revops

name	revops
description	When the user wants help with revenue operations, lead lifecycle management, or marketing-to-sales handoff processes. Also use when the user mentions 'RevOps,' 'revenue operations,' 'lead scoring,' 'lead routing,' 'MQL,' 'SQL,' 'pipeline stages,' 'deal desk,' 'CRM automation,' 'marketing-to-sales handoff,' 'data hygiene,' 'leads aren't getting to sales,' 'pipeline management,' 'lead qualification,' or 'when should marketing hand off to sales.' Use this for anything involving the systems and processes that connect marketing to revenue. For cold outreach emails, see cold-email. For email drip campaigns, see email-sequence. For pricing decisions, see pricing-strategy.
tags	["nontechnical","corey-marketingskills","revops","strategy","workflow","database","sales","marketing"]
metadata	{"version":"1.1.0"}

Lead Lifecycle Framework

Stage Definitions

Stage	Entry Criteria	Exit Criteria	Owner
Subscriber	Opts in to content (blog, newsletter)	Provides company info or shows engagement	Marketing
Lead	Identified contact with basic info	Meets minimum fit criteria	Marketing
MQL	Passes fit + engagement threshold	Sales accepts or rejects within SLA	Marketing
SQL	Sales accepts and qualifies via conversation	Opportunity created or recycled	Sales (SDR/AE)
Opportunity	Budget, authority, need, timeline confirmed	Closed-won or closed-lost	Sales (AE)
Customer	Closed-won deal	Expands, renews, or churns	CS / Account Mgmt
Evangelist	High NPS, referral activity, case study	Ongoing program participation	CS / Marketing

MQL Definition

An MQL requires both fit and engagement:

• Fit score — Does this person match your ICP? (company size, industry, role, tech stack)
• Engagement score — Have they shown buying intent? (pricing page, demo request, multiple visits)

Neither alone is sufficient. A perfect-fit company that never engages isn't an MQL. A student downloading every ebook isn't an MQL.

MQL-to-SQL Handoff SLA

Define response times and document them:

• MQL alert sent to assigned rep
• Rep contacts within 4 hours (business hours)
• Rep qualifies or rejects within 48 hours
• Rejected MQLs go to recycling nurture with reason code

For complete lifecycle stage templates and SLA examples: See references/lifecycle-definitions.md

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Lead Scoring

Scoring Dimensions

Explicit scoring (fit) — Who they are:

• Company size, industry, revenue
• Job title, seniority, department
• Tech stack, geography

Implicit scoring (engagement) — What they do:

• Page visits (especially pricing, demo, case studies)
• Content downloads, webinar attendance
• Email engagement (opens, clicks)
• Product usage (for PLG)

Negative scoring — Disqualifying signals:

• Competitor email domains
• Student/personal email
• Unsubscribes, spam complaints
• Job title mismatches (intern, student)

Building a Scoring Model

1. Define your ICP attributes and weight them
2. Identify high-intent behavioral signals from closed-won data
3. Set point values for each attribute and behavior
4. Set MQL threshold (typically 50-80 points on a 100-point scale)
5. Test against historical data — does the model correctly identify past wins?
6. Launch, measure, and recalibrate quarterly

Common Scoring Mistakes

• Weighting content downloads too heavily (research ≠ buying intent)
• Not including negative scoring (lets bad leads through)
• Setting and forgetting (buyer behavior changes; recalibrate quarterly)
• Scoring all page visits equally (pricing page ≠ blog post)

For detailed scoring templates and example models: See references/scoring-models.md

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Lead Routing

Routing Methods

Method	How It Works	Best For
Round-robin	Distribute evenly across reps	Equal territories, similar deal sizes
Territory-based	Assign by geography, vertical, or segment	Regional teams, industry specialists
Account-based	Named accounts go to named reps	ABM motions, strategic accounts
Skill-based	Route by deal complexity, product line, or language	Diverse product lines, global teams

Routing Rules Essentials

• Route to the most specific match first, then fall back to general
• Include a fallback owner — unassigned leads go cold fast and waste pipeline
• Round-robin should account for rep capacity and availability (PTO, quota attainment)
• Log every routing decision for audit and optimization

Speed-to-Lead

Response time is the single biggest factor in lead conversion:

• Contact within 5 minutes = 21x more likely to qualify (Lead Connect)
• After 30 minutes, conversion drops by 10x
• After 24 hours, the lead is effectively cold

Build routing rules that prioritize speed. Alert reps immediately. Escalate if SLA is missed.

For routing decision trees and platform-specific setup: See references/routing-rules.md

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Pipeline Stage Management

Pipeline Stages

Stage	Required Fields	Exit Criteria
Qualified	Contact info, company, source, fit score	Discovery call scheduled
Discovery	Pain points, current solution, timeline	Needs confirmed, demo scheduled
Demo/Evaluation	Technical requirements, decision makers	Positive evaluation, proposal requested
Proposal	Pricing, terms, stakeholder map	Proposal delivered and reviewed
Negotiation	Redlines, approval chain, close date	Terms agreed, contract sent
Closed Won	Signed contract, payment terms	Handoff to CS complete
Closed Lost	Loss reason, competitor (if any)	Post-mortem logged

Stage Hygiene

• Required fields per stage — Don't let reps advance a deal without filling in required data
• Stale deal alerts — Flag deals that sit in a stage beyond the average time (e.g., 2x average days)
• Stage skip detection — Alert when deals jump stages (Qualified → Proposal skipping Discovery)
• Close date discipline — Push dates must include a reason; no silent pushes

Pipeline Metrics

Metric	What It Tells You
Stage conversion rates	Where deals die
Average time in stage	Where deals stall
Pipeline velocity	Revenue per day through the funnel
Coverage ratio	Pipeline value vs. quota (target 3-4x)
Win rate by source	Which channels produce real revenue

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CRM Automation Workflows

Essential Automations

• Lifecycle stage updates — Auto-advance stages when criteria are met
• Task creation on handoff — Create follow-up task when MQL assigned to rep
• SLA alerts — Notify manager if rep misses response time SLA
• Deal stage triggers — Auto-send proposals, update forecasts, notify CS on close

Marketing-to-Sales Automations

• MQL alert — Instant notification to assigned rep with lead context
• Meeting booked — Notify AE when prospect books via scheduling tool
• Lead activity digest — Daily summary of high-intent actions by active leads
• Re-engagement trigger — Alert sales when a dormant lead returns to site

Calendar Scheduling Integration

• Round-robin scheduling — Distribute meetings evenly across team
• Routing by criteria — Send enterprise leads to senior AEs, SMB to junior reps
• Pre-meeting enrichment — Auto-populate CRM record before the call
• No-show workflows — Auto-follow-up if prospect misses meeting

For platform-specific workflow recipes: See references/automation-playbooks.md

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Deal Desk Processes

When You Need a Deal Desk

• ACV above $25K (or your threshold for non-standard deals)
• Non-standard payment terms (net-90, quarterly billing)
• Multi-year contracts with custom pricing
• Volume discounts beyond published tiers
• Custom legal terms or SLAs

Approval Workflow Tiers

Deal Size	Approval Required
Standard pricing	Auto-approved
10-20% discount	Sales manager
20-40% discount	VP Sales
40%+ discount or custom terms	Deal desk review
Multi-year / enterprise	Finance + Legal

Non-Standard Terms Handling

Document every exception. Track which non-standard terms get requested most — if everyone asks for the same exception, it should become standard. Review quarterly.

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Data Hygiene & Enrichment

Dedup Strategy

• Matching rules — Email domain + company name + phone as primary match keys
• Merge priority — CRM record wins over marketing automation; most recent activity wins for fields
• Scheduled dedup — Run weekly automated dedup with manual review for edge cases

Required Fields Enforcement

• Enforce required fields at each lifecycle stage
• Block stage advancement if fields are empty
• Use progressive profiling — don't require everything upfront

Enrichment Tools

Tool	Strength
Clearbit	Real-time enrichment, good for tech companies
Apollo	Contact data + sequences, strong for prospecting
ZoomInfo	Enterprise-grade, largest B2B database

Quarterly Audit Checklist

• Review and merge duplicates
• Validate email deliverability on stale contacts
• Archive contacts with no activity in 12+ months
• Audit lifecycle stage distribution (look for bottlenecks)
• Verify enrichment data accuracy on a sample set

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RevOps Metrics Dashboard

Key Metrics

Metric	Formula / Definition	Benchmark
Lead-to-MQL rate	MQLs / Total leads	5-15%
MQL-to-SQL rate	SQLs / MQLs	30-50%
SQL-to-Opportunity	Opportunities / SQLs	50-70%
Pipeline velocity	(# deals x avg deal size x win rate) / avg sales cycle	Varies by ACV
CAC	Total sales + marketing spend / new customers	LTV:CAC > 3:1
LTV:CAC ratio	Customer lifetime value / CAC	3:1 to 5:1 healthy
Speed-to-lead	Time from form fill to first rep contact	< 5 minutes ideal
Win rate	Closed-won / total opportunities	20-30% (varies)

Dashboard Structure

Build three views:

1. Marketing view — Lead volume, MQL rate, source attribution, cost per MQL
2. Sales view — Pipeline value, stage conversion, velocity, forecast accuracy
3. Executive view — CAC, LTV:CAC, revenue vs. target, pipeline coverage

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Output Format

When delivering RevOps recommendations, provide:

1. Lifecycle stage document — Stage definitions with entry/exit criteria, owners, and SLAs
2. Scoring specification — Fit and engagement attributes with point values and MQL threshold
3. Routing rules document — Decision tree with assignment logic and fallbacks
4. Pipeline configuration — Stage definitions, required fields, and automation triggers
5. Metrics dashboard spec — Key metrics, data sources, and target benchmarks

Format each as a standalone document the user can implement directly. Include platform-specific guidance when the CRM is known.

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Task-Specific Questions

1. What CRM platform are you using (or planning to use)?
2. How many leads per month do you generate?
3. What's your current MQL definition?
4. Where do leads get stuck in your funnel?
5. Do you have SLAs between marketing and sales today?

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Tool Integrations

For implementation, see the tools registry. Key RevOps tools:

Tool	What It Does	Guide
HubSpot	CRM, marketing automation, lead scoring, workflows	hubspot.md
Salesforce	Enterprise CRM, pipeline management, reporting	salesforce.md
Calendly	Meeting scheduling, round-robin routing	calendly.md
SavvyCal	Scheduling with priority-based availability	savvycal.md
Clearbit	Real-time lead enrichment and scoring	clearbit.md
Apollo	Contact data, enrichment, and outbound sequences	apollo.md
ActiveCampaign	Marketing automation for SMBs, lead scoring	activecampaign.md
Zapier	Cross-tool automation and workflow glue	zapier.md
Introw	Partner-sourced pipeline, commissions, deal registration, QBRs	introw.md
Crossbeam	Partner account overlaps and co-sell identification	crossbeam.md

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Related Skills

• cold-email: For outbound prospecting emails
• email-sequence: For lifecycle and nurture email flows
• pricing-strategy: For pricing decisions and packaging
• analytics-tracking: For tracking pipeline metrics and attribution
• launch-strategy: For go-to-market launch planning
• sales-enablement: For sales collateral, decks, and objection handling