It is time to start thinking about revenue operations and revenue enablement as a single function. I propose that revenue success is a function akin to customer success. Hubspot’s defines customer success, in part, as a business function that “[anticipates] customer challenges or questions and proactively providing solutions and answers.” Therefore, I suggest a working definition of revenue success:
- Revenue success
- Revenue operations and revenue enablement combined, as a single function, to anticipate challenges of the revenue organization and uses, monitors, modifies, and deploys the information, tools, and processes necessary to successfully address those challenges
Many businesses operate with GTM/sales/revenue operations and enablement as separate functional areas; the ops leader reporting into someone and the enablement leader reporting into someone else. This is a mistake, a holdover from the days of “sales admins” and “sales training.” Separation creates inefficiencies within their respective teams, as well as unnecessary complexity for the field. As both operations and enablement exist to drive revenue growth, they should be woven together to drive a unified, strategic cadence of programs, both novel and routine, to the field.
The implications are huge. Let’s explore them.