RevOps FM Justin Norris

B2B buying signals are generating a lot of buzz right now—and for good reason.
In today's challenging selling environment, conversion rates are dipping, and identifying active buyers has become more critical than ever. Signal vendors offer a promising solution, but the questions remain: Are these signals truly transformative? How can they enhance your go-to-market strategy? And what the heck is a "signal" anyhow?
In this episode, Chris Walker joins me to demystify the concept of buying signals. With his characteristic clarity and candor, Chris sheds light on why he's emphasizing signals as a key driver for efficient growth.
Regular listeners will know Chris as a significant influence on my thinking. I’ve learned a lot from him over the years, making it a true pleasure to finally have him on the show.
Tune in as we cut through the noise and delve into the real impact of B2B buying signals.
Thanks to Our SponsorMany thanks to the sponsor of this episode - Knak.
If you don't know them (you should), Knak is an amazing email and landing page builder that integrates directly with your marketing automation platform.
You set the brand guidelines and then give your users a building experience that’s slick, modern and beautiful. When they’re done, everything goes to your MAP at the push of a button.
What's more, it supports global teams, approval workflows, and it’s got your integrations. Click the link below to get a special offer just for my listeners.
Try Knak

About Today's Guest Chris Walker is a serial entrepreneur and go-to-market thought leader. In 2019 he founded Refine Labs, the leading B2B Digital Marketing and Demand Generation agency, growing it to an 8-figure revenue business with a dominating digital presence in less than 3 years. In 2024 he launched Passetto, a tech-enabled GTM Strategy Consultancy that helps B2B executives identify and execute against their highest priority growth levers with confidence and clarity. Chris is host of B2B Revenue Vitals (formerly State of Demand Gen), one of the top marketing and GTM podcasts.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chriswalker171/
Key Topics[00:00] - Introduction[01:34] - Shifting focus to signals[08:03] - What is a signal?[11:59] - The signal data layer[18:12] - Connection between demand creation and signals[21:13] - Landscape of signal tools[24:39] - Identifying high-converting signals[36:25] - Inbound vs. outbound [40:34] - How RevOps can level up
Thanks to Our SponsorThis November, MOps-Apalooza is back in sunny, Anaheim, California, and it's going to be the marketing ops event of the year, packed with hands-on learning from real practitioners.
This is the only truly community-led tech-agnostic MOPS conference out there. It's got the best speakers, the best networking, the best social events, and maybe even a trip to Disneyland. This isn't your 50,000 person tech company conference. It's an intimate gathering of folks who are in the trenches every day.
Registration is capped at 700 attendees, and tickets are going fast.
MOps-Apalooza 2024

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Thanks to our friends at Hatch for producing this episode. Get unlimited podcast editing at www.hatch.fm

I have a fascination with how SaaS products actually get made—especially those that become institutions in the software landscape.
As users, we become deeply familiar with these products, the nitty-gritty of how they work, and what it's like to live inside them. People base entire careers on these platforms.
What we usually DON'T see is the backstory:
How do these great products get designed? What were the decisions and trade-offs along the way? How do they catch on?How do you create lovable features? What causes great products to often stagnate?
Today's guest is a legendary product leader and innovator. As the first employee of Marketo, Glen Lipka led the product team during a critical early phase, building many of its still most-beloved features.
This episode is packed with Marketo lore, product design insights, and lessons about how to build a product that users love.
Thanks to Our SponsorMany thanks to the sponsor of this episode - Knak.
If you don't know them (you should), Knak is an amazing email and landing page builder that integrates directly with your marketing automation platform.
You set the brand guidelines and then give your users a building experience that’s slick, modern and beautiful. When they’re done, everything goes to your MAP at the push of a button.
What's more, it supports global teams, approval workflows, and it’s got your integrations. Click the link below to get a special offer just for my listeners.
Try Knak

About Today's Guest Glen Lipka is a 25+ year veteran of product innovation and design. As Chief Design Officer and first employee at Marketo, he built the flagship product. He has held numerous other product leadership roles and is currently VP of Product Design for Crowdstrike.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenlipka/
Key Topics[00:00] - Introduction[01:14] - Glen’s start at Marketo[02:56] - Marketo’s first features[13:36] - Product differentiation[20:37] - Developing the concept of marketing automation[26:00] - Why great products start to suck[40:46] - Hubspot as a product company[44:19] - AI
Resource LinksGlen's series of retrospective articles on building MarketoGlen's personal blog

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What does it take to scale a company from $100M to over $1B in ARR?
Cody Guymon has taken a journey that most revenue operators could only dream of—helping Qualtrics scale to an $8B acquisition and then a $27B IPO. Now he's back at an earlier stage company, hoping to repeat the trip all over again.
We chat through his lessons learned, his forecasting methodology, and how he architected a unified RevOps function with the CEO before joining Workato.
Thanks to Our SponsorMany thanks to the sponsor of this episode - Knak.
If you don't know them (you should), Knak is an amazing email and landing page builder that integrates directly with your marketing automation platform.
You set the brand guidelines and then give your users a building experience that’s slick, modern and beautiful. When they’re done, everything goes to your MAP at the push of a button.
What's more, it supports global teams, approval workflows, and it’s got your integrations. Click the link below to get a special offer just for my listeners.
Try Knak

About Today's Guest Cody Guymon is a strategic sales and operations leader, leading teams at Vivint, Qualtrics, and now Workato. He helped scale Qualtrics from a $1B unicorn to an $8B SAP acquisition and then through an IPO at a $20B+ valuation. Today he serves as the COO of GTM Operations at Workato.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/codyguymon/
Key Topics[00:00] - Introduction[01:07] - What is GTM operations?[03:50] - Working 1-1 with reps in the field[04:46] - Creating a truly unified GTM ops function[16:56] - Go-to-market analytics[19:16] - Pros and cons of unification [23:29] - Project planning and prioritization[30:17] - Forecasting and thinking long-term[39:24] - Experience at Qualtrics and SAP[47:03] - Cody’s daily routines
Thanks to Our SponsorBig thanks goes out UserGems for sponsoring today’s episode. 
We all know that outbound is really tough. Now imagine a world where you’re reaching people who know your product, love your product, and are actually happy to hear from you. 
UserGems makes that a reality. They identify your customers and champions who change jobs and automatically push new contacts to your CRM so your team can follow up. 
If you’re not reaching out to customer job changers, you’re missing opportunities. Click the link below for a special offer just for my listeners.
Try UserGems

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There's a set of skills we rely on everyday at work, often without realizing it: how we think about problems, make decisions, market our ideas, manage up, give feedback...they're all part of the operating system of how we interface with the business world.
I’m fascinated by these things both because they have a massive impact on our effectiveness and because they often go unexamined. They’re just part of how we operate. But what if our ways of working are holding us back? What if we could optimize them and radically improve our performance?
Today's guest is a serial entrepreneur, marketer, and operator. These days she focuses on exploring and writing about these "deceivingly basic" topics in one of my favourite newsletters, which reaches more than 250,000 people.
Thanks to Our SponsorMany thanks to the sponsor of this episode - Knak.
If you don't know them (you should), Knak is an amazing email and landing page builder that integrates directly with your marketing automation platform.
You set the brand guidelines and then give your users a building experience that’s slick, modern and beautiful. When they’re done, everything goes to your MAP at the push of a button.
What's more, it supports global teams, approval workflows, and it’s got your integrations. Click the link below to get a special offer just for my listeners.
Try Knak

About Today's Guest Wes Kao is an entrepreneur, speaker, coach, and advisor who writes at newsletter.weskao.com. She is co-founder of Maven, an edtech company that raised $25M from First Round and Andreessen Horowitz. Previously, she co-founded the altMBA with bestselling author Seth Godin.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/weskao/
Key Topics[00:00] - Introduction[01:28] - Why write about “deceivingly basic” topics [06:56] - Rigorous thinking[10:43] - Building a culture of rigorous thinking [21:10] - Bottom line up front[26:39] - Relationship with your manager[37:23] - Change management[41:32] - Empathy[44:09] - Being a LinkedIn creator
Thanks to Our SponsorThis November, MOps-Apalooza is back in sunny, Anaheim, California, and it's going to be the marketing ops event of the year, packed with hands-on learning from real practitioners.
This is the only truly community-led tech-agnostic MOPS conference out there. It's got the best speakers, the best networking, the best social events, and maybe even a trip to Disneyland. This isn't your 50,000 person tech company conference. It's an intimate gathering of folks who are in the trenches every day.
Registration is capped at 700 attendees, and tickets are going fast.
MOps-Apalooza 2024

Resource LinksWes Kao's Newsletter

Learn MoreVisit the RevOps FM Substack for our weekly newsletter:
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Running business systems at enterprise scale has some unique challenges—especially when that enterprise is Hubspot.
Today we're fortunate to chat with Rich Archbold, whose team supports all GTM systems and automation at Hubspot, including Hubspot's own Hubspot implementation.
This is a truly fascinating peek behind the scenes at one of the most iconic tech companies. Rich also shares generously from his deep experience, providing insights into how to foster a culture of agility, customer-centricity, and impact within a business systems team.
Thanks to Our SponsorMany thanks to the sponsor of this episode - Knak.
If you don't know them (you should), Knak is an amazing email and landing page builder that integrates directly with your marketing automation platform.
You set the brand guidelines and then give your users a building experience that’s slick, modern and beautiful. When they’re done, everything goes to your MAP at the push of a button.
What's more, it supports global teams, approval workflows, and it’s got your integrations. Click the link below to get a special offer just for my listeners.
Try Knak

About Today's Guest Rich Archbold is VP of Engineering for GTM Systems at Hubspot. He is passionate about building and scaling high-performing, highly engaged teams that build and operate world-class, mission-critical technology products and services. Prior to Hubspot, he held business systems and engineering leadership roles at Intercom, Facebook, and Amazon.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardarchbold/
Key Topics[00:00] - Introduction[01:06] - Transitioning from engineering to business systems[10:42] - GTM systems team structure at Hubspot[15:17] - Centralized vs. decentralized systems ownership[20:51] - Hubspot’s tech stack[23:02] - Can Hubspot work at enterprise scale?[25:11] - Hubspot Prospecting Workspace[31:16] - Use of Workato[33:24] - Lead processing systems[36:23] - Data quality[46:22] - Prioritization
Thanks to Our SponsorThis November, MOps-Apalooza is back in sunny, Anaheim, California, and it's going to be the marketing ops event of the year, packed with hands-on learning from real practitioners.
This is the only truly community-led tech-agnostic MOPS conference out there. It's got the best speakers, the best networking, the best social events, and maybe even a trip to Disneyland. This isn't your 50,000 person tech company conference. It's an intimate gathering of folks who are in the trenches every day.
Registration is capped at 700 attendees, and tickets are going fast.
MOps-Apalooza 2024

Resource Links6 things I learned the hard way leading business systems

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I'm a really big believer in the idea of a unified RevOps function supporting all the go-to-market teams.
But I'll be honest, sometimes it's a little discouraging when I look at how RevOps is done in practice, because outside of a few examples, I usually see essentially a sales ops function with a new name.
So I wanted to find people who are actually leading a unified RevOps team in the real world and to understand how they're doing it and how it's working out for them.
Today's guest is leading a very mature RevOps function at Electric and has a ton of practical insight to share.
Thanks to Our SponsorMany thanks to the sponsor of this episode - Knak.
If you don't know them (you should), Knak is an amazing email and landing page builder that integrates directly with your marketing automation platform.
You set the brand guidelines and then give your users a building experience that’s slick, modern and beautiful. When they’re done, everything goes to your MAP at the push of a button.
What's more, it supports global teams, approval workflows, and it’s got your integrations. Click the link below to get a special offer just for my listeners.
Try Knak

About Today's Guest Julia Kim is VP of Revenue Operations for Electric and an Adjunct Instructor at Columbia University. She has over 10 years experience as an operations executive and has launched award-winning consumer and SaaS products mentioned in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Forrester, and TechCrunch.
Before Electric, she led GTM operations for 4 profitable acquisitions. In addition to her RevOps experience, she has a technical background with a recent focus in artificial intelligence and predictive data modelling.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliajuleskim/
Key Topics[00:00] - Introduction[01:50] - Definition of Revenue Operations[03:40] - RevOps at different stages of maturity[09:09] - Deep dive on Julia’s team structure[14:00] - Collaboration within the RevOps team[21:52] - Addressing concerns about unifying the ops functions[28:07] - Identifying biggest opportunities for impact[37:19] - Relationship with data team [40:11] - Change management and enablement[47:37] - RevOps and AI[55:11] - What’s a current challenge?
Thanks to Our SponsorBig thanks goes out UserGems for sponsoring today’s episode. 
We all know that outbound is really tough. Now imagine a world where you’re reaching people who know your product, love your product, and are actually happy to hear from you. 
UserGems makes that a reality. They identify your customers and champions who change jobs and automatically push new contacts to your CRM so your team can follow up. 
If you’re not reaching out to customer job changers, you’re missing opportunities. Click the link below for a special offer just for my listeners.
Try UserGems

Learn MoreVisit the RevOps FM Substack for our weekly newsletter:
Newsletter