Podcast
December 19, 2025
Episode 72: Why the Annual Plan is Always Wrong (And Why That’s Okay)
Why annual plans are always wrong and how to bridge the gap between finance and RevOps. This VP of Finance shares strategies for better budget planning.
Ever wonder why your annual planning exercise feels like throwing darts blindfolded? You're not alone. In fact, if you're hitting your numbers exactly, you might be doing it wrong.
Nancy McBee, who uniquely leads both finance and revenue operations at SeekOut, joins Camela Thompson to unpack why the eternal struggle between tops-down and bottoms-up go-to-market planning isn't a bug—it's a feature.
We've all been there: it's budget season, and suddenly RevOps gets pulled into creating a "quick" financial model with zero context. Nancy reveals why this happens more often than it should—and it's not because finance is trying to make your life difficult.
"More than likely, finance already has annual plans, including a budget schedule, for the go-to-market teams when RevOps is asked to also develop a model.” — Nancy McBee
The disconnect often stems from different planning cycles and assumptions that never get aligned. While finance starts their annual budgeting as early as August, RevOps might not even know their sales productivity metrics yet.
The solution?
Start the conversation early. Before you build your bottoms-up model, ask finance what they're thinking. Understanding their baseline expectations can save you from building something completely misaligned.
This approach mirrors the strategic thinking we see in successful marketing budget planning, where alignment between departments is crucial.
Here's the uncomfortable truth: your tops-down and bottoms-up annual plans will never perfectly align. Nancy breaks down why this isn't a failure—it's actually valuable tension.
Tops-down planning starts with growth targets: "Do we want 10% year-over-year growth? 30%? 50%?" Finance works backward from these goals, making high-level assumptions about retention, expansion, and win rates to see if the math works.
Bottoms-up planning starts with the operational reality: "If we drive 500 MQLs per month, how many convert to SALs, then SQLs? What's our sales cycle? Win rate? Sales productivity?" This granular approach builds up to monthly and quarterly targets.
The gap between these approaches reveals critical insights.
"If finance is a little bit uncomfortable with an ending number and sales is a little bit uncomfortable with the ending number, that usually means that's the right number." — Nancy McBee
This tension is particularly important when building forecasting accuracy, where RevOps professionals need to balance aspirational goals with operational reality.
Nothing builds credibility faster than knowing your numbers better than anyone else in the room. Nancy emphasizes the importance of "owning your shit"—understanding your data so thoroughly that finance doesn't need to double-check your work.
"If I know their data better than they know their data, that's not good. But if somebody knows everything that they're doing so well that I'm like, 'I don't even want to know,' that is awesome." — Nancy McBee
This level of data mastery extends beyond just knowing the numbers. It means understanding the context, the assumptions, and being able to explain why certain metrics matter. The best RevOps professionals can seamlessly switch between high-level strategic discussions and detailed operational metrics.
For those looking to develop this expertise, the RevOps Professional Certification covers these essential skills in depth.
One of the most common friction points between finance and marketing operations centers on a fundamental misalignment: marketing focuses on count conversion rates while finance cares about dollar conversion rates.
"Finance is always going to care more about the dollar conversion rate. To me, if I get 50 grand, if that's one deal, that's even better for me, right? But then two deals is gonna make the count conversion rates look better." — Nancy McBee
This disconnect becomes particularly challenging when market conditions change rapidly. A VP of Marketing might not spend their entire budget if expensive tactics aren't delivering ROI—a decision that requires trust from finance leadership.
The solution lies in building relationships before you need them. Take time to explain your methodology, share context about channel performance, and demonstrate that you're making data-driven decisions.
This approach aligns with best practices we see in account-based marketing for RevOps, where cross-functional alignment is essential.
Nancy shares invaluable insights about what behaviors build trust versus what destroys it. The biggest green flag? Leaders who stay curious and aren't afraid to get their hands dirty.
"The leaders who know how to do the detailed level stuff or want to continue to do the detailed level stuff, but also can go into a board meeting, can go into a leadership meeting, can set the context with different departments—talking high level and detailed at the same time, and walking the walk." — Nancy McBee
Conversely, red flags include leaders who don't invest time in understanding the business, refuse to engage with data, or consistently make decisions without context. These behaviors create the kind of dysfunction that leads to last-minute budget scrambles and misaligned expectations.
This leadership insight connects to broader themes about how operations teams fit together and the importance of strategic thinking in operational roles.
One tactical insight that emerged from the conversation is the importance of building models that can adapt on the fly. Instead of presenting fixed numbers, create models where assumptions can be easily adjusted during discussions.
"Build the model so the assumptions can be changed on the fly. So as you discuss things, you could say, 'Okay, if I match your lead conversion rate of 15%, we look much closer. But historically we've been at 3 to 5%. So I think 7's a better stretch and this is how it impacts the rest of the model.'" — Camela Thompson
This approach transforms budget discussions from adversarial negotiations into collaborative problem-solving sessions. It also demonstrates the kind of strategic thinking that elevates RevOps from order-takers to strategic partners.
Perhaps the most challenging scenario Nancy and Camela discuss is when companies dramatically change their business model. In these situations, both tops-down and bottoms-up approaches rely heavily on educated guesses rather than historical data.
"Sometimes you have to make a guess and educate a guess because you don't know—you're doing something brand new. You have no idea how long it's gonna take to find product-market fit." — Nancy McBee
The key is being transparent about uncertainty while still providing useful guidance. This might mean building multiple scenarios or clearly flagging which assumptions are most speculative.
This challenge is particularly relevant for companies exploring product-led growth strategies, where traditional forecasting models may not apply.
Underlying all of Nancy's advice is a fundamental truth about working in RevOps: you'll never have perfect information, and that's okay. Success requires building trust with colleagues and leadership, then operating effectively within that trust framework.
"Every single person's always going to be missing some type of context. There is definitely always a level of trust, respect, alignment, that you have to say, 'I'm never gonna know all the things I need to work within the realms of what I do know.'" — Nancy McBee
This perspective is particularly valuable for RevOps professionals who often feel pressure to have all the answers. Sometimes the most strategic thing you can do is acknowledge what you don't know while demonstrating competence in what you do.
The conversation between Nancy and Camela reinforces a crucial point: annual planning isn't about being right—it's about creating alignment and driving the right behaviors. When done well, the planning process becomes more valuable than the plan itself.
For RevOps professionals looking to develop these skills further, consider exploring the Finance for RevOps course, which covers many of these concepts in greater detail.
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