{"id":90797,"date":"2026-08-26T02:08:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T09:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/?p=90797"},"modified":"2026-08-26T02:17:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T09:17:55","slug":"revops-isnt-a-process-problem-its-a-change-management-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/revops-isnt-a-process-problem-its-a-change-management-problem","title":{"rendered":"RevOps Isn\u2019t a Process Problem. It\u2019s a Change Management Problem."},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Companies often approach Revenue Operations as if it were an implementation project. Hire a RevOps leader, clean up the CRM, define the stages, build dashboards, introduce forecasting and perhaps add some AI.<\/p>\n

In reality, the hard part usually starts after all of that.<\/p>\n

That came through clearly in a recent OpsCast from MarketingOps.com<\/strong>, hosted by Michael Hartman<\/strong>, featuring Chelsea Gil, CMO at Resultant<\/strong>, who also took responsibility for RevOps and customer experience. Chelsea shared what happened when Resultant began building RevOps almost from scratch, and why the initiative quickly became less about technology and more about changing how people work.<\/p>\n

The CRM is rarely the real problem<\/h2>\n

Resultant needed better revenue forecasting. Opportunities were sitting in the pipeline that perhaps should not have been there. Deals kept moving. Sales processes varied across business units, and the organization did not have a traditional centralized sales function.<\/p>\n

The natural response could have been to fix Salesforce, add more fields and create tighter processes.<\/p>\n

Instead, the deeper problem emerged quickly: people did not necessarily share the same understanding of the sales process itself.<\/p>\n

Chelsea gives a simple example. One of the first concepts the team had to clarify was the meaning of a close date<\/strong>. For someone who has spent years in sales or Marketing Operations, this sounds almost too basic to discuss. But Resultant employs experts in areas such as consulting, data science, government and education. Many of them are expected to contribute to sales without being career salespeople.<\/p>\n

That distinction matters.<\/p>\n

At RightWave, we see a similar pattern in many organizations. What looks like a CRM data quality problem is often a people, process and definition problem that happens to show up in the CRM<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Technology can enforce a field. It cannot ensure that everybody interprets that field the same way.<\/p>\n

RevOps is fundamentally a behavior change exercise<\/h2>\n

Chelsea describes building RevOps as a major change management initiative.<\/p>\n

That is an important way to think about it.<\/p>\n

You can document the perfect sales process, create mandatory CRM fields and build dashboards around pipeline stages. But if sales teams do not understand why the information matters, the result is often compliance rather than adoption.<\/p>\n

And compliance rarely produces reliable data.<\/p>\n

Resultant therefore started with a North Star, then focused on a small number of improvements that could demonstrate progress quickly. Weekly pipeline reviews created a common operating rhythm. Definitions were clarified. Forecasting became more structured. Qualification methodologies were introduced gradually.<\/p>\n

The objective was not simply cleaner Salesforce records. It was to develop new habits.<\/p>\n

For Marketing Operations and Revenue Operations teams, this is an important shift in mindset. Instead of asking only:<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do we configure the process?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

we also need to ask:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat needs to change in the way people make decisions?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Better forecasting starts with better conversations<\/h2>\n

Resultant initially saw forecast accuracy of roughly 20 to 30 percent, with an ambition to move toward 70 to 80 percent.<\/p>\n

Improving that number was not simply a matter of introducing a forecasting tool.<\/p>\n

The team began examining why opportunities were being forecast in the first place. What buying signals had actually been received? Was budget understood? Was the right decision maker involved? Was there a real timeline? Had anything meaningful changed since the previous forecast?<\/p>\n

This is where RevOps becomes much more valuable than reporting.<\/p>\n

Good RevOps does not merely tell leadership that the forecast is wrong. It helps the organization understand why it is wrong and what behavior needs to change to make it better<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

That can include reviewing stagnant opportunities, continuously requalifying deals and making sure pipeline reviews become working sessions rather than status meetings.<\/p>\n

Accountability works better with empathy<\/h2>\n

Another theme from the conversation deserves more attention.<\/p>\n

RevOps teams often become the people pointing out what is missing, inaccurate or overdue. That can quickly create an unhealthy dynamic where Operations becomes the CRM police.<\/p>\n

Chelsea took a different approach.<\/p>\n

Rather than publicly putting individuals on the spot, RevOps worked closely with managers, surfaced the right information and enabled those managers to drive accountability. Pipeline calls also became places to celebrate wins, collaborate on stuck opportunities and share what was working.<\/p>\n

There is an important lesson here for MOps and RevOps teams.<\/p>\n

Data governance without empathy creates resistance. Data governance with context can create trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The strongest Operations teams understand the pressures on sales and marketing before designing systems around them. Spending time inside the actual workflow can reveal friction that dashboards never will.<\/p>\n

And then there is AI<\/h2>\n

Unsurprisingly, AI entered the conversation too.<\/p>\n

The temptation today is to ask whether AI can automatically update the CRM, qualify opportunities, create proposals, forecast deals and remove administrative work from sellers.<\/p>\n

Some of it absolutely can.<\/p>\n

But the warning from the discussion is important: automating a broken process simply allows the broken process to operate faster.<\/p>\n

This is particularly relevant as organizations rush toward agentic workflows and AI driven Revenue Operations.<\/p>\n

At RightWave, we believe the sequence matters.<\/p>\n

Standardize first. Improve the data. Establish shared definitions. Understand the workflow. Then decide where AI can remove friction or improve decision making.<\/strong><\/p>\n

AI is extremely valuable for research, summarization, enrichment, content assistance, identifying patterns and helping teams work faster. But it should amplify a good revenue process rather than compensate for the absence of one.<\/p>\n

The bigger opportunity for Marketing<\/h2>\n

Perhaps the most interesting outcome of Chelsea taking responsibility for RevOps was what it did for marketing.<\/p>\n

Pipeline meetings gave marketing a regular platform with sales and business leaders. Instead of simply presenting attribution reports, marketing could tell stories about how campaigns contributed to real opportunities, how events worked when marketing and sales prepared together and how specific programs influenced customer journeys.<\/p>\n

Even better, salespeople began telling some of those stories themselves.<\/p>\n

That is where genuine sales and marketing alignment starts.<\/p>\n

Not with another SLA.<\/p>\n

Not with another attribution dashboard.<\/p>\n

But when both teams see themselves as participants in the same revenue journey.<\/p>\n

The RightWave perspective<\/h2>\n

RevOps maturity does not begin with sophisticated technology.<\/p>\n

It begins when an organization develops a common language for revenue, consistent processes, trusted data and shared accountability across marketing, sales and customer teams.<\/p>\n

Martech, CRM automation and AI can make that operating model dramatically more scalable. But they are the accelerators, not the foundation.<\/p>\n

If your RevOps initiative feels harder than expected, the answer may not be another tool.<\/p>\n

You may simply be discovering what RevOps was supposed to solve in the first place: how people, processes, data and technology work together to create predictable growth.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This article draws on insights from an episode of <\/em>OpsCast by MarketingOps.com<\/em><\/strong>, hosted by <\/em>Michael Hartman<\/em><\/strong>, featuring <\/em>Chelsea Gil, CMO at Resultant<\/em><\/strong>, discussing Resultant\u2019s experience building Revenue Operations from the ground up.<\/em><\/p>\n

Reference – https:\/\/youtu.be\/pozBsQ9az3M?si=Ds93-HAAkM_VgJgi<\/a><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Companies often approach Revenue Operations as if it were an implementation project. Hire a RevOps leader, clean up the CRM, define the stages, build dashboards, introduce forecasting and perhaps add some AI. In reality, the hard part usually starts after all of that. That came through clearly in a recent OpsCast from MarketingOps.com, hosted by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":90804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-welcome"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90797"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90802,"href":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90797\/revisions\/90802"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightwave.com\/rwi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}