Revenue is oxygen to a business. Without revenue, businesses can’t sustain themselves.

This is my guide to understanding revenue operations. Tailored for marketing and sales managers, this is the numbers game that fuels revenue.

Pillar 1: Brand Awareness

Aimed at increasing your brand’s visibility and recognition, the goal is not to get customers. This is an art of spreading your brand far and wide.

• Display Ads on Webpages and Social Media
• Billboards, Posters, and Traditional Media
• Measured by Reach and Impressions (Not Clicks)

A common misconception of marketing is finding the one thing ‘that works’. The truth is one tactic won’t make or break your bank account. They work together in balance.

For more on this balance, please refer to Multi-Channel Attribution.

Pillar 2: Lead Generation

Make the connection between visitors and customers. Find the common thread between people willing to spend money at your business, and understand their needs in more detail.

• Downloadable Ebooks, Webinars, and Live Streams
• In-Person Workshops, Training Events, or Tours
• Targeted Ads Featuring an Offer or Sale

Once again, the goal is not to land big-ticket customers. Instead, you’re looking to warm up the natural introduction of your sales team.

Pillar 3: Sales

Work the phone, do outreach, and connect. This stage of the process is all about connecting with customers and closing the deal.

• Product Demos, Hand-Holding
• Proposal Writing, Contract Discussions
• Cataloguing Prices and Discounts
• Closing the Sale

Sales professionals know reaching out is only part of the job. The other half is closing customers. Knowing how someone buys your product is incredibly important.

Pillar 4: Onboarding

You have new customers, but now what? What’s your onboarding process? How do you ensure your customers success adopt, use, and enjoy the benefit of your product or service?

• Onboarding Calls, Check-Ins, Customer Feedback
• Manager Training, Employee Training
• Troubleshooting

The day they become a customer is when the renewal process begins.

Pillar 5: Customer Success

Ensuring continued use and value, the goal is to learn and understand your customers usage behaviour around your product or service.

• Account Errors, Billing Issues
• User Login Errors, Technical Issues
• Areas Where Engagement Drops

The goal here is to thoroughly understand how your customers are consuming your product or service. Knowing this and communicating it internally helps secure the renewal.

Pillar 6: Renewals

Renewals are like sales with more empathy. Just like the effort to close the customer, renewing them is a process of contract discussion and pricing.

• Renew, Upgrade, Downgrade, or Depart Customers
• Reference Past Challenges, Resolutions, and Outstanding Issues
• Emphasize Added Features, Capabilities, and Areas of Value

Work with customers to find the best path forward for both parties.

Pillar 7: Product/Service Development

Build strong ties to those that influence the product. The success of the product is dependent on the ability for bugs and issues to be resolved.

• Be Your Customers’ Voice Internally, Raise Bugs and Issues
• Give Solutions a Timeline on the Product Roadmap
• Highlight Customer Wants and Needs Regarding Features

Successfully integrate with your product team to really drive customer satisfaction.

The Magical ‘Ah-Ha’ Moment

Achieving a minimal viable version of these 7 Pillars will begin a repetitive revenue cycle. Happy customers will become testimonials to fuel brand awareness, yielding more leads, more customers, and renewals.