Chapter 8: Analysing the Funnel 

Analysing the Funnel

Revenue operators must dissect and evaluate the influence each department has on the funnel and determine what is working and what is going wrong.

As Sean Lane, Founding Partner of Minot Light Consulting, shared:

‘I’m a big believer in going after where the problems are and where you see friction and inefficiencies. We work our way down the funnel and look at our problems and the operations work that we needed to do.’

Analysing Wins

Marketing

Successful deals often start with effective marketing efforts. Marketing teams are responsible for generating leads and nurturing prospects.

To analyse wins, RevOps must consider the marketing channels and strategies that drove leads, ensuring that the leads are well-qualified and fit the target audience.

Here, you can look at the number of MQLs and customer acquisition costs. This financial metric measures the total cost incurred by marketing to acquire a new customer, as well as marketing efficiency.

You can also measure your click-through rate on a marketing campaign link. You can use this to assess the effectiveness of email marketing campaigns and online ads.

Sales

Sales teams play an essential part in deal closures, and analysing wins requires a thorough assessment of the sales process.

This includes evaluating sales reps’ efficiency, communication skills and negotiation tactics.

Monitoring win rates provides insights into the sales team’s effectiveness in closing deals.

Tracking this rate on a monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis enables you to analyse the performance of individual sales representatives across different regions, territories, and product lines.

This data can help leadership identify weak or underperforming reps and insights into territory design and quotas.

In some cases, territories may need to be more fairly distributed, or quotas may have unrealistic expectations.

You can look at the sales pipeline values, churn rates, and the average value of a closed deal as well.

Customer Success

Post-sale Customer Success teams are essential. Their role ensures client satisfaction and retention.

Their contributions include onboarding, ongoing support, and addressing customer needs.

A customer satisfaction score measures the satisfaction with a product or service, while a net promoter score measures a customer’s willingness to refer the product.

The customer lifetime value can also highlight the total revenue a business can expect from a customer over their entire relationship.

Understanding Losses

Marketing

When a deal is lost, it’s vital to evaluate marketing’s performance.

Were the leads generated poor quality? Did the messaging miss the mark? RevOps should pinpoint any areas of improvement within the marketing strategy.

If you haven’t fully defined your buyer personas, your targeting will be ineffective. This could result from inadequate market research or outdated data.

Poor messaging can also cause marketing campaigns to fail. If the value proposition isn’t clear, or if the content doesn’t resonate with the audience, potential customers may not engage.

This was crucial for Rudy Wilson Evans, the Revenue Operations Manager at Synthesia. He said:

‘Our messaging was originally the same in the US and European markets, but Europe was significantly underperforming compared to the US. It was all because our messaging focused on time-saving. 

As soon as we switched this and mentioned the amount of money saved to our European customers, we saw a ridiculous amount of change. We saw a 250% increase in webinar signups after that one change. It was literally half a line within an e-mail.’

Sales

When a deal falls through, you must assess the sales process.

As Brad Smith shared:

'The most important thing I’m doing is noticing trends and figuring out what we need to stop doing. It’s your responsibility to voice your opinion on whether a specific vertical, industry or region is not something we need to over-index on. 

Revenue Operators have all the tools and knowledge in their tool belt to go and posture that way. You should have the authority and autonomy to tell people when you think something is a bad idea. That will build so much more character and reliability and autonomy for yourself in your organisation.’

Were sales reps unprepared or ineffective in addressing objections? Was the negotiation strategy lacking?

Sales teams need a structured and practical approach from prospecting to closing deals.

A lack of training and development can also weaken sales teams. Salespeople may need help understanding the product, communicating value, or handling objections effectively.

Weaknesses in sales forecasting can also result in missed targets or overselling, causing financial losses. Accurate pipeline management and forecasting are, therefore, essential.

Customer Success

Analysing lost deals requires an examination of post-sale performance.

Did the customer experience issues with onboarding or support? Were their needs adequately addressed?

The inability to recognise and address churn risk factors can lead to losses. Weaknesses in retaining customers can result from not recognising signs of dissatisfaction or ineffective retention strategies.

Identifying these challenges is critical to preventing customer churn.

Closing thoughts

Analysing and understanding why you won or lost a deal is integral in RevOps. It provides a holistic view of the customer journey and also identifies any underlying issues. 

It helps you understand where discrepancies exist and what might be going wrong. Then, you can improve your processes and strategies.