RevOps Rockstars

This week’s RevOps Rockstar is a talented Ops leader who entered the tech industry while playing in a cover band working as an event coordinator. She’s a skilled salesperson and mentor who has seen every aspect of the sales and operations process. Joining the podcast this week is VP of Revenue Operations and Enablement at Spekit Laura Wheeler! Laura joins hosts David Carnes and Jarin Chu for an exploration of how Laura best enables her teams. In this episode we’ll cover the inherent cross functionality of RevOps, how outsourcing work can benefit startups, and what Laura’s go to karaoke songs are. 
Takeaways:

When you move slow you actually move fast. In RevOps it can be tempting to move quickly, but you’ll soon encounter issues. Moving slowly and thinking about the long term impact of actions will help prevent future issues. 

RevOps is inherently cross functional. Even with small requests, it is important to understand what is trying to be done, what is trying to be accomplished, and who is going to be impacted by that change. 

Laura’s team at Spekit works to serve the BDR’s sales teams, and the CS organization. With the current financial climate, Laura has prioritized CS ops to better understand what their journey looks like, and to protect ARR. 

For startups, outsourcing work has a few benefits. It allows you to handle out of scope projects with short timelines very efficiently. While adding headcount allows you to invest in long term solutions, onboarding takes time and money you may not have.  

As a RevOps leader, you need to take ownership of how engaged employees are. If they aren’t confident in their role or hitting their targets, that responsibility falls on you to provide them with solutions. 

As AI tools progress in their ability, RevOps leaders would look to adopt them into their tech stack. AI tech has the potential to revamp the way sales departments write battle cards, construct pitches, and create engaging emails. 

While RevOps leaders don’t need to be frontline leaders, having a close relationship can be beneficial. Close observation will help you understand where you’re falling short on revenue, what new tools you may need, and how messaging may need to be revamped. 

Quote of the Show:

“I take ownership of how engaged our employees are because those are my stakeholders.” - Laura Wheeler

Shoutouts:

Wizards of Ops: https://wizops.org/ 

Amy Volas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyvolas/ 

Thursday Night Sales: https://aspireship.com/thursdaynightsales/ 

Sales Enablement Collective: https://www.salesenablementcollective.com/ 

The Enablement Squad: https://enablementsquad.com/ 

Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wheels-spekit 

Website: https://spekit.com/ 

Ways to Tune In:

Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/08a4b302-d25e-4b7b-a11a-60e9b51df083/revops-rockstars 

Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/revops-rockstars/id1654084702 

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6ynGAP60cktaDs1Cb6Chxh 

YouTube - https://youtu.be/Wjcy5PKGupc

Show Notes

This week’s RevOps Rockstar is a talented Ops leader who entered the tech industry while playing in a cover band working as an event coordinator. She’s a skilled salesperson and mentor who has seen every aspect of the sales and operations process. Joining the podcast this week is VP of Revenue Operations and Enablement at Spekit Laura Wheeler! Laura joins hosts David Carnes and Jarin Chu for an exploration of how Laura best enables her teams. In this episode we’ll cover the inherent cross functionality of RevOps, how outsourcing work can benefit startups, and what Laura’s go to karaoke songs are. 

Takeaways:

  • When you move slow you actually move fast. In RevOps it can be tempting to move quickly, but you’ll soon encounter issues. Moving slowly and thinking about the long term impact of actions will help prevent future issues. 

  • RevOps is inherently cross functional. Even with small requests, it is important to understand what is trying to be done, what is trying to be accomplished, and who is going to be impacted by that change. 

  • Laura’s team at Spekit works to serve the BDR’s sales teams, and the CS organization. With the current financial climate, Laura has prioritized CS ops to better understand what their journey looks like, and to protect ARR. 

  • For startups, outsourcing work has a few benefits. It allows you to handle out of scope projects with short timelines very efficiently. While adding headcount allows you to invest in long term solutions, onboarding takes time and money you may not have.  

  • As a RevOps leader, you need to take ownership of how engaged employees are. If they aren’t confident in their role or hitting their targets, that responsibility falls on you to provide them with solutions. 

  • As AI tools progress in their ability, RevOps leaders would look to adopt them into their tech stack. AI tech has the potential to revamp the way sales departments write battle cards, construct pitches, and create engaging emails. 

  • While RevOps leaders don’t need to be frontline leaders, having a close relationship can be beneficial. Close observation will help you understand where you’re falling short on revenue, what new tools you may need, and how messaging may need to be revamped. 

Quote of the Show:

  • “I take ownership of how engaged our employees are because those are my stakeholders.” - Laura Wheeler

Shoutouts:

Links:

Ways to Tune In:

What is RevOps Rockstars?

Welcome to Opfocus’s podcast RevOps Rockstars. Join hosts David Carnes and Jarin Chu as they interview RevOps professionals and explore the challenges they face today. Throughout the show, we dive into how guests got started with their careers, their best tips and tricks, and what excites them about the future of the industry.