It was a couple of hours of pure joy on a normally mundane, uneventful Sunday evening.
Beloved cast members, world famous actors, iconic musicians, and the most gifted comedic writers. Any one of them on their own could fill a stadium. But at this event, they were like an orchestra - all playing just a small part so that together they could pull off something that was far greater than the sum of its parts.
If you watched SNL’s 50th Anniversary show last week, you were probably also smiling and laughing, not only because it was funny, but the star power was off the charts. ALL together in ONE space, on stage, backstage, or in the audience sitting next to each other.
I’ve been thinking about how special that was because Saturday Night Live is not a typical TV show. There’s really nothing else like it that crosses generations and has stood the test of 50 years.
So how did its creator, Lorne Michaels, even come up with the concept, not to mention figure out how to keep it relevant, AND create the loyalty he has amongst all the people required to put the show together - repeatedly?
I’ve also been wondering about the SNL model and how it relates to business today. How do you take something that’s good on its own, combine it with something else, for an ultimate outcome that gives you 1 + 1 = 3+?
Then, when reflecting on a call with a current client that I had last week, it struck me.⚡️
It’s a business function that’s relatively new. It started in SaaS because that industry is typically an early adopter of new methodologies. Now that we’re seeing the impact it’s having on those companies, more industries are adding the function to their business.
If you haven’t yet guessed, I’m talking about RevOps.
Similarly to how SNL creates a winning formula with cast members, well-known actors and musicians, and fantastic writers, RevOps integrates data, metrics, processes, and insights across revenue teams (sales, marketing, customer success). RevOps is a strategic function within an organization. Business leaders who recognize the opportunities it creates are like the Lorne Michaels of their company. They understand what’s possible.
The goal of RevOps is to create a single source of truth that allows leaders to make informed decisions. Experienced RevOps professionals can help bridge gaps between departments and improve efficiency.
George Hadjiyanis, a RevOps Champions podcast guest, summed it up perfectly. His comment was that sales, marketing, and CS often have moments of high performance but real impact comes from integrating them.
George leads sales and marketing at Parallax, a platform that helps digital agencies and software development companies manage their resource planning to help improve margins and optimize the utilization of their resources.
“There were pockets of great things that were happening across marketing, BDR, sales, and customer success. And we reached a point where we needed to bring that all together to be able to see those touch points and the trends that are happening around there.” Observing trends and innovating from there has also been a key to success for SNL.
Cross-functional collaboration and integration is what enables the magic of RevOps. Connecting systems helps to create a seamless customer experience because data can flow freely between teams and improve decision-making, internal communication, and customer handoffs.
The implementation of tech needs to be done thoughtfully and scalably though.
George believes that if a new tool affects a single team, ie BDRs, the implementation can be quick. However a system that affects the whole company requires a phased approach with pilots, UAT, training, change management, and support.
And back to what’s possible with RevOps…the client that I spoke with last week sells multi-year contracts, but they have to be renewed every year and there are many of them. Through working cross-functionally, and leveraging their systems, including HubSpot and Netsuite, they were able to get $500k of their renewals done with AUTOMATION.
Can you imagine the efficiencies of renewing all of those contracts through the use of technology? How many hours of time does that send straight to the bottom line?
RevOps is about aligning people, processes, data, and technology. What possibilities could it create in your organization? 🚀
Cheers!
Kristin
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Kristin Dennewill
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