Why Sales Operations Must Evolve—And What Modern GTM Leaders Should Do About It

By Lucrum Partners

Over the past few years, the role of sales operations has undergone a profound transformation. No longer just a back-office function focused on CRM hygiene and forecasting reports, today’s sales operations must operate as a strategic command center—one that fuels growth, enables executive decision-making, and equips sellers with the tools, intelligence, and systems they need to win.

At Lucrum Partners, we work with B2B revenue teams who’ve realized that yesterday’s sales ops model no longer meets the demands of today’s buying journey. Modern buyers expect insight, speed, and alignment. That requires modern operations—built on evidence, enabled by tech, and led by data.

Let’s walk through what’s changed—and what sales ops must look like in 2025 and beyond.

From Reporting to Revenue Intelligence

Research from Gartner shows that B2B buying decisions now involve 11 or more stakeholders on average, with long, non-linear journeys and more digital self-service (Gartner, 2024). Yet most sales ops functions are still set up to support legacy funnel models and surface-level metrics.

According to McKinsey, companies that embed advanced analytics and buyer intelligence into sales operations can outperform their peers by up to 20% in revenue growth (McKinsey, 2023).

At Lucrum Partners, we help firms evolve sales ops from reactive reporting to proactive insight engines—equipped to answer not just “what happened?” but “why?” and “what should we do next?”

Intelligence Over Instinct

Sales operations is now the backbone of buyer intelligence—a function that connects frontline behaviors to leadership decisions.

That includes:

• Analyzing closed-won data to surface patterns in buyer behavior.

• Integrating external buying signals (via platforms like 6sense and ZoomInfo).

• Delivering prescriptive recommendations to help sellers adapt in real-time.

In fact, Forrester’s 2025 B2B Summit emphasized that sellers who understand the broader Buying Network—not just the core decision-maker—are far more likely to win. Yet most ops functions aren’t equipped to support that level of complexity.

Rethinking the Tech Stack

Sales tech is no longer optional—it’s essential. But it’s also bloated. G2’s 2024 Sales Tech Report shows the average B2B sales org uses 13+ tools, yet only 36% of sellers say those tools help them sell more effectively.

Lucrum helps companies:

• Consolidate their stack around platforms that integrate revenue intelligence, conversation analysis, and enablement (e.g., Gong, Clari, Highspot).

• Reduce friction between systems and teams.

• Deploy tools with adoption in mind, not just access.

And we go one step further—ensuring the tech is mapped to playbooks that reflect how today’s buyers actually buy.

Playbooks that Align the Field and the Boardroom

In too many companies, playbooks sit unused—or worse, they reinforce outdated “how we sell” processes. Modern sales ops needs to lead the way in designing, delivering, and refining dynamic playbooks that align to:

• The new buyer journey (multi-threaded, insight-hungry, self-directed)

• Role-specific motions (executive sellers vs. product specialists)

• Metrics that matter (deal velocity, buyer engagement, pipeline quality)

As Corporate Visions notes, sales teams that use dynamic, situational playbooks see up to 28% higher win rates (Corporate Visions, 2024). But only when those playbooks are integrated into coaching, systems, and strategy—not buried in a wiki.

Our Point of View at Lucrum Partners

Sales operations is no longer a function that can live in the background.

In 2025, it must be:

• A strategic enabler of leadership visibility and decision-making.

• A source of buyer insight that gives sellers a competitive edge.

• A system architect that ensures the tech stack, talent strategy, and data are working in sync.

• A force multiplier for growth—not just a reporting arm.

We’ve seen firsthand how a modernized sales ops capability can unlock stalled growth, improve pipeline quality, and give leadership the confidence they need to invest.

If your current operations function is stuck in reporting mode, it’s time to make a shift.

Let’s Build Sales Operations for the Way Buyers Buy Today

At Lucrum Partners, we help growth-stage and mid-market B2B firms modernize their revenue operations—using buyer intelligence, sales science, and proven playbooks.

📩 Interested in evolving your sales operations to drive predictable growth? Let’s talk.