RevOps x Department of Defense

The most organized operation in the world is the United States Military.

Cross-pollinating military tactics, strategies, terminology, and systems with Revenue Operations can provide a unique and disciplined approach to managing and optimizing all aspects of your organization's revenue processes.

Here are a few ways you can accomplish this integration:

1. Adopt a Command and Control Structure for Revenue Teams:

   • Description: Implement a hierarchical structure similar to military command and control systems to manage your revenue operations team. This involves clearly defining roles, responsibilities, and chains of command to ensure swift decision-making and execution. Assign team leaders (commanding officers) for different revenue streams (units) and establish regular briefing sessions (situation reports) to review performance, challenges, and strategies.

   • Application: Use this structure to improve communication, enhance accountability, and streamline decision-making processes within your revenue operations.

2. Utilize Military Strategy Frameworks for Market Penetration:

   • Description: Apply military strategic frameworks like the OODA Loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) for analyzing market conditions and competitor actions. This approach emphasizes agility and fast decision-making to outmaneuver competitors and capture market share.

   • Application: Incorporate these strategies in your market analysis, campaign planning, and execution phases to quickly adapt to market changes and competitor moves, optimizing your revenue generation efforts.

3. Implement War Gaming for Revenue Growth Initiatives:

   • Description: Use war gaming techniques to simulate market scenarios, competitor responses, and potential challenges to new revenue initiatives. By creating a controlled environment to test strategies, you can anticipate potential outcomes and develop more robust plans.

   • Application: Before rolling out new products, pricing strategies, or entering new markets, conduct war gaming sessions with your team to refine strategies and tactics, reducing risks and improving success rates.

4. Adopt Military Terminology for Revenue Operations Planning and Execution:

   • Description: Integrate military terms and concepts into your revenue operations planning and execution processes. Terms like "campaigns" (for major sales and marketing initiatives), "tactics" (specific strategies used within campaigns), and "logistics" (managing resources for campaigns) can help frame activities in a structured and disciplined manner.

   • Application: This can foster a culture of discipline and precision, with team members adopting a mission-focused mindset that emphasizes the importance of each operation's success.

5. Leverage Military-Style Training and Development:

   • Description: Implement rigorous, continuous training programs for your revenue operations team inspired by military training methodologies. Focus on developing skills, strategic thinking, and adaptability to changing market conditions.

   • Application: Regular training sessions, workshops, and exercises can ensure that team members are always at the peak of their performance, ready to implement effective strategies and tactics in the revenue operations battlefield.

6. Strategic Allocation of Resources (Logistics and Supply Chain Management):

   • Description: Adopt military logistics principles for the strategic allocation of resources within revenue operations. This involves careful planning of how resources (budget, personnel, technology) are distributed and utilized to support various revenue-generating activities efficiently.

   • Application: Use this approach to optimize your marketing spend, ensure sales teams have the necessary tools and support, and manage inventory for product-based businesses, akin to how military operations ensure troops have the necessary supplies and support.

7. Intelligence Gathering and Reconnaissance:

   • Description: Implement systems for continuous market and competitor intelligence gathering, similar to military reconnaissance missions. This involves using tools and processes to collect data on market trends, customer needs, and competitor activities.

   • Application: Leverage this intelligence to make informed decisions on product development, marketing strategies, and sales approaches, ensuring your revenue operations are always aligned with market opportunities and threats.

8. Decentralized Command (Empowering Frontline Decision-Making):

   • Description: Adapt the military concept of decentralized command, allowing individuals and small teams to make decisions in the field based on real-time information and overarching strategic goals. This empowers frontline sales and customer service teams to make quick decisions in response to customer needs and market changes.

   • Application: Foster a culture where team members are trained and trusted to make tactical decisions, enhancing responsiveness and customer satisfaction while still aligning with strategic revenue goals.

9. After-Action Reviews (AARs):

   • Description: Borrow from the military practice of conducting after-action reviews to analyze the results of campaigns, initiatives, or any significant actions. This process involves examining what happened, why it happened, and how it can be done better.

   • Application: Regularly conduct AARs for marketing campaigns, sales initiatives, and other revenue-related activities to continuously improve processes, strategies, and tactics.

10. Formation of Specialized Units (Task Forces for Specific Objectives):

    • Description: Create specialized teams or task forces focused on specific objectives, similar to military special forces units. These units are tasked with achieving particular goals, such as entering a new market, launching a new product line, or targeting a specific customer segment.

    • Application: These specialized teams can operate with a high degree of autonomy and focus, leveraging their unique skills and resources to achieve critical revenue objectives quickly and efficiently.

Department of Defense Writes the Book on Complex Process Planning

The Department of Defense Architecture Framework (DoDAF) is a structured approach for the enterprise architecture planning and documentation that is designed to aid the United States Department of Defense.

DoDAF facilitates the understanding, design, and integration of complex system architectures, focusing on the development of coherent views and perspectives that are critical for decision-making processes.

Although originally developed for military applications, the principles and methodologies of DoDAF can be adapted to improve the capability of a B2B Sales Organization through its Revenue Operations.

Here’s how:

1. Define and Understand the Operational View (OV)

• Objective Alignment: Use the OV to clearly define and align the objectives of the RevOps team with the overall business strategy. This includes identifying the mission, goals, capabilities, and the operational processes that drive sales and revenue growth.

• Process Optimization: Map out the operational processes within RevOps, from lead generation, sales operations, customer relationship management, and post-sales support. By doing this, you can identify inefficiencies, bottlenecks, or redundancies that can be optimized or automated.

2. Leverage the Systems View (SV) for Technology Alignment

• Technology Integration: Use the SV to document and analyze the existing technological landscape within the RevOps framework, including CRM systems, sales enablement tools, data analytics platforms, and automation tools. The goal is to ensure that these systems are fully integrated and aligned with the sales processes to enhance efficiency and productivity.

• Data Flow Analysis: Understand how data flows between different systems and identify any gaps in data capture or analysis that could provide deeper insights into customer behavior, sales performance, and market trends.

3. Apply the All Viewpoint (AV) for Overarching Strategies

• Strategic Planning: The AV can help in articulating overarching strategies that guide RevOps. This includes compliance, security, data governance, and interoperability standards that ensure the smooth operation of sales processes within legal and regulatory boundaries.

• Stakeholder Communication: Develop documentation and visuals that communicate the strategic alignment and operational efficiency of the RevOps to stakeholders, including sales teams, marketing, customer success, and executive leadership.

4. Utilize the Services Viewpoint (SvcV) for Service Optimization

• Service Catalog: Create a catalog of services provided by RevOps, such as lead qualification, customer segmentation, sales analytics, and support services. This helps in understanding and optimizing the services that directly contribute to revenue generation.

• Service-Level Agreements (SLAs): Define and monitor SLAs for internal processes and external vendors or tools that support the RevOps. This ensures that all components of the sales ecosystem are performing optimally and meeting the expected standards of service delivery.

5. Adopt the Standards Viewpoint (StdV) for Best Practices

• Best Practices and Benchmarks: Implement industry standards and best practices within RevOps to ensure that sales operations are efficient and competitive. This could involve adopting standardized methodologies for sales forecasting, customer data management, and performance metrics.

6. Continuous Improvement through Feedback Loops

• Feedback Mechanisms: Establish feedback loops that allow for continuous monitoring and improvement of RevOps processes. This includes regular reviews of operational, system, and service viewpoints to adapt to changing market conditions, customer needs, and technological advancements.

By applying the DoDAF methodology to Revenue Operations, organizations can achieve a holistic and integrated view of its operations, technology, strategies, and services.

This approach not only enhances the capability and efficiency of the sales organization but also aligns it more closely with the overall business objectives, leading to sustained revenue growth and competitive advantage.

Now you are ready to attend Revenue War College.