When it comes to "Revenue Operations vs. Sales Operations," many assume they are one and the same. While their functions and responsibilities overlap a bit, they ultimately serve different purposes.
Sales operations (sales ops) focus on refining the sales process and enhancing team productivity, while revenue operations (rev ops) act as the architect of a unified strategy that connects sales, marketing, and customer success efforts.
In this article, we’ll help you understand the distinct functions and responsibilities of both teams. Here’s what we’re going to cover:
- What is revenue operations?
- What are the key functions RevOps teams perform?
- What is sales operations?
- Key functions SalesOps perform
- The main differences between RevOps and SalesOps
- How do you decide if you need SalesOps or RevOps for your business?
Let’s begin with the definition of revenue operations.
What is Revenue Operations (RevOps)?
Revenue operations, often shortened to RevOps, is an overarching strategic function that integrates sales, marketing, and customer success teams to maximize revenue generation. It represents a much broader approach than traditional, sales-focused strategies, aiming to create a cohesive, data-driven game plan for revenue efficiency.
While revenue operations is a relatively new field in business strategy, its growing significance is undeniable. A recent Gartner study predicts that by 2025, 75% of the highest-performing companies will utilize some form of a revenue operations model.
What Are The Key Functions RevOps Teams Perform?
RevOps is a fresh addition to many organizations, blending responsibilities from marketing, sales, and customer success. The goal of the team is to reap the benefits of cross-departmental alignment for customers and the overall revenue engine.
Here are RevOps’ main responsibilities:
Data Analysis and Consolidation
First things first, RevOps handles sales data management and integration. Data is crucial for maximum performance. Experian suggests that up to 27% of revenue is wasted due to inaccurate or incomplete data.
RevOps teams are tasked with consolidating data from various sources—like CRM systems, marketing platforms, and customer feedback tools—into a single, comprehensive view. They turn this data into actionable insights, which help guide strategic decisions, predict revenue, and spot areas for improvement.
Process Optimization
We've all worked for organizations with overly complex (and often inefficient) workflows and endless bureaucracy, which kill creativity and efficiency.
RevOps teams focus on improving workflows across all revenue-related functions. For example, if the sales team faces challenges with lead conversion rates, RevOps might analyze the entire process to find inefficiencies. They might discover that marketing isn't supplying enough qualified leads or that the handoff between marketing and sales is problematic.
They do so by seeking more customized approaches to improve sales cycles and optimize processes. Research shows that a more personalized strategy can lift revenues by 5-15% and increase marketing ROI by 10-30%. Finding the right balance between efficient sales automation and personalized experiences can make business more profitable.
Technology Management
Then there’s technology management. RevOps oversees all the tech tools that support revenue efforts. Let’s say the sales team is juggling several tools for different tasks—one for lead gen, another for CRM, and another for analytics.
RevOps looks at whether these tools are working well together or if they should be streamlined. They might decide to consolidate tools or bring in a single platform that integrates everything, making life easier for the sales team.
Revenue Forecasting
Lastly, RevOps is responsible for accurate revenue forecasting and setting targets for individual revenue teams and the organization overall.
RevOps teams can help to predict future revenue based on historical data and trends. That’s one area where accurate CRM data comes in handy. These insights help companies plan their business activities better, allocate resources more efficiently, and focus on revenue streams that can accelerate their business growth.
What is Sales Operations?
Sales operations, or SalesOps for short, support the sales team in acquiring new customers and closing deals. Their main focus is providing the necessary tools and processes to help sales reps drive successful sales campaigns and grow revenue daily.
Key Functions SalesOps Teams Perform
Now that we’ve talked about RevenueOps already, you might find SalesOps’ responsibilities fairly similar. But that’s only on the surface.
SalesOps teams primarily focus on the day-to-day operations that directly support sales teams and are in charge of the following areas:
CRM Management
Unlike RevOps, which looks at overall strategy and how different departments work together, SalesOps departments zoom in on internal systems and processes.
A big part of it is CRM management. This includes ensuring customer records are accurate and complete through strict data cleaning procedures and standardized data entry. Occasionally, they also need to perform audits to keep CRM data in top shape.
Apart from the maintenance of accurate CRM records, SalesOps teams manage the integration of the CRM with other tools and platforms, ensuring everything works smoothly together and data flows seamlessly.
Sales Enablement
Sales enablement plays a crucial role in aligning the entire revenue organization—including sales, marketing, and customer success—towards a shared objective of driving growth.
SalesOps ensures that reps have access to the right resources, from strategic playbooks to automated systems, allowing them to focus on selling. With reps spending just 28% of their time selling, streamlining operational tasks is essential for driving long-term revenue growth.
Beyond that, sales enablement focuses on improving overall performance through individualized coaching and group training, technology integration, and data-driven insights. The goal is to equip every customer-facing team with the skills, knowledge, and resources needed to effectively engage with prospects and customers. The impact of these efforts is continuously measured to enhance key outcomes like revenue growth, customer satisfaction, and organizational efficiency.
Technology Integration
Another major responsibility of SalesOps teams is integrating new technologies into the sales tech stack. They often evaluate vendors to find the best fit for their needs.
Once a tool is selected, they’re responsible for its successful implementation, which usually includes training sales reps on how to use the new software. They also handle troubleshooting any integration issues that may arise.
The Main Differences Between Revenue Operations and Sales Operations
Now that we’ve covered the main functions of both teams, let’s compare them side by side so you can clearly see how the two teams differ based on:
- KPIs
- Teams
- Objectives
- Who they report to.
Due to its cross-departmental nature, RevOps is in charge of an overarching strategy that maximizes revenue efficiency across sales, marketing, and customer success teams.
This unified approach helps the team enhance the entire customer experience journey, leading to higher customer satisfaction rates. RevOps teams track a comprehensive range of data across multiple departments, including customer acquisition cost, customer lifetime value, and revenue efficiency.
In contrast, SalesOps employs a more tactical approach, concentrating on optimizing the performance of individual sales teams to improve cash flow quickly. SalesOps is dedicated solely to the sales process, aiming to strengthen the relationship between sales reps and clients. Key metrics for SalesOps include quota attainment, win rate, and average deal size.
How Do You Decide if You Need SalesOps or RevOps for Your Business?
Figuring out whether you need SalesOps or RevOps comes down to where your business is in its growth journey.
The sales team often needs the most attention when you’re just getting your company off the ground. Setting up a dedicated SalesOps team can help streamline sales processes, optimize your CRM, and provide the tactical support your salespeople need to bring in clients and retain them.
You might also have a MarketingOps team focusing on marketing efforts.
As your business starts to grow and things become more established, you’ll notice the need for better alignment between departments. This is where transitioning to RevOps makes sense. A RevOps team takes a broader approach by handling operations across sales, marketing, and customer success. Ultimately, RevOps helps you break down silos, improve efficiency, and ensure everyone is working toward the same goals.
Eventually, your go-to-market (GTM) teams might become too large and complex for a single RevOps team to manage everything centrally. At this stage, your RevOps function should evolve to include individual SalesOps, MarketingOps, and Customer Success Ops teams. These teams report to the same manager and collaborate closely to make sure that tech and processes across the organization work well together.
Closing Thoughts
SalesOps and RevOps have different focus areas, but both aim to drive sales revenue growth. SalesOps typically handles the day-to-day operations and resources that help sales teams perform better, while RevOps takes a broader view, aligning revenue strategies and optimizing the entire revenue process.
As your business scales, integrating a RevOps team can make a significant difference. It bridges the gap between immediate sales needs and long-term revenue goals, helping your business not just keep up, but lead the way.