Here at Sweep, we're excited to be launching a new interview series highlighting people who said "hell no" to the status quo and established themselves as innovators in the Revenue Operations space. Some of these folks started in RevOps before it was a 'thing.' Others built teams with people from entirely different backgrounds or got creative with limited resources or adopted technology before it became popular. And some simply forged their own path forward.
In this post, we’re excited to feature Jen Bergren who works as an Operations leader and educator. She explains why she always focuses on people first and why she thinks documentation is always the key to success.
Sweep: What initially brought you to the world of Revenue Operations?
Jen Bergren: I was working for a marketing tech agency that realized it was doing RevOps all along, once the term was appearing more. That was in 2020 when all the information about RevOps online was different in every article, so I started talking to experienced people in this line of work to find out the information that was not yet shared in an SEO-friendly way online. I’m finally turning this interview research into a book this year!
As a generalist, I had several different careers before that, including photography business owner and graphic designer for magazines and other print publications.
Sweep: What is one "out of the box" idea you had while working in RevOps? Was it successful?
Jen: Documentation is the secret to success. I would argue that success is not possible if you haven’t documented the before state, the process you used to achieve success, and the successful after state.
Creating, maintaining, sharing, and using documentation early was successful at Remotish to enable the company to grow quickly. It allowed us to create a great culture of transparent communication and learning, create an onboarding program for employees and customers that could easily and constantly be improved upon, it gave us consistency and predictability in many areas of business, and more.
Sweep: How would you describe your Revenue Operations philosophy?
Jen: People are more important than processes, which are more important than tools. Or, if you like equation formats: People > Process > Tools. So many companies think the software is the most important part of RevOps, or that is the story they are marketing to sell their own RevOps software! People are the most important principle to account for in the work.
Sweep: What was one tool or piece of technology you introduced to your team? How did you get buy-in? And what were the results?
Jen: I am an advocate of using the software you already have to the best of its ability and keeping the tech stack minimal, especially for small startups. In my previous Head of Operations role, I would rather use current software better, than introduce new tech. Adding new software is a big project involving a lot more change management than using the current software more effectively, so it’s a time and frustration expense to consider, not just a cost expense.
Sweep: What do you think will be the next BIG thing in RevOps?
Jen: I hope the next best thing in RevOps is the opposite of AI! I hope to see more focus on people, less focus on software as a ‘silver bullet’ to solve all problems (which is not reality).
Sweep: Where do you think RevOps will be in 5 years? And where do you think you’ll be in 5 years?
Jen: Hopefully, RevOps will be better understood and respected, with fulfilling career paths in 5 years. And hopefully, I'll have created a lot more operations resources to help people advance their careers in the next 5 years!
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