Mastering Discovery: A Smarter Path to Impact

Start with Discovery, Not Assumptions

It’s easy to get caught up in urgent, high-visibility requests that demand quick fixes. But without stepping back to understand the real challenges blocking your team, you risk making surface-level improvements that don’t drive lasting impact.

Just like in sales, great discovery leads to better outcomes. RevOps leaders who pinpoint friction points and align teams become essential drivers of durable revenue growth.

What is RevOps Discovery?

RevOps Discovery is a structured approach to diagnosing inefficiencies and ensuring operational improvements align with business goals.

When RevOps priorities are tied to company objectives, the impact goes beyond fixing tools—it fuels revenue growth. But every company is different: tech stacks, historical challenges, market conditions, and GTM maturity all vary significantly.

Uncovering what truly matters requires stepping back to get a 360-degree view of challenges and opportunities. To do that, RevOps must ask:

• What are the most important GTM initiatives right now?

• Where is the biggest opportunity? What barriers stand in the way?

• Who are the stakeholders, end users, and what’s their experience?

• What process, data, and system changes are needed?

Why RevOps Discovery Matters

Discovery prioritizes work and creates a clear, actionable path forward. A well-run process:

• Clarifies root causes. Instead of acting on assumptions, teams get a full picture of what’s working, what’s broken, and what will drive the most impact.

• Aligns teams. Engaging stakeholders early ensures buy-in and momentum.

• Ties strategy to execution. Keeps operational improvements focused on business goals, avoiding wasted effort.

RevOps discovery replaces gut instinct with data-driven decisions, ensuring teams solve the right problems and drive real change.

Managing the Voices in the Room

I know you’re thinking there will a lot of different perspectives on what needs to change. This is true…and all of these perspectives matter.

However, the goal isn’t to be pulled in different directions and create unproductive chaos. It’s to understand the full picture before making decisions.

Discovery reveals hidden inefficiencies, overlapping logic, and team frustrations that aren’t always obvious without exploratory discussions with your team.

4 Steps for a Successful RevOps Discovery

Discovery is about understanding before solving. When done right, it ensures teams prioritize the right initiatives, align on goals, and drive meaningful change.

Step 1: Start with Strategy

• Define focus. What’s leadership prioritizing this quarter: competitor takeouts, pipeline coverage, expansion, efficiency?

• Pinpoint key metrics. Which specific metrics matter: win rates, deal velocity, retention? Where in the bowtie are they measured?

• Understand the “why.” What is the true purpose behind this strategic focus? How does this impact customers or company health?

Step 2: Define the Problem with Data

• Find the breakdowns. Where are handoffs failing, processes stalling, or inefficiencies costing revenue?

• Quantify the impact. What’s the cost of inaction? Missed opportunities, lost deals, poor forecasting, unnecessary expenses, or wasted resources?

• Tell a compelling story. Use data to highlight the opportunity for change.

Step 3: Engage Stakeholders for a Full Picture

• Interview teams. Sales, Marketing, CS, Finance, and Leadership all offer unique perspectives on goals, individual, and customer experience.

• Uncover hidden friction. Where are handoffs breaking, data unclear, or goals misaligned?

• Conduct reverse demos. Walk through their workflow firsthand to see the real pain points in their context.

Step 4: Categorize Pain Types (this is your path to opportunity)

• People: Are teams following processes and aligned on goals?

• Process: Where are unnecessary steps slowing progress?

• Tooling: Is the tech stack creating inefficiencies?

• Data: Is bad data leading to poor decisions and misreporting?

Are You Solving the Right Problems?

Discovery is the foundation for every RevOps initiative. Great solutions start with great questions.

When you have clarity on the destination, a plan to get there, and teams aligned around the vision, Revenue Operations bring solutions that fuel an unstoppable growth engine.