Episode 61: From CRM Admin to the C-Suite

In this episode of the RevOpsAF podcast, co-host Matthew Volm, CEO and Founder of RevOps Co-op and Eventful, is joined by Steve Busby, CEO and Founder of Revenue Operations Associates, and Stephen Diorio, Partner at Revenue Operations Associates and author of Revenue Operations. Together they tackle a question every operator asks at some point in their career: How do I grow from tactical execution to strategic leadership?

The conversation ranges from the evolution of RevOps as a discipline, to the gaps holding operators back, to the launch of a first-of-its-kind certification designed to professionalize the field. Along the way, Busby and Diorio share battle-tested insights from scaling companies, writing industry benchmarks, and training the next generation of RevOps leaders.

Why RevOps Has Become a Strategic Imperative

Revenue Operations has exploded as a career path in recent years, consistently ranking among the fastest-growing job titles on LinkedIn. But Busby points out that most companies are still at the very beginning of the maturity curve. Fewer than 10% of organizations are truly “getting RevOps holistically”—meaning they treat it as a continuous, strategic discipline rather than a tactical function buried under sales or marketing ops.

The key shift: RevOps is not just about CRM admin, pipeline hygiene, or tech integrations. It’s the operational execution of the revenue strategy. For CEOs and boards, the revenue plan is what keeps them up at night. RevOps exists to translate that plan into day-to-day execution across marketing, sales, product, customer success, and finance.

“Any company with revenue has RevOps responsibility somewhere. The only question is whether they’ve recognized it and staffed it correctly.” – Matt Volm

Breaking Out of the Tech Stack Box

Too often, operators are pigeonholed into the role of “systems owner.” Diorio argues that while technology is essential—13,000 GTM tools exist and growing—a career defined only by CRM workflows or integrations is limited.

What separates career-defining operators is their ability to develop financial fluency, cross-functional collaboration, and data storytelling:

• Financial Acumen: Operators must learn to speak the language of CFOs and boards. Fixing a broken lead-to-cash process shouldn’t just be described as “cleaning Salesforce.” It should be framed as “increasing win rates from 35% to 50%, unlocking X dollars in annual revenue.”
• Collaboration Across Domains: CRM data isn’t just for pipeline reporting. It fuels territory planning, quota setting, coverage models, and CS retention strategies. RevOps leaders must connect the dots across functions. This echoes themes we cover in our blog posts like Thriving in RevOps as a Team of One (how to structure priorities when you’re early-stage) and How to Tackle Your First 90 Days in a New RevOps Role (setting expectations, identifying leverage points).
• Data Storytelling: Most companies run on 25+ assumptions about markets, costs, and customers—rarely written down, let alone tested. Operators who can validate and communicate these assumptions with data can earn credibility fast. In some ways, this is adjacent to what we talk about in Back to Basics: Opportunity Best Practices — making sure your fields, objects, and data hygiene remain aligned with long-term goals and reporting reliability.

“Show me a RevOps person who can manage data and speak the language of finance, and I’ll show you somebody who is in the boardroom in three weeks.” – Stephen Diorio

Filling the Education Gap: Why Certification Matters

Unlike accountants (CPA), project managers (PMP), or financial analysts (CFA), there has never been a standardized professional credential for RevOps—until now.

Busby and Diorio partnered with RevOps Co-op to launch the Revenue Operations Certification, a program designed to fill this gap. The curriculum covers the “five food groups” of RevOps:

• Process: Understanding the revenue bowtie as a closed-loop system of acquisition, retention, and expansion.
• People: Collaborating effectively across sales, marketing, product, finance, and IT.
• Technology: Navigating the sprawling GTM tech ecosystem without being a “data janitor.”
• Finance: Learning the math of growth and speaking in terms of revenue and margin.
• Data: Turning messy inputs into usable knowledge that powers AI, pricing, and forecasting.

The goal? To help operators escape the trap of tool certifications and instead build a holistic skillset that positions them as strategic leaders. Much like the CPA signals financial competence, “RevOps Certified” is meant to become shorthand for a high-value operator.

How Employers Should Think About RevOps Talent

The demand for RevOps talent is only increasing, but Busby notes that most job descriptions undersell the role. Instead of “CRM wizard” or “pipeline report generator,” employers should be seeking people who can:

1. See the entire revenue cycle from awareness to renewal.
2. Diagnose dysfunctions, prioritize where to intervene, and then drive change.
3. Frame their work in terms of economic impact, not just activity.

For companies, this means investing in building talent internally—turning great domain experts into cross-functional leaders. For operators, it means raising your hand when you spot growth or retention issues and proactively suggesting solutions.

“I loved when team members would walk into my office and say, ‘We’ve got a retention problem. I think I know why. Can I run some ideas by you?’ That’s when I dropped everything to listen.” – Steve Busby

This idea aligns with what we cover in RevOps Do’s and Don’ts by Company Stage, where we show how RevOps role expectations shift as companies grow.

RevOps and the AI Imperative

Artificial Intelligence inevitably enters the conversation, but not in the shallow “ChatGPT prompt engineering” way most LinkedIn posts frame it.

Diorio emphasizes that the true asset RevOps controls is knowledge—go-to-market data, customer insights, institutional expertise. AI only creates value when it can tap into codified knowledge. That means RevOps, sitting at the intersection of systems, processes, and data, is uniquely positioned to fuel AI initiatives that drive real revenue outcomes.

From next-best actions, to dynamic pricing, to RFP automation, the use cases are endless. But the caution is clear: garbage in, garbage out. Without RevOps to package and provision knowledge correctly, AI becomes a liability instead of a growth lever.

Key Career Advice for Operators

Across the episode, Busby and Diorio repeatedly return to practical advice for operators who want to break out of the “tactical box”:

• Learn the full revenue cycle: Understand how your company creates awareness, nurtures prospects, wins deals, and grows accounts.
• Reframe your contributions: Instead of saying “I fixed Salesforce,” say “I increased win rates by 15%.”
• Speak the language of strategy: CEOs want to hear how you’re helping drive revenue growth or margin improvement.
• Take risks: Share your ideas with leadership, even if it’s outside your “lane.” That’s how you get noticed.
• Invest in education: Whether through formal certification or mentorship, close your skill gaps in finance, analytics, and cross-functional leadership.

Final Thoughts

RevOps is evolving from a tactical support role into one of the most strategically important disciplines in modern business. Operators who master financial storytelling, cross-functional alignment, and data-driven strategy have the opportunity to grow from CRM admin to boardroom leader.

As Busby puts it, RevOps is still in its early days: “Less than 10% of companies are doing it holistically. But that’s what makes it exciting—the opportunity is massive.”

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