Revenue operations vs. sales operations: what you need to know

In today’s ever-challenging business landscape, aligning teams and driving efficiency is more important than ever before. To achieve these goals, smart organizations rely on dedicated operational roles to streamline processes, manage data, and ultimately optimize performance.

Two of the most talked-about functions in this space are revenue operations (RevOps) and sales operations (SalesOps). While the names of the functions may seem similar, their focus, scope, and impact different significantly; understanding the differences between the two is critical to maximizing your company’s growth potential.

If you’re looking to learn about the differences between SalesOps and RevOps and how to unlock the potential of each, you’re in the right place. Keep reading to learn about each practice along with SalesOps and RevOps roles and responsibilities and how you can use each function to take your business to the next level.

What is sales operations (SalesOps)?

Sales operations is the backbone of high-performing sales organizations. It provides the structure, tools, and processes needed to drive efficiency and maximize team productivity. SalesOps includes responsibilities like managing CRM systems, streamlining workflows, analyzing sales data, developing compensation plans, and otherwise ensuring sales teams have the resources they need to succeed. 

For this reason, it comes as no surprise that a report from Salesforce found that 82% of sales professionals — and 89% of high performers — agree that SalesOps is becoming more strategic. 

More and more teams are embracing SalesOps due to the transformative benefits it delivers, including:

• Increased productivity. By automating repetitive tasks and optimizing workflows, SalesOps ensures teams can focus on selling instead of repetitive admin work.
  
  
• Data-driven decision-making. SalesOps provides actionable insights through analytics, enabling teams to refine their strategies and target the right opportunities.
• Improved forecasting accuracy. With standardized reporting and accurate data, sales leaders can better predict future revenue and manage pipelines effectively.
• Streamlined processes. Centralized tools and consistent processes ensure smoother collaboration and faster sales cycles.

Add it all up, and SalesOps helps sales teams unlock their full potential, driving consistent revenue growth.

What is revenue operations (RevOps)?

Revenue operations is a strategic approach that aligns marketing, sales, and customer success teams under a unified framework to maximize revenue growth and efficiency. 

Similar to go-to-market operations, RevOps seeks to break down silos between departments to ensure seamless collaboration, consistent data, and streamlined processes across the entire customer journey. 

The RevOps function is especially beneficial for companies using traditional sales models that involve complex, high-value purchases; it’s likely not ideal for companies focused on product-led growth. 

The benefits of RevOps include:

• Improved alignment. RevOps ensures marketing, sales, and customer success teams work toward shared goals, reducing friction and miscommunication.
  
  
• Better data. By consolidating data from all teams, RevOps provides a holistic view of the revenue cycle, enabling more accurate forecasting and decision-making.
• Increased efficiency. Standardized processes and integrated tools eliminate redundancies and speed up the sales and customer success cycles.
• Enhanced customer experience. By bringing teams together, organizations can create a seamless and consistent experience, driving customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Simply put, RevOps helps businesses operate more strategically, driving long-term growth and positive customer outcomes by bringing the drivers of revenue together.

Revenue operations vs. sales operations: What’s the difference?

While both RevOps and SalesOps aim to increase operational efficiency and accelerate revenue growth, they differ in scope, focus, and approach. SalesOps is often seen as a function within RevOps, with the latter serving as an overarching framework designed to align revenue-generating teams. 

Typically, organizations start with SalesOps — and marketing operations, too, for that matter — and then implement RevOps as they mature, bringing marketing, sales, and customer success together to get more juice from the squeeze.

The main differences between RevOps and SalesOps include:

• Departments served. While SalesOps focuses exclusively on supporting the sales team, RevOps involves marketing, sales, and customer success, aiming to create cohesion across all revenue-generating departments.
• Approach to revenue. SalesOps looks to optimize sales processes to increase team productivity and drive more revenue. RevOps, on the other hand, takes a more holistic approach, seeking to align every department that touches the customer journey to maximize team efficiency and revenue growth.
• Success metrics. SalesOps measures success through sales performance metrics like quota attainment and sales pipeline health. RevOps is more interested in broader metrics — like customer lifetime value (CLV), retention rates, and overall revenue performance.

RevOps vs. SalesOps: Roles & responsibilities

Both RevOps and SalesOps teams play critical roles in driving organizational growth. But their responsibilities and areas of focus differ.

At a high level, SalesOps is laser-focused on supporting the sales team, ensuring they have the tools, data, and processes they need to succeed. RevOps takes a broader approach by aligning marketing, sales, and customer success teams, fostering collaboration and streamlining the entire revenue cycle. Most organizations decide to establish department-specific operations teams — think SalesOps and marketing operations — before implementing RevOps to bring the functions together.

Specifically, SalesOps roles might include:

• Sales operations managers, who oversee tools, processes, and data analysis to streamline sales workflows and improve productivity;
• Sales enablement specialists, who focus on training, content, and resources to equip sales teams with the tools they need to succeed; and
• CRM administrators, who manage CRM systems like Salesforce and HubSpot, ensuring that all contact data is actionable for reps.

RevOps roles might include:

• RevOps managers, who align marketing, sales, and customer success teams by creating shared goals, processes, and metrics;
• Revenue analysts, who examine data across departments to identify growth opportunities and optimize revenue strategies; and
• Revenue technology specialists, who implement and integrate tools to enable cross-departmental collaboration and data visibility.

Altogether, RevOps brings teams together by shattering silos, enabling organizations to refine their ideal customer profile (ICP), improve upselling and cross-selling strategies, and ultimately deliver long-term revenue growth.

LeadIQ can empower SalesOps & RevOps with better data and sales tools

LeadIQ helps SalesOps and RevOps teams cover more ground by providing advanced data and sales tools that streamline workflows, enhance collaboration, and improve efficiency across revenue-generating teams. Here’s how:

• Accurate and enriched data. LeadIQ delivers high-quality, real-time prospecting data teams can use with confidence. Instead of wasting time with outdated or incomplete data, LeadIQ empowers SalesOps and RevOps to make smarter, data-driven decisions. Read about LeadIQ’s unique approach to sourcing contact data.
  
• ‍Seamless CRM integration. LeadIQ’s tools sync directly with popular CRM and sales operations tools, eliminating the need to manually copy data from one system to the next. As a result, organizations can maintain clean, organized databases — leading to better SalesOps and RevOps outcomes. 

• Automation and efficiency. By automating repetitive tasks like lead capturing and data enrichment, LeadIQ enables teams to focus on the highest-value activities — like strategy and process improvement.
• Cross-team alignment. RevOps teams benefit from LeadIQ’s ability to centralize data across marketing, sales, and customer success, ensuring all teams work from a single source of truth.
• Improved outreach. By providing tools for personalization and better targeting, LeadIQ helps sales teams connect with the right prospects with the right message at the right time — driving higher conversion rates while supporting RevOps’ broader revenue goals.

With LeadIQ, both SalesOps and RevOps can optimize their processes and focus on strategic initiatives that drive growth and strengthen collaboration. 

To learn more about how you can use LeadIQ to transform the way your SalesOps and RevOps functions operate, request a demo today.