This article comes from Imani Chopin’s insightful talk at our Austin 2024 Revenue Operations Summit, check out her full presentation here.

Ever felt like you're speaking a different language when trying to convince your C-suite about the value of revenue operations? Trust me, I've been there.

I'm Imani Chopin, Senior Director of Revenue Operations and Enablement at Brinks Home Security. Today, I want to dive into a topic that's close to my heart: securing that elusive executive buy-in.

Now, I'll be the first to admit – my journey into RevOps wasn't exactly traditional. In fact, you could say I stumbled into it. But that unconventional path taught me some valuable lessons about navigating the complex world of B2C companies, breaking down silos, and yes, getting the big bosses on board with RevOps.

In this article, I'm going to share my story of how we implemented our RevOps function at Brinks Home. We'll explore the strategies that worked, the challenges we faced, and the key lessons I learned along the way.

Whether you're just starting your RevOps journey or you're looking to level up your game, I hope my experiences will give you some fresh ideas and maybe even a few "aha" moments. 

So, buckle up, and let's dive into the world of securing executive buy-in for RevOps success!

Strategies for securing executive buy-in

Now, let's get to the heart of the matter – how did we secure executive buy-in for RevOps? It wasn't an overnight process, let me tell you. But here are some strategies that worked for us:

  1. Consistent education

I became a one-woman RevOps education machine. I constantly shared articles about what alignment looks like with RevOps, the structure of RevOps, and its benefits. 

Did I annoy some people? Maybe. But it got the conversation started. Every time I came across a relevant article or case study, I'd send it to our leadership team with a note about how it could apply to our situation at Brinks.

  1. Leveraging industry events

We attended a Gartner conference for Chief Sales Officers. Lo and behold, RevOps was a hot topic there. Sometimes, hearing about a concept from external experts can be the push executives need.

  1. Building strategic partnerships

I was fortunate to have mentors in key positions – our CPO and our CTO. These relationships were crucial in building support for RevOps across the organization. 

I made sure to have regular check-ins with them, sharing my vision for our RevOps function and how it could solve some of the challenges we were facing.

  1. Aligning with business goals

This is crucial, folks. When I pitched RevOps to our CEO, I didn't go into a long-winded explanation. I simply tied it to a metric he cared about – customer lifetime value. That got his attention real quick. 

I showed him how RevOps could help us increase customer lifetime value by ensuring we were selling the right packages, providing better customer support, and reducing churn.

  1. Bringing in external expertise

Sometimes, it helps to bring in outside experts to validate your ideas. We had a growth operations expert speak to our CRO about the strategic value of RevOps. It added credibility to our efforts and helped cement the C-suite’s buy-in. 

She was able to share case studies and best practices from other companies that had successfully implemented RevOps, which all really resonated with our leadership team.