Top 4 Traits Every Ops Professional Needs

Link copied to clipboard!

Are you considering a career in Revenue Operations? It's a new, evolving field that allows you to have a direct impact on the company's revenue and go-to-market teams' operations. So, how can you get started with this rewarding career path? Here are the traits that every RevOps professional needs.

What makes someone successful in RevOps?

A successful RevOps professional is both a big-picture thinker and detail-oriented. They're able to translate data, often from disparate systems, into insights that go-to-market (GTM) teams and leaders can use for strategy and decision-making. They're also strategists and planners themselves who have a unique perspective within the organization. When a RevOps team is successful, automations flow seamlessly between systems and processes to meet the needs of GTM teams. Of course, things don't always work flawlessly all the time. And RevOps teams take ownership of hiccups in systems and processes, seeing them through until they're complete.

What are characteristics of someone in RevOps?

Even though there's no typical path to a RevOPs career, there are some common traits that all successful RevOs professionals have in common.

1. Problem-solving

RevOps professionals aren't the type of people to see a problem and say, "…“Not my job!" Their role is to remove roadblocks to driving revenue, and that means they tackle any obstacle they encounter. When an automation breaks, their natural reaction is to investigate the cause, fix it, and try to prevent it from happening again. That problem-solving is proactive as well. When they foresee that a user request will create a potential conflict with an existing process, they don't just say "…No", they work to understand the need behind the user's requests. Even though they're comfortable putting their foot down when they need to, in this case they are able to find an alternative path to meet the request.

2. Communication

Every process update and new workflow impacts users. To prevent changes from creating mass confusion, RevOps professionals proactively communicate when changes are coming. Not only does that communication prevent surprises, it also helps to build and maintain trust with GTM teams. Plus, RevOps teams are making constant improvements to make their users' jobs easier. But those improvements need to be adopted in order to truly be effective. Successful RevOps professionals communicate and train users on how to adopt new tools and processes effectively. Communication is also vital to interacting with leadership . Senior-level leaders are big picture thinkers, and they may have a hard time understanding the granular type of work RevOps teams often do. By being able to connect their day-to-day processes to senior leaders' vision, they help demonstrate value and get buy-in for new tools, strategies, and processes.

3. Empathy

RevOps professionals may spend most of their time working on systems and processes, and it can feel a world apart from the day-to-day lives of GTM teams. But empathy can bridge the gap. Being able to put yourself in your colleagues' shoes will enable you to implement processes and changes that don't create headaches for them, and even can proactively address their problems. Empathy can help sales and marketing teams come together as well. RevOps teams have the big-picture perspective needed to help both teams see each others' point of view and improve communication. That can lead to collaborative problem-solving and better lead handoffs, which impact the ultimate goal of accelerating revenue.

4. Attention to detail

“Detail-oriented", may appear on every job description or resume, but that doesn't mean it isn't a valuable skill for RevOps. Oftentimes, broken processes and automations are caused by something that, on the surface, seems to be a minor change. To get to the root of the issue, RevOps professionals need to be able to notice when one item is out of whack. Attention to detail is also important for preventing issues. Let's say the marketing department is about to go full-steam ahead with implementing a new tool. While they may have asked the vendor about system integrations, they don't know of all the behind-the-scenes automations and workflows that may be impacted by that integration. RevOps helps prevent integration and implementation headaches by understanding, on a granular level, how systems can affect each other.

How to change your career into RevOps

People who end up in RevOps don't follow a typical career path, but there is a natural progression from a Salesforce admin role to ops . One way to get started is by better understanding the day-to-day lives of go-to-market teams. You can gain this insight by shadowing various members of the team, or simply sitting with them to discuss what they do. Taking this initiative will help prepare you for the type of problem-solving, analysis, and strategy that RevOps requires. If you'd like to start networking with other ops professionals, including those working in RevOps, check out WizOps . It's a community that's all ops, all the time, and a great resource to help you transition to a career in RevOps.