The RevOps Show: Recent Episodes
Doug Davidoff & Jess Cardenas
What is Revenue Operations? Revenue Operations (or more commonly referred to as RevOps) started off as a hot trend, but now every growth focused company needs RevOps in order to be successful. But what does that entail?
The RevOps Show is here to help you navigate! Go on an adventure every week with Doug and Jess as they work through common questions, scenarios, and issues companies are facing today to find solutions that will make an impact so you aren't solving your upstream problems downstream.
The four most dangerous and damaging words in any tech implementation: "All we need is." People want outcomes that come from low effort, cost, and things associated with a simple CRM build. If it were that easy, everyone would be doing it.
Jess picked this episode because "we cover some key things everyone should have in mind when implementing a CRM and what the real cost is. Doug and I also dig into how the status quo can impact the implementation." This episode is part of a series we put on. We'd highly recommend listening to the rest of the series.
If you like the show, please subscribe and share the episode. For updates on new episodes follow us on:
Twitter/X: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator
LinkedIn: Lift Enablement, Doug Davidoff
You can also watch the video version of the show on our page.
Thanks for listening and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
The phrases "Let's keep it simple" or "all we need is" are things we hear quite often when implementing CRMs, but simple isn't enough. Your CRM also has to serve your needs; otherwise, people won't see the point in using the new system. To get there you must ask yourself, "What's the problem we're solving for?" The goal with this question should not be simple, it should be complete. Jess chose this episode for our Best of RevOps Show series because her and Doug dive into how you define what complete is, what the real problems are with your CRM, and how your problems impact your CRM configuration.
If you like the show, please subscribe and share the episode. For updates on new episodes follow us on:
Twitter/X: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator
LinkedIn: Lift Enablement, Doug Davidoff
You can also watch the video version of the show on our page.
Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
System design can either make you a winner or let you fall to the game of your competition. The choice is yours. We're continuing our RevOps Show "Best of" series with a pick from Doug on system design because RevOps is only as good as the design of its operating system. Put another way - your system is perfectly designed to get the results you're currently getting, so if you want to change your results, you need to change your system. But the problem is that you can't judge/assess your system from within it. This episode digs into what the critical discipline of system design means.
Questions discussed in this episode:
- What is system design?
- Why is system design important?
- Why do we always go back to system design?
- Where do you start with system design?
- What are some of the biggest challenges that you run into? Where are places where people get stuck?
If you like the show, please subscribe and share the episode. For updates on new episodes follow us on:
Twitter/X: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator
LinkedIn: Lift Enablement, Doug Davidoff
You can also watch the video version of the show on our page.
Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
So many are striving for the "perfect database, but what does "perfect" actually mean? A database shouldn't be judged by its perfection - it should be judged by its impact on your velocity, by throughput optimization, and by successfully achieving your revenue objectives. Getting to that database is half the battle, which is why we're resharing this episode. Over the next six weeks, we'll be sharing the Best of RevOps Show. Doug and Jess have selected their favorite episodes and can't wait to share them with you.
Questions/Topics Discussed:
- What’s the perfect database?
- Why do you think focusing on the perfect database is a problem?
- What’s the key to having a priority?
- How do you know what the problems are? Where should you start in the journey if you want to be successful?
If you like the show, please subscribe and share the episode. For updates on new episodes follow us on:
Twitter/X: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator
LinkedIn: Lift Enablement, Doug Davidoff
You can also watch the video version of the show on our page.
Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Source of truth vs system of record
Disclaimer: If you are a data scientist, please skip this episode because it'll be painful for you.
Questions/Topics discussed in this episode:
- What is a source of truth?
- What is truth?
- What is sales and marketing alignment?
- What drives productivity when it comes to data?
- The danger of source of truth
If you like the show, please subscribe and share the episode. For updates on new episodes follow us on:
Twitter/X: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator
LinkedIn: Lift Enablement, Doug Davidoff
You can also watch the video version of the show on our page.
Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
The focus of this episode is on the three core sales pipelines of any business. To be clear, this episode is more about why there are three pipelines. Doug will be covering the structural problem from a go-to-market standpoint in terms of managing the functions.
Questions addressed in this episode:
- What’s the problem we’re trying to solve with pipelines?
- Why multiple pipelines?
- What are the three pipelines?
- What are the things you should think about as you put pipelines together?
- Why do you want to reduce the dependence on salespeople?
If you like the show, please subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
In this episode Doug and Jess talk through the RevOps role and growth strategy. What they get into in this episode is the core of what it means for RevOps to be strategic.
Doug’s Thesis: Whether companies are referring to what they’re doing as RevOps or not.
Tactical RevOps has taken hold and it’s enabled companies to get better at what they’re doing. As a result, they’re getting weaker. Those companies that are at the leading edge of this phenomenon are the ones that are taking it on the chin the hardest. The proof: the environment that they’re finding themselves in today.
Questions/Topics addressed in this episode:
- What is strategy?
- Where do we play? Where do we win?
- Once you have a policy and strategy outlined/your hypothesis outlined, what are the things you need to consider?
- Intent dynamics
- What are the other dangers as you build out a strategy?
- What do you need to get strategy right?
If you like the show, please subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Dive into the complex world of RFPs and why they fail for CRMs. The conversation is a deep dive into why businesses choose RFPs, where they fail when it comes to CRMs, and suggestions for rethinking the approach. Doug emphasizes moving away from only focusing on technical requirements and points to a more business processes-focused approach.
Not to mention this HOT TAKE🔥from Doug: The best that RFPs fail is when they make it too complicated and you end up not making a decision.
Topics and Questions Covered:
- Why do RFPs exist?
- Why do RFPs for CRMs often fail?
- What's wrong with technical requirements?
- Why don't we throw out the RFP?
If you like the show, please subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Some important pre-show questions for everyone:
- What if we had a cow hosting?
- Why are hotel doors so freaking heavy and thick, yet the walls are like paper?
- Should we start a true murder podcast?
- Have you seen the new episodes of Black Mirror?
After you answer these questions or debate these questions in your head, we’ll get into the actual focus of this episode: the good, the bad & the ugly of scoreboards.
Actual Questions/Topics that are Discussed This Episode:
- What’s the reason to have a scoreboard? What’s the pro of having an official scoreboard with metrics that are tracked by the organization?
- What’s the downside of putting a scoreboard in place? What are some of the negative impacts?
- Why have metrics?
- An inside look into the changes Lift made to the scoreboard.
- Why Doug is struggling with the concept of incentive compensation.
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Thank you to all our listeners for tuning into each episode and letting us have fun every week with the show. We aren’t going anywhere, but we’ve reached episode 60 and thought we’d let you know how much we appreciate you.
If you haven’t watched the video part of the show, the intro is worth it. The sheer look of surprise and confusion that Jess experiences with Doug’s intro is priceless.
A while ago Doug told Jess we were building a machine designed for greater velocity which ties into our actual topic today. Yes, this is the first time we’ve connected our opening to the topic - I’m very proud. Today Doug and Jess are getting into data structure and architecture and the right approach to defining it. The reason why? Because we’ve had the experiences (from the earlier conversation) and have always had a focus on data structure.
Questions/Topics Discussed in Today's Episode:
- Can you describe our approach on how we look at data architecture and how that’s unique?
- Before we are even thinking about the database, before we think about what’s our entity relationship diagram, we have to determine what job is being supported.
- Examples of industries and how to look at their data structures.
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
It’s officially summer, kids are off and at camp, the writer strike is still happening which is causing a lot of questions for Deadpool, and there’s a lot of talk about Ryan Reynolds. BUT that’s not what we’re here to discuss. Today Jess and Doug dig into developing and building a sales pipeline.
Questions Discussed in This Episode:
- What is the purpose of a pipeline?
- When are two pipelines better than one?
- How do you go about picking your stages for your pipeline?
- As you're putting your stages together, how do you make sure that it's set up to get the right reporting?
- How many stages are too many? How many stages are too few?
- How do you launch it?
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
We're in Part 2 of our now 3 part series around CRM Implementations and what you should pay for them. In today's episode we look at the key considerations when it comes to cost.
Questions and areas that get discussed:
- What are the key things you can consider when you’re doing a CRM implementation?
- Let’s talk about the different types of costs that you have associated with an implementation.
- Let’s get into the cost of the status quo.
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Today starts us on a two part series around CRM implementations and what you should pay for it. The gift that keeps on giving.
Questions and topics discussed:
- What is a CRM?
- What else should you consider when you’re looking at the cost? What other tools should you be looking at considering?
- What’s the cost of not knowing?
- Let’s talk about the different implementations.
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Today is all about forecasting and the common mistakes that are made.
Questions addressed:
- It’s been mentioned that forecasting isn’t the answer, so why is forecasting not the answer? Why do people think it is the answer?
- If we think about forecasting as jobs to be done, what are we hiring forecasting for? What are you actually using it for? Where is it beneficial?
- Why do we want predictability?
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
We had a strong end to the third quarter. A crazy strong end to the third quarter. In the first week of the fourth quarter Doug thought he was going to be able to take a breath and that theory did not last. It's been a crazy year, it's been a crazy month, and it's been a crazy quarter… it doesn't stop.
Today we're talking about the fourth quarter and end of the year for RevOps.
Questions addressed in this episode:
- Is the fourth quarter different from any other quarter?
- Should the fourth quarter be any different?
- Is this all about keeping score?
- Why is the fourth quarter different?
- How should you be thinking about Q4 in 2023? What should you be planning for when we talk about that?
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Today’s topic is one that Jess has been thinking about and has been a hot button topic in her head for the past few weeks. UAT and QAT. She believes they get interchanged frequently and wants to address the best way to manage both UAT and QAT, where people go wrong, and learnings they’ve had with launches.
Questions discussed in this episode:
- What’s the difference between UAT and QAT?
- Who should be doing the UAT and the QAT?
- Do you not think that you should have a checklist for the usage UAT?
- How many iterations would you go through during a UAT?
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
This may come as a surprise to some of you, but sales compensation doesn’t work as a motivator. Shocking! While there are certain circumstances in which compensation works, it usually doesn’t.
Questions addressed:
- Does sales compensation work as a motivator for sales reps?
- Does sales compensation motivate people to do the things that they should do that they don’t want to do?
- What tactics would you take other than using comp as your motivator? What are some specific things that you would do to motivate your sales team the right way?
- What are the other things you would do organizationally? What is your sales compensation philosophy?
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
We’re starting today’s episode with some exciting news! Based on some research, we may have the number one RevOps podcast on Spotify! Thank you to all of our listeners for being part of this journey and listening to the show. We couldn’t have done it without you all. Also be prepared because today’s episode is Exhibit A of attention deficit Friday. Now, let’s get into solutions architects.
Some Key Takeaways:
- Make sure you get to the real problem
- The solution architect’s role is really to define what the real problem we’re solving for is; jobs to be done
- The key element of understanding the issues as a whole and not just addressing the symptoms, that’s a main place where the solution architect comes in
- Solution Architect + Technical Architect = Fire Emoji
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Today we’re welcoming our first ever guest, Matt Dixon, to the show. If you don’t know who Matt is, he is a Founding Partner at DCMi and is Wall Street Journal’s bestselling co-author of The Challenger Sale. He has a new book out called The JOLT Effect which Doug gets into, and the conversation today goes on to talk about selling in today’s world.
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Today’s topic comes from a question Jess had while discussing RevOps’s role - who do you want to be a hero to? Who should RevOps be a hero to?
Questions discussed in today's episode:
- Who should RevOps be a hero to?
- How are you getting your customers to their yes?
- Here’s an interesting thought…what if the reason that RevOps is so important is because you’re not supposed to be comfortable?
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Some big news today - our producer, Hannah Munoz, gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. Until she returns, Doug has everything covered and hopefully they’ll keep the house under order 😉.
This episode of the RevOps Show is one of Doug’s favorite topics - sales pipelines. He and Jess talk about some of the biggest mistakes that are made with pipelines, what’s the same about every pipeline, how to know whether or not you should have more than one, and what you should do to have a clear, solid pipeline to drive sales outcomes and sales results.
Questions discussed in today's episode:
- If you don’t have a defined sales pipeline, how do I start?
- Who should you involve? As you’re defining inflection points and putting the pipeline stage in place, who should be involved? Who should be contributing?
- Are one or two pipelines better than one? Are one or three pipelines better than two?
- If you are breaking up one pipeline into two, do you lose functionality with tracking and reporting?
- What are the other things that you should consider outside of just stages as far as pipeline structure?
- Where do pipelines fail? What are the mistakes that people make with pipelines?
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Jess and Doug get into some surface level information on red work and blue work (more on this in a future episode). The main, overarching topic that you'll be listening to today is all about how people are messing up (or f-ing up) RevOps because they're always looking at things through the lends of efficiency.
Questions discussed in this episode:
- How does focusing on efficiency make you stuck? Why is it a bad thing to be focused on efficiency?
- Why do you think there is such a focus on efficiency?
- What does red work and blue work mean?
Don't miss Doug's HOT TAKE: salespeople are less good today, but it isn't their fault to a large degree.
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
If you’re in need of a pick-me-up, listen to Don’t Stop Me Now by Queens because, according to Doug, you can’t be in a bad mood after listening to this song. It’s scientifically proven. You’re welcome! 😄 Jess wants to get into our third principle from our 7 Principles of Radical Execution that we utilize internally here at Imagine. The third principle is probabilistic not deterministic.
Questions addressed this episode:
- What is probabilistic? What is deterministic?
- Is calling out what you feel the probability is a way to manage the fear of uncertainty?
- How do you shift from a deterministic mindset? How do you get out of wanting everything to be certain?
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Today we’re getting into a topic that Doug brought up during the Customer Experience episode - RevOps being a wartime discipline.
Disclaimer: Doug doesn’t like this topic from the get go because he thinks sales and business have used wartime analogies for far far too long. It tends to over-inflate the existential risk of things. From a metaphor standpoint it’s common, so Doug is happy to address the topic today.
Questions addressed in today's episode:
- What is a wartime discipline?
- Why does RevOps get treated as a wartime discipline?
- What is chaos?
- If you are in trouble, if you are in wartime, does RevOps not have a role there?
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Fridays are the new recording vibe, Jess is going to see the Backstreet Boys, and today’s episode has a lot of moments you don’t want to miss (especially on video). There are moments of laughter and moments of full on head in hands disapproval for the challenging topic of the admin as it relates to RevOps and the CRM.
Questions discussed in this episode:
- Why and when do you need an admin?
- Is Doug anti-admin?
- What should an admin be doing?
- And a great discussion about a hypothetical person named Frank.
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
We are back after taking a short break while Doug was in Hawaii, though it seems like half of his body is still there. And while we’re all living vicariously through his stories and wishing we, too, were on an island, today we are actually discussing a great topic that Doug threw out. Jess and Doug are tackling what almost everyone is getting wrong about data and metrics.
Disclaimer: Doug loves data and metrics. The ability to gather data and the opportunities we have is tremendous.
Questions/Topics discussed in the episode:
- How do you know what to pay attention to?
- The Four Flavors of Goodhart’s Law (we’ll focus on the first 3)
- Do you think people aren’t paying enough attention to trends and they’re just looking at the numbers as they are right now?
- Why are forecasts always wrong?
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
The RevOps Show has been characterized by introductions of sports from basketball to the Cincinnati Reds to the Stanley Cup. It occurred to Doug in preparing for this episode that Cincinnati is an interesting town because they have a major league baseball team and a football team but nothing else. In alignment with this sports theme, we have an opportunity for you to win one of Imagine’s nice vests. (See Show Notes for how to win.)
Getting into the episode, we’re here to talk about one of the elements that in many ways is the peak of strategic RevOps - sales structures.
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Today’s episode is all about customer experience. Unfortunately, customer experience is no walk in the part nor a good bedtime story. When you’re scaling a business, it seems like it’s 10x harder. But according to Doug customer experience is effortless because no matter what you do, the customer has an experience. Also get an insight look into Imagine's customer experience.
Questions answered in this episode:
- What is customer experience?
- Customer experience is this interesting place where lots of energy is wasted. Why?
- What role does revenue operations play towards customer experience?
- What's Imagine's customer experience?
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
It’s RevOps Show day! And the topic of choice is all around CRM configuration. More specifically, the fact that a CRM is only as good as its configuration. For full disclosure, Doug brought up this topic (exposed!) for today. It came from a conversation he was having where a potential client laid out what their needs were for a CRM. While they laid out some specifications, they didn’t articulate what success looked like for them or what they were wanting the CRM to actually do for them.
There’s a lot to unpack here.
Questions answered in today's episode:
- What is a CRM? Is it a solution?
- What does use of data mean?
- What does “adoption and utilization comes down to configuration” mean?
- What’s the difference between adoption and utilization?
- How do you define adoption and utilization?
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Jess and Doug are diving into The 3 Zones of Execution.
- Zone One is the Performance Zone. It's the next 90 days and is all about meeting objectives and hitting your number.
- Zone Two is the Enablement Zone. It's the next 90 days to a year and is all about staging, operationalizing, systemizing, and optimizing.
- Zone Three is the Transformation Zone. It's the next three years and beyond and is all about vision, change initiatives, and building capabilities.
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Today Jess wants to talk about system design and of course Doug is 100% focused, locked in, and ready to go…maybe!
Questions answered in today's episode:
- What is system design? How would you explain it?
- Why is system design important? Why do we always go back to system design?
- Where do you start with system design?
- What are some of the biggest challenges that you run into? Where are places that people get stuck?
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Today Jess and Doug are discussing five mistakes of RevOps. They aren’t the top five, but they are five that can be prevented.
5 Mistakes of RevOps covered:
1. Losing the plot
2. Champagne vision - beer tolerance
3. The failure to use friction
4. Is the juice worth the squeeze?
5. Becoming the department of sales prevention
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
We’re here today to discuss a story, one that may cause confusion, chaos and disruption to the RevOps world. Doug’s a bit hesitant to share this story with us because while using client stories as examples, because it’s real life experience, he does try to keep it completely anonymous (which he is going to continue to do). The movement to RevOps has created hype and as he looks at everyone talking about revenue operations, one of the things more often than not that’s the question to answer is, what is RevOps NOT responsible for?
Today's episode will answer questions on a client that shouldn't have a focus of RevOps...at least not yet. You'll get to learn answers to:
- When is revenue operations the wrong focus?
- If their problem is not a RevOps problem, what is it?
- What is a lack of force problem?
- What are the things you need to do for the problem to be RevOps?
- What should this company do?
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Baseball season is back! While the topic for today isn't around baseball, it's important that we all know the full lineup of the Reds. The actual topic for today is all about the ideal client profile (ICP). This has come up in a few places on the podcast and Doug likes to reference the fact that people think they have ICPs and in fact they don’t.
Questions answered in today's episode:
- Why an ideal client profile?
- What's an ideal client profile?
- How do you know when your profile is done?
- What are some misconceptions with ideal client profiles?
- Where do you start with putting together an ideal client profile?
- How often should you modify your profile?
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Doug has his cup of coffee and is ready to take on whatever Jess has planned for this episode which happens to be centered around the goal people have of a perfect CRM. And to confirm we’re talking about the perfect CRM/database. While they are two different things, they’re being used interchangeably. The unique aspect about this episode in particular is you’ll get to see a peek behind the curtain into how Imagine operates as roles reverse today and Doug is the one doing the question asking.
Questions answered in today's episode:
- What's the perfect database?
- Why does the problem of wanting a perfect database exist?
- What's the key to having a priority?
- How do you know what your problems are?
- Where should you start in the journey if you want to be successful?
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Jess is really happy in today’s episode, but will she remain that way? It all depends on if Doug brings out the soundboard. (Spoiler alert: of course he’s going to bring out the soundboard!) Today’s topic is really exciting as Doug finally got to choose what to discuss - dashboards and reporting and more specifically, effective dashboards and reporting.
Questions answered in today's episode:
- What does an effective dashboard and report accomplish?
- What makes an effective report?
- Is there a difference between what we're trying to accomplish with a specific report versus a specific dashboard?
- How do you put together a strategy for an effective dashboard?
- Why is it so hard to put an effective dashboard together?
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Baby Shark, Fight Club, Doug has the soundboard going today! But we’re not here to talk about the soundboard, today Jess and Doug are discussing customer acquisition versus revenue acquisition. What’s the difference? Are they the same thing? Find out in today’s show.
Questions answered in today's show:
- What's the difference between customer acquisition and revenue acquisition?
- What is lift?
- Why is it that there seems to be so much focus on customer acquisition and getting new customers over revenue acquisition?
- Should you focus on customer acquisition over revenue acquisition?
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Jess is working through Doug’s greatest hits, and today is one he’s excited to talk about - alignment and specifically alignment between sales, marketing, and success. On top of it, Doug has something new that he’s going to bring up on the subject, so you definitely want to listen in for that insight.
Questions answered in this episode:
- Why is alignment important?
- Is alignment a myth?
- Where does RevOps come in?
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
At Imagine we have what are called The First Principles for Radical Execution. Here, we’re looking at one that isn’t understood as easily, consider the opportunity cost. Doug and Jess will walk you through what that means, and how you apply it in RevOps.
Questions answered in today's episode:
- What does consider the opportunity cost mean?
- How do you determine what change is? If we’re trying to manage the opportunity cost and we’re trying to make a rapid change, how do you know how much you change and how rapidly? How do you know that you’ve gone too far?
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Hello there and welcome (or welcome back) to The RevOps Show! A lot is happening this episode as Jess has a new phone number and can’t seem to remember her Twitter handle. (Which by the way if you’re reading this, tweet her @JessDCardenas and ask her if she made it to 2022.) BUT, that’s not what we’re really here to talk about today. Today Doug and Jess are focusing on sales forecasting, a topic that has hot takes and gets Doug riled up.
Questions answered in today's episode:
- What is sales forecasting?
- What’s the difference between a top down approach vs. a bottom up?
- Who should be involved in putting the forecast together?
- Along the same line, who should be paying attention to it?
- How much attention should be paid to it?
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @JessDCardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Let’s talk about strategic RevOps. What does it mean? How do you do it? Doug and Jess are answering all your questions as they walk through what we call The 5 Levels of Revenue Operations.
Questions answered in this episode include:
- How does RevOps differ from Marketing and Sales Ops?
- What is strategy?
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @jesscardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
The data based conversation we had in Episode 9: I've Got 99 Problems, But (After Listening to This Episode) Data Migration Ain't One got Jess thinking about single source of truth. With all kinds of integrations that are going on, there’s a lot of conversation around single source of truth and how important it is.
Today's episode answers the following questions:
- What is single source of truth?
- Is single source of truth a myth?
- How do you determine what your single source of truth is?
- How do you make sure your source of truth stays your source of truth?
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @jesscardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
When it comes to migrating data, Doug’s simple solution to the mistakes involved is to just not migrate. Just don’t migrate. (If it were that simple we wouldn’t have a need for this podcast episode.) Instead he changes to say that you can migrate, just don’t check on it because that is what causes the migration to fail.
Today's episode will answer the below questions:
- What is clean data?
- What’s the difference between bad data vs. clean data?
- Is it better to migrate all of the data or is it better to migrate subsets of data?
- What is the best way to migrate?
- What are some of the things that you notice are obvious after the fact that you don’t think people realize or account for?
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @jesscardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
We’re back in the ohyay studio today with some extra flare. Thank you to our friends at ohyay for getting us hooked up! On the docket today Doug and Jess are talking about the adoption flywheel. They tackle the challenge of adoption and why it’s so hard, and how you can build your system to drive adoption of your users. If you haven’t had your coffee yet today, grab a cup and listen in as we break this down.
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @jesscardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
As the end of the year closes out, we want to thank all of you who listen and watch the show for listening in. It means a lot to us seeing how much you enjoy the episodes. We'll be back in full swing come the new year, but until then have a Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!
What is the RevOps topic we’re talking about today? Deal Desk. It’s a good thing only RevOps people listen to this because saying Deal Desk may have caused heartburn for thousands of sales reps. (Sorry, not sorry!)
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @jesscardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Today let’s talk about the challenge of changing CRM within a sales organization; change management with a focus around if you’re switching your CRM how you can manage that with your sales team. Just the sales team/organization.
Before we get into this, let’s make one thing clear, if you change your CRM, you’re going to impact more than just your sales organizations. Today our focus is just on the sales side of things.
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @jesscardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Let’s talk about CRM adoption and the difficulties around adoption. This includes what the right way is to drive adoption, and whether or not you use that as a measure in an implementation.
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @jesscardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Welcome back to the RevOps Show. Jess wants to talk about creating a RevOps role within your organization. Doug believes you should just hire us. But that wouldn’t make for a good podcast episode now would it. In all seriousness, as RevOps has become increasingly popular, more organizations are looking to create an actual role for RevOps. What does that look like? Listen to the episode to find out!
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @jesscardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Last episode we ran out of time for Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) scenarios. Today we’re back to finish the conversation and tackle what we didn’t get the chance to cover in Episode 2. Will Doug and Jess get through everything in time? Let’s give them a shot!
- Scenario 1: We've got a newly hired marketing manager at an organization that has really never done demand gen marketing. There's no baseline data and we're working from a blank slate. The CEO wants the marketing manager to put KPIs together. Where do you start?
- Scenario 2: We consistently putout content on our blog, monthly newsletters, and premium content. Our sales team uses our content for outreach. We're not clear whether or not the content is effective. What KPIs can we use to track the effectiveness of all the content we're creating?
- Scenario 3: We have an experienced sales team who hits their number, meaning they hit their closed revenue goal. We have internal goals to grow the business by 10x. What KPIs can we put in place for the sales organization to help drive that?
- Scenario 4: We have recently had a drop in customer retention. What KPIs can we put in place to help understand what's causing the retention issue?
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @jesscardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Buckle in for this episode because we’re touching on a couple questions we deal with all the time around Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). So what is a KPI, why are they important and what common mistakes do companies have with KPIs? Find out in this episode.
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @jesscardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.
Hello and welcome to the first episode of The RevOps Show! Revenue Operations is invigorating and exhausting, so our hosts, Jess and Doug, will be coming at you every week with a new episode to help you navigate this new concept. Whether it's answering questions, working through scenarios, or something else, you'll receive the knowledge and actions to work through your RevOps issues.
The main focus today is on sales quotas, their definition, how most companies go about setting a quota for their sales team, and options to stray away from setting a quota while maintaining motivation.
If you're liking the show, please make sure to subscribe and share it with your friends and/or coworkers. Follow us on Twitter: @dougdavidoff, @jesscardenas & @demandcreator to receive updates on when new episodes publish or to get other great insights. You can also watch the video version of the show on our page. Thanks for watching and remember you can't solve your upstream problems, downstream.