Getting to VP RevOps - with Natan Pollack

Too few RevOps make the jump to VP. Natan is revealing his thoughts on how you can get there.

I recently presented in front of a RevOps audience of roughly 30 people.

Not a crazy number, but I was sure there must be at least one if not two, VPs of RevOps in the room.

When I asked for a show of hands, not a single person was VP.

Talking to Natan Pollack about it, he told me about what he calls “Recurring Relationships” and how he believes that this was one major reason why he was able to make the jump to VP successfully.

And he didn’t only get lucky once with one organisation; he went on to be the VP RevOps on another team and will soon announce his next move (with a similar title).

So I felt, my audience here would benefit from Natan’s story on what “Recurring Relationships” is and how it can help some of you make the jump.

And it doesn’t only offer a mindset shift that is necessary for RevOps to adopt to be successful, it might also show some of the VP Sales and CROs on this list what you should expect from your RevOps - and when you get it, you will be happy to make that promotion happen.

Recurring Relationships to get ahead in RevOps, by Natan Pollack.

I’m a frameworks guy - it helps me break problems down into actionable steps. So when I was in Sales, frameworks like MEDDIC, CHAMP, and SPICED were super helpful for me. But when I made the jump to RevOps, I realised there were very few frameworks that existed.

So, I started looking around to see if I could leverage some ‘non-RevOps’ ones and apply the first principles. I later came to call it “Recurring Relationships”.

Looking back, unlocking this way of thinking about RevOps helped me build and maintain much stronger relationships with key stakeholders in the GTM organization. The result was fast-tracking my leadership opportunities & experience.

I hope that my thoughts and learnings can help you make the jump as well.

How it started

I started my career in Sales, but I was always frustrated with anything that was slowing me down. Territories not set on time, misaligned compensation plans, poor lead management and distribution. I saw these things and (while still in Sales) was increasingly frustrated by how ‘obvious’ the solutions seemed.

So, I took matters into my own hands and jumped to the other side. And I was fortunate enough to have spent the past years building and leading RevOps teams.

I think coming at the RevOps problem from the “other side” made it easier for me to focus on impact-driving efforts. But really, I think a big difference was my empathy for people in the GTM roles - esp. Sales.

Coming from Sales, I could relate that CRM hygiene isn't always top of everyone’s mind. Or that forecasting is tough and personal bias is impossible to exclude from it. Having this empathy for the people I was working with helped me gain their trust.

And especially in roles like RevOps, where many of your key stakeholders don't directly report to you, people are changing their ways for you not because they have to - but because they want to. And sometimes, the initial path seems unclear to them as to why this change is good. In those situations, trust is the only path forward.

And it all became super clear to me when one day, someone asked me if I missed Sales.

I briefly thought about it and I realised that how I was getting things done in RevOps were actually not that much different from how I was selling to prospects and customers.

So really, I think I never left Sales - my buyer has just changed.

RevOps: Nailing “Recurring Relationships”

The Bowtie Framework from Winning by Design is all about recurring impact, driving recurring revenue by shifting the focus from one-time transactions to continuous value creation and ongoing customer engagement. This is a framework that resonated extremely well with me the minute I saw it.

When I got introduced to it, I was already in RevOps, and I could see how it gave me a clear blueprint of how and where to improve our revenue engine.

But what also occurred to me is that this is also the way my team and I should look at how we deliver value to our organisation.

Because really, I think RevOps does Sales, Marketing, and CS… but just for an internal “buyer”. Applying the bow-tie made complete sense to me.

If you take the bow-tie one level deeper: sure, it’s about recurring impact, but it's also about sustainable, long-term relationships that consistently deliver mutual value.

This mindset shift from traditional one-time transactions toward sustainable, long-term relationships is a great way - if not even a more crucial way - to think about internal buyers.

RevOps occupies a unique position within an organization. We are both the biggest champions for sales and, simultaneously, a necessary counterbalance through responsibilities like forecasting, deal desk, and commission planning, to mention just a few.

While many things are outside of our control, one critical factor that is absolutely within our control is how we choose to manage our relationship with the sales organization—and this is where the bowtie model mindset becomes invaluable.

If we view the sales organization as our customer, we can apply a Recurring Relationship framework to build stronger, more collaborative relationships:

1. Healthy Debate & Problem-Solving: Just as an Account Executive challenges potential customers during the sales process to ensure a product really solves their business challenge, RevOps should engage in a real conversation with sales leadership around the design and deployment of new systems and processes. We need to ensure these initiatives solve the real business problem.
   

2. Ongoing Value & Continuous Improvement: Just as CS professionals work with existing customers to run business reviews to problem-solve and grow their accounts, RevOps need to have reviews of existing systems and processes. They need to ensure they really listen to and action feedback. Unhappy stakeholders are similar to unhappy customers—if their concerns are ignored, engagement declines, and frustration builds.

The Impact of Recurring Relationships

In my experience, the most valuable business conversations with the sales team occur when we can be totally honest and vulnerable with each other. That doesn’t ‘just’ happen, it requires trust, and trust is earned over time.

To build this level of trust, we need more than just promises. We need to demonstrate real value on repeat. Systems and approaches that actually help Sales teams perform better - and that needs to keep happening. No fluff. As our teams experience these recurring wins together, trust is built, the conversation levels up and the flywheel spins faster.

Once you adopt the mindset that internal stakeholders are just like external customers, we can leverage proven customer engagement frameworks to strengthen alignment, build trust, and ultimately drive better commercial outcomes. The compound effect of this collaborative approach is enormous—creating a RevOps-Sales dynamic that is not only productive but transformative for the business but also for our careers.

And this compounding impact is not only felt in the way you collaborate with the GTM org. It’s also felt in the way that the team is able to hit bigger and bigger targets, help the company grow and be successful.

Plenty of Reps and VPs will be able to ride that wave of success and climb their career ladder as a result.

But the same will be true for you. If your “customers” are successful, so will you.