truly matter, and will drive the business forward as a team, credit and visibility do not, and initiate unproductive cycles instead. Focusing on the outcome, with clearly defined roles and responsibilities along the way, helps everyone succeed. * Become the trusted source: Should Revenue Operations be involved in most areas of the business that impact revenue, customers, and the flow of business information? Probably. Do most organizations realize that this is the case? Probably not. In areas of the business where RevOps has not traditionally been seen as the de facto “owner” (think Sales Ops, Marketing Ops, Customer Success Ops Partner/Channel Ops), like data governance, go to market strategy to name a couple, earning the right to lead takes time. As RevOps is much more than the combination of the Operations teams, taking the time to provide expertise and prove the value of RevOps as a trusted partner makes the ownership decision much clearer. Helping to explain what the company has today and what it could have with more evolved RevOps taking on more ownership roles to the first step. Until that trust is earned, and it becomes more automatic, focusing on flawless execution, ideal outcomes, clear communication, while working cross-functionally as the best business partner RevOps can be will position RevOps for future success. * State the case: If RevOps is not the owner of an initiative and the case for ownership is strong (based on the company, the team, and the situation) build a business case that outlines what RevOps will provide as the owner, what will be needed, who will be engaged, and what the go-forward plan is. Work to gain support for the ownership business case, keeping the above in mind that it’s the outcome that helps the business move ahead that matters. * Clarity wins: Spending time deciding which team should own the next project, application evaluation, or account hierarchy update is time diverted away from planning, execution, and supporting the revenue organizations. When roles and responsibilities are clearly defined, ownership matters a lot less. As long as there is clarity and agreement on who is doing what by when, with a person’s name and a due date next to each action item and deliverable, ownership will take care of itself.

Never underestimate the importance of understanding different perspectives. For any given topic, Leadership, the Board, Sales, Customer Success, Marketing, Professional Services, Product Marketing, and/or Finance bring unique views, based on their experience, biases, and needs (i.e. “what’s in it for them?”). Depending on the topic and the audience, catering messaging, format, and the level of detail is key to getting a point across, communicating an update, reaching a decision, or asking for an action to be taken. * Make meetings and updates effective: Time is valuable - make the best use of it when the time comes to work across stakeholder teams. Setting expectations before meetings and providing an agenda with advanced content to review are two of the best ways to earn stakeholder trust and show that you value their time and participation. When a meeting starts, be purposeful, take a moment to outline what the goal of the meeting is, what the desired outcome is, and what is needed from whom. Attending meetings isn’t a hobby (at least for most …?), so if someone does not need to provide input or leverage the information being shared, there is no need to invite them. The more people in a meeting, the less productive it usually is and stakeholders will check out, being less engaged when you truly need them in the future. * What’s in it for them: Holding meetings across multiple stakeholder teams takes time, especially when communicating updates or asking for input. While it seems efficient, avoid the urge to hold large, cross-team meetings across all stakeholders. It might save time, but the goal is to gain buy-in, support, or initiate an action from your stakeholders, and sticking to large meetings will dilute those results. Instead, vary the meeting cadence, holding a mix of large, cross functional sessions between smaller, catered meetings with individual stakeholder teams or leaders. This mix keeps stakeholders engaged and, most importantly, enables you to focus on just what Finance needs from you (and vice versa), what Marketing needs, and so on. * Check in first: Ask stakeholders what’s important to them and spend time to understand why. Does certain content need to be delivered in a specific format? Is there an existing meeting schedule in place? Has one team already been through enablement on the latest operational dashboard but not another? It’s quick, easy, and a mistake to assume what different stakeholder teams need. While it feels like it takes more energy, taking time to ask questions up front is an investment to save everyone’s time down the road, avoiding the need for follow up “clarification” meetings and calls, and always pays off. * Big points and details: Old adages like “tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, and tell them what you told them” weren’t written by accident. Somebody, somewhere, at some point in time needed to get someone else to make a decision, take an action, remember something, stop doing something and who knows what else. Different stakeholders have different needs and that means one size rarely fits all. To meet the needs of most stakeholders, use a common format every single time; start with what they’re about to see (a table of contents of sorts), what the action being requested is, then present the content as succinctly as possible to arm the stakeholder(s) with the information they need to act. Is that enough? Don’t some teams need more information than that? Absolutely, and that’s where the detail section comes into play (this may or may not be an appendix in all cases) – add the details below as needed, specific to, for example, what Finance might need but the leadership team may not. While headers like “TL;DR” work, they don’t always go over well in professional settings (i.e. know your audience). Help each stakeholder team help you by providing just what each needs, in a format they can consume and move on. * Summarize and anticipate: Just delivered a project update? Rolled out compensation plans? Updated Customer KPIs? After changes are rolled out, invest time to build and communicate a summary of what just changed and why each stakeholder audience should care (i.e. how it will impact them). As experts, When teams are busiest, important “after action” communications can fall by the wayside as people rush to the next to-do. Arguably, when teams are busiest, keeping stakeholders informed is more critical than ever, with those stakeholders often needing to update others on their respective teams.

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 and maintaining a successful partnership. Working with BDRs and SDRs, similarly, requires an understanding of what success metrics looks like and how the team is measured to be able to partner effectively. Instead of making assumptions, taking time to understand what's important to each team is a must that can't be overlooked. Most importantly, when you’re not sure, take time to ask questions – you’ll be surprised how much someone is willing to teach you about something they’re passionate about (and you might learn a thing or two along the way). * When to align: While it may sound obvious, the busier teams are, the more it pays off to check in and make sure all parties are aligned, with the same expectations up front. * Shared Goals: Discuss, agree on, and set shared goals that help each team make progress toward their respective team goals. What’s important to Demand Generation may be important to your team too. Does the same outcome spell success for each team? Write it down, make it public, measure it, and share the results across the company. * Context matters: When Demand Generation asks a question or makes a request, before reacting, take the opportunity to understand and ask for more context (i.e. "Thanks - what will that tell you? or “what will you do next with that information?”). Asking for context isn't about being nosy or slowing the process down. On the contrary, diving a deeper for context shows that you care enough to make the best use of everyone's time, to get aligned and respond with the best, more appropriate information possible. * What time is it?: Every team has a timeline to meet with a schedule in mind. When taking time to align on expectations and ask questions, take another moment to confirm the priority of the request. Before committing to a delivery date, don't be shy about circling back with your own team to prioritize the ask alongside other existing action items first (and if it's a truly urgent request, be ready to reprioritize accordingly, asking your leaders for their input as needed). * Do what you say: Be sure to meet deadlines (the moment you think the date may slip is the time to communicate that risk – don’t wait). Include the content agreed to for all deliverables (if a portion can’t be fulfilled, communicate the update as soon as it surfaces). If a status update is scheduled, share it on time (if the update will be late…take a guess…communicate when it will be released). Everyone needs to plan and Demand Generation is no different – respect the relationship and communicate on a regular cadence.

Adding specialization shows real benefits value when it helps team members dive deeper to solve problems and better understand the internal customers they support. That extra level of expertise enables us all to provide real insights, make recommendations, and serve as counsel, instead of just sharing answers to questions. Working in a model where time is spent on solving specific challenges builds expertise and that boosts credibility and trust with our internal customers – a must. It's also easy to over-rotate with specialized roles and focus too much on one or two areas, sometimes at the expense of broader knowledge and other points of view. With specialization comes the added responsibility of staying aligned, especially when getting started. Working to stay connected to understand the context and way our work product fits into what came before it and what comes after it in the process matters. * Rolling out enablement content to support your new discovery methodology? Enablement still needs to understand what the pipeline generation expectations are and how the results will be measured using existing reporting.