RevOps Blog Building a Revenue Operations Function With Sophia Francis, Director of RevOps at Dooly

Revenue Operations can often be a misunderstood role and early-stage companies that hire for it can present a challenge for operators. Sophia Francis, Director of RevOps at Dooly, gives her insights into the challenges of taking on a newly formed RevOps role at a startup and how it differs from that of a larger organization. This Revenue Leader Interview with Sophia has been lightly edited for clarity. RevOps: Hi Sophia, thanks so much for joining us today. Let's start with a bit of background. Could you tell us about your professional journey to the world of RevOps? Sophia Francis: I'm happy to be here! I started out of college in your typical SDR/AE kind of role and very quickly concluded it just wasn't for me, but it gave me a lot of empathy for folks in sales and support functions. I think that having that background has helped me be a RevOps leader because that empathy is there. I know what they are going through day in and out. Those folks face lots of rejection, and if RevOps comes and is harsh with them without asking questions, doing interviews, and showing that empathy, there will be a huge disconnect. That's where I've seen a lot of friction between Sales and Ops; my goal when going to any organization is to be a friend and not a foe. So I ended up becoming an "accidental Admin." While I was good at Sales, it just took an emotional toll on me. I basically said, "I can't do this anymore; what else is out there?" So I took over some Salesforce admin projects and got immersed in it from there. I then worked as an in-house consultant and builder for tech companies. I was in implementation there and got to learn Salesforce very intimately, working with enterprise-level folks. I would go to meetings with giant tech companies and sit at the table with their RevOps leaders, hearing their problems; that's when it all changed. I decided then that this is what I wanted to do. I just felt that RevOps was so awesome. I started taking lots of side gigs until I was hired full-time doing Sales Ops. Fast forward, I'm now the Director of Revenue Operations at Dooly, a role I started this year. RevOps: You recently began your new role at Dooly. Do you have any insights into what someone can expect and should plan for when entering a new RevOps role at a startup? SF: I wish there were a guidebook for this. I would say process and documentation are the most foundational things early on. One of the challenges I've had coming into a new role is creating new decks for the company but lacking the necessary metrics and data to make them. The question becomes, how do we get metrics? Well, first, we need a process and standardization across all revenue teams to have trackable metrics. We have to start with definitions of things like opportunity stages, PQL, and MQLs. Those things need to be clearly defined and understood by everyone. It's very basic, fundamental stuff. You kind of have to herd cats because people end up wanting to have meetings about meetings, but you have to say no, we are not reinventing the wheel here. Luckily, our VP of Revenue has the "ask for forgiveness, not permission" mentality - just do it and make the decision yourself. A RevOps person has done this before, and it's our job to make these decisions; we need to trust our experience. RevOps: So it's really about coming into a new role and being the "decision-maker" and trusting your experience and instinct to define the metrics and process? SF: Yeh, definitely. I'm actually hiring for Marketing Ops right now, and the two main things I'm looking for are someone who can have autonomy and believes in themselves. That's what I need, and that's what you're going to need because you're going to be the expert in Marketing Ops. Yes, you'll be in RevOps org, but you know more about Marketing Operations than me, so I need you to own that. So you have to go with your gut; we are not in an operating room, and no one's going to die. RevOps: Customer journey is one of the crucial focuses of RevOps. How can someone in a RevOps role turn their customer journey into the company's competitive advantage? SF: For one, have Revenue Operations as its own department. You can't have Sales Ops, Finance Ops, Marketing Ops, etc., living in their own silos. Those teams need to all be aligned, and that should be done under RevOps. Right now, I have this beautiful flow chart of what happens from when someone is an unknown lead all the way through advocate and everything in between - the entire customer journey. That needs to be owned by RevOps from start to finish so all the other teams can focus on their pieces of the journey but still operate cohesively. RevOps is the glue that holds them all together. RevOps: What does true alignment mean to you? SF: It's constantly changing; I don't think there is ever perfect alignment. Once you get alignment, your team grows and brings in more layers of management, and complexity it creates new problems. There are so many problems I don't even know of because I typically work with new and growing startups; I can't say what happens in a 2,000+ person company. When you go from an early-stage startup to a larger company, how does the Head of Operations make sure that everyone in departments of 100's of people work together in alignment? So you might be a fully aligned company at one stage, but as you grow, the challenges change, and you need to adapt constantly. RevOps: At what stage should a company consider bringing in RevOps, and do you think companies are waiting too long to do it? SF: Companies are waiting too long for sure. When I look for a company to join, there have to be specific traits, and one is that RevOps is in early. I've been in companies when it was brought in too late; it was challenging. I'll come in and say," ok, need to hire three people," but they will say, "but we hired for you for that.". So Revenue Operations needs to be hired at the same time as Marketing, Sales, and CS leaders. If you already have those leaders but don't have RevOps, you will be in trouble. RevOps: Do you think companies that are hiring for RevOps really understand the role and its responsibilities? SF: If you look at some of these job listings for RevOps, it seems that a lot of people don't fully get it. They seem to think that RevOps is expected to do everything. It's crazy. I saw a listing the other day looking for someone to manage the CS platform, Salesforce, Marketo, Deal Desk, build territories, build commissions, define the process, and train everyone on the Go-to-Market team. You just listed eight roles. RevOps: What do you think is the biggest challenge facing Revenue Operators today? SF: Change management always has been the biggest challenge. I hope that changes soon, but it remains a huge challenge for RevOps. A Revenue Operator has to be excellent at change management. You need to be able to explain things to your teams with grace who can often be frustrated with change and have lots of empathy for their challenges. You need to be able to take their feedback and acknowledge it. RevOps: Revenue Operations seems to be a constantly evolving role. If you had a crystal ball, what would you see coming in the future for RevOps? SF: What I am hoping is that the CRO function becomes more operational than sales-focused. If I look at CROs from other companies, they are all sales-driven and getting on sales calls. What we should really be looking at is revenue and operational efficiencies across the whole revenue team Go-to-Market. If the CRO only focuses on Sales, then why are they in charge of Marketing, CS, and everything in between? So I am hoping that the CRO becomes more operationally-minded, and people like myself - who have their hands around CS, Partnership, Marketing, Process, Automation, etc. - are the ones who take on the CRO role. I've seen it start to happen in a few companies, so I am hopeful. It's really just two different mindsets. One is go, grind, get it, and the other is about making data-driven decisions and not just gut feelings. Sales can be emotional, whereas Operations is more strategic and metric-driven. That's how a revenue organization should be run. The post Building a Revenue Operations Function With Sophia Francis, Director of RevOps at Dooly appeared first on RevOps Revenue Operations Blog.