There is no silver bullet that can get brands to revenue acceleration. Instead, companies have to build a strong revenue operations infrastructure based on empathetic customer experience initiatives, intelligent data ops, and innovative content generation. Once you start with the end in mind, your organization can get to a sustainable — and much more feasible — revenue acceleration solution.

1. The Revenue Operations to Revenue Acceleration
Framework Every Modern Business Must Know
PERSONALIZED
CONTEXTUALIZED
RELEVANT
1ST PARTY DATA
2ND PARTY DATA
3RD PARTY DATA

2. The modern emphasis on shopper
experience is a natural extension of the
widespread adoption of digital
technology. Where businesses once held
most of the cards within a transactional
model, customers are now empowered so
much that they can - quite literally - make
or break companies.
If a brand wants sustainable growth in
the modern marketplace, they have to
adapt to the new status quo or die. ( See:
BlockBuster)
The Changing Marketplace and RevOps
Recession of 2001-2002
2000 2010
Recession of 2008-2009
Mature
Start
Scale
Mature
Growth

3. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic
accelerated online shopping trends so
much that most old-school business
holdouts were forced to enter the digital
economy in one way or another.
It’s more important than ever to
understand your customer using data,
particularly as the gap between in-person
and digital shoppers narrows to
irrelevance.
A Data Explosion: Knowing Your Customers.
-430 bps
Change in 3 months
2000 2001 2005
2003 2007 2008 2010 2012 2014 2015 2017 2019
DEC
DEC
DEC
MAR MAR MAR
SEP SEP SEP JUN
JUN
0
5%
10%
15%
20%
JUN
E-Commerce Share of U.S. Retail Sales Seasonally Adjusted
-430 bps
Change in 5 years

4. A Data Explosion: Knowing Your Customers.
Even if somebody enters your brick and
mortar store, they almost certainly have
encountered multiple digital touch-points
before stepping foot in person.
Businesses don’t have to wonder how
customers found their products; intelligent
analytics can tell you each step in the
path to purchase. 2017 2018 2019 2020
In Q2 2019
In Q2 2020
51%
119%
Shopify Quarterly Gross Merchandise Volume

5. E-commerce has quickly overtaken nearly
every industry, a trend that reflects
consumers’ desire for greater control over
how they shop.
The difficulty now is not how to get more
data, but knowing what to do with the
thousands of insights digital tracking has
made available. And that’s why having a
solid data infrastructure to begin to parse
consumer behavior is more critical than
ever before.
A Data Explosion: Knowing Your Customers.
Apparel &
Accessories
Fitness Grocery Health &
Beauty
Home Pets
Oct 2015 Oct 2019 Apr 2020 Oct 2020
U.S. E-Commerce Penetration by Category - Earnest Research

6. Similarly to the data explosion, channels
are more complex than ever.
Channel complexity is easier to
understand when placing it in the context
of customer journey mapping. Car
shopping is a particularly illustrative
example of the number of touchpoints it
can take to complete a purchase journey.
A Channel Explosion & Interpreting Data.
257 24
54
37
Visits Visits
Visits
Visits
Researched
Car Prices
Searched Car
Aggregator
Website
Researched
Brand A Specs
& Features
Researched Car
Insurance Company

7. Organizations have a harder time than
ever finding a solution that provides the
right kind of revenue-based analysis. Scott
Brinker’s chart on the marketing
technology landscape in 2020 highlights a
truly stunning amount of platform
options.
A Platform Explosion & Measuring Data.

8. Internal org charts are getting
increasingly complex as more roles get
created to deal with this influx of
information.
The past few years have only accelerated
the trend towards more honed-in
departments with specific metrics and
deliverables when it comes to the
marketing and sales process. Combining
these departments is typically the first
step of building a RevOps team.
Updated Internal Org Charts
CFO CTO
CMO
CIO

9. It’s important to know that revenue
acceleration cannot be accomplished
without a strong revenue operations
strategy.
Brands typically have an uphill battle
facing them when it comes to
implementing revenue ops. The steps
companies must take to surmount the
Revenue Operations Chasm typically look
like this:
Revenue Acceleration and Revenue Operations.
THE STRATEGIC REVENUE
OPERATIONS CHASM
At Risk Laggard Average Above Average
Revenue
Acceleration
Anarchy
Siloed
Aligned
Strategic
Revenue
Acceleration

10. Another way of visualizing this “chasm” in
revenue operations is highlighting the
differences in the org charts of companies
at various stages of their RevOps journey.
An increasing trend in the business world
is the gradual outpacing that companies
without revenue operations departments
are experiencing in comparison to those
with already established teams.
Revenue Acceleration and Revenue Operations.
Centralized Functions Reporting
to CRO or Senior Leader
Somewhat Centralized Function
Virtually Aligned
“Coalition of the Willing”
18%
40% 18% 15% 9%
No Revenue Operations Function

11. The internal org structure of brands
makes a big difference in their average
revenue growth and average stock
performance. In both categories,
companies with a CRO and established
RevOps department saw significantly
better results than those without.
RevOps: Requirement for Acceleration.
Avg. Revenue Growth Avg. Stock Performance
PERFORMANCE WITH & WITHOUT CRO &
REVENUE OPERATIONS
2017 - 2018 S&P 500 2017 - 2018 S&P 500
Without CRO
& Rev Ops
With CRO
& Rev Ops
Without CRO
& Rev Ops
With CRO
& Rev Ops
7.3%
19.5%
17.7%
30.3%
+2.7x
+1.7x

12. As mentioned before, building a revenue
operations infrastructure can be
extremely difficult.
According to recent data, 45% of surveyed
brands reported that they do not have a
current RevOps team while a little over
15% are in the process of building one. The
biggest issues C-suite decision makers
face comes down to not knowing how to
start the RevOps development process
and failing to build an effective revenue
operations structure.
Revenue Acceleration and Revenue Operations.
Business leaders don’t know when to start
building RevOps
All of the above
Other
Yes
Currently
building one
I’m
Not Sure
No
What is the Top Challenge Brands Face
When Building Revenue Operations Today?
Do You Have a Revenue Ops Team?
Business leaders don’t know how to
start building RevOps
Business leaders are failing to build
the right Rev Ops team structure
Business leaders are struggling to
influence organizational change
Business leaders are struggling to decide
who should be in charge of RevOps

13. Overall, the Old World model of siloed
sales, services, and marketing
departments is rapidly disappearing.
An over-encompassing RevOps model
that views each team’s efforts as part of a
collective CX experience is key to how
future brands will make their mark on the
world. Data sharing, transparent
communication, and customer-centric
strategy is the new norm.
Revenue Acceleration and Revenue Operations.
Old World New World

14. The issue with the many definitions of
revenue acceleration is that they trivialize
and oversimplify a complex business
problem, especially considering that the
underlying variable to revenue
acceleration — human decision making —
is anything but simple.
Automation spits out algorithms with the
potential of making each buyer a data
point, optimizing “experiences” without
human empathy behind the scenes
actually interpreting what that means.
The Importance of CX in Accelerating Revenue.

15. If done wrong, accelerating revenue can
easily become a brand’s overarching goal
rather than a nice byproduct to a
customer-led purchase experience.
Customers can sense when companies
prioritize their credit cards over their
individual wants and emotional states.
Revenue acceleration is the DIRECT effect
of a brand’s overall ability to generate LTV
buyers and optimize the purchase
journey.
The Culmination of Goals.
Departments
Experience
Mapping
Saying
Feeling
Assets
Platforms
TouchPoints
Opportunities
Thinking
Customer Insights Map

16. Brands can fail to accelerate revenue for
many reasons — opportunities for
providing a terrible customer experience
are too many to count.
Several mistakes specific to the sacrifice of
CX in pursuit of revenue acceleration can
generally be summed up as
misalignments within a company’s
people, platforms, and processes.
The Trap of Revenue Acceleration.
Platforms
Processes
People

17. Digital adoption statistics have found that
brands with intelligent data collection
and analysis are 23 times more likely to
acquire new customers than those
without. Relying on a digital platform to
aggregate and track customer behavior
accurately is a must.
However, it’s not that simple. BCG found
that increasing odds of success in digital
transformation depends on the presence
of six identifying characteristics at the
time of adoption:
Don’t Rely on Silver-Bullet Tech Solutions.
Six Identifying Characteristics
1. Deploying High Caliber Talent
2. Effective Monitoring of Progress Toward
Defined Outcomes
3. Business-Led Modular Technology and
Data Platform
4. An Integrated Strategy with Clear
Transformation Goals
5. An Agile Governance Mindset that
Drives Broader Adoption
6. Leadership Commitment from CEO
through Middle Management

18. Internal alignment is tantamount to
success or failure—especially aligning your
3Ps along with the other internal
elements of your business.
One of the best ways to think about this
process is envisioning your business
transformation journey as a set of
increasingly complex layers.
Building Effective Machine Learning Models.
The Why
Business Model
The 3Ps
Products &
Services
Channels
Experience

19. Data, channels, and platforms relevant to
revenue ops are so complex that failing to
rely on a problem-solving framework puts
you at a severe disadvantage.
Problem-solving frameworks – specifically,
StoryVesting – are critical to keeping the
people, platforms, and process relevant to
Rev Ops working together within your
customers’ purchase journey.
Relying on a Problem-Solving Framework
Product/
Market Fit
Internal
Buy-In
Brand
Alignment
Amazing
Buyer’s
Journey

20. The first piece to understanding this
framework is identifying brand “stories”
aka the brand mission.
This is essentially the brand why — the
why of a company’s existence and why
the company matters to its consumer.
When the brand why / Employee
experience is aligned with the Customer
Experience you’ve reached a state of
brand euphoria.
The StoryVesting Framework: Brand Stories.

21. Strategic inflection points : key shifts that
require companies to “adapt or die.”
How well companies navigate these
periods of change directly reflects their
eventual long-term success as a brand.
Simplistically, there are really only three
ways a brand facing a strategic inflection
point can go. By relying on a
transformation framework, businesses
can better achieve sustained momentum.
The StoryVesting Framework: Inflection Points.
Adapts & Innovates = Growth
Chases tactics = Dissonance
Refuses to change = No growth
Stagnation
Obsolescence
Sustained Momentum

22. Consumers are human beings — we are
influenced by cognitive associations and
the connections between the brain’s
neocortex system and the limbic system.
It is in a company’s best interest to tap
into the emotional states that align with
its core mission. The why — or the story —
of a company needs to generate a
corresponding emotion in consumers to
create lasting significance in their lives
StoryVesting Framework: Buyer Psychology.

23. Just like on the CX side, a focus on your
employee experiences (EX) can help you
create vested individuals.
Vested employees are those who not only
align with your customer-facing brand
story, but ones that tap into its emotional
resonance in each and every interaction
with purchasers. As the public faces of
your business, vested employees are a
must before you can even begin to think
about revenue acceleration.
Leveraging StoryVesting: Vested Employees.
I’m excited about the
work we’re doing and
can’t imagine working
anywhere else
The Brand Story
Employee Experience (EX)

24. Developing a strong revenue ops strategy
means streamlining inter-departmental
processes and technology that can
combine data sets.
Gartner reported that sales operations
increased their teams’ portfolios by an
average of 2.3% with more frequent and
holistic data analysis. Over 54% of
companies named siloed data as the
primary reason for lacking an integrated
view of the state of the customer journey
in 2019.
RevOps: Internal Alignment.
Centralized Functions
Reporting to CRO or Senior
Leader
Somewhat Centralized
Function
No Revenue Operations
Function
Virtually Aligned
“Coalition of the Willing”

25. Some case studies show that marketing
ROI and sales productivity receive
substantial boosts from adopting revenue
ops — 200% increase in ROI and 20%
increase in productivity.
Aligning previous “lone wolf” departments
in a revenue ops structure is the first step
towards getting to revenue acceleration.
Eliminating Silos in a RevOps Model
Data-Driven
Collaboration
& Teamwork
Status Quo Revenue Operations
Transparency &
Accountability from
the Boardroom to
the Front Line
Shared Source of
Truth
Predictable
Business Growth
Higher Win Rates &
Faster Sales Cycles
Lone Wolf Mentality
Hit or Miss
Forecasting
Bring-Your-Own-
Report
Finger Pointing
& Handoffs
Wasted Time &
Communication

26. The surest way to get to outstanding CX is
by leveraging data repositories to address
pain points while keeping goals aligned
across all departments. A cross-
departmental focus on CX is crucial because
your customers aren’t the same as they
were five years ago.
Customers in the 2020s are more
empowered than ever. The internet of
“things” now also includes every service
imaginable – which means your brand has
an infinite array of competitors.
Revenue Ops Solves Journey Pain Points.
Powerless
Centralized buyer
Checks the box
Pays all upfront
Takes all the risk
Educated by Sales
Buys best of breed & duct
tapes solutions
Powerful
Everyone is a buyer
Checks the experience
Pay as they use
Expects only success
Educated by the website
Buys all in one place &
expects it to work
Few Alternatives to your Products
Infinite Supply of Alternatives

27. Revenue Ops Increases Retention.
Whether via referrals or repeat business,
customers with a strong LTV can literally
be the strongest single asset of any
company.
When it comes to actually retaining
customers, a study by Gartner found that
focusing on perfecting the customer
journey increases retention almost as
much as selling a great product does.
120%
0%
-70%
ACCOUNT MANAGER BEHAVIORS
CHANGE IN LIKELIHOOD
OF RETAINING
ACCOUNT
Product Success
& Service
Aggressive
Selling
Confidence in
Account Team
Customer
Improvement
Not Significant
101%
-61%
94%

28. Building a RevOps Model with the End In Mind.
You cannot sacrifice good CX for a strategy
of revenue acceleration.
Without aligning internal processes and
platforms to support that goal, you will
not see sustainable growth. Working with
the end in mind — really focusing on why
customers stay and how your purchase
experience stands out from the
competition ​​— should be the number one
goal of any organization.
Manual Processes
One-Off Documentation
Laborious Training
Intelligent Operations
Automation
Sequential Loops
Empathy-Centric Design
Journey Analytics
+ More
EX CX BX
Employee Experience Customer Experience Brand Experience
VS

29. Data Infrastructures with Agile Feedback Loops.
Good data collection with an agile
feedback loop is key to building a
sustained, customer-first experience..
Companies that skip over developing
quick-response feedback loops based on
solid and consistent data will fail to
create customers with high LTV.
However, brands that take the time to
create a solid data infrastructure are
setting themselves up for future revenue
acceleration.
257
Evaluation
Inform Inform
Customer
Acquisition Cycle
Customer
Retention Cycle
Consideration
Research Exit
Evaluation
Consideration
Purchase
Conversion
Emotional
Trigger
Emotional
Trigger
Engagement
Engagement
Customer
Acquisition Cycle
Acquisition
Experience
Retention
Experience
Research
Customer
Retention Cycle

30. Implementing and Using a CDP System.
A CDP is a software system that compiles
customer data from a myriad of sources
to provide a holistic, unified view of
individual shopper behavior. CDPs make
it possible to aggregate data into one
platform and more effectively connect
the acquisition, conversion, and retention
strategies of a business into one
overarching, stellar customer experience.
In 2020 alone, the CDP industry was
projected to reach $1.3 billion dollars.
Anonymized Data
Real-Time Updates
Long-Term Storage of Customer Profiles
“Out of the Box” Onboarding Process
Customer Cross-Channel Personalization
Holistic Customer Data
Resolution of Customer Identities
IT Support Needed
Alignment with CX
Platform Features CRM DMP CDP

31. The RocketSource Approach to CDP Systems.
The CDP concept we’ve developed at
RocketSource is focused on agnostically
unifying and gleaning insights from first-
party data, second-party data, and
embedded and/or third-party data.
Being able to see a holistic picture of
consumer behavior via a CDP allows
brands to give meaning to the otherwise
abstract numbers. And meaning that is
based in emotion is how the minds of
customers come to life in a very real and
empathetic way.
Data Analytics Orchestration
Data
Ingestion
Analytics
Ingestion
Cross-Channel
Activation
AGNOSTIC [CROSS CHANNEL | DEVICE | PLATFORM ] JOURNEY
PERSONALIZED
CONTEXTUALIZE
D
RELEVANT
1ST PARTY DATA
2ND PARTY DATA
3RD PARTY DATA

32. The Dunning-Kruger Effect and Revenue Ops.
The Dunning-Kruger effect is a
psychological framework that distills the
highly complex and volatile relationship
between an individual’s confidence level
and their actual knowledge or skill-sets
into a line graph.
The ease with which individuals can
navigate the peaks and valleys of self-
efficacy and move onto the Slope of
Enlightenment has a huge impact on
overall well-being, and personal and
professional success.
Slope of
Enlightenment
Valley of
Despair
Peak of
Ignorance
Plateau of
Sustainability
Know Nothing Competence Guru
Low
High
KNOWLEDGE - EXPERIENCE
CONFIDENCE

33. Dunning Kruger and Gartner Hype Cycle
Once you start looking at the Dunning-
Kruger and Gartner Hype Cycle graph
side-by-side, the similarities immediately
jump out at you.
In fact, the Hype Cycle more or less charts
the same cognitive and emotional
process as Dunning-Kruger does, just on
the scale of macroeconomics. TIME
EXPECTATIONS
Innovation
Trigger
Peak of Inflated
Expectations
Trough of
Disillusionment
Slope of
Enlightenment
Plateau of
Productivity

34. The S Curve and the Gartner Hype Cycle.
On the S Curve of Growth, product teams
experience inflection points that
significantly test their viability. These tests
can come in a variety of ways; it could be
a decrease in growth, an economic
recession, or a sparkly new competitor
among other things.
Drilling into the S Curve allows us to see
the Gartner Hype Cycle in action, which,
interestingly enough, looks awfully similar
to a strategic inflection point on the S-
Curve of growth.
Strategic
Inflection
Point
Inflection Points
Vary
If You’re Growing
You’re Shifting
Sustain Forward
Momentum
Scale
Growth
Start
TIME
GROWTH

35. Dunning-Kruger, Hype Cycle, & S-Curve of Growth
Slope of
Enlightenment
Valley of
Despair
Peak of
Ignorance
Plateau of
Sustainability
Know Nothing Competence Guru
Low
High
KNOWLEDGE - EXPERIENCE
CONFIDENCE
Scale
Growth
Start
TIME
EXPECTATION
S
Innovation
Trigger
Peak of Inflated
Expectations
Trough of
Disillusionment
Slope of
Enlightenment
Plateau of
Productivity

36. Metric to Measure Rev Acceleration: LTV : CAC.
CX and LTV: a pairing that looks at
customers’ long-term value as buyers
(LTV) as well as the overall amount of
money spent on getting them through
the door (CAC).
A soft, indirect relationship, such as
improved CSAT scores simply isn’t good
enough anymore. Revenue ops must
“connect the dots” and show how all their
combined efforts impact revenues and
cost savings.
CPL
CAC
ROAS/ROI
CX
LTV
LTV : [CX]
Retention
Focused
Conversion
Focused
PERSONALIZATION MATURITY
REVENUE
GROWTH
Legacy Thinking: Tools
and team structure can
block revenue
acceleration and
successful Revenue Ops
Intelligent Ops: Modern
tools, bleeding edge
thinking, and relevant org-
structure can accelerate
revenue and growth

37. Selling is easy. Retaining is
much harder — and so much
more financially worthwhile in
the long-run.
Summary: Rev Acceleration is Harder than It Seems.
In a world of empowered consumers that
expect excellent customer experience,
brands can no longer view their selling
process as just business. Rather, revenue
acceleration and long-term growth can
only be accomplished through specific,
valuable strategies that aim to make
customers stay.
To sum up, the Three Ps need to be
aligned via a revenue ops framework,
geared towards generating positive CX,
and adaptable based on real-time,
consistent behavioral data.

38. Learn more at
rocketsource.co/