Community AMA featuring David Maxey

Building a high performing RevOps function is an art and a science. Listen in as David Maxey, Sr. Consultant at GTM Consulting PNW, shares his advice in our RevOps Co-op community AMA. He answers questions from the audience about what traits to look for in a RevOps leader, how to scale the function, and even how to show RevOps ROI, plus a lot more.

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David Maxey, Sr. Consultant at GTM Consulting PNW, has had repeated success working with global companies to build RevOps functions that add value to their business. Here are his answers to your top audience questions:

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What does a high performing RevOps team look like?

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High performing teams are sustainably performing. That means performing at 85% consistently, not at 101%. This damages the team's work-life balance. It's important to respect your employees on this, otherwise you inject bitterness into the team. 

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A high performing team can function without their leader for an extended amount of time. - David Maxey

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What are 3 best practices that you’ve implemented to create a high performing culture?

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1. Don’t change anything the first 30 days at a new company, even if you think something needs to be changed. Your job is to observe and learn about the team first. 
2. Get an ethos in place for your team. I run workshops using the 5 Dysfunctions of a Team framework. Document this framework for the future. 
3. Embed the methodologies from your framework inside each team. When you onboard people, use the framework. 

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How do you start scaling your RevOps function?

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The first thing you want to do is look at your systems. Understand your data, your opportunities, the activities that go into your systems, and your users. Analyze this data. Next, talk to people in different departments and interview them with open ended questions. All of this information can point you to the problem areas in your RevOps funnel that need the most focus.

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What best practices can you share when creating org charts?

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At some companies, leaders don’t have to explain themselves, that’s not how I run a company. - David Maxey

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I respect org hierarchy from a title standpoint. If I hire a director, they need the skills to be able to work with senior managers on their team. But when it comes to accountability, I run a flat org. This ethos holds everyone accountable to each other. Leaders shouldn’t make changes to processes without having buy-in from their teams.

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How do you keep sales performance as efficient as possible in a lean market?

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Start by understanding your funnel as much as you can. You need to have good attribution, a linear stage process, and a clear definition of everything through the funnel. This will make it much easier to forecast. Don’t just ratchet up quota to drive more output from your sales reps, look at your data to tell you where you can improve your funnel. 

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If you just try to set unrealistic quotas, you’ll drive away your top sales reps. - David Maxey

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What characteristics do you look for in a high performing director of Revops?

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When I hire a Director of RevOps, I want to ensure they align with my leadership style based on characteristics like wisdom, gratitude, courage, temperance, and community. They should have at least 4 of these in common with me for us to be a solid team.

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How do you show ROI for your RevOps function?

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Show financial ROI that is believable, practical, and tied to revenue. A lot of vendors will send you unrealistic ROIs for their software, so don’t use their figures. Create your own business case for every single piece of software and explain what problems you are trying to solve with your resources. 

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