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 Joel Arnold, Founder of ArnoldGTMAdvisors LLC, who shares why he thinks RevOps has an opportunity to have the biggest impact on a company as well as his predictions for the future of GTM teams.
Sweep: What initially brought you to the world of Revenue Operations?
Joel Arnold: I was the Chief of Staff to the CEO of a mid sized software company. I had been working on some M&A Integrations work with the Sales Operations team. The head of that department resigned and there was a scramble to fill the role. So, since I knew the team (but nothing about Go to Market) they asked if I wanted to also lead the department. A decade later here we are.
Sweep: What is one "out of the box" idea you had while working in RevOps? Was it successful?
Joel: The use of Marimekko charts for Pipeline visualizations. Yes, it was successful. IMHO it's the best way to inspect the pipeline.
Sweep: How would you describe your Revenue Operations philosophy?
Joel: I see RevOps as uniquely positioned to have the most impact on company value outside of the CFO and CEO. There's nobody else that can pull as many "rule of 40" type levers. RevOps is NOT about tools in the same way that fine carpentry is not about bandsaws. It takes craft, skill, and experience to do this well.
Most people under-sell or under empower good RevOps leaders but they can be a huge tool in a CEO's toolkit.
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?
Joel: I've brought in Groove to my company in Groove's early days. I got buy-in by selling the idea of the scalability of the problem that we were trying to solve and then going looking for the best software for us. I always tie it to potential ROI. That makes it an easier sell. The result was higher productivity of our outbound selling motion.
Sweep: What do you think will be the next BIG thing in RevOps?
Joel: Everyone is trying to figure out how to get any value from AI. The sexiness of "AI"-ifying every point solution is wearing off and the emperor mostly has no clothes. What we are going to see over the next little bit is AI agents who will try to drive value out of supporting your sales staff.
I think there's promise but I'm not sold yet. Good data comes from process, not tools. The reason most companies don't have good data is not that they aren't tracking things, but that they don't have the basics down -> Rules of Engagement, Clear Definitions, Methodologies, Visibility. Tracking a garbage process doesn't help us much. Augmenting reps with better preparation, messaging, enablement, etc. does. How we will do that is exciting and there is a lot of potential.
The next big thing that is actually here and driving ROI now is simple enrichment and automation. Something like a Clay.ai should be on everyone's shopping list if they don't have it yet. There will be a whole new job field for something akin to a "Clay Analyst" in the next 6 months.
Sweep: Where do you think RevOps will be in 5 years? And where do you think you’ll be in 5 years?
Joel: RevOps will take over the CRO role and actually make it a real CRO role. CROs now are usually just heads of sales and the closest thing you have to someone with end-to-end knowledge of your go to market is your RevOps leader.
In a few years GTM will be 75% technology with far fewer heads in sales or marketing roles. You'll need more people to tend to systems and the fewer people you have will be more free to speak with your leads/prospects.
The best person to lead GTM is the person that has a grasp of the technological underpinnings, sees the buying cycle end to end, and can coordinate everything. A small, elite, selling team powered by technology wins against a large team doing everything manually 9 times out of 10. It wins in every industry and nearly every business model.
Like, hypothetically, a senior leader, who understands the buyer journey, your own GTM motion, your technology... Someone who can translate between spreadsheets, investors, marketing jargon, sales methodology, TAM/SAM/SOM, marketing funnel, retention best practices, contract structures, etc. sure sounds like the right profile to lead your GTM doesn't it. It doesn't have to be a salesperson. I expect people will start to wake up to that fact soon and crush it when they do.
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