Wondering how your unique skills can help you build a successful career in RevOps? I have good news—if you love data, process, and efficiency, the RevOps org chart has a role for you, no matter your personality.
While there are many avenues that bring people to revenue operations, there are just as many flavors of revenue (or siloed) operations. In this article, we’ll call out five career tracks based on personalities and skill sets:
Keep in mind that these role types may exist in many different flavors. For example, some companies may have a dedicated marketing data analyst while others have a general business analyst. These categories will help you consider which one of these tracks is the right fit for you – no matter how you (or your employer) specialize the job description.
Are you all about data, data, data? The analyst track is great for people who are obsessed with data and research. Financial analysts, accountants, and even SDRs or digital advertising/marketing reps can find their place as a RevOps analyst.
Analysts need to be detail-oriented, curious, and driven to double-check everything. This role regularly assesses very large data sets and strives to make sense of them. Your goal isn’t just to understand the data, but how the data relates to the problems you’re trying to solve.
Great analysts are willing to build a plan for data enrichment and come up with better ways to solve problems outside of what was requested. They’re adept at gathering requirements from stakeholders and asking “why” a lot.
Data analysts may choose to follow a revenue operations leadership track or they may want to develop more technical skills and join either a data science organization or support other departments in need of data experts.
Systems managers and administrators have a mind for efficiency. Many administrators find their way onto the RevOps team by accident. In some cases, they’re end users on GTM teams, like BDRs or marketers, that are extra savvy with the systems they’re using. Sometimes they’re data analysts with a talent for picking up systems.
Systems people seek out the most efficient path to completing their objectives. They get caught up in optimizing for the user experience and they’re interested in how the UI feeds data into these systems. They might get certifications for the systems they use and start taking classes on database structure.
Systems administrators eventually must choose whether they want to develop deep expertise and focus on development and programming or if they want to focus on a leadership role. People can be both deeply technical and fantastic managers, but it can be difficult to dedicate time to learning the business and staying on top of technical developments.
Successful enablement people usually come from two sources: the GTM team or higher education. People who come from higher education are trained in adult learning theory and can apply that to their RevOps role. GTM team members, like sellers and marketers, who show signs of trying to scale processes through impromptu peer training can make fantastic enablement professionals. We want people who like to identify what the most successful representatives are doing and then share it with the team.
There are always exceptions to any career track and who is attracted to a given role. Sometimes CRM admins find that they prefer working with people in a requirements gathering or project management capacity. They may enjoy training people on how to use their system and then sharing feedback with the rest of the systems team so they can make improvements.
It’s possible for enablement people to move up into management roles within the go-to-market org. Conversely, some enablement pros decide to pivot away from training internal users and move into product support roles where they can focus on training end users, building knowledge bases, and creating training documentation.
The people who find their way into entry-level positions on the deal desk might start as BDRs or SDRs, marketing coordinators, or maybe entry-level accountants or financial analysts. They can even come from an admin role or HR.
To be a good fit for this team, you must love rules and really enjoy helping people move their opportunities forward. Deal desk people can analyze contract data and recommend pricing or give feedback to the product team. They also must balance the demands of a sales representative trying to hit their quota and the rules of the business.
Some of the best deal desk operators are content in a deal operations role. Many others move into revenue operations positions ,like an analyst or system administrator role, after they develop a better understanding for what they enjoy doing and have an aptitude for.
Analysts with excellent requirements-gathering skills often become project managers. We’ve also seen CRM admins with project experience migrate into this role. Project managers are more often found at larger companies, especially organizations with lots of initiatives around technical debt that need support.
Project managers are good at keeping people on track (time to herd some cats 🐈) and usually make good managers and directors. They’re skilled at working with executives and figuring out what to prioritize for the business.
While there are numerous routes to becoming a RevOps leader, all paths share an important qualifier: you need soft skills to make it to a VP or C-level position. People who come from higher education are trained in adult learning theory and can apply that to their RevOps role.
RevOps leaders must be able to network, manage up, and influence without authority. They must discard their personal bias and identify tactical steps to accomplish business objectives.
Regardless of your ultimate career goal, the skills that come with these tracks are needed in every go-to-market department and for every system your company uses. Analysis, attention to detail, communication, and process-oriented thinking are core tenets of this ever-evolving discipline. At the end of the day, the only constant in RevOps is change.
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