From AI to Buying Groups: Takeaways from OpsStars & Dreamforce 2024

OpsStars 2024 at the San Francisco Mint was a huge success! It brought together leading operations, sales, and marketing professionals for an unmatched day of learning and networking.

Whether you joined in person or missed the event, we’ve got you covered with a roundup of the key highlights from both OpsStars and Dreamforce. Here’s a quick recap of important announcements and takeaways that made this year’s event stand out.

4 announcements you may have missed at Dreamforce ‘24

OpsStars takes place at the same time as Dreamforce, so many attendees were in SF for both events. However, since there was so much going on, you may have missed some of these big announcements out of Dreamforce 2024. 

Here are the top announcements out of Dreamforce 👇

#1 Say hello to the new Agentforce

Salesforce announced the launch of Agentforce, a new suite of autonomous AI agents created to make everyday tasks easier with AI.

According to Salesforce, Agentforce AI agents “can analyze data, make decisions, and take action on tasks like answering customer service inquiries, qualifying sales leads, and optimizing marketing campaigns.” 

#2 Salesforce kicks off its Agentforce Partner Network

In addition to Agentforce, Salesforce also announced the launch of its Agentforce Partner Network, an ecosystem of third-party AI agents. The network expands the capabilities of Agentforce by allowing customers to install trusted third-party extensions from the Salesforce AppExchange to augment Agentforce’s out-of-the-box agents.

#3 You can get free AI training through Trailhead

Salesforce now offers free AI training, including its premium courses and AI certifications, to help bridge the AI skills gap and support a changing job market. All training programs can be accessed on Salesforce’s online learning platform, Trailhead, through the end of 2025. 

#4 Salesforce’s Data Cloud gets an upgrade to enable deeper insights

Salesforce’s Data Cloud now processes unstructured data, like audio and video, providing deeper insights for AI-driven customer experiences. The upgrades also improve data governance, real-time processing, and secure sharing between cloud systems. These innovations help companies tap into new data formats to personalize interactions, streamline processes, and boost operational efficiency.

And that’s a wrap on our Dreamforce 2024 recap! Rewatch full sessions from the event for free on Salesforce+. 

What happened at OpsStars 2024?

Even if you were in attendance or had to miss the in-person event, no one can be in two places at once so it’s likely you missed some sessions that interested you. The good news is you can watch recordings of each session in the LeanData resource center!

There were so many great sessions at OpStars 2024, so here’s a sample of session recaps to get you started. 

RevOps Contradictions; Navigating the Paradoxes in Today’s Uncertain Environment [Keynote]

RevOps in 2024 is full of contradictions. Put out “fires” quickly but be more strategic. Do more with less. How can RevOps balance these contradictions to execute a vision successfully?

LeanData’s CEO, Evan Liang, kicked off the event by asking these big questions that keep Ops folks up at night. RevOps is often run on a “fire drill culture” where every problem becomes a fire that needs to be put out. And in 2024, there have been a lot of fires to put out, often with responsibility falling on RevOps from top-down and bottom-up challenges. 

Then, Evan brought Christine Maxey, VP of RevOps and Karan Singh, VP GTM Strategy & Revenue Operations, LaunchDarkly, to the stage to discuss how Ops leaders can keep up without burning out.

Notable moments:

• [01:05] Announcing the winners of the 6th Annual OpsStars Awards 
• [04:06] How this year has highlighted RevOps contradictions
• [06:02] Discussion with Karan Singh about how to handle top-down Ops challenges
• [22:33] Audience Q&A with Karan Singh
• [28:17] Discussion with Christine Maxey on dealing with bottom-up “fire drills”
• [39:42] Audience Q&A with Christine Maxey
• [42:44] Making RevOps the “Champion of the How”
• [47:50] OpsStars and Modern Sales Pro partnership announcement

▶️ Watch the full session

Measure What (Really) Matters: The Metrics of Buying Groups

Are MQLs becoming outdated? And if so, what will replace them? 

Jon Miller, co-founder of Marketo and Engagio, and John Steinert, TechTarget’s Chief Marketing Officer were joined by LeanData’s Alice Walker to hash out the right way forward for measuring GTM success.

Key takeaways from this session:

• B2B decision-making has gotten more complex. It’s time to move past MQLs and start using Buying Groups for more accurate measurement of activities on revenue impact. 
• Organizations should adopt a long-term holistic approach to marketing, rather than a short-term deterministic approach. In other words, success metrics need to account for indicators like engagement, brand awareness, and relationships rather than immediate conversions. 
• Companies need tight alignment between sales, marketing, and operations for Buying Group strategies to stay on track and achieve their common goals.
• Many current marketing automation tools aren’t equipped to report on account-level metrics, which can make tracking and measuring a Buying Groups approach especially challenging. 

Notable moments:

• [2:33] How to decide what should be measured as you move away from MQLs
• [6:50] Which metrics to track throughout the entire Buying Group journey
• [11:40] How can you approach organizational alignment, especially among departments with entrenched metrics?
• [20:10] Which technologies are the most effective for collecting and analyzing Buying Group data to be used in this new motion?
• [22:30] The data, signals, and tools you might be missing for an effective Buying Group motion
• [26:50] The panelists’ one piece of advice for getting started with Buying Groups

▶️ Watch the full session

Leveraging AI for Commercial Acceleration: Insights from NVIDIA and Bain (Kelly was the Opsstar of the Year)

AI is the hottest topic in tech right now, so of course we had sessions about how AI and Ops intersect! 

In this session, Chris Dent, Partner at Bain & Company, and Kelly Goles, Manager of Revenue Marketing Operations at NVIDIA (and OpsStar of the Year winner ⭐) talked about how AI can be used for improving functions like sales, lead management, and customer success.

Key takeaways from this session:

• Organizations have been quick to integrate AI into their processes, but most are still in the experimentation and exploratory phase. Many still need to understand how to deploy AI at scale, which will only come from fundamentally reimagining processes rather than using AI for incremental improvements.
• Implementing AI takes time, patience, and careful testing, so companies need to approach AI adoption as a multi-phase journey. Organizations need to experiment, iterate, and show measurable value to get internal support for further AI investment.
• You must understand the role of AI agents, which act as “coworkers” to assist in tasks like updating models and automating manual processes – and how this frees up human resources for higher-value activities.

Notable moments:

• [02:22] Overview of how Generative AI has been adopted for sales, marketing, and customer success/service
• [04:20] The three stages of the typical AI transformation journey for companies
• [07:30] Kelly Goles’ explanation of NVIDIA’s GTM AI transformation journey 
• [17:34] Parting thoughts and key questions to consider
• [20:33] Audience Q&A

▶️ Watch the full session

Growing your RevOps Career

Are you ready to level up your career in Ops? This session is a must-watch!

A stacked panel of RevOps leaders (Trent Allen, Sr RevOps at Go Nimbly, Jacki Leahy, Fractional RevOps Advisor and Founder at Activate the Magic, James McArthur, Director of RevOps at Nue.io, and Sunny Nguyen, Senior Salesforce Admin at Iterable) answered common questions and shared practical advice for Ops professionals. 

Notable moments:

• [02:44] James McArthur’s journey to the executive table
• [06:18] Jacki Leahy’s entrepreneurial path in RevOps
• [09:05] Sunny Nguyen’s transition from SDR to Salesforce Admin
• [11:33] Trent Allen’s growth through consulting work
• [13:59] Skills that have been crucial to your success in RevOps
• [21:05] One sentence of advice for RevOps professionals 
• [21:46] Audience Q&A

▶️ Watch the full session

Quota Crushers or Seat Warmers: The Final Word on Sales Team Accountability

We all know that selling is getting harder. Sales reps are struggling to achieve success in a fear-driven environment, and it’s time for frontline managers to step up and foster changes. What can team leaders do to inspire their reps to keep improving to hit quota?

This panel of executives, including Pete Kazanjy of Atrium, AJ Gandhi of Marlin Equity Partners, and Thiago Sá Freire of OpenGov, discussed how to become more effective coaches for their teams.

Key takeaways from this session:

• With well-defined KPIs in place, reps understand exactly what’s expected of them, enabling fair and transparent performance evaluations. Additionally, managers need access to clear insights and tracking so they can pinpoint where reps are underperforming and provide actionable next steps. 
• Team culture should be built around high performance. Balance recognition with accountability to show reps that their outstanding work will be recognized, and poor performance will be addressed with constructive feedback. 
• By working closely with the sales force, ops can bridge gaps between strategy and execution, making them more credible and effective partners. Attending sales calls and getting hands-on experience with sales can help ops teams understand the day-to-day challenges of the reps they support.

Notable moments:

• [06:33] Understanding the shift in performance expectations across the last few years
• [16:48] How Ops can collaborate with frontline managers to facilitate sales enablement
• [24:02] Different components of what managers should be doing to lead their teams
• [28:42] What it means to have a culture of winning in your organization 

▶️ Watch the full session

Big news from LeanData and OpsStars

You can’t run an event without making a big announcement, right? Or, in our case, we shared two big announcements!

LeanData’s new products enhance Buying Group GTM motions

The way buyers buy has changed. Revenue teams are struggling to keep up with accurate measurement and reporting for more complex purchasing processes. That’s why LeanData has introduced two new products – Buying Groups Blueprint and Buying Groups Orchestrator – to tackle these challenges head-on. 

Buying Groups Blueprint helps teams by:

• Identifying the data that justifies moving to a committee-focused transformation so you can make a well-informed business case for Buying Groups.
• Analyzing CRM data to uncover trends, figure out who is influencing deals, and understand your buyers more completely. 
• Showing you how each buyer impacts revenue so you can craft smarter, more effective strategies. 

Buying Groups Orchestrator helps teams by:

• Streamlining Buying Group creation by identifying the role each contact plays in every purchasing cycle.
• Tracking signals in complex journeys so you can fill in gaps and prevent key buyers from being ignored. 
• Equipping your reps with the full picture so they can improve engagements and drive more meaningful conversations.

Learn more about how you can drive more revenue with Buying Groups.

OpsStars and Modern Sales Pros join forces to provide year-round community events 

Two heads are better than one, and the same can be said about communities. At OpsStars 2024, LeanData announced that the OpStars community is combining with Modern Sales Pros to create a year-round community for sales, marketing, and revenue operations professionals. 

While the OpStars Conference will continue as an annual conference, Modern Sales Pros will serve as the ongoing community platform. As a result, this merger will provide a bigger and more continuous support network for professionals in RevOps, sales, and marketing. Plus, it creates new opportunities for collaboration and growth throughout the year.

Wrapping up: AI, Buying Groups, and the Future of Ops 

OpsStars 2024 delivered game-changing insights and exciting announcements for the RevOps community. From new AI advancements to enhanced tools for Buying Groups, the conference spotlighted valuable takeaways to help you adapt a new GTM playbook for 2025. 

Whew, this year’s event was a doozy! We hope this recap helps you prepare for new challenges and opportunities as the market adapts. Want to be ahead of the curve? Learn how LeanData’s new Buying Groups solutions up-levels your go-to-market strategy.