Revenue Operations (RevOps) can provide several types of support for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system admins, including:
CRM configuration and setup:
After years of working with a CRM and with multiple people coming and going, you're likely to find a lot of custom properties. I’ve seen it just recently. <Company name> fields in Contact Properties groups in a form. I promise you there were lots of other examples. It’s one example but largely, your CRM will likely be on top of data integrity.
RevOps can help by focusing on configuring and setting up the CRM system to align with the company’s revenue operations needs.
- Segmentation
- Lifecycle stages
- Partner and Channel Associations to Deals
- Dashboard reporting (the automated self-service type, not manual)
- Setting rules for Pipeline stage moves for deals
- Highlighting deals without tasks
- Highlighting deals which have become stuck
Review the handoffs
RevOps superpowers include handoffs. Marketing to sales, sales to customer service and customer service to renewals (sometimes we have a pre-sales stage, too).
RevOps can help by providing the CRM Admin with SLAs. Now you might argue RevOps will already be doing this but part of the exercise here is to look for opportunities for collaboration, such as places where you can work together.
Data management and quality
Oh my. Data accuracy. Where to begin?
I’m sure you’ve tried an amnesty, shouting, crying or walking ‘virtual’ corridors to make progress. If you have bad data, everyone’s job becomes more painful.
Here are some areas to go hunting:
Data entry errors
Typos and misspellings in names, contact information, or other fields - think of the property type you need (single text fields can signal trouble brewing).
- Transposed numbers in phone contacts or addresses (scrolling a CSV can often spot a wrong phone format in a column of otherwise standardised data)
- Misheard or misinterpreted client information - oh yes
- Incorrect email domains (e.g. ".cm" instead of ".com")
These errors often occur when sales reps work under pressure or enter data quickly (and because they need better attention to detail, don't check, don’t double check, fat fingers, mobile device data entries with fat fingers etc.).
Duplicate records
Duplicate entries for the same customer, contact or account are a major problem. This can happen due to:
- Lack of integration between different data sources
- Manual data entry without checking for existing records
- Improper data validation during imports
- Duplicates lead to confusion, inconsistency, and errors in sales processes and reporting
Incomplete data
Partial or missing information is another common issue caused by:
- Users skipping or forgetting to fill in required fields
- Data loss during transfer or storage
- Outdated or irrelevant information
Incomplete data hinders effective segmentation, targeting, and
personalization of sales efforts.
Inconsistent data formats
When different teams or individuals input data in varying formats, it creates inconsistencies:
- Variations in company name formats (e.g. "ABC Inc" vs "ABC Incorporated")
- Inconsistent job title entries (e.g. "CEO" vs "chief executive officer")
- Different date formats or units of measurement
- This makes it difficult to search, segment and analyse data effectively.
A lack of data standards
Without clear guidelines on data entry and maintenance, chaos can ensue:
- Each team member may have their own way of recording information
- Inconsistent use of abbreviations or full names
- Varying levels of detail in data entry
Poor CRM implementation
A flawed CRM setup can lead to ongoing data quality issues:
- Misaligned data fields that don't capture the right information
- Overcomplicated processes that discourage user adoption
- Lack of integration with other essential business tools
- Insufficient data validation rules and quality checks
Outdated information
Data decay is a natural process affecting all CRM systems over time:
- People change jobs or contact details
- Companies merge or go out of business
- Product offerings or pricing changes
- Without regular updates, the CRM contains outdated and potentially useless information
Lack of user training
Poor or insufficient training is a major contributor to data quality issues:
- Users may not understand the importance of data accuracy
- Lack of knowledge about proper data entry procedures
- Inadequate understanding of the CRM system's features and capabilities
By addressing these common mistakes and implementing proper data management practices, organizations can significantly improve the quality of their CRM data and derive more value from their customer relationship management efforts.
What to do about it
RevOps can encourage a data audit, help establish data governance policies, and set up processes to ensure that data is being entered consistently across the organization. This will ensure that the CRM system is being used effectively and that the data being entered is accurate and complete.
Sales process design
The CRM needs to help sales. Help everyone. Help customers too.
When sales see the CRM as a policing device and not a help to them - there is pushback. Sales hold deals to the last day of the month and closed won deals suddenly change your reporting and trends.
Choosing a friendly CRM like HubSpot or Salesforce can help, but if you’re in a RevOps or a CRM Admin role, it’s unlikely you’ll be being asked to choose a new CRM system. You can cheat a little and find out the list of lovely features in HubSpot, for example and use these to create your own checklist of where you can get users' co-operation - are people using the helpful features?
This is where we earn our lunch
RevOps and CRM need to work together, but if you’re new to the role, you might want to heed this advice.
The sales process is where the sales director pays for her lunch. So don't jump in and try to start chaining the sales process on your first day. Stay away from this agenda item.
Start with the data and move to handoffs. Be a RevOps Ninja.
Section the sales process and check the pipeline stages make sense. HubSpot RevOps Certification course has a fabulous section on this and it’s worth checking out. You can find a starter at the HubSpot Academy, or you can use this link.
RevOps can work with the sales team and CRM Admin to design and optimise their sales processes within the CRM system.
Your sales process is your sales process.
Beware those who say, “ah, every sale is different”
Your sales leader doesn't want different. She wants the same. You need to run your sales process as part of the way you do business. And the first rule is working your sales process.
Don't jump around. Flag all the salespeople who say their sales process is different and deal with it as a matter of priority.
This may include creating custom sales stages, setting up sales automation, and establishing rules and guidelines for sales reps to follow.
Sales analytics
RevOps can help the sales team use the CRM system to gain insights into their sales performance. This may include setting up custom reports and dashboards, analysing sales data to identify trends and patterns, and providing recommendations based on data analysis.
Look further into sales enablement content and processes, too. What content helps convert? Where are those peak moments?
You’re looking for trends, not reacting to one-off incidents.
Help sales understand where most deals fall over. Look for the documents that are associated with a successful deal or the timeline averages and progression of successful deals.
Work out what’s happening at your company.
Training and support
RevOps can provide training and support programs to help the client's revenue operations team use the CRM system effectively. This may include providing user training, creating user manuals and guides and offering ongoing support to answer questions and troubleshoot issues.
RevOps and CRM admin checklist
We’ve produced a checklist. Take a look through and see where you can start to provide value:
RevOps (Revenue Operations) can offer a comprehensive set of services to support a HubSpot CRM admin in optimising the platform and aligning it with the company's revenue goals. Here are some critical services RevOps could offer:
Data management and optimisation
- Ensure data quality and integrity across the CRM
- Implement data cleansing and enrichment processes
- Establish data governance policies and procedures
- Create and maintain custom properties and fields
- Set up training for data accuracy
Workflow and Automation
Lead management workflows
- Lead scoring: Automatically assign values to leads based on their actions and characteristics, helping prioritise high-value opportunities.
- Lead assignment: Automatically route leads to the appropriate sales reps based on criteria like geography, industry or deal size.
- Lead nurturing: Set up drip campaigns to automatically engage and educate leads at different stages of the funnel.
Sales process automation
- Deal management: Automate tasks related to tracking and managing potential deals through the sales pipeline.
- Follow-ups: Schedule automatic follow-up emails or tasks when prospects go silent or reach certain milestones.
- Sales collateral distribution: Automatically share relevant content, demos or proposals based on prospect actions or stages in the pipeline.
Customer lifecycle management
- Onboarding workflows: Automate welcome emails, training resources, and initial setup tasks for new customers.
- Renewal and upsell triggers: Set up alerts and automated campaigns for contract renewals or potential upsell opportunities.
- Customer health monitoring: Automate tracking of usage metrics and trigger interventions for at-risk accounts.
Email marketing automation
- Email campaign workflows: Set up targeted email sequences based on customer segments or behaviours.
- Newsletter automation: Automatically send welcome emails and regular newsletters to new subscribers.
- Also here are (in HubSpot land) snippets, sequences and email templates
Data management workflows
- Data enrichment: automatically update and enrich contact information from external sources.
- Duplicate detection and merging: set up workflows to identify and merge duplicate records.
- Data cleanup: regularly clean and standardise data fields to maintain data quality.
Customer support automation
- Ticket assignment: automatically routes support tickets to the appropriate team or individual based on issue type or customer tier.
- SLA monitoring: set up alerts for tickets approaching SLA breach and trigger escalation workflows.
Reporting and analytics automation
- Dashboard updates: Automatically refresh key metrics and reports on a regular schedule.
- Alert triggers: Set up notifications for significant changes in important KPIs or metrics.
Integration workflows
- Cross-system data syncing: automate data transfer between CRM and other business systems (e.g., marketing automation, ERP, support ticketing).
- Event-triggered actions: set up workflows that trigger actions in other systems based on CRM events (e.g., creating an invoice when a deal is won).
Reporting and analytics
- Develop custom reports and dashboards
- Set up goal tracking and KPI monitoring
- Implement attribution modeling
- Provide data-driven insights for decision-making
User management and training
- Managing user roles and permissions
- Conduct training sessions for new and existing users
- Create documentation and best practices guides
- Provide ongoing support and troubleshooting
Process optimisation
- Review map and optimise sales, marketing and customer service processes
- Align CRM functionality with business objectives
- Identify and eliminate bottlenecks
- List and remove friction
- Implement best practices for lead management and scoring
Compliance and security
- Ensure GDPR, CCPA and other regulatory compliance
- Implement data security measures
- Manage backup and recovery processes
- Conduct regular security audits
By providing these services, RevOps can help a HubSpot CRM admin or any other CRM admin maximise the platform's potential, streamline operations and drive revenue growth across the organisation.
