Ah, Revenue Operations, the plucky superhero of the Revenue Team who swoops down to align sales, marketing, and customer success teams for the greater good... of driving growth and maximizing operational efficiency.
Most of the time, RevOps is faster than a speeding SLA, more powerful than an OTE.
But, as we know, all superheroes do have their kryptonite.
In the case of RevOps, that weakness is ad hoc assistance. The flurry of inputs amount to an overwhelming, multi-channel swarm of wishes, requests, and outright demands that leave you weakened, dazed, confused, and — if you’re anything like us — kinda hungry.
Ad hoc requests can sneak up on you and disrupt your workflow like an unexpected visit from your non-super-hero in-laws, is what we’re saying. But, also like your in-laws, in the right conditions you can wrangle, hog-tie, and put them peacefully to bed. (We're not above mixed metaphors around here).
So fear not, intrepid Ops hero! The RevOps Workflow whizzes at Rattle have got your back with an effective strategy to help you conquer the ad hoc beast —forcing requesters to fill out a brief form.
Or, more professionally, known as:
Instituting a (Lightweight) Ticketing Process
A well-implemented ticketing system can turn even your most needy, chaotic, and clunky processes into an orderly, almost-Zen-like experience without spending much money or time. Here's how to set up your own ticketing system and manage ad hoc requests with the best of them.
Step 1: Consolidate tracking of requests in one easy-to-access location
No hedging here. This is the most important part.
You could go the usual route and pick a ticketing tool that plays nice with your existing systems and has all the bells and whistles your team needs to kick ad hoc requests to the curb. For example, if your Revenue team already uses project management software — like Asana, Basecamp, Trello, Monday.com, or one of the gagillion other products in that space — and they can spare you a seat, that may work (though, a word of caution: some teams use many different project management software, and everybody has a favorite, so be certain to check with your team on who uses what and to what level of ire you will draw by picking the "wrong one").
Or — and we’re being dead serious here — you could also simply create a shared Google Sheet.
And, in its most lightweight state, you'd just need to make it three columns:
• Who are you?
• What date is it?
• What do you need?
Of course, every Revenue team has vastly different needs, and you may want to add more columns (such as what team your requester is on, what their role is, the priority level of the request, their expected response time, etc.) What's important is that you make it easy to find, and even easier to fill out (more on that later).
Step 2: Lay down the law in a unveiling session
Now that you’ve got the spot (and to keep with the crime-fighting motif): It’s time to lay down the law.
You'll want to set up a clear process for submitting ad hoc requests (fairly easy, if you use a Google Sheet).
You'd be surprised how taciturn some requesters will be (and how garrulous others can be) when describing what they need in the What do you need column. So, you should be clear here on what level of depth/granularity of information you'll need to best serve them.
We recommend that you keep these more in-depth instructions easily accessible as well (in inside a sheet marked "Considerations"), or outside of your repository, as long as it's also easily accessible and exhaustively codified.
In any case, we highly recommend you conduct this initial explanation in person (or Zoom call) so that you can field questions and better refine your process. Make sure everyone knows the ins and outs of the ticketing system, how to submit requests, how to respond to your questions like pros (especially in the case that their initial request was unclear), and what to do if they're wondering what's happened to their ask.
Step 3: Actively train your team like Rocky
In your new codified ticketing system, you may begin to better spot patterns… You may be pleasantly surprised to learn how willing — and capable! — your team is solving problems by themselves. With the right encouragement, of course.
Whenever possible: Educate, enable, and empower your requesters to become non-requesters.
Don't kick your baby birds out of the nest without being sure they can fly, however. Revenue teams are remarkably non-aerodynamic.
If all else fails, here’s a good quick sell: “It’s can actually be a lot quicker for you, my beautiful stakeholder, to resolve issues on your own, rather than submitting a request, tracking, and following up with me.”
Loom videos are a great resource in that you can eventually build an evergreen library of step-by-step walkthroughs, explainers, and the like — as well as find out if anybody is actually watching them.
Step 4: Keep a keen eye on this tool or document
On your side, be sure to track the order (date and time) and urgency of each request.
You should also develop an SLA for yourself (which we also recommend keeping to yourself) based on what is being asked, and by whom (say, 1+ week for a BDR’s wish versus within a day for executive requests).
Regularly review the ticketing system to spot trends, track performance, and make tweaks to your process like a fine-tuning master. It's important to note that the more questions you ask or the more columns you have or the more difficult you make it to ask you for help, the more you may dissuade your team from coming to you. And that is bad.
Step 5: Templatize what you can
Over time, many ad hoc requests will be handled and then forgotten. Keeping a keen eye on who is asking what will give you better insight into next steps, particularly when thinking about limiting the same kinds of ad hoc requests later.
If you see you’re, say, constantly pulling the same data or analysis in rev org requests, there are likely at least a few queries and reports that you can templatize and automate (like with Rattle’s Report feature hint hint).
After all, the more you repeat a task, the greater value there is in automating it, right? Right.
Ultimately, this document can serve as the ammo you’ll likely need when you request a greater budget for tools and/or resources later. If your Google Sheet is growing and your team doesn’t have a dedicated project management solution, this would be a great artifact to share with your CFO or CRO and ask “Hey, can we get another person on the team now?"
And maybe they'll say yes.
For your sake, we sure hope so.
Looking for more help in putting the ad hoc on lock?
They don't call Rattle "the Chops Behind Ops" for nothing.
Our new State of RevOps report, featuring the insights and tips of 100 RevOps experts across dozens of pages, is well... exactly what you're looking for.
You can snag your own copy of the report for free right here.
Or, you can skip being coy with us and reading all our content and just sign up for a demo of our amazing RevOps-first Revenue Workflow Platform here. Yeah, we went with the hard sell.
