Learn the take-aways from two RevOps experts as they dive into the importance of revenue planning, why plans often fail, and how sales, marketing, and RevOps must work together to create a truly integrated go-to-market (GTM) strategy. This discussion happen during an episode of The RevOps Revolution podcast, where host Jeff Serlin continues his conversation with Brian Kotlyar, VP of Marketing and Growth at HighTouch (read part one of their conversation here). Below you’ll find a recap, or listen to the full 26-minute episode here.
The Importance of Integrated Planning
At the heart of this episode is the fundamental challenge of revenue planning. Sales and Marketing often build their plans in silos, leading to misalignment. Host Jeff Serlin points out a common scenario: “Marketing creates their plan, asks for what the number is, and puts something together. Then sales goes and creates their plan and says, ‘Well, what can you deliver?’ And then somehow, out of hope… they expect all the assumptions to connect and get us to our number. And we know that’s not often the case.”
Kotlyar expands on this by emphasizing the need for an integrated planning approach that spans the entire GTM supply chain. He describes the different operating speeds of sales and marketing using an apt analogy: “Sales is a speedboat, and marketing is like an oceanliner in terms of their maneuverability.”
He says this is because marketing initiatives take time to build momentum and to adjust, while sales can pivot relatively quickly. As a result, aligning these two functions requires careful coordination and shared accountability.
Handshake Metrics: The Key to Sales and Marketing Alignment
Kotlyar introduces the concept of “handshake metrics” as a crucial element in ensuring alignment between teams. He explains: “You have to define the handshake—how deep is marketing responsible in the funnel? That’s usually determined by, does the SDR [team] sit in marketing or not?”
These handshake metrics should span the entire funnel, from marketing to SDRs with lead volume and conversation rates, from SDRs to AEs for qualification standards, and sales to revenue recognition where you continue to measure stage conversions and velocity.
By focusing on these key conversion points, organizations can ensure that expectations are aligned and execution is optimized.
Why Revenue Plans Fail
Even the most carefully crafted plans often miss the mark. Kotlyar highlights one major reason: “The world is always much more complex than the plan. To create the plan, you dumb down everything, simplify everything. So even as much time as you spend, even as fancy as your spreadsheet or model is, it’s wrong when you made it.”
He explains that the biggest pitfall is treating a revenue plan as an immutable roadmap rather than a flexible framework. Common mistakes include:
• Overly optimistic assumptions about traffic, conversion rates, or win rates.
• Financially-engineering numbers without clear bottom-up execution plans.
• Committing to targets that stretch beyond realistic resourcing capabilities.
Instead of rigidly adhering to an unrealistic plan, Kotlyar radvocates for a more adaptive approach: “You need to have conviction to move quickly… If it means don’t hire SDRs but hire AEs, or don’t run events and [instead] buy ads, then you do that. The main thing I always tell my teams is: there are no rules. You need to put the money where the problem is.”
Managing and Adjusting the Plan in Real Time
Serlin and Kotlyar agree that ongoing adjustments are necessary to stay on track. Serlin emphasizes the importance of constant evaluation with this example: “Every additional sales rep you’re hiring or even backfilling, you should at least take a couple of minutes to ask, ‘Should we be hiring for this role, or could we better deploy that resource elsewhere?’”
This mindset extends beyond individual hires to the broader go-to-market strategy. Kotlyar shares a compelling example from his own experience: “When interest rates changed, the best teams didn’t try to calibrate their way through that. They looked at the situation and said, ‘This plan... it cannot be hit because we have conviction that all those assumptions we made are no longer valid.’ The companies that tried to hit the impossible plan ended up with massive layoffs.”
The Role of RevOps in Driving Smarter Decision-Making
Throughout the conversation, both speakers underscore the critical role of RevOps in bridging the gap between sales, marketing, and finance. Serlin explains: “RevOps should be working with marketing, sales, and finance—pulling together what’s happening in the real world, identifying drivers, and helping make data-driven decisions.”
Ultimately, the role of revenue operations isn’t just about tracking metrics; it’s about ensuring that resources are deployed in the most effective way possible. As Kotlyar puts it: “The key is having a collaborative relationship where you can move resources—whether that means reallocating budget or pausing hiring—based on real-time data.”
Final Takeaways
The episode closes with a key piece of advice from Serlin: “Stay on top of how you’re performing. Just because the plan is the plan doesn’t mean that’s what you have to do. There are no rules once you get into the fiscal year. Figure out how to get to your plan by balancing growth and efficiency, and make adjustments accordingly.”
And as Kotlyar reminds us, adjustments aren’t always about fixing problems—sometimes, they’re about seizing new opportunities: “We’re talking about missing targets, but sometimes you’re beating them. And in those cases, the same process applies. It’s about going out and being greedy as hell when the plan is telling you to.”
This conversation is packed with actionable insights forRevOps professionals, sales leaders, and marketers alike. To hear the full discussion, check out the episode of The RevOps Revolution podcast.
And if this topic interests you, definitely schedule a demo of Revcast to see how our solution can make all of this so much easier and give your teams more confidence in the path to hit your numbers!
