5 Tips to Build a CRM Data Governance Strategy RevOps 10 min CRM data governance relies on a solid system.  This includes implementing processes to ensure the data seamlessly flows in the system across departments, while simultaneously maintaining the quality, usability, and accessibility of this data. CRMs are are considered an upgrade or a quick fix to marketing, sales, and service performances. The data gathered is meant to be constantly updated and free of duplicates or copies. But most data in CRM is dirty. After encountering failures with this mindset, companies often feel discouraged and are unable to get the hang of the problem. They start blaming the CRM capabilities when in fact the underlying problem lies in their very own database. Many, if not most, business owners pay no attention to the contact rearrangement or standardization of data and run new strategies based on outdated or siloed data. CRM data governance emphasizes the best practices to tackle these problems so organizations can rely on an updated and single data source to drive business growth. Before we move on to how you can go about building a CRM data governance strategy, let’s first understand why it’s needed in the first place. How Poor CRM Data Affects Revenue Data can swoop in and save the day by helping you tackle problems, keeping an eye on performance, enhancing your processes, and unraveling the mysteries of your industry. On the other hand, poor data quality is like having a mischievous gremlin. It can wreak havoc on your business, leaving nothing but chaos and mayhem in its wake.  Here are some ways poor quality CRM data can make you bleed revenue: 1. Shakes up business processes Since data management serves as a crucial source of information for all departments within a company, any inconsistencies can significantly affect various business operations. Even a small error in the master data can trigger a domino effect that becomes challenging to mitigate once it sets in motion. Inaccurate data leads to a ripple effect of mistakes across departments and drains significant company resources. Addressing data discrepancies requires allocating corporate resources to conduct root-cause analyses and implement corrective measures, impacting the productivity of your staff in the process. 2. Hinders effective decision-making When your data is inaccurate, it can throw you off track and lead to some pretty lousy decisions. Imagine relying on faulty reports and dashboards – it’s like driving blindfolded! Without the right information, your management team will be clueless about what’s really going on in the business. And that’s a recipe for making some really risky and uninformed choices that could seriously hurt your company’s future growth. 3. Puts a wrench in business operations Consider a scenario where a manufacturing company heavily relies on inaccurate supplier data. They have outdated information about lead times, pricing, and product availability from their suppliers. As a result, they struggle with unreliable delivery schedules, unexpected price fluctuations, and limited visibility into the availability of key materials. This leads to production delays, missed deadlines, and increased costs. The company’s ability to fulfil customer orders on time is severely hindered, causing dissatisfaction and the potential loss of valuable business relationships. The poor data quality in supplier information negatively impacts the efficiency and effectiveness of the company’s business operations. 4. Drives up expenditure Referring to the above example, if the company makes decisions based on inaccurate data, it is possible to end up shipping extra materials to the wrong address at the wrong time, costing the company extra. These direct costs can put a dent in the company’s profit. Indirect costs can include outdated pricing structures, inaccurate customer segments, and staff dissatisfaction. Fixing all these will cost additional resources and time, which otherwise could have been put to more productive use. 5. Affects regulatory compliance Compliance is a big deal for any company. You see, these data privacy rules in many countries dictate how personal information should be handled. So, if a company deals with sensitive client data, they gotta go the extra mile to ensure data quality and security. When it comes to verifying your contacts, it’s important to be thorough with your data quality. You wouldn’t want to accidentally send information to the wrong person just because of a small typo in their email address. That can lead to some serious consequences.  Inaccurate data can even land organizations in hot water, with fines and all. There have been cases where companies had to pay for text messages sent to numbers that had already been given to new owners. So, it’s better to double-check and ensure your data is accurate to avoid any costly mishaps. 5 Tips to Build a CRM Data Governance Strategy Implementing this process in your CRM may seem overwhelming at first, leading many to pass the responsibility onto someone else once the data is sourced. However, by focusing on five key concepts, your team can better navigate this task and work towards achieving success. 1. Define clear data standards Establishing clear guidelines and standards for data entry is crucial to maintain data integrity and consistency. By doing so, businesses can ensure that all customer data is accurately captured and formatted correctly.  This involves defining comprehensive naming conventions, which provide a consistent format for entering customer information. Additionally, implementing data validation rules helps in preventing errors and inconsistencies by validating the accuracy and completeness of the entered data. Setting required fields ensures that essential information is not missed during data entry, enhancing the overall quality of customer data.  By enforcing these guidelines and standards, businesses can rely on a robust and reliable database, enabling better decision-making and analysis based on accurate and consistent customer information. 2. Implement role-based access controls It’s crucial to grant the right access permissions to individuals based on their specific roles and responsibilities within the organization. This ensures that everyone has the appropriate level of access to perform their tasks effectively while also safeguarding sensitive customer data. Limiting access to only authorized personnel can significantly reduce the risk of unauthorized access or data breaches. This means

Top Revenue Optimization Software for 2025 RevOps 10 min Is your sales team striving for sustainable growth and profitability? Achieving these objectives requires a keen focus on optimizing revenue streams. Revenue optimization software is a critical element in achieving these goals. Comprehensive research and informed decision-making in software selection become crucial to maximize your revenue potential.  This article looks at the top revenue optimization software for 2025. We will conduct an in-depth analysis to provide you with a valuable resource. It will simplify your decision and help you implement the most effective tool for revenue enhancement. Top Revenue Optimization Software for 2024 1. Nektar 2. Clari 3. Gainsight 4. Planhat 5. Accord 6. Churnzero 7. Totango 8. Aviso 9. Vitally What is a Revenue Optimization Software? Revenue optimization software is a strategic solution that assists organizations in maximizing their revenue potential. The software leverages advanced data analytics, and artificial intelligence to provide actionable insights. You can understand finer details about pricing, demand forecasting, inventory management, sales strategies, and more.  Integrating and analyzing large datasets helps businesses make data-driven decisions that enhance revenue performance. Revenue optimization software thus serves as a critical tool for enterprises seeking to optimize their pricing strategies and boost sales. There is an added advantage of streamlined operations while maintaining a competitive edge. Overview of Top Revenue Optimization Software for 2025 Here are the ten best revenue optimization software solutions for your business in 2025. 1. Nektar Nektar is the world’s first AI for revenue operations. The platform takes an innovative approach to revenue management by harnessing the power of actionable relationship data to combat revenue churn effectively.  Nektar excels in addressing CRM data gaps, both historical and ongoing, through the application of AI time travel. It ensures organizations possess a comprehensive and up-to-date understanding of their customer relationships. The software can transform popular communication platforms like Slack or MS Teams into an early warning system. It can proactively mitigate revenue risk by identifying potential issues before they arise.  Extracting valuable insights from seller conversations and tracking champion movement makes Nektar adept at surfacing new pipeline opportunities and hot leads. Your sales team can ultimately seize revenue-generating prospects. Nektar insists on the importance of CRM data accuracy as a prerequisite for unlocking its generative AI capabilities. This way, the platform ensures it is a reliable and indispensable asset for your go-to-market process. Top features and benefits: Zero rep adoption Day 1 ROI Zero change management Seamless deployment 2. Clari Clari offers a comprehensive revenue platform to enhance efficiency, predictability, and growth throughout the revenue process. With Clari, revenue teams gain unparalleled visibility into their business operations for improved buyer-seller alignment.  There’s also proactive identification of risk and opportunity within the sales pipeline. The heightened visibility significantly improves forecast accuracy and drives operational efficiency. Revenue professionals can foster better connectivity, efficiency, and predictability in their revenue processes. It will ultimately empower them to achieve sustainable growth and success. Top features and benefits: Forecasting & RevOps Conversation intelligence Sales engagement Deal inspection & management Mutual action plans & deal rooms Data capture & ingestion 3. Gainsight   Gainsight is a pioneering revenue optimization software that exemplifies the future of growth through its innovative, customer-centric technology. Gainsight empowers customer success, product, and community engagement teams to scale their operations efficiently. The platform fosters alignment and provides a comprehensive view of their customers.  A holistic approach aids in boosting product adoption and proves instrumental in preventing churn and nurturing the growth of customer communities. Gainsight CS is thus a vital asset for businesses committed to delivering exceptional customer experiences while driving revenue growth and fostering lasting customer relationships. Top features and benefits: Identify and prevent revenue leakage Drive a high-performing renewals process Identify and execute expansion opportunities to drive growth 4. Planhat Gainsight is a pioneering revenue optimization software that exemplifies the future of growth through its innovative, customer-centric technology. Gainsight empowers customer success, product, and community engagement teams to scale their operations efficiently. The platform fosters alignment and provides a comprehensive view of their customers.  A holistic approach aids in boosting product adoption and proves instrumental in preventing churn and nurturing the growth of customer communities. Gainsight CS is thus a vital asset for businesses committed to delivering exceptional customer experiences while driving revenue growth and fostering lasting customer relationships. Top features and benefits: Identify and prevent revenue leakage Drive a high-performing renewals process Identify and execute expansion opportunities to drive growth 5. Accord Accord is a revenue optimization software designed to fortify sales processes and methodologies. It helps in enhancing the predictability and efficiency of deal execution. The platform empowers organizations to directly integrate their successful sales strategies into their sales representatives’ workflows.  Accord helps sales teams with the tools to execute winning sales processes consistently. It contributes to a more efficient approach to revenue generation. The emphasis on reinforcing established methodologies and delivering them directly to the front lines makes Accord invaluable for businesses aiming to optimize revenue. Top features and benefits: Standardized best practices across reps on every deal Up-level sales execution for enhanced deal velocity and win rates Increased team efficiency through decreased rep ramp times 6. Churnzero ChurnZero helps subscription-based businesses thrive at scale. It has a comprehensive suite of tools meticulously crafted to enhance efficiency, boost revenue, and deliver unparalleled customer experiences. Leveraging cutting-edge automation, personalization, in-app communications, and the innovation of Customer Success AI™ helps the platform facilitate seamless customer engagement. The platform guides them towards realizing the total value of their investments.  ChurnZero offers varied resources, including journeys, health scoring, survey tools, segmentation, playbooks, robust reporting, real-time alerts, guided walkthroughs, collaboration centers, and more. Furthermore, ChurnZero seamlessly integrates with your CRM and technology stack. It ensures a cohesive and efficient approach to achieving sustainable revenue growth while focusing on customer satisfaction. Top features and benefits: Systematically track upcoming renewals Use health scores to gauge the likelihood of renewal Automate renewal activities Easily identify expansion opportunities Increase in-app upsell conversions 7. Totango Totango helps cross-functional enterprise teams enhance productivity and retention

Top 5 CRM Automation Use Cases RevOps 10 min CRM is the soul of every modern business today. It serves as the epicenter for managing customer relationships and sales processes.  But, what gives it that special edge?  CRM automation – that’s right! The automation capabilities take it to a whole new level.  With automation, businesses have stopped wasting resources on repetitive tasks that have minimal to no impact on their revenues. Instead, they just let the CRM take care of these tasks helping them streamline operations, facilitate efficiency, and allocate more time to meaningful customer interactions.  And, that’s not all – CRM and its automation features can do much more.  In this article, we will keep CRM automation at the forefront and discuss the top five use cases through which you can maximize the ROI from your CRM. What is CRM Automation? CRM automation refers to leveraging technology to streamline and simplify various tasks and workflows of your business. It automates repetitive, manual tasks that otherwise hamper productivity. And truth be told, AI is simply upping the game now. Who doesn’t want a helping hand that takes care of data entry, sends personalized follow-up emails, and even reminds when it’s time to reach out to a customer? 94% of employees say they perform repetitive, time-consuming tasks in their role. With CRM automation, your teams can leave behind repetitive tasks and focus on high-value activities such as building relationships and delivering personalized experiences.  But there’s more to it, which is why we will now delve into why exactly CRM automation has become omnipotent today.  Why Do You Need CRM Automation? CRM automation has the potential to turn your business outcomes upside down. Here’s how.  1. Improved sales productivity Free up precious resources and automate repetitive processes. Let technology handle data entry, lead tracking, and follow-ups, allowing your team to focus on revenue-driving sales activities that push your business forward.  According to McKinsey, automation can boost global productivity growth by 0.8-1.4 % every year.  2. Better team collaboration CRM automation facilitates seamless collaboration between teams. Sales, marketing, and customer service departments can access real-time customer data, track interactions, and coordinate efforts. This collaboration ensures a harmonious approach, leading to satisfactory customer experiences and streamlined operations. 3. Data-driven culture Data is everywhere, constantly present and ever-growing, but analyzing it manually can be overwhelming. Since 85% of data is unstructured, automation is critical for a business to save time and minimize mistakes.  CRM automation captures and organizes data, providing you with valuable insights at your fingertips. Make data-driven decisions, identify trends, and uncover opportunities for optimization and growth.   4. Deeper personalization Whether you’re selling, marketing, or supporting your customers, personalization is the new black and for that, you probably don’t want to miss any details. CRM automation enables you to deliver tailored and timely interactions with customers. Automated workflows ensure that no leads fall through the cracks and that every customer receives the attention they deserve, resulting in more satisfaction and loyalty. 5. Sustainable revenue generation At the end of the day, it’s all about the bottom line. CRM automation empowers you to optimize your revenue operations, identify cross-sell and upsell opportunities, and nurture leads effectively. By aligning your teams and processes, you create a well-oiled revenue engine. It comes as no surprise that 61% of businesses leveraging automation reported exceeding revenue targets in 2020.  5 Use Cases of CRM Automation A CRM comes with a wealth of possibilities for your business. We will now explore the top 5 use cases to improve your CRM’s ROI. 1. Contact automation  Don’t let the important contact data sit idle. Use a CRM to automate contact data capture from your reps’ inboxes, calendars, and Zoom meetings. The platform can efficiently organize contacts by segmenting them according to their affinity and level of involvement in current opportunities. The CRM can also automatically build buying committees and keep the contact information updated. The numbers say it all. Companies that incorporate high-level automation into their sales process generate around 16% more leads compared to those that incorporate low-level or no automation. 2. Personalize customer service & onboarding  60% of consumers say they’ll become repeat customers after a personalized experience. If you want to offer personalized support right from the beginning of the customer journey, you need the right data. And what better source than CRM to gather all the data required for personalizing the customer experiences? All relevant customer information stored in one centralized hub which is your CRM helps automate customer onboarding workflows, guide customers through each step, and offer them necessary resources proactively. A complete view of each customer’s history, preferences, and interactions in the CRM empowers businesses with the data they need to address customer needs promptly thereby delivering consistent and personalized experiences. 3. Run lucrative marketing campaigns The top marketing priority of 44% of businesses is increasing revenue from current customers. To yield such results, a CRM becomes vital for businesses to run effective marketing campaigns. They can use the customer data in the CRM for targeting and segmentation of their audience.  Businesses can further personalize their messaging to resonate with specific customer segments, improving the conversion rate. CRM automation also plays a pivotal role by simplifying campaign workflows and automating email sequences for timely customer engagement.  To go one step ahead, you can also integrate CRM with marketing tools to enhance reach and enable cross-channel campaigns. Robust tracking and analytics of CRM provide businesses with insights into campaign performance, enabling them to optimize strategies for higher campaign returns.  4. Identify business opportunities and trends  Harness CRM analytics to dive deep into customer behavior, trends, and campaign performance. Understand hidden patterns, identify opportunities, and make data-backed decisions that will certainly take your business forward.  The analytics are important to identify high-potential prospects, understand their pain points, and tailor your sales pitches accordingly. With a CRM, you also get a detailed view of the sales pipeline, allowing your team to identify bottlenecks and optimize the sales process. The impact is evidently huge as 62% of retailers have stated that using big data gives them a competitive advantage. 5. Reliable sales

5 Strategic Benefits of Improving CRM Data Quality RevOps 10 min Your CRM data quality has a direct impact on how your B2B business scales. Explore 5 strategic benefits of making CRM data quality a priority. The market for CRM systems is exploding. The global market for CRMs is expected to reach $63.91 billion this year. While this says a lot about the increasing demand for CRMs, it does not give a true picture of how valuable CRMs really are. When it comes to realizing the true value of a CRM system, it’s not about the CRM itself. It is about the quality of data that resides in it. Despite this fact, CRM data quality continues to be a significant challenge for businesses. As a result, they fail to harness the true ROI that CRMs promise to bring with it. What kind of quality issues does CRM data face? For starters, 91% of CRM data is incomplete, stale or duplicated each year. And 70% of the data in a CRM decays annually. These inefficiencies wreak havoc on a company’s bottom line, costing companies over 10% of their annual revenue! This problem keeps increasing as more data gets added to a CRM system over time. And before you know it, your CRM turns into a mess with piles of dirty data that adds no value to your business.  Improving and enriching data quality is the first step to realizing a CRM’s true potential. High quality CRM data can open multiple doors for any revenue leader to steer their businesses forward, no matter how the waters are outside. It is a solid foundation that can protect businesses from uncertainties like downturns, recession etc. This article will take you through some of the perils of poor quality data in your CRM. And some top use cases of high quality CRM data driving ROI for a business. Low Quality CRM Data Leads to High Costs According to Gartner, poor data quality makes organizations lose an average of $15 million per year.  The obvious cost of poor quality CRM data comes with paying extra for CRM storage containing stale, incorrect or missing data. But there are also a lot of hidden costs that might be causing serious revenue leakage such as: Increased cost per customer Lower conversion rates Reduced revenue Dip in profits  Forrester Research has found that the persistence of low-quality data throughout enterprise systems robs business leaders of productivity, as they must continuously vet data to ensure it remains accurate. Ignoring these side effects of poor quality data can cause irreparable damages to revenue generation in the long term. To put it simply, any business decision made with poor quality data becomes risky. Be it your marketing campaigns, sales and marketing alignment, pipeline overview or details about your buying committee, poor quality data gives you an even poorer view of your business in all these critical areas. ​​Such data inefficiencies are causing revenues to leak through your funnel in myriad ways. Some of them include: 1. Frustrated sales reps   53% of salespeople have a love/hate relationship with their CRM. They hate manual data entry. 64% of sales teams say they would leave their current role if organizations don’t invest resources in a CRM data quality plan.  CRM systems are taking away valuable productive hours from your sales reps which can be spent on building relationships with customers. This has a direct impact on their quota and makes selling harder for them than it already is.  2. Incorrect sales forecasting   An accurate sales forecast allows revenue leaders to allocate resources efficiently and maximize returns for the future. But poor quality data leads to incorrect forecasts that can lead to massive revenue leakage. The result is wasted resources on avenues that lead to no result. 3. Poor ROI from CRM   CRM systems continue to be one of the biggest investments for businesses. But most businesses fail to extract maximum value out of this investment because CRM data is riddled with inefficiencies. With more time, CRMs end up becoming a major source of revenue drain, and end up adding little to no value to overall business goals.  4. Failed marketing campaigns   In an era where customers demand real-time and personalized messaging, relying on poor quality CRM data to drive such campaigns can end up as disasters. Bad data leads to a string of campaign failures that can damage the reputation of a brand. For example, basing a marketing campaign on a list of stale contacts only ends up spending money on an idea that will never convert.  How To Improve CRM Data Quality Having high-quality CRM data addresses and fixes revenue leakage at its roots. For revenue leaders who want to set up systems, processes and operations that lead to GTM alignment, the first-step is to fix the CRM data quality problem.  And to make sure the data in your CRM is trustworthy, complete and accurate, you must invest in technology that does not put additional pressure on your sales, marketing or customer success teams. Instead, it must enable them to do their job better while the tool silently works its magic in the background. A great example in point here is CRM data entry. It continues to be a largely manual exercise, taking away so much time from sales reps. Manual data entry also leads to higher chance of error in data entry or missing to enter key information that could lead to more deals.  What needs to be done here is not only find a way that automates CRM data entry, but also enriches that data from various GTM tools like CRM systems. This way GTM teams always have correct and updated data to work with. And with a layer of intelligence added on top of this clean data can drive revenue teams towards successful scaling initiatives.  5 Strategic Benefits of Improving CRM Data Quality Fixing your CRM data quality can have a direct impact on your bottom line and fix several unknown revenue gaps.  Here are some use top cases we have seen on how actionable insights from superior

5 Reasons for Low Sales Tech Adoption (And How to Fix It) RevOps 10 min With so many tools getting added to sales tech stack, why are adoption rates so abysmal? Get to the root of it in this blog. The sales tech stack is getting taller. The average virtual selling technology stack today has as many as 13 tools! The “shiny object syndrome” is very real. Businesses add sales tools to their tech stacks to treat the symptoms of sales problems. But rarely do they identify the underlying cause of these problems.  Leaders deploy multiple tools to resolve multiple issues. The consequence is The Great Revenue Disconnect – when revenue teams are left to deal with disconnected software with disconnected data that leads to revenue leakage. And reps feel discouraged about adopting new tech.  The result? Companies have wasted $313,000, on average, on sales tools that weren’t fully adopted by reps.  Why haven’t reps warmed up to sales tech despite having so many tools in their basket? Let’s find out in this blog.  What is Sales Tech Used For? Here are a few ways leaders are deploying sales tech: 1. Boost Sales Performance   93% of reps feel that sales tools help build better relationships with buyers. That’s owing to intent and signal-based features that come with most sales software for correctly identifying leads and their needs. 2. Gain Deeper Insights into Prospects   56% of buyers want to communicate with a salesperson five or more times before finalizing a purchase. It means that sales reps need to have more touches per lead. And each interaction should be relevant and personalized if reps want to stay ahead of the competition. 3. Drive Faster Sales   75% of B2B buyers say that the buying cycle has become longer in the last two years. The buying process is more complex and involves virtual selling. Therefore, reps use sales tech to anticipate future needs and leverage multithreading to close deals faster. A byproduct of the process is improved sales productivity. Reasons for Low Sales Tech Adoption (and How to Fix Them) While the benefits of sales tech are noteworthy, sales and RevOps leaders are still facing adoption challenges over the years. We discuss 5 key reasons for low sales tech adoption and how you can fix them. 1. The Problem: Multiple Tools Lead to Mixed Priorities   With so many tools available, selling doesn’t get easier. 86% of sales reps get confused about which tool should be used for which task. For example, if the head of sales asks for a specific report, your customer-facing teams might have to traverse through multiple tabs to get the latest report. Multiple tools trapped in silos only complicate a sales rep’s job, making it difficult to focus on their main task – selling. Adding to the issue, on average, only 28% of sales tools are integrated within organizations, despite the large sales tech stack. The result is disconnected systems between sales and other functions, leading to missed opportunities and revenue leakage from the sales pipeline. It’s no surprise that multiple tools end up stunting growth. As much as 52% of sales leaders report that their CRM costs potential revenue opportunities because the system doesn’t meet their needs. The Fix: Unified Data Solution for Better Visibility Across the GTM Team   A unified data solution automatically captures data – including contact, activity, and intent – which is otherwise spread across multiple tools. Without a unified data platform, reps have to toggle between several apps to dig out insights, miss quotas, and spend more time on training and other non-sales tasks, increasing costs. But with a unified data solution, reps can build the leads pipeline more contextually, close more deals and avoid revenue leakage. 46% of salespersons spend less time looking for information with a one-stop data platform. An added advantage of a unified dashboard is that reps access granular-level insights and consolidated leading indicators for current performance and future potential. They also have complete visibility of stakeholders within a buyer group, which helps them customize each interaction. Multiple sales tools could also cause an information overload. A unified data solution prioritizes speed with real-time insights across the pipeline. 2. The Problem: Reps Aren’t Involved in Sales Tech Purchase   For 76% of companies, poor adoption of sales tools is a top reason they miss sales quota attainment. That’s because most of these tools are purchased based on buyer needs compared to user needs. Generally, leaders (who aren’t involved in day-to-day sales) make the purchase decision for a sales tool. And consequently, vendors tailor the tool to leaders’ or managers’ insights. This also drives leadership-related reporting, analytics, forecasting, and pipeline visibility. Features that make reps’ lives easier – meeting scheduling, buyer behaviour tracking, automatic contact capture – aren’t considered. This disconnect between managers and the frontline is so wide that 42% of managers say it’s clear which tool reps can use for a given task, but only 32% of reps agree. As a result, sales tools don’t mirror how sales reps function. Your team may feel discouraged when they can’t figure out a successful way to make the tools work, resorting to conventional and slower ways. The Fix: Make Sales Tech Work for Reps and Not Vice Versa   Trust goes a long way in managing changes in the sales process. To start with, you can include reps in the sales tech evaluation process by gathering their inputs and understanding their day-to-day tasks. You can use these insights to choose a tool that works for them, not against them. Here’s a comprehensive list of questions you can ask the reps: What challenges do they face in the sales process? What’s inhibiting them from selling better? How much time do they spend on sales versus non-sales tasks? Do they feel stuck in mundane tasks like CRM data entry?  Are they confident in their sales pipeline, including visibility and opportunities? Are they successfully multithreading with buyer groups? If not, what difficulties are they facing? Is the tool sales-centric or marketing-centric? Are they effectively aligned with marketing? How much training would they need to learn the new tool?

Revenue Operations vs Sales Operations – 6 Key Differences in 2025 RevOps 10 min Imagine two departments in an organization working to increase the company’s revenue. Both affect the bottom line, eliminate departmental silos, and support business strategies and objectives. But both of them have different functions. Confused? So are most companies. The revamp of the customer lifecycle in recent years has seen a host of new revenue-related roles cropping up in organizations. So much so that most companies now struggle to differentiate between revenue operations vs. sales operations.  In this article, we differentiate the two – by definitions, use cases, features, and suitability to an organization. Let’s dive right in! You can also tune into this conversation we had with Lorena Morales, Director of Global Digital Marketing Revenue Operations at JLL, where she aptly differentiates between the two functions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1g_eUwq3Ks What is Revenue Operations (RevOps)? In simple words, RevOps aims to maximize the revenue potential of a company. It’s an integration of marketing, sales, and post-sales functions to provide better end-to-end administration for the management.  A RevOps function is designed to break down the silos between the business departments, including marketing, sales, customer success, customer support, and even finance. It uses cross-department visibility to achieve three shared objectives: identify new revenue opportunities, improve lead conversions, and cover up any revenue leakages.  What is the role of Revenue Operations?   The Revenue Operations or RevOps team aims to increase transparency and communication between all business functions – from lead generation to customer support.  The RevOps function is responsible for managing and analyzing all data points in a customer life cycle. Apart from protecting revenue, a RevOps team also identifies potential customers in the sales pipeline. Another role of the RevOps department includes bringing enablement practices. From employee onboarding to training modules, a RevOps team aims to increase visibility and drive communication by implementing various processes that result in an increase in revenue.  Now let’s have a look at Sales Operations. What is Sales Operations (SalesOps)?  Sales Operations, also known as SalesOps, aims to support sales teams to function more efficiently by providing strategic direction and reducing friction in the process. Sales operations are often referred to as sales, sales support, or business operations. SalesOps use software, engagement techniques, and strategic planning to drive business growth. They promote best practices for sales reps and provide cross departments visibility on any sales data.  In recent times, SalesOps has expanded its role to also provide insights needed by the sales team to ensure optimal and sustainable growth. Source: Forrester Sales Operations Value Model What is the role of Sales Operations? SalesOps have two significant functions –  a. Ensure that the sales department has enough resources to maintain productivity, and  b. Enable accurate data collection to forecast revenue projections.  The structure and daily duties of a sales operations team can vary based on the industry and the size of the company. However, functions like territory planning and sales forecasting are pretty much the bread and butter for most SalesOps teams.  A SalesOps team is also commonly expected to manage sales commission data and implement incentive compensation programs for sales representatives. These individuals will likely monitor the current sales pipeline as well.  It is clear from the above statements, that even though RevOps and SalesOps operate as different entities, they go hand in hand to benefit one another and the overall revenue of the company.  What makes them different then? Let’s find out.  Revenue Operations vs. Sales Operations : The major difference between revenue operations and sales operations is that SalesOps solely focuses on the sales function of a company, whereas RevOps focuses on bringing multiple departments on the same page to ensure business growth. Sales operations, therefore can be seen as a subset of revenue operations. SalesOps are more executional in nature. They take care of day-to-day administrative tasks, including collecting and managing data, tech stack, form submissions, and training. It allows your sales team to focus on approaching leads and closing deals. Revenue operations, on the other hand, take up a more holistic approach involving the entire organization. It acts as a bridge between different departments and tries to increase revenue opportunities by improving communication and aligning them with a common goal.  RevOps focuses on the entire customer journey and seeks to improve the customer experience at every touchpoint including prospecting, sales, onboarding, customer success, and renewal. By focusing on the entire customer journey, RevOps seeks to optimize revenue growth by improving the customer experience at every touchpoint. This approach helps organizations to build long-term relationships with their customers, drive customer loyalty, and ultimately, increase revenue. RevOps function of an organization: 1. Process RevOps facilitates a seamless customer journey from lead generation to cash collection by implementing various well-structured processes, which are imperative for revenue generation. These processes must be reliable and consistent. 2. Technology RevOps teams are also responsible for selecting appropriate tools from the technology stack to ensure the efficient functioning of these processes and aid revenue teams in being productive. 3. Data  Data is a critical aspect of a successful business, and accurate data in systems such as CRM is the foundation of RevOps. The insights derived from this data are vital in driving strategic decisions that aid in the growth and advancement of the business. 4. People The team in charge of managing the systems, processes, and data is the final pillar of RevOps. The size of this team varies based on the organization’s size.  Let’s have a detailed look at the difference between  Revenue Operations vs. Sales Operations in this table: We should also define the differences in team structure for both. It will vary but can we add some crowd-sourced information on that? In terms of team structure, the Sales Ops team is a simple one – they align with sales. Similar to the sales team, they are organized by region, product, or sales channel, depending on the company’s sales strategy. Sales Ops teams can also be at times organized by function, with

Watch Out for These 8 Types of Dirty Data in Your CRM in 2024 RevOps 10 min One of the most significant sources of business cost is dirty data – a towering $13 million on average, per year.  And it’s not just the financial impact.  With dirty data, your reps have difficulty tracking the lead’s source. They lose precious time and face the brunt of lower productivity. Not only this, it also causes resource disruptions, failed communication (both internal and external), and wasted marketing expenditures.  In contrast, high-quality data is key to a solid revenue operations function. Accessible and relevant data can help leaders gain timely and actionable insights, streamline processes, and make informed business decisions.  Since dirty data has a devastating influence on business – a sobering understatement – it’s critical to understand what it is, how it affects business, and how you can deal with it. What is Dirty Data? While data is essential to every organization, not all of it adds value to your business. One bad apple that ruins the whole marketing and sales basket is dirty data.  As much as 74% of organizations admit they need to improve data management to avoid competitive and financial disadvantages. In essence, dirty data is inaccurate information that disrupts a company’s database and impacts key functions like GTM, segmentation, personalization, lead scoring, prospecting, and ideal customer profile planning, among others. The result? Poor business decisions, inefficiencies, missed opportunities, and reputational damage.  And that’s not it. Poor data quality hits organizations where it hurts the most – on average, $15 million per year in losses.  Dirty data enters the CRM mainly through manual data recording, human error, poor inter-departmental coordination, or third-party integrations. To guarantee that every lead touchpoint is exceptional, you need to understand different types of dirty data and how to clean it. Types of Dirty Data in your CRM While dirty data comes in many forms, we’ve clubbed them under 8 categories. Let’s take a look below. 1. Duplicate Data Duplicate data is the most common type of dirty data. Repetitive leads, accounts, and contacts are just a few data points unintentionally shared with other records in the CRM. Although carbon copy duplicates are the simplest to identify and remove, partial duplicates – which are occasionally the result of human error – cause more significant issues. Duplicate data can lead to skewed analysis, inefficient workflows, overloaded storage systems, inaccurate data recovery, ineffective personalization, and repetitive customer communication. For instance, each account receives or expects a tailored interaction when it comes to ABM. If you have the same prospect listed three times in your database and repeatedly send them the same email, the prospect may feel that your campaign is automated and not personalized. It only frustrates the prospect, lowering the chances of conversion. How to clean Duplicate Data? In the current scenario, where businesses deal with enormous amounts of data daily, manual data cleansing is insufficient. Besides, manual cleaning doesn’t always get rid of partial duplicates. Invest in an automation platform that detects and cleans up data and merges or deletes duplicates. Additionally, it can sort and integrate duplicate data using criteria unique to your company. 2. Insecure Data Driven by data expansion, security regulations have transformed the marketing landscape. In parallel, significant privacy issues have disrupted consumer-firm relationships, prompting changes in both regulatory interventions and people’s privacy-protective behaviours. Important privacy and data security laws, such as GDPR and CCPA, are now in place. Data that is non-compliant with these laws, or insecure data, can attract steep financial penalties. For instance, a user may have previously provided their data without consenting to your data sharing and privacy policy. This kind of insecure data can result in serious repercussions. Today’s business environment is growing more and more consumer-focused, and digital consent, opt-ins, and privacy notifications are becoming the new standard. Being compliant with these rules becomes practically impossible without good CRM hygiene. And let’s not forget the negative impact on brand reputation. Giants like Amazon and WhatsApp have already paid hefty fines totalling more than $800 million and $270 million, respectively, for alleged GDPR non-compliance while battling public criticism. How to clean Insecure Data? Having a clean database can directly contribute to complying with data privacy laws. Best practices to clean insecure data include deleting unusable and insecure records from your CRM, merging duplicates for more up-to-date information, consolidating your data stack and automating the lead-to-account linking process, and hosting your CRM on legally compliant cloud software. 3. Outdated Data Would an old report from five years ago help your business make intelligent decisions? Data that seems significant today might no longer be relevant tomorrow. Analytics based on outdated data is like traveling with the wrong GPS Data only to drive over a ledge. Consider this. A website user fills out a form to get your resource. They turn into a prospect during the following months and interact with your company more, subscribing to newsletters and responding to emails. However, your CRM isn’t updated with this information. Therefore, the content you provide them is still geared toward a fresh lead rather than one already being nurtured. It limits their ability to proceed further down the funnel toward becoming customers. Other reasons for outdated data could be job changes, organizational reorganizations or mergers, and antiquated software systems that can’t keep up with the rapid rate of technological advancement. How to clean Outdated Data? The best way to get rid of outdated data is to purge and cleanse data before migrating it or integrating new systems. Another thing is to determine the critical period for your business. Delete any data in the system from before. While manual cleansing can take days or weeks, automation can finish this task for you in a matter of hours. So, switch to an automated tool. 4. Incomplete Data If a record is missing essential elements to process the incoming data before sales and marketing take action, it’s considered incomplete. Data gaps make the job of sales reps significantly harder. Unfortunately, incomplete data issues are pretty

Don’t overpay for People.ai, get these 10 instead RevOps 10 min Data-driven decision-making reigns supreme today for any modern sales team. And revenue intelligence solutions have emerged as essential tools for them to stay competitive and achieve their sales targets. People.ai has garnered attention as a comprehensive platform that harnesses AI to enhance revenue operations.  However, in the pursuit of optimizing their revenue strategies, prudent sales teams recognize the importance of exploring People AI alternatives that align more precisely with their specific requirements. This article looks at the best alternatives to People.ai to understand the diverse options that will help you enhance efficiency in your sales operations. What is PeopleAI? People.ai has established itself as a prominent player in sales operations . It has gained widespread recognition for its expertise in guiding enterprise sales teams toward optimal pipeline growth and revenue generation strategies. People.ai’s enterprise revenue intelligence platform is a strategic tool for organizations striving to navigate intricate sales cycles efficiently. Fueled by its proprietary AI technology, People.ai empowers sales teams to engage discerningly with critical stakeholders within targeted accounts. The platform takes a methodical approach that expedites sales cycles and positions businesses to secure high-value deals. Embedded within this approach is an acute awareness of the fundamental role of interpersonal connections in driving successful transactions. Top PeopleAI Alternatives Here are ten People AI alternatives you should consider for your business. 1. Nektar.ai Nektar is a top-tier People AI alternative focusing on revenue operations and intelligence. A cohesive contact and activity capture system, Nektar’s primary commitment revolves around maintaining CRM data integrity and cleanliness. Nektar’s driving force is seamless aggregation and proficient management of contact interactions and activities. They contribute to a comprehensive vantage point for revenue intelligence.  The systematic approach lays the foundation for organizational workflows for enhanced efficiency. Furthermore, Nektar offers an unobstructed perspective into the intricacies of revenue generation processes. The unwavering dedication to preserving CRM integrity and ensuring data hygiene solidifies Nektar’s role as an indispensable revenue intelligence platform. Key features: Actionable pipeline visibility Accurate, complete CRM data and reporting Account-based selling Targeting untapped revenue opportunities 2. Setsail Setsail is a pioneering player in sales optimization. It offers a comprehensive solution that empowers organizations to discern the winning selling behaviors propelling revenue growth. Meticulously monitoring the activities of sales representatives, deals, and accounts helps Setsail equip you with the insights necessary to maintain a competitive edge.  A cutting-edge revenue intelligence solution, it goes beyond mere sales activity tracking. It provides the means to gauge the alignment of reps’ actions with strategic objectives. With Setsail, integrating revenue intelligence into the sales process becomes a transformative step. It lets you stay informed about your sales team’s performance and ensure that suitable activities are pursued for optimal results. Key features: Analyze top reps’ activities Track behaviors that drive revenue for your business. Data-backed signals to identify prosperous areas in your sales process 3. Einstein Activity Capture (EAC) EAC introduces a fluid solution that harmonizes data interchange between Salesforce and email and calendar applications. It guarantees data precision and up-to-the-moment relevance. The tool effectively establishes a live linkage between essential platforms of your sales operations.  The intricacies of data management are effectively alleviated by EAC, allowing your sales team the liberty to channel its energies toward sales activities of greater strategic significance. This tool’s advanced data synchronization capabilities empower you to allocate your attention to pursuits contributing to revenue enhancement. Key features: Captures email and events from Microsoft or Google account  Adds events to the activity timeline of Salesforce records Captures contact data for email insights 4. MatchMyEmail MatchMyEmail is a dedicated tool working with a mission to enhance the efficiency of Salesforce users. It enables users to maximize productivity and accomplish more extraordinary feats within their designated time frames. Their offerings are a catalyst in liberating employees from the burdensome manual chore of selecting and logging customer communications into the Salesforce system. The underlying strength of automation lies at the core of this software. It effectively eradicates the time-consuming tasks associated with data entry. The dynamic feature empowers Sales professionals to redirect their efforts toward more value-driven endeavors. Seamlessly ingrained within the Salesforce framework, the platform also harmonizes the process of capturing pivotal customer interactions. Key features: Ensures accurate email and calendar data Permanently stores email and calendar data Compatible with any email client and host. 5. RevenueGrid RevenueGrid presents multifaceted capabilities that grant your sales teams an unparalleled edge. Pioneering the domain of sales strategies, Revenue Grid offers many advantages, like 360-degree pipeline visibility. This unique feature positions your team with the precision required to navigate intricate sales terrains seamlessly. Beyond this, the platform’s prowess extends to recalibrating sales forecasting accuracy. Facilitating strategic decision-making rooted in dependable insights allows Revenue Grid to empower your team to chart its course with heightened certainty. Furthermore, the platform imparts a transformative impetus to revenue teams bolstered by an unwavering dedication to elevating peak performance.  Key features: 360-degree pipeline visibility Actual and forecasted revenue match up Revenue signals to improve the sales process 6. Clari Capture Clari Capture unlocks the latent potential for revenue performance optimization across organizational echelons. It unveils dynamic tools engineered to ignite growth trajectories and catalyze tangible sales outcomes. Sales teams can harvest actionable insights and execute decisions grounded in informed acumen. Clari Capture allows you to bridge the gap between revenue generation and strategic decision-making effectively. Key features: Reduced administration time with automated data Real-time coaching in revenue-critical moments Enhanced forecasting accuracy for revenue precision 7. Collectivei Collectivei‘s platform harnesses the potency of AI-driven insights and provides an avenue for precise forecasting and assessing opportunity odds. This unique capability empowers sales professionals to refine their strategic focus rapidly. The platform automates activity and contact inputs into CRMs and associated tools. Collectivei addresses the challenge of unforeseen oversights by seamlessly integrating collaboration tools that enhance the buyer experience. Key features: AI-generated forecasting and opportunity odds Automated activity and contact input into CRM Transparency to remove unexpected misses with collaboration tools 8. Linkpoint LinkPoint catalyzes

7 Elements of a Successful Deal Review RevOps 10 min Knowing the in-and-out of deals will make your revenue generation predictable. With a deal review, you can know what’s going on in your pipeline, pivot wherever necessary and get ahead of risks. But it’s easier said than done. Most deal reviews end up being futile exercises. Instead of being organized sessions that empower your reps to sell better, they end up being unplanned, ad-hoc sessions that add little to no value to your sales team. The result? Inaccurate revenue forecasts, missed targets, and a dip in rep morale.  With the right strategy, you can use your next deal review to unlock your revenue potential. And most importantly – help your reps win more. This guide covers details on how you can use a deal review to your advantage. What is a Deal Review? A deal review is a meeting between a sales manager and a sales rep about the deals in a rep’s pipeline. Sales managers and reps review engagements with accounts. The aim is to determine the probability of closing specific deals. For deals that are stuck, next-best actions are agreed upon. The primary purpose of a deal review is to help the sales person develop sales strategies to win a deal. It focuses on a myriad of factors for sales reps to help customers reach a confident buying decision. If done right, deal reviews can be a game changer for sales execution. They can usher in a culture of consistent improvement across the organization. And help sales teams deliver exceptional results.  A well-structured deal review process clarifies sales issues and uncovers reasons why a prospect might not buy, as well as assists the sales team in removing roadblocks and accelerating the opportunity.  Deal review sessions are sometimes viewed as inspection or even micromanagement by sales leaders by many vendors. But they are very important if the company wants to grow in the right direction. Aseem Kishore, CEO, AKInternetconsulting.com Why Do You Need Deal Reviews? The pandemic-induced move to virtual selling has made selling harder than ever. 40% of companies failed to meet their quota in 2021. 93% of sales reps are experiencing significant challenges with virtual selling. Sales people are only spending one-third of their time talking to prospects. It’s a crucial time for leaders to help reps navigate this complex environment and win more deals. Deal review is that tool leaders can use to address these challenges. Here are some top advantages of deal reviews. 1. Identify risks and opportunities Deal reviews enable sales teams to bring the most effective deals to the forefront. An effective deal review can warn your sales teams of deal risks early on. With the right information, reps can act fast and influence the outcome of the deal to their advantage. Sales teams can focus on deals that are most likely to close. This prevents wastage of time and energy on deals that are probably not even real. Focusing on the right deals translates to better productivity and higher win rates. 2. Align with cross-functional teams An effective deal review throws light on why some deals are stuck due to a lack of collaboration. For example, a manager might see that a rep is not going beyond the demo stage. To help add more value to the demo, the rep can take help from a solution engineer for insights. Or the marketing team can help with some collateral. The product team can help with a better understanding of your feature differentiation. Working together can help sell more. A deal review can enable such cross-functional collaborations. Customer-facing teams can support each other and work towards common goals. 3. Increase rep accountability Each deal review finishes with a list of activities for the rep to do. A regular follow-up on those activities through deal reviews makes reps more accountable. Depending on what the rep has to do next to close the deal, progress can be tracked. This regular overview makes reps more aware of their own actions. It pushes them to do their best to close the deal. 4. Gain executive support Executive deal reviews present an opportunity for reps to seek support from leadership to help them close a top deal. This can include leveraging executive connections with a champion of an account. Or provide sponsorship to close a high priority deal. Reps can leverage the expertise and network of their executives to strengthen the deal. Executives can also bring in a new perspective into approaching the deal. For example, your rep might find that the champion of the deal went to the same business school as your CEO. Reps can use an executive deal review as an opportunity to leverage this connection and take advantage of it. 5. Develop sales reps Deal reviews tell managers where reps are lacking. By knowing the areas reps need help with, managers can get straight to the point and develop reps in 1-1 sessions. Knowing where to coach on reduces time wastage and leads to action that pushes deals forward. With more action-oriented coaching, sales reps keep getting better at selling. This has a multiplier effect on win rates and revenue generated. For example, a deal review can inform a manager that the rep has not followed up with a prospect in over 30 days. The manager can focus on telling the rep to follow-up, and coach on the best ways to reach out to the prospect that might have gone cold.  A successful deal review should be able to validate and bring in more clarity to certain key areas. Are we solving the customer problem or helping them achieve their goals with our approach or product? Are we interacting with the right set of stakeholders? Have we understood the key concerns and objections? Are we prepared to handle them?Are we good on the pricing as well as the model? Is the implementation timeline good enough?In short, a good deal review should increase the chance of winning by helping to handle customer