In this episode, Amy Cook sits down with Jim Sbarra, whose decades-long career in enterprise sales took an unexpected and transformative turn when he was asked to lead RevOps at Domo. What followed was five years of bridging gaps, breaking silos, and building a deep understanding between two worlds that often struggle to speak the same language.
Jim shares what it was like to transition from “RevOps customer” to “RevOps supplier,” how trust serves as the currency that fuels great partnerships, and why empathy is the key to aligning sales and operations.
Whether you’re a RevOps pro, a sales leader, or somewhere in between, this conversation offers fresh insights, candid discussion, and plenty of “aha” moments about what it takes to build genuine alignment and drive results.
Here are some interview highlights:
Amy: Jim, let’s start from the beginning. Could you tell me more about your journey through sales and into RevOps?
Jim: I started as an individual contributor in sales at IBM. That was my foundation. From there, I moved to Oracle, where I began covering industries and eventually advanced to become a third-line sales manager. Then I made the jump to Salesforce, and that’s really where I got my introduction to the SaaS industry. Again, I moved up the ranks as a sales leader.
Read more: Relationships Are the Engine Behind RevOps Success
Eventually, a friend approached me about joining Domo to help build their enterprise business. Shortly after I arrived, the RevOps person resigned, and the CRO came to me and said, “Hey, I’d like you to help me out with this. Not just enterprise, but also RevOps—globally.” Then he threw in, “And there’s this other team I want you to manage for a while too.” That “for a while” turned into five years.
Amy: I didn’t realize you came up almost exclusively through sales. Was it a huge mental shift moving into RevOps, or did it feel natural?
Jim: At first, it felt like a total leap. I thought, “Wait a minute, I don’t have experience in this!” But then I realized I’d been on the receiving end of RevOps for 32 years. That made me think, “Actually, this might work out really well.” I’d been a customer of RevOps, and now I was becoming the supplier. That perspective helped bridge many gaps between sales, RevOps, and the executive team.
Amy: It makes such a difference when an ops leader says, “Do this because I’ve been in your shoes,” instead of just “Because it’s the process.” That builds trust.
Jim: Exactly. I always tell people: put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Everyone has a job to do. If your changes help them do that job better or at least show you understand how the change affects them, they’re much more likely to go along with it.
Read more: How RevOps Aligns Teams for Growth
When I took over the RevOps team, I’d hear the usual stuff: “Sales is just playing golf, they don’t care, they don’t know the systems.” And I’d say, “Hold on. What are we asking them to do? Does this actually benefit them or the company?” We were able to remove many unnecessary processes and replace them with solutions that worked for both parties.
Amy: What’s something you would say to a RevOps team to help them see the sales side more clearly?
Jim: If you don’t work on commission, or if most of your income isn’t commission-based, it’s hard to understand the mindset. For salespeople, anything that doesn’t directly lead to closing a deal often feels like noise. So, you have to help them see how what you’re asking will actually help them, whether it’s now or two steps down the road. Like, “If you answer these three questions now, we won’t bug you later with twenty.” Once they see that, they get it.
Amy: So it’s about taking time to explain the “why” in a way that resonates with their reality.
Jim: Exactly. It’s about understanding what motivates them. And honestly, that’s what sales is. If you can’t understand what the other person cares about, you won’t be able to move them to act. And no one wants to be told, “Do this because it’s the process.” I always tried to limit those non-negotiables to just a few. Because once people stop trusting you, they tune you out.
Click here for the complete interview.
