How a Top RevOps Consultant Helps Startups Grow Revenue in 4 Steps

Let me tell you a funny story about how I got into sales.

My first job as a sales engineer was in New York City. I was mentored by a guy named Marlon, an ASU grad, party boy, and very effective salesman.

He invited me to his Upper West Side apartment for a Cinco de Mayo party. To this day, I clearly remember the moment I walked in: the square footage of his balcony overlooking an Upper West Side park was bigger than my entire apartment on the Lower East Side.

I turned to him and said, “Marlon, how do you afford all this?”

He smiled at me and gave me a reply I’ll never forget: “Brother, don’t you know? If I need more, I sell more.”

That was the moment I learned about commissions.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me tell you about my career path, how I formed my own unique philosophy of sales, and how I use that philosophy to help business owners accelerate their sales and revenue.

My Philosophy of Sales: It’s Facilitation, Not Manipulation

I was trained as a computer engineer and worked as a software developer for some time. However, as I learned more about the technical side of software, I became interested in the business problems generating these technical requirements.

I moved into sales engineering, and two years after the above encounter with Marlon, I transitioned into a sales role.

Being an engineer helped shape my unique philosophy of sales. Engineers deal with systems, and people (especially groups) can also be considered systems.

Here’s my core sales philosophy: It’s not manipulation; it’s facilitation.

As a salesperson or a startup founder, I believe you accrue a percentage of the value you create. That’s why, to me, the number one quality of a successful salesperson is empathy.

Putting yourself in the other person’s shoes tells you what the person really needs and desires. If you can connect with people through empathy, you’ll always make money because you can fulfill true needs and desires.

How an Empathetic Sales Rep Proved This to Me in Real Life

Here’s a real example: I was introduced to a sales rep for a product that I hated. This rep invited me to a demo, and I decided to go because I trusted the person who introduced us.

In the next half-hour, he showed the shit out of the product. It turns out that the product had changed materially without a lot of press and fanfare. I went from ice cold to a converted evangelist within half an hour. It all happened because he was empathetic, and I responded to that.

4 Strategies I Use to Help Companies Improve Their Revenue Process

I started Growth Robot to help startups and businesses grow their revenue. We help companies with sales and marketing frontend problems, CRM selection and optimization, fulfillment and sales ops, and more.

We like to look at businesses through three lenses: people, processes, and technology.

Here are some of the strategies we use to help companies grow using our proprietary processes:

1. First, Find Product-Market Fit, then Scale Like Heck

A startup is a temporary organization searching for a profitable unit case. A business is a more permanent organization dedicated to replicating the unit case.

That’s why a startup must first find a profitable unit case. Then, it can scale to a point with a product-market fit.

What does this look like? For a SaaS company selling a high-ticket product, that could be anywhere from $20k to $50k MRR.

This is the key moment to start scaling when you have that clear product-market fit. Not before, not too far after.

Here’s where you go after that:

2. Use Who You are to Drive Your Sales Vision

Technology and processes always come after people. In my mind, everything starts with people.

That’s why, when Growth Robot enters the picture with a new client, our first questions are:

• Who the heck are you?
• What the heck are you trying to do?

I find that, in most successful startups, the product comes out of the person. So, whether you’re selling SaaS, services, or consulting, that will come from who you are.

That’s why sales vision should always start with the people—this is where the vision is generated.

3. Create a Process Before You Upgrade Your Early-Stage Technology

A proper sales process is key and must be in place before you can implement the right technology, like a CRM.

Above, you started to scale the heck out of something in the early stages of the customer journey: lead generation and prospecting. After that, things typically start breaking down in the next stage: fulfillment and ops.

Your process will differ depending on whether you’re selling SaaS or high-ticket services. Growth Robot normally evaluates the situation and helps guide you, but smoothing out that process has to come first.

Then, you can turn your attention to the technology.

As a founder, you probably started with a Google Sheet and Trello. Then, your offer took off like hotcakes. As you work on fulfillment, prospecting takes a backseat and starts to dip. This is an endless cycle as a solopreneur.

To continue scaling your startup, you’ll need to build an early-stage process that’s easy to replicate and remove yourself from that process as much as possible.

The obvious solution is hiring a salesperson. But is that person going to adopt Google Sheets and Trello? They might if the offer is amazing and they can make good commissions, but that will quickly become unwieldy, especially if you start scaling to multiple salespeople.

This is where Growth Robot normally steps in to help. Our main goal is to help founders and organizations upgrade their sales process and match the right technology to make that process flow more smoothly.

Essentially, what your business needs at this point is CRM software. After all, your sales team can’t live in a Google Sheets CRM forever (although it’s a good starting point for the early stages of your business).

In most cases, we recommend Close as a startup and SaaS CRM. With one single source of truth and one system to examine, you can eliminate bottlenecks and start to scale.

4. Scale Your Sales Team After Process and Tech is in Place

Scaling is an eternal question for most startup founders and sole consultants. When you’re prospecting for new clients and fulfilling yourself, something has to break.

I faced this challenge when scaling Growth Robot, so I encountered this problem with first-hand experience. The typical stumbling block is that you’re the subject matter expert. So, how do you replicate yourself?

Well, I discovered a unique cloning technology… No, just kidding.

My business has moved from a sole consultancy to a loose collection of experts. I did this by finding others with great skills–which took some time–and adding them to the team. Other founders and consultants do the same thing as they scale their businesses over time, but having processes and tech in place is essential to building a scalable business.

So, how do you do all this when you’re just starting out in a new business venture? The simplest way is to have a partner who knows how to help you scale and grow revenue efficiently.

That’s essentially why I started Growth Robot: to help other entrepreneurs scale their businesses and grow their revenue.

The Reason for My Bias Toward Close as a Startup CRM

With so many CRMs on the market, why do I have this bias toward Close?

A few short years ago, I was a Salesforce guy through and through. I still believe it’s an amazing product and ecosystem. I performed various roles in the Salesforce ecosystem, including technical consulting to set up and customize Salesforce for different organizations.

One thing that I’ve always loved about Salesforce is the data model. They got it right for sales reps, managers, and eventually finance and other roles that rely on that one source of truth.

Having the right data model is a core feature of any CRM, and that’s also where my bias toward Close comes from.

I learned about Steli Efti at the beginning of Close and respected him. Although I doubted anything could rival Salesforce, I decided to keep an eye on what he was doing with Close.

Fast-forward a few years, and I was working at a sales consulting firm that used Close. I became an immediate fan.

Here’s what blew me away in Close:

Smart Views: This was very difficult (or nearly impossible) to set up in Salesforce (and I’ve tried). A sales rep’s cockpit should be a place where they can sit down, see what you need to do, and do it. Close has set up an easy-to-create and fully customizable cockpit for sales reps, so all they have to do is their job.

‎A sales rep is like an actor on a movie set—you just show up and perform your job because everybody has their shit covered, and you know exactly what to do. That’s what a good CRM does for your reps. All they have to do is perform their job and make money.

The data model: Again, my main gauge for a CRM's success is how the data model is set up. Some CRMs have some of the right terminology but don’t have the data model.

In Close, the objects include the correct terminology—leads, opportunities, closed-won, etc.

‎However, the key is that the data model is mapped out correctly. The first-class objects are right where they’re supposed to be. Close is set up correctly as a relational database, so data import, extraction, and operation on the data within the database are much more accessible.

With this setup, you can get actionable information from the data without much friction.

An Optimized Process + Tech = Revenue Growth

If your startup or business is on the verge of growth, remember this formula:

People > Process > Technology

When you align these three aspects of your business in the right order, you’ll see scalable revenue growth over time.

Hungry for more? Get The Ultimate Startup Guide to Outbound Sales by Steli Efti. You won't regret it.