This article is adapted from José's conversation with Sandy Robinson on Season Two of RevOps Unboxed. Listen to the full episode here.
Ever wondered how LinkedIn scaled up its revenue organization?
Today, I'm excited to share my journey and insights from seven years of building and scaling revenue operations at one of the world's leading professional networking platforms.
When I joined LinkedIn back in 2016, I didn't realize how quickly we were about to grow. Since I joined, we've tripled in size, transforming from a scrappy operation to a sophisticated, data-driven revenue machine.
This journey has taught me invaluable lessons about sales operations, revenue strategies, and the critical role they play in a rapidly scaling business.
Let's dive into the world of sales operations at LinkedIn, exploring how we've evolved our processes, leveraged cutting-edge tools, and continually adapted to meet the challenges of growth.
Watch the full interview on YouTube!
Sales operations at LinkedIn
When I first started at LinkedIn, our sales operations were pretty scrappy.
We were deep in the operational details, often relying on manual processes and spreadsheets to get the job done. Fast forward to today, and the landscape has changed dramatically.
As LinkedIn grew, so did the complexity of our sales operations. My role shifted from being in the trenches to focusing more on enabling scale and efficiency.
This evolution taught me the importance of having both a granular understanding of processes and a bird's-eye view of the entire revenue operations ecosystem.
Currently, I lead a team of people, structured to meet the diverse needs of our sales organization.
Half of my team acts as the voice of the user, focusing on translating our operational processes into enterprise-level tools. They're the bridge between our sales teams and the technical side of our operations.
The other half is our technical delivery team, responsible for building these enterprise-level tools that improve our efficiency.
One of the unique challenges we face at LinkedIn is balancing between third-party tools and homegrown solutions. With over 150 tools supporting our go-to-market operations alone, we're in a sweet spot where we can either buy or build, depending on our specific needs.
This flexibility allows us to tailor our tech stack to our unique requirements, but it also requires careful consideration and strategic planning.
Alysson Pehoski
Territory planning and quota management
As LinkedIn has grown, so has the complexity of our territory and quota management processes. These are critical components of our sales operations, directly impacting our ability to effectively distribute opportunities and set achievable targets for our sales teams.
Territory management at LinkedIn
Over the past couple of years, we've been focused on elevating our territory planning process. We've moved away from simple spreadsheets to more sophisticated, enterprise-level tools.
While we've made significant strides, we're continually refining the process to better integrate with other parts of our broader ecosystem.
One of our current priorities is improving how our territory planning links to other operational processes.
My team is working on automating integrations across tools to reduce manual work and potential errors. This not only saves time but also ensures consistency across our operations.
Tackling complex quota management
Quota management is another area where we've faced significant challenges as we've scaled. Currently, it's still quite spreadsheet-dependent, which can be painful when dealing with the constant flux of people joining and leaving the organization.
To give you an idea of the complexity, our team spends hours ensuring that new joiners have the correct quotas assigned. It's not just about plugging in numbers; we have to consider various factors:
- Different ramp schedules based on the salesperson's background and role.
- Variations in quotas for different product lines to incentivize specific sales.
- Buffers between sales reps and managers, which vary by country and sub-region.
- Adjustments for attrition rates, which again differ by location.
While none of these factors are rocket science individually, when you layer them all together in a business of our size, it creates a complex web that can easily lead to errors if not managed carefully.
To address these challenges, we're working on implementing more robust, automated systems for quota management. Our goal is to reduce manual intervention, minimize errors, and provide real-time visibility into quota allocations and adjustments.
Leveraging AI in sales operations
At LinkedIn, we're actively exploring how to harness AI to enhance our sales operations.
As a Microsoft company, we're in a unique position to leverage cutting-edge AI technologies, but we're also cautious about separating hype from practical applications.
Improving sales rep productivity
One of our primary focuses is on increasing seller productivity. We're looking at ways AI can make it easier for our sales teams to update the CRM, keep track of customer conversations, and generally streamline their day-to-day activities.
This includes rolling out pilots and building tools across our tech stack to test various AI applications.
For example, we're exploring AI-powered tools that can automatically summarize customer interactions, suggest next best actions, and even assist in generating personalized outreach content.
Balancing hype vs. productivity
While the potential of AI is exciting, we're careful to approach it with a critical eye.
Not every AI solution will be right for our needs, and it's crucial to assess each potential tool based on its actual impact on productivity and alignment with our business goals.
We always start by asking:
- What's the business outcome we're trying to achieve?
- How does this map to our priorities?
- What's the impact on our end users?
- What's the cost to build and maintain?
- And how does it fit into our existing ecosystem?
Being part of the Microsoft family gives us a unique advantage in the AI space.
While we operate independently, we benefit from early access to some of Microsoft's AI innovations. For instance, our leadership team had early access to tools like Chat GPT-4, allowing us to explore potential applications ahead of the curve.
Rebecca Stewart
Sales operations growth strategies
As the sales operations team at LinkedIn continues to scale, we've developed several key strategies that have paved the way for our success. These approaches help us manage our current operations more effectively and position us for future growth.
Using OKRs to align priorities
One of our most powerful tools for growth is our use of OKRs. Every quarter, I sit down with my team to review and set OKRs for the upcoming period.
This process isn't just about setting goals; it's about driving alignment and visibility across the entire organization.
We always strive to link our team's OKRs to higher-level priorities, connecting our work directly to the goals of my boss, his boss, and ultimately to company-level objectives.
This cascading approach ensures that every member of my team understands how their work contributes to LinkedIn's broader mission and goals.
For instance, one of our key priorities is improving the ease of doing business at and with LinkedIn. This company-wide objective cascades down to our team, influencing how we design and implement our operational processes and tools.
Focusing on ease of doing business
Like I mentioned, improving the ease of doing business is a key priority, both internally at LinkedIn and externally with our clients. This focus influences everything, from the tools we develop to the processes we implement.
For our sales teams, this might mean creating more intuitive interfaces for our CRM systems or developing AI-assisted tools to streamline routine tasks.
For our clients, it could involve simplifying our product offerings or improving our onboarding processes.
Balancing operational work with strategic initiatives
One of the challenges in sales operations is striking the right balance between day-to-day operational work and forward-thinking strategic initiatives.
It's easy to get caught up in the ‘operational grind’, but it's crucial to carve out time and resources for innovation and long-term planning.
I encourage my team to embrace both aspects of our work. The operational work provides invaluable insights into the inner workings of our company, while strategic initiatives allow us to drive meaningful change and prepare for future challenges.
Continuous learning and skill development
Tech and sales move quickly, so continuous learning is not just beneficial – it's essential. I always advise my team and other professionals in this field to keep an eye on market trends and emerging technologies.
For instance, when I noticed that SQL was becoming increasingly important in sales operations roles, I took the initiative to learn it on my own. This proactive approach to skill development has paid off numerous times in my career at LinkedIn.
I also encourage my team to apply for other roles, even if they're not actively looking to move. This practice helps us stay aware of what skills are in demand in the market and allows us to develop those skills proactively.
Rebecca Stewart
Key takeaways
As I reflect on my journey scaling sales operations at LinkedIn, a few key lessons stand out:
- Always be learning: Stay ahead of the curve by continually developing your skills. What's nice to have today might be essential tomorrow.
- Think holistically: In sales operations, everything is interconnected. Always consider how a change in one area might impact others.
- Leverage technology wisely: Whether it's AI, automation, or other tools, technology can be a game-changer. But always evaluate it based on actual business impact, not just hype.
- Align with business priorities: Use frameworks like OKRs to ensure your team's work directly contributes to company-wide goals.
Looking ahead, I'm excited about the future of sales and revenue operations, both at LinkedIn and in the broader industry. As businesses continue to grow and evolve, the role of revenue operations will only become more crucial.
