Reporting lines are important for Revenue Operations. They will have an impact on how effective RevOps will be in your organization. 

In this article, we look at:

• LinkedIn Community Pool Results

• The 4 Reporting Options

• Why it should be the CEO (spoiler!)

• Bonus: Chief Product Officer

• Where RevOps should never report to.

LinkedIn Community Pool Results

The Community pool was with had 102 participants (3/4 were RevOps professionals).

By far the most voted role is the Chief Revenue Officer. That is good news. You might wonder, should it always be the CRO? Probably not. It will depend on the unique circumstances of your business. An ideally, it should be the CEO

Let’s walk through each scenario.

The Chief Revenue Officer (CRO)

Having RevOps under the CRO is one of the most common models seen in the industry. The Head/VP of RevOps is then often seen as the right hand of the CRO.

When to use?

This model is common when your organization has a CRO to begin with. The CRO needs to have oversight over all revenue functions: Marketing, Sales & Customer Success. Combining this with RevOps is a proven winning formula.

Pitfalls to avoid

Some organizations have a VP of Sales rebranded as CRO with no oversight over Marketing or Customer Success. In this case, RevOps is also simply a rebranded Sales Operations. The impact will be minimal.

The Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

The CFO focus is on revenue and cost savings. This is matching with RevOps. For both roles, operational excellence is of importance.

When to use?

It is best suited for organizations that don’t have a CRO and have a siloed departments. Each with its own VP of Sales, VP of Marketing or VP of Customer Success. 

In such cases, you don’t want RevOps reports to one of the revenue department VPs as that would create a bias and make RevOps less objective.

The CFO will provide a level of authority to the RevOps organization that will make some initiatives easier. In the end, Cash rules the world.

Pitfalls to avoid

The role of the CFO is to control spend but in the commercial teams, we have to take risks. Fortunes are made by taking risks. A too-rigid CFO can limit the growth potential of the revenue teams and ultimately the whole business.

The Chief Operating Officer (COO)

The COO is a wild card. This is one of the most diverse roles within an organization, some are close to sales, some are in between and some are literally managing the operations of warehouses.

When to use?

When there is no CRO and the CFO does not have the right profile but the COO is close to the business and has a commercial background. This is not too uncommon in SaaS companies. Then it can be even better than the CFO combo. 

You might wonder why?

Well in such an organization RevOps might not only be limited to Success, Sales and Marketing but also can go into legal, finance, IT, and finance. Many more revenue leaks happen in the legal and finance space. This structure can solve those.

Pitfalls to avoid

Similar to the CFO, if the objectives and background of the COO are not commercial enough then the risk is too high that RevOps will spend time on activities that will not drive revenue. It is easy to keep people busy but it takes skill to identify tasks that drive revenue.

The CEO

RevOps can unleash its full potential when it reports directly to the CEO. This signals that the CEO is fully embracing the RevOps culture in the organization. Remember, culture eats strategy for breakfast.

Simon Gilks, VP Revenue Operations at Speechmatics, provides a comment to the pool which I fully support.

When to use?

Whenever possible. Seriously, if the board, CEO and the leadership team are behind RevOps and understand the impact it has on the business. Then there is no excuse that RevOps should not report to the CEO.

Early-stage companies start with this reporting line out of necessity (keep it that way) and larger companies should consider the switch. It is time to make RevOps strategic.

Pitfalls to avoid

The responsibility of the VP of RevOps is higher when they report to the CEO. Hence, it is crucial that your RevOps head is an exceptional leader. The executive level requires a special skill so put the right person in the position.  

Tip: When hiring a RevOps leader always prefer soft skills over technical skills. Clearly, both are important but soft skills are harder to learn than technical skills.

Bonus: The Chief Product Officer

In a company that is truly product-led then the best place for RevOps is under the CPO. Both roles are very strategic, analytical, technical, operational, and commercial.

When to use? 

You are a PLG company that leads with the product:

• Marketing is all about product marketing

• Small sales team

• Success is also closely linked to product.

In this environment, RevOps and Product can make a huge difference.

Pitfalls to avoid

When PLG is becoming a door opener to enterprises then the upsell will require a traditional sales motion. In that essence, RevOps would be better within the commercial function.

Where RevOps should never report to

These are Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success.

It is a logical contradiction to the definition of RevOps. Namely, to create alignment across departments. How is it that possible if RevOps has to report to one of the departments it should align?

Impossible. Avoid this at all costs.

Clearly, every business is different and there is never one solution that fits all. I am part of a camp that is convinced that Revenue Operations is the most effective when it is strategic.

As Simon pointed out, RevOps is becoming a business partner to the business. That is why it should ideally report to the CEO.