We’re halfway through October and I’m already counting down to the end of the year. (10 weeks in case you’re wondering.)
I’m not wishing the year away. I’m feeling the familiar Q4 tension. On one hand: execute what's in front of you. Finish strong. Hit the goals. On the other: think ahead. What needs to happen for 2026 to be even better?
On my to-do list: Case studies to publish. Podcast episodes to produce. Social content. Newsletters.
On my mind: Our AEO strategy. The next steps for scaling with AI. How to reach our ICP with services they truly need. Our marketing strategy when everywhere I turn I hear “that doesn’t work anymore.”
This tension is healthy. It means you're thinking strategically. For me, it can also lead to overwhelm, overplanning, and paralysis. All ironically slowing down current and future progress.
In those moments, I've learned to turn to leaders who’ve been there before for perspective. Like guests on our RevOps Champions podcast who explore: Why do some companies scale while others stagnate?
When I revisited episodes while thinking about our own 2026 goals, four themes emerged: RevOps alignment. Tech integrations. Customer retention. AI.
These leaders didn't advocate for massive transformation plans. They started with small, foundational steps in the right direction. Early work that made future growth possible.
If you’re also feeling the tension, their advice and foundational action steps may help you impact 2025 while thoughtfully building toward 2026.
Whether you call it revenue operations or not, the teams responsible for revenue, data, process and related technologies need to be on the same page. If you aren’t already having those conversations, they can’t wait for Q1. At a minimum, everyone should be working from the same system and using the same definitions for success. Your CRM should be the backbone of this.
“A unified view of how and what problems you're solving and alignment around that because you could have the right answer and still fail, 100%. Or you could have a half baked answer, but clear and aligned with your team. You'll go further, faster like the research shows. That's what I've seen personally.”
- Sangram Vajre, CEO of GTM Partners
Building that alignment starts with these Q4 conversations:
Disconnected data causes disconnected reporting, customer experiences and wasted time. How do you decide what should be fully-integrated and what can stand alone?
“I think of tech as being a profit lever...but I think the integration piece is probably the piece where there's the most profit erosion. You need an enterprise architecture of all of these systems, what their purpose is [and] what their source of record is."
- Jaime Taets, Founder and CEO at Keystone Group International
Foundational work for Q4:
Your best growth opportunity is already in your CRM.
Acquisition costs keep climbing and lead generation is more challenging. Your existing customers already trust you. Yet most teams spend 80% of their energy on new logos and 20% on retention. When you get retention right, everything else (referrals, upsells, and advocacy) follows naturally.
“The number one reason why customers churn is because they didn't get enough value…but the second biggest reason customers churn is because they don't know what value they got. Focus on how you deliver and prove measurable results for customers." - Daphne Costa Lopes, Global Director of Customer Success - Strategic Accounts and Solution Architecture at HubSpot
Here's how to start finding and measuring that value:
2025 was the year AI went mainstream. At this point we all know we need to adopt AI, but what are the actual first steps?
"The first step is to make sure that there are AI policies and procedures on use. What are the approved tools? How do you use them? Which use cases do you use them on? What are the prohibitions or permissions towards use of data? How can company data be used?" - Scott Litman, SVP at Capacity
“No matter what you do with AI, it's going to require access to data in order for it to be impactful. So thinking about things like where does our data live? Is it clean? How could we improve our data cleanliness? How can we have a more holistic look at our data as a company? All of those things are going to be really good foundational things to start thinking about.” - Emily Grotkin, VP of Partner & Client Success at Denamico
The Q4 foundation for meaningful AI adoption:
Want more of these insights? Every week we sit down with leaders navigating these exact challenges. Subscribe to the RevOps Champions podcast on Apple or Spotify for more real conversations about what's actually working.