In Playmaker Spotlight, we get up close (and sometimes personal) with a valuable team member whose individual contributions shouldn’t be overlooked but instead used to highlight their unique experience. Besides taking this great opportunity to share their accomplishments with the world, we also hope to provide you with insider info about our team culture and what it’s like to work at Databox.
In this spotlight, we’re introducing Tory Ferrall, Director of Revenue Operations at Databox, overseeing the strategic alignment of sales, customer success, and marketing to maximize revenue generation at Databox. Tory’s multifaceted role requires a comprehensive understanding of our business landscape and objectives, making her a pivotal part of our team’s endeavors.
Keep reading to learn about Tory’s Databox story.
Tory joined Databox in 2017 after being offered a role in marketing and one in partner onboarding.
“Intuitively, I knew the second one was a better fit for me. After a series of interviews with key stakeholders, including our founder, Davorin Gabrovec, and CEO, Pete Caputa, I accepted the role of Partner Program Manager.”
In the role of a Partner Program Manager, Tory onboarded over 300 Databox agency partners, laying the foundation for our partner program’s success. She adopted a hands-on approach and did a lot of what our CS teams do now: diving deep into understanding partner needs through calls, building custom dashboards for them, and leading comprehensive training sessions. Her dedication ensured partners were seamlessly integrated and fully committed to Databox, setting the stage for many of our customer success functions today, spanning from onboarding to ongoing support and account management.
Following her efforts, Databox was able to expand its team to take over those functions that she had helped establish while Tory transitioned into the role of Customer Communications Manager. In this capacity, she optimized our entire knowledge base by reworking and rewriting all help documentation, developed our Predictable Performance Training Course, and crafted nurturing campaigns within Intercom to bolster user support. She used her previously acquired knowledge and experience gained from onboarding customers to benefit a broader audience in a scalable and impactful manner.
After approximately a year as a Customer Communications Manager, Tory was able to establish robust systems, which prompted her transition to the role of Senior Operations Manager for GTM Teams, where she handled daily operations of customer-facing departments, ensured smooth business functions, identified opportunities for improvement, and managed overall performance. This included establishing internal protocols for data utilization, spearheading execution and collaboration on pivotal projects such as pricing adjustments, and supervising a team responsible for internal training and systems oversight.”
Tory is a versatile strategist with an extensive grasp of diverse areas within Databox, proving invaluable in shaping our strategic direction, identifying and capitalizing on growth opportunities, and advocating for knowledge-sharing and process-driven solutions that propel Databox forward. Consequently, after two years of immersive experience and insight into Databox, Tory has been promoted to her current position as Director of Revenue Operations.
In this agile role, Tory supports cross-functional teams, leveraging a deep understanding of Databox and our user base to drive revenue-focused initiatives. She is responsible for managing company data to identify improvement opportunities and successful strategies. For instance, overseeing the creation of weekly company reports and collaborating with leaders across different departments to provide timely updates on our performance. This allows Databox to remain agile and make necessary adjustments as needed. Tory also optimizes our systems for efficient use across the business, such as implementing tools like Avoma, HubSpot, and Intercom to streamline processes for sales and post-sale teams, managers, and Product & Engineering teams. She works closely with leaders to influence key performance metrics, particularly in areas outlined in our OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). This involves assigning owners responsible for progress, conducting meetings to review progress and discuss strategy, and establishing a cadence for recalibration when necessary to ensure alignment with company targets.
“Overall, my focus is on driving strategic initiatives aimed at identifying opportunities, sharing knowledge, and implementing process-focused solutions to foster company growth.”
The overarching objective of Revenue Operations is to enhance alignment across departments, particularly within GTM teams encompassing sales, marketing, account management, customer onboarding, and support, all working towards common revenue goals.
This alignment represents the key to our company’s success. Each team brings forward distinct resources and capabilities, underscoring the importance of breaking down silos and seizing cross-functional opportunities. Recognizing that we can work better and produce better results together, Revenue Operations strives to identify and bolster these collaborative endeavors. And this is exactly what Tory embodies, encourages, and exemplifies daily.
During her time at Databox, Tory has run numerous projects. One that had the largest long-term impact was reorganizing and rewriting the entire Knowledge Base during her role as a Communications Specialist.
Previously, our Knowledge Base was outdated, hard to navigate, and lacked valuable information, resulting in minimal user engagement. Recognizing the opportunity to transform it into a valuable resource, Tory dedicated months to revamping every help document, breaking them down into sections (such as Data Source Guides and Feature Overviews), creating unified structures and templates, and making the new Knowledge Base one of the most valuable Customer Support resources for our users and internal teams. In January 2024, the Knowledge base had 8k users and 14k sessions.
Colleagues characterize Tory as a versatile Playmaker with the ability to navigate sales, support, and account management with success while having an in-depth understanding of how these areas are connected to one another. Today, SaaS companies like Databox thrive by refining processes and operations across teams, but the risk lies in these teams becoming siloed. Tory’s pivotal role in Databox has been instrumental in mitigating this risk, ensuring seamless collaboration and alignment across diverse functions at Databox.
“Driving the right conversations at the right time is what impacts team alignment most. To prevent our teams from becoming siloed, I need to keep a pulse on things going on throughout the company and connect the appropriate people at a time when they’ll see it as a value-add, not a burden or something slowing them down. This often means planting seeds to see if someone has considered the way something they’re working on may connect to something another team is working on, getting a read on if they’ve explored this further or not, and naturally encouraging the right conversations to happen.”
Most recently, Tory has made an impact by rolling out an effective OKR (Objectives and Key Results) management process across our entire company. This was a huge cross-functional effort that required buy-in and investments from teams and leaders across the organization. OKRs, a framework popularized by companies like Google, involve setting specific Objectives to define what needs to be achieved and Key Results to measure progress towards those objectives. During this project, Tory demonstrated commitment to fostering cohesion and strategic direction among our various departments. Her vision extends beyond mere implementation; she envisions this process as a catalyst for aligning our teams toward common goals and driving collective success.
As far as looking ahead, Tory is optimistic about the future of Databox and emphasizes the importance of the right focus and alignment.
“My role’s strategic focus is really ensuring the company remains aligned around the most important areas that will help us drive the business forward. This mainly involves our OKR processes and initiating the right conversations at the right time.”
The role of Revenue Operations is pivotal in shaping the strategic direction and driving growth at Databox. Tory’s multifaceted contributions underscore the importance of her position in fostering collaboration and propelling our company forward. Her vision for Databox’s future is anchored in the belief that with the right focus and alignment, we can transform from a valuable tool to a necessity for our users’ business success. As we move forward, Tory remains instrumental in providing alignment among teams, which enables Databox to thrive and innovate.
Content writer at Databox
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