Getting Into Revenue Operations
The Definitive Guide to Starting Your Career in Revenue Operations
If you’re here, you’ve likely heard the buzz. You’ve seen the job titles: “Revenue Operations Associate,” “Salesforce Administrator,” “GTM Operations,” “RevOps Analyst.”
You’ve heard that it’s one of the fastest-growing and most critical functions in modern business.
And you’re right.
But “Revenue Operations” can feel like an intimidating, members-only club. It sits at the complex intersection of Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success. It’s highly technical, deeply strategic, and demands a unique blend of skills. How do you possibly break in, especially if you’re starting from scratch?
Here’s the good news: there is a clear, proven, and accessible path. It’s a path that thousands have walked, and it leads to a rewarding, high-impact, and future-proof career.
This guide is your roadmap. We’re going to assume two things about you:
You are targeting an entry-level role, like a Revenue Operations Associate.
You know that the key to this kingdom is the world’s #1 CRM, and you want to learn Salesforce and eventually get certified.
If that sounds like you, buckle up. This isn’t just a list of tips. This is your step-by-step blueprint for going from zero to hired. We will cover the what, the why, and the how from the foundational concepts you must know to the exact clicks you need to practice.
The RevOps Revolution: Why This is the Career You’ve Been Looking For
Before we dive into how to get a job, you must understand why the job exists. If you can’t explain this, you’ll never pass an interview.
The “Old Way”: The SiloCatastrophe
For decades, businesses operated in functional silos.
Marketing was obsessed with “MQLs” (Marketing Qualified Leads). They’d generate a list, throw it over the wall to sales, and say, “Our job is done.”
Sales was obsessed with “Closed-Won.” They’d ignore Marketing’s leads, work their own contacts, and guard their customer data jealously.
Customer Success was obsessed with “Retention.” They were the last to find out a customer was unhappy, often because of promises made during the sales cycle that the product couldn’t keep.
This is a catastrophe. Each team had different goals, different data, and different tools. The result? A “leaky funnel.” Customers had a jarring experience, data was a mess, and leadership had zero ability to accurately forecast revenue.
The “New Way”: The Rise of Revenue Operations
Revenue Operations (RevOps) is the strategic and operational function that smashes these silos.
RevOps is not just a department; it’s a mindset and a mandate.
Its mandate is to align the entire go-to-market (GTM) team—Sales, Marketing, and Customer Success—around a single, unified revenue process. It creates a single source of truth for data, a single set of processes, and a single view of the entire customer lifecycle, from the first ad click to the final renewal.
A RevOps team is responsible for four core pillars:
Process: Designing, building, and optimizing the entire end-to-end GTM motion. This is the “lead-to-cash” process.
Technology: Owning and managing the “RevTech” stack. This includes the CRM (Salesforce), marketing automation, sales engagement (Outreach, SalesLoft), and more.
Data: Ensuring data quality, building reports and dashboards, analyzing performance, and delivering the insights that leadership uses to make strategic decisions and forecast revenue.
Enablement: Training the GTM teams on the process and technology to ensure they are being used effectively.
Where You Fit In: The RevOps Associate
As a Revenue Operations Associate, you are the foundation. You are the “boots on the ground” making the entire machine work. You won’t be setting the high-level strategy on day one. Instead, you’ll be in the engine room, learning how every single part connects.
Your day-to-day might include:
Building reports and dashboards for sales managers.
Cleaning and importing data lists for a new marketing campaign.
Helping a salesperson who is stuck on an opportunity.
Testing a new automation (a “Flow”) built by a senior admin.
Documenting a new process for the sales handbook.
Managing user permissions and profiles in Salesforce.
This is, without question, the best place to start. You will get hands-on exposure to every facet of the business. You are the support system, the data steward, and the problem-solver. You are the apprentice learning from the masters, with a clear path to becoming a RevOps Analyst, a Senior Salesforce Admin, a RevOps Manager, and eventually, a strategic Director of Revenue Operations.
The Core of the Machine: Why Salesforce is Your Golden Ticket
You cannot have a conversation about Revenue Operations without talking about Salesforce.
Yes, other CRMs exist. HubSpot is a fantastic tool. But in the mid-market and enterprise B2B world—where the most complex and highest-paying RevOps jobs are—Salesforce isn’t just a player. It is the game.
It is the central nervous system of the entire GTM motion.
All marketing leads flow into it.
All sales activities are tracked in it.
All customer data lives in it.
All support cases are managed in it.
All revenue is reported from it.
For RevOps, Salesforce is not just a glorified contact list. It is a platform. It’s a set of building blocks (Objects, Fields, Automation, Analytics) that we use to construct the entire company’s revenue-generating process.
Why You Must Master Salesforce
Your goal as an aspiring RevOps professional isn’t just to “know how to use” Salesforce. Any salesperson can do that.
Your goal is to understand its architecture. You need to know how to configure, build, and maintain it.
When a sales leader says, “I need to know our conversion rate from Stage 2 to Stage 3 by sales rep, but only for our ‘Enterprise’ segment,” you need to know how to build that report.
When a marketing leader says, “We need all new leads from our webinar to be assigned to the right account executive based on their state,” you need to know how to build that automation.
When a support leader says, “We need a new field to track ‘Reason for Churn’ that becomes mandatory when a case is closed,” you need to know how to create that field and the validation rule that enforces it.
This is why your roadmap to RevOps is a Salesforce roadmap. The technical skill you gain from mastering Salesforce is your “golden ticket.” It’s the hard skill that gets you in the door. The business-level “RevOps” strategy is what you’ll build on top of that foundation.
And the first, non-negotiable step on that roadmap is the Salesforce Certified Administrator credential.
The Blueprint: Your 5-Step Roadmap to Becoming a RevOps Associate
Okay, let’s get tactical. Here is your plan. Do not skip steps. This process will take months, not days. Embrace the journey.
Step 1: Build Foundational Knowledge (The “Why”)
You cannot be a good “builder” if you don’t understand the “blueprint.” Before you even touch Salesforce, you must understand the business concepts and speak the language of your stakeholders.
Learn the Lingo: You need to be 100% fluent in the B2B GTM funnel. Know these terms like the back of your hand:
Funnel Stages: Lead, MQL (Marketing Qualified Lead), SQL (Sales Qualified Lead), SAL (Sales Accepted Lead), Opportunity, Closed-Won/Lost.
Revenue Metrics: ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue), MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue), NRR (Net Revenue Retention), Churn (Logo & Revenue).
SaaS Metrics: CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost), LTV (Customer Lifetime Value), CAC Payback Period.
Sales Terms: Lead-to-Cash, Quota, Pipeline, Forecasting.
Read, Listen, and Follow: Immerse yourself in the RevOps world.
Communities: Join The RevOps Co-op (their Slack is essential), Wizards of Ops, and Pavilion. These are the digital “town squares” for our profession.
Books: Read The RevOps Framework by Gaetano DiNardi and Predictable Revenue by Aaron Ross & Marylou Tyler.
Podcasts: Listen to “RevOps Podcast,” “The GTM Podcast,” and “SaaSMeUnleashed.”
You don’t need to be an expert, but you need to understand what a Head of Sales cares about (pipeline, forecast) and what a Head of Marketing cares about (MQL-to-Opp conversion) before you can build solutions for them.
Step 2: Master the Tool (The “How”)
This is where the real work begins. Your new home is Trailhead.
Trailhead is Salesforce’s free, gamified, hands-on learning platform. It is, without exaggeration, one of the greatest educational resources ever created.
Sign Up. Now. Go to Trailhead.salesforce.com and sign up.
Get Your Dev Org. Trailhead will guide you to create a “Developer Edition Org.” This is your free, personal, and permanent Salesforce environment. It’s your sandbox. You can (and should) break things, fix them, and build whatever you want here.
Start the “Admin Beginner” Trail. This is your primary quest. It will walk you through the absolute basics:
What is the Salesforce Platform?
What are Objects, Fields, and Relationships? (The database).
How do you manage users and data? (The security).
Follow the “Admin Intermediate” Trail. Now it gets real. You’ll learn:
Automation: This is the heart of RevOps. You will focus on Flow Builder. This is the future (and present) of all Salesforce automation. You must learn it. You’ll also learn Validation Rules (to keep data clean) and Approval Processes.
Reports & Dashboards: This is the output of RevOps. How do you take all the data and make it usable for leadership?
Critical Advice: Do not just collect badges. Anyone can click through modules. You must do the projects. When you learn about Flow, open your Dev Org and build a Flow. When you learn about Reports, build a dashboard. The learning is in the doing.
Step 3: Get Your Hands Dirty (The “Proof”)
You will now face the classic “Catch-22”: You can’t get a job without experience, and you can’t get experience without a job.
This is a lie. You just have to be creative. You need to manufacture experience. This step is what separates the candidates who get hired from the ones who stay “aspiring.”
Here are three ways to get real-world proof:
The #1 Best Way: Volunteer. Find a small non-profit. They are almost all under-staffed, under-funded, and desperately need someone to help them manage their donors and volunteers. Many of them get 10 free Salesforce licenses through the NPSP (Nonprofit Success Pack). Go to them and say, “I am a new Salesforce Admin in training, and I will build you reports, clean your data, and set up your users for free.” This is gold. It’s real-world, high-stakes experience.
The “Spec Project” Portfolio: If you can’t find a non-profit, create your own project. Open your Dev Org and build a complete GTM process for a fictional company.
Define the company: “I’m building for ‘SaaSCo,’ a B2B company that sells software.”
Build the process:
Create a custom lead routing Flow that assigns leads based on territory.
Build validation rules to ensure an Opportunity “Close Date” can’t be in the past.
Create a “Key Metrics” dashboard for the CEO.
Document it! Take screenshots. Write a Google Doc explaining what you built and why. Record a 5-minute Loom video walking a hiring manager through your build. This is now your portfolio. You can link to this on your resume and LinkedIn.
The Internal Move: Are you currently in a Sales (SDR, AE) or CS role? Start solving your own problems. Become the “go-to” Salesforce person on your team. Build a report for your manager. Find an inefficient process and suggest a way to automate it. This is the easiest-path-of-all, as you’re getting paid to learn and building a case for an internal transfer to the Ops team.
Step 4: The Certification (The “Validation”)
Now, and only after you have the hands-on practice from Step 3, it’s time to get the credential.
Your Target: The Salesforce Certified Administrator.
This certification is the industry standard. It’s the “table stakes” that gets your resume past the first filter. It proves you have a comprehensive, foundational knowledge of the platform.
How to Study: 70% of your knowledge will come from your Trailhead and project work. The other 30% comes from dedicated exam prep.
Use Practice Tests: Do not use brain dumps. Use legitimate practice test resources. Focus on Force is widely considered the best. Their study guides and mock exams are an incredible investment. They will teach you the style of the exam questions.
Schedule the Test: Don’t wait until you “feel ready.” You never will. Give yourself a 6-week deadline and book the exam. This will force you to study.
Once you pass, shout it from the rooftops. Add it to your LinkedIn profile within the hour. This is your key to the door.
Step 5: The Job Hunt (The “Marketing”)
You are now a product. You need to market yourself as a “Revenue Operations Associate.”
Rebrand Your Resume: Your resume is not a list of tasks. It is a list of outcomes and projects.
BAD: “Responsible for Salesforce data.”
GOOD: “Built 5 sales performance dashboards in Salesforce to track pipeline and team activity, providing new visibility for sales leadership.”
BAD: “Studied on Trailhead.”
GOOD: “Achieved Salesforce Certified Administrator credential and developed a custom ‘SaaSCo’ demo build in a Dev Org, featuring a territory-based lead routing Flow.” (See? That project portfolio is now your resume).
Optimize Your LinkedIn:
Headline: “Revenue Operations Professional | Salesforce Certified Administrator | Passionate about GTM Process & Data”
“About” Section: Tell your story. “I am a problem-solver who fell in love with the challenge of business operations. I’ve spent the last 6 months immersing myself in the world of RevOps and Salesforce, earning my Administrator certification and building projects... I am eager to apply my technical and analytical skills as a Revenue Operations Associate.”
The Interview: Be prepared for case studies. They will give you a business problem, not a technical one.
Interviewer: “Our sales reps complain that their leads are low-quality. What do you do?”
Your Answer: “Great question. My first step would be to diagnose the problem with data and people.
Data: I’d build a report in Salesforce to analyze the MQL-to-Opportunity conversion rate, segmented by lead source. This will tell us if all leads are bad, or just leads from a specific channel.
Process: I’d review the MQL definition. Is Marketing’s definition of ‘qualified’ aligned with Sales’s definition of ‘ready’?
People: I’d interview a few top-performing reps and a few struggling reps. What are they seeing?
Hypothesis: My guess is we either have a ‘lead routing’ problem where leads are getting cold, or a ‘definition’ problem where we’re passing junk. The data will tell me where to look first.”
This answer proves you are not just a “Salesforce clicker.” It proves you are a Revenue Operations problem-solver.
That’s how you get hired.
Your First 90 Days and Beyond
Getting the job isn’t the finish line; it’s the starting line. Your career in RevOps is one of continuous learning.
Your First 90 Days as a RevOps Associate
Your only goal is to be a sponge and a documentarian.
Days 1-30: Learn the Business & People. Meet everyone. What is their job? What are their biggest pains with the current process or tech? Listen. And document everything. Find the existing process maps. If they don’t exist, start making them.
Days 31-60: Learn the Tech Stack. You know Salesforce. But how does it connect to Marketo? To Outreach? To Gainsight? To the billing system? Your job is to understand the flow of data across the entire ecosystem.
Days 61-90: Find a Small, Quick Win. Don’t try to redesign the whole company. Find one small, annoying, high-visibility problem. Is there a dashboard everyone complains about? Fix it. Is there a data field that’s always messy? Run a clean-up project. Deliver value. Build trust.
The Next Certification: Your Path to Senior RevOps
After you’ve been an Admin for a year, it’s time to level up. Your skills will broaden from “technical” to “solution-oriented.” Your certification path will reflect this.
Platform App Builder: This proves you can build custom solutions and applications on the platform without code. This is a natural next step.
Sales Cloud Consultant: This is the true RevOps certification. This exam isn’t about “how to create a user.” It’s about “You have a new sales team with a specific territory model... how would you design the solution?“ This cert proves you are no longer just an operator; you are an architect.
You Are a Business Problem-Solver
Getting started in Revenue Operations may seem daunting, but the path is clear. It’s a journey from understanding the business problem to mastering the technical tool (Salesforce) that solves it.
Your Salesforce certification is the key that opens the door, but your mindset is what will make you successful. Be curious. Be analytical. Be a relentless problem-solver. Never stop asking “why.”
RevOps is the strategic backbone of the modern company, and the demand for people who can bridge the gap between business strategy and technology has never been higher. The journey is challenging, but the impact you can make—and the career you can build—is immense.
Now, go open Trailhead. Your journey starts today.
👋 Thank you for reading Mastering Revenue Operations.
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I started this in November 2023 because revenue technology and revenue operations methodologies started evolving so rapidly I needed a focal point to coalesce ideas, outline revenue system blueprints, discuss go-to-market strategy amplified by operational alignment and logistical support, and all topics related to revenue operations.
Mastering Revenue Operations is a central hub for the intersection of strategy, technology and revenue operations. Our audience includes Fortune 500 Executives, RevOps Leaders, Venture Capitalists and Entrepreneurs.