In a B2B SaaS company, the marketing team generates a flood of leads and identifies them as marketing-qualified leads (MQL).
Then there is the Sales department, working tirelessly to transform prospects into sales-qualified leads (SQL). However, if they are not sales-fit, they may have difficulty converting those, resulting in frustration as prospects fizzle out.
The 4.67% churn in the B2B SaaS industry suggests that customer service teams successfully onboard and retain new clients. However, if your B2B SaaS churn is above industry standards, it suggests taking corrective actions.
What’s the workaround?
Centralizing sales, marketing, and customer success teams with operations blurs the traditional boundaries.
This gives us a new, integrated approach to driving growth, focusing on the revenue operations (RevOps) engine that powers successful companies.
Yet, amid all such transformations, one critical role remains often overlooked: GTM Ops (Go-to-Market Operations).
Let us first explore the role of GTM Ops.
Role of GTM Operations
GTM Ops is the strategic function that aligns marketing, sales, and customer success teams, utilizing data and streamlined processes to drive revenue growth.
The potential is so powerful that the question isn't whether GTM Ops is necessary; it's why it wouldn't be in the C-Suite!
GTM Ops remains an unsung hero for businesses, working behind the scenes and ensuring all parts of the revenue engine run efficiently. This brings clarity, breaks down silos, and drives seamless execution across the entire customer journey.
GTM Ops teams bring unique skills to the table.
They work to connect data, processes, and technology for a seamless customer journey that starts with the first touchpoint to long-term customer retention.
Here’s what GTM Ops includes:
Managing Key Data
GTM Ops functions to transform raw data into actionable insights. They track key metrics across marketing, sales, and customer success to identify bottlenecks and potential growth areas. In turn, they leverage data to optimize processes for GTM efficiency.
For instance, SaaS companies may use GTM Ops to track customer engagement metrics, allowing the marketing team to refine campaigns based on user behavior.
Championing the Technology
GTM Ops masters the tech stack by integrating tools, managing data flow, and ensuring quick technology adoption across the organization. They’ll manage CRMs, marketing automation platforms like Revlitix, and other key technologies.
For instance, GTM Ops integrates CRM and email marketing software to deliver personalized communications for lead nurturing and retaining existing customers.
Ensuring Cross-Functional Collaboration
Breaking departmental silos is another key function of GTM Ops. They bridge between different departments — sales, marketing, customer success, etc. to facilitate communication and collaboration.
For instance, B2B SaaS companies will have GTM Ops organizing regular meetings across all departments to keep everyone on the same page regarding product launches or customer feedback.
Mastering the Process Architect
GTM Ops also designs and implements scalable processes like —
- Mapping the ideal customer journey
- Ensuring smooth team handoffs
- Automating repetitive tasks, etc.
For example, implementing lead scoring to prioritize hot leads for sales and boosting close rates.
Acting as a Strategic Planner
Partnering with leadership teams at top, GTM Ops helps develop and execute go-to-market strategies. They define target markets, help marketing teams craft compelling messages, and align lead nurturing strategies for sales teams. The primary focus is to work towards a common goal of attaining revenue targets.
Example: Collaborating with sales teams to launch a targeted campaign for a new vertical with tailored sales collateral.
How GTM Operations influences decision-making at C-Suite
A typical C-suite in a B2B SaaS setup will have an executive leadership team responsible for strategic decision-making.
C-Suite consists of the following designations.
These leaders, on top, are driven by revenue goals for which they manage company finances and oversee day-to-day operations. One common yet key task involves leveraging data-driven insights to make informed decisions that positively impact business revenue.
This is where GTM Ops becomes an invaluable partner for C-suites to provide them with necessary insights for strategic choices.
GTM teams are familiar with the on-the-ground realities of customer acquisition, retention, and expansion. An in-depth understanding of the entire revenue process provides a holistic view essential for effective decision-making.
Regarding empowering C-suite teams, here’s how GTM Ops chips in.
Providing Overview on Risk Management and Compliance
Data security and compliance with industry regulations are critical for the CFO and COO. Here, GTM Ops helps the C-suite mitigate risks and avoid legal issues by monitoring processes and ensuring compliance. Such a proactive approach allows executives to focus on growth while minimizing operational risks.
Identifying Growth Bottlenecks
GTM Ops can pinpoint where prospects and customers fall through the cracks by analyzing every customer journey stage. This helps the C-Suite prioritize investments in areas with the biggest impact on growth. It involves analyzing customer journeys to identify opportunities to improve customer experience.
For instance, customers having a negative experience with the customer support team will mean providing training and resources to those teams. Accordingly, C-suites will leverage this information to prioritize investments in training the customer support team and setting benchmarks.
Unlocking Data-Driven Insights
C-suite decisions are driven by detailed analytics and reporting on customer behavior, market trends, and operational performance. Here, GTM Ops unlocks this information so that C-suite executives can make informed decisions about product development, marketing strategies, and sales targets.
For example, the CMO might use GTM Ops data to identify the most effective marketing channel for lead generation.
Allocating Resource Effectively
GTM Ops provides visibility into where resources (people and budget) are used across the revenue teams. C-suites can gather such insights to make strategic choices on hiring, training, and investing in tools. This results in restructuring teams for maximum effectiveness.
Another aspect of optimizing budgets for marketing campaigns, sales tools, or customer success programs.
Based on the resources database, CFOs can analyze the best returns on investment to make informed budgetary decisions that align with the company's financial objectives.
Providing Competitive Analysis
Access to market and competitive research data helps GTM Ops relay it to the C-suite. Powered by key insights into industry trends and competitor activities, this information helps executives stay ahead of the competition and adjust their strategies accordingly.
For instance, CMOs leverage these insights to refine marketing tactics, while the CTO can plan technological innovations to maintain a competitive edge.
Best Practices and Success Stories
GTM Ops earns its place in the C-Suite by driving alignment, optimizing processes, and harnessing data to fuel strategic decisions.
Let's explore proven best practices and real-world success stories illustrating their influence.
Establish Clear Communication Channels
GTM Ops and the C-suite. GTM Ops is responsible for the business's day-to-day operations, while the C-suite oversees the overall strategy. Both teams can be updated on the latest developments by streamlining communications and making informed decisions.
This begins with conducting regular meetings and establishing reporting systems to ensure seamless communication between
The result?
The teams can now receive constant updates on operational metrics, market trends, and strategic outcomes. This information can improve decision-making, identify areas for improvement, and track progress toward goals.
Success Story
Brad Smith (Co-founder of Wizards of Ops and CEO and co-founder of Sonar) was interviewed by Sarah Bell of Salesforce Ben. In the interview, he emphasized improving team communication and collaboration by enhancing understanding, managing workload, and creating collaboration opportunities. He also suggests using the Change Intelligence platform to centralize information and prevent gaps.
Cross-Functional Collaboration
GTM Ops can positively influence the C-suite by working closely with sales, marketing, customer success, and revenue operations. Here, GTM Ops gets a quick overview of all the departmental operations to ensure teams are aligned with predefined goals and strategies.
This collaboration helps GTM Ops bring a unified perspective to the C-suite driving strategic decision-making. It also promotes a more cohesive company culture and encourages innovation through collective brainstorming.
Success Story
Spotify's squad model is a testament to cross-functional collaboration, where employees are organized into multi-disciplinary squads that function like mini-startups. This model has each squad responsible for a specific product aspect, combining software development, design, and product management expertise.
Streamlined Processes and Automation
GTM Ops should streamline business processes and automate repetitive tasks to improve efficiency and productivity.
Why?
GTM Ops excels at analyzing existing workflows, identifying inefficiencies, and implementing streamlined automation-supported processes. This frees time, reduces errors, and improves the overall customer experience.
This helps teams work more cohesively, leading to better outcomes and easier management for the C-suite.
In terms of task execution, the GTM Ops will take care of the following:
- Process Analysis: GTM Ops can map the sales workflow and pinpoint areas that are ripe for automation.
- Lead Enrichment: Sales Ops can use a data enrichment tool with the CRM, providing GTM Ops with automatically populated prospect information to reduce manual research.
- Workflow Automation: GTM Ops can assign rules-based triggers for follow-up emails, task creation, and deal stage updates.
All the above tasks result in the C-Suite gaining clearer visibility into the sales pipeline due to the accurate, real-time data that GTM Ops automates.
Success Story
A case study by Nanonets suggests workflow automation to streamline the lead qualification process. The result was reduced sales cycle times and increased efficiency. The automated lead extraction and sales call analysis helped improve lead scoring accuracy and reduced the cycle times for closing sales. It resulted in enhanced precision, shorter closure times, and overall improved efficiency for the sales team
The GTM Ops' ability to automate and optimize workflows contributes to shorter sales cycles. This allows the C-suite to set more ambitious sales targets and predict revenue more confidently.
Wrapping up
C-suites need effective support from GTM Ops to drive strategic decisions, improve workflow efficiency, and ensure cross-functional collaboration. For this, different operations teams (RevOps, MarkOps, SalesOps, etc.) leverage tools like Revlitix to take their impact to the next level.
You can keep the C-suite well-informed about everything happening with automated reports, funnel analysis, and KPI alerts.
Ready to boost your GTM Ops and empower your C-suite?
Time to empower your GTM Ops and place them on top—right with the C-suite.
