An Unusual Path to Revenue Operations (RevOps)

For those who don’t know me, I am Lorena Morales, the current Director of Global Digital Marketing Revenue Operations for JLL.

And what does that exactly mean? The answer is not easy as it’s the first role of its kind at a globally traded company.

The story of how I got here is equally complex. I happen to be one of those who love uncertain situations and losing my sense of comfort. It’s a skill I had to learn 11 years ago when I moved to the U.S aiming for a better life. And as with any change, this one came with lots of pain; I had to change the way I understood life, how to eat, how to laugh (as humor has to do with the culture), and of course, how I understood business.

It also came with lots of NO’s because as an immigrant, the journey to achieve the so-called American dream requires a company to sponsor you. 5 companies were willing to do it for me in an 8 year period of time, which is one of my biggest accomplishments not only professionally, but personally.

All of this, allowed me to work and gain experience in pretty much every arm of the marketing engine starting of course with content all the way to budgeting, field, partnerships, paid acquisition, and even sales enablement. This last part was crucial. It’s what allowed me to become an executive that would eventually understand a business holistically and grow both revenue and human capital to its highest potential.

One of the companies that believed in me happened to be a consultancy doing RevOps-as-a-service without even knowing that’s what it would be called. Because back in those years, the concept didn’t even exist. That was an opportunity right there.

I decided we needed to open a new category not only for us but for our competitors in order to get validation that a movement was about to begin…

It took us a couple of months to find the competitors that were doing something among the same lines we were operating at, but finally, and with the help of G2, the RevOps category was live!

I learned how to transform companies from legacy operations to revenue operations by the hand of some of the brightest minds I’ve encountered and of course, I took the opportunity to educate myself in the methodology as I was leading the marketing team. That’s what set me up for a career at a larger corporation. And I was ready to take on it.

A little more than a year ago, the person who ultimately hired me, started his own journey of learning about RevOps, and even though it is still a new methodology, his skillset was right on point to be able to bring someone to lead the function.

Does everyone understand the work my team does? Of course not. With such a complicated role at a hundred thousand-employee company, it’s a given that the education process of what is RevOps and its importance would have to begin.

So there I was, putting myself through discomfort once again. Just that this time, it was for a much bigger organization and team. The most important thing you must have when adventuring to such an enormous task is attitude. Attitude toward volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity – or as we call it in the Design space – the VUCA world.

Today, I am in charge of the 8 worldwide regions that are more profitable for the company including the Americas, France, UK, Germany, Japan, China, Australia, and India. All with a small but very nimble team.

About The Author — Lorena Morales
Lorena Morales

I am Lorena Morales. Mexican and currently, the Director of Global Marketing Revenue Operations at JLL- the first role of its kind for the public-traded company. I am also, a skillful storyteller and relationship-builder, and uses these skills in my approach to both marketing and leadership, which have allowed me to grow teams for the past 8 years. In the interest of making the most of every minute, I have lived and worked in several countries around the world, as well as earned Masters degrees in International Marketing and Strategic Design Management, which have served me to understand my customers through a different lens- design thinking and service design. I am also a melomaniac and I’m always in the hunt for new music and festivals.

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