Building an Operational Cadence with Meghan Gill

Summary

Revenue Builders Podcast

Episode: Building an Operational Cadence with Meghan Gill

Date: September 21, 2025
Hosts: John McMahon, John Kaplan
Guest: Meghan Gill (Former MongoDB, Sales & Marketing Ops Leader)

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Main Theme & Purpose

This episode dives deep into how to create an effective operational cadence within sales organizations—transforming sales operations from a perceived “internal affairs” department into a value driver and trusted business partner. Meghan Gill shares lessons from her 17-year journey at MongoDB, emphasizing how the right rhythm, infrastructure, and reporting empower sales leaders, build trust, and foster scalable growth.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Sales Operations: From "Internal Affairs" to Trusted Partner

• John Kaplan emphasizes that top sales ops teams don't act as corporate police but as coaching partners for sales leaders.
  • “They're not like the internal affairs in a police department … They're like coaches and they help the sales leader think with a more business intent.” (00:34)
• Meghan Gill outlines her philosophy of building credibility by solving fundamental problems before suggesting strategic interventions.
  • "Don’t come in too hot. Just solve the first basic problems and then you earn the right to be at the table and be saying, ‘Hey, have you looked at this?’” (01:41)

2. Building Trust Through Early Wins in Reporting

• Meghan shares a practical example: assigning a new sales ops partner to the channel team who focused first on cleaning up the reporting.
  • “At that time, the reporting was just a mess … I said to her, Anshu, just fix the reporting, make sure … they have a clean view of their data … get that win and let's just start there.” (01:45)
• This approach builds trust, leading leaders to increasingly rely on ops insights.

3. Establishing and Evolving an Operating Cadence

• John Kaplan compares operational rhythm in sales to the structured routines of athletic teams, highlighting its empowering—rather than punitive—nature.
  • “It wasn't micromanaging … I was a part of a cadence that was a championship team. And so the cadence became favored, it became enabling.” (02:45)
• Meghan Gill describes how cadence evolves as companies scale:
  • For early-stage companies: Focus is often recruiting and building pipeline (frontline manager cadence).
  • For larger organizations: Multiple layers of cadence (frontline, leadership, pipeline inspection, segmentation, planning).
    • “As you grow … you have multiple cadences. You have a frontline manager cadence … Then you have, you know, leadership level … [around] forecasting and pipeline ... planning for the following year … it became quite a lot to manage.” (04:11)

4. The Importance of Infrastructure & Delegation

• Meghan stresses the need for the right infrastructure so that frontline managers, not just the CRO, inspect pipelines and processes.
  • "You can't expect the CRO to be inspecting pipeline … for every single team. You have to have the frontline managers doing it and then have a layer of inspection above them." (04:27)

5. Cadence as Enabler of Insights & Action

• John McMahon points out that sales ops provides insights that go beyond a CRO’s gut feel.
  • “They give you, from the data, from talking to salespeople, they give you insights … A lot of times they turn up something, they say, ‘it looks like something's going on over here.’” (05:10)
• Sales ops can help identify and flag trends or issues that demand leadership attention.

6. Making Cadence Work in Practice (Communication & Preparation)

• Meghan shares how she and her team operationalized cadence:
  • She had a weekly set of key metrics reviewed ahead of staff meetings, which drove accountability and preparation throughout the organization.
    • “I had a set of metrics I wanted to look at every single week. And those metrics were part of the staff meeting that Cedric would hold every week. … Over time, they started coming to the meetings with those answers already because they knew I was going to ask them…” (06:56)
  • This approach had a cascading effect, as department heads would then work with their teams on the same metrics.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• John Kaplan:
  “They’re not like the internal affairs in a police department … They’re like coaches and they help the sales leader think with a more business intent.” (00:34)

• Meghan Gill:
  “Don’t come in too hot. Just solve the first basic problems and then you earn the right to be at the table and be saying, ‘Hey, have you looked at this?’” (01:41)

  “You can't expect the CRO to be inspecting pipeline … for every single team. You have to have the frontline managers doing it and then have a layer of inspection above them.” (04:27)

  “I had a set of metrics I wanted to look at every single week. … Over time, [the team] started coming to the meetings with those answers already because they knew I was going to ask them.” (06:56)

• John McMahon:
  “People like Megan give you that you can’t get yourself as a CRO … they give you insights that you might have had a gut feel about … but a lot of times they say, ‘it looks like something’s going on over here.’” (05:10)

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Timeline of Key Segments

• 00:34 – Kaplan frames elite sales ops as business partners, not corporate “internal affairs”
• 01:41 – Gill describes strategy of building trust by first fixing basic reporting
• 02:45 – Discussion of rhythm/cadence in winning teams and organizations
• 04:11 – Gill lays out how cadence evolves with scale
• 04:27 – Importance of infrastructure and delegation in operational cadence
• 05:10 – McMahon highlights insights and flags from sales ops to CROs
• 06:56 – Gill on using recurring metrics and meetings to build accountability culture

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Summary

Meghan Gill’s experience at MongoDB serves as a masterclass in evolving sales operations from basic reporting cleanups to an indispensable, insight-driven function. The episode is rich with practical advice on establishing credibility, building a layered operating rhythm, and using data and cadence to empower—not micromanage—sales teams. Listeners come away with tactical strategies for building trust, ensuring preparation at every level, and making sales ops a true linchpin for scalable growth.

Transcript

[Megan Gill]

Foreign.

[Podcast Host]

Welcome to the Revenue Builders podcast with John McMahon and John Kaplan. This podcast is brought to you by Force Management Forces Solutions help companies meet the revenue goals that drive funding and higher valuations. Today, a segment from our episode with Megan gill. Megan spent 17 years at MongoDB scaling that company, working on the front lines in marketing and sales operations. In this segment, they talk about establishing credibility and an operating cadence.

[John Kaplan]

I think the greatest sales ops organizations I've seen are not the ones that are like the internal affairs in a police department, but they are like, I don't know, they're like coaches and they help the sales leader think with a more business intent. So most sales leaders, they get the job because they can recruit and they can get deals, they can get business. They typically have to learn how the company operates and they have to figure out, I got a report information, but I also want to utilize information. So I call it this mor. This management operating rhythm. How do you. And you said in one of your things, it's about enabling the sales leaders. Can you just comment on how you, your philosophy on how instead of being in internal affairs, how do you elevate sales leaders to become more business oriented?

[Megan Gill]

Well, I can speak to it from the perspective of how I would coach the sales ops team. So I would, I'll give some examples. Like, I brought in somebody to be the partner to the partner team, so the channel team. And at that time, the reporting was just a mess. And I said to her, Anshu, I was like, don't try to do anything other than fix the reporting and make sure you fully understand the reporting and that they have a clean view of their data and they can compare it to their comp statements. Get that win and let's just start there. So she just dug into the reporting, built the trust with leaders that she knew what she was doing and that they could get the right data from her and that she could be helpful. And then over time, it's like, okay, I see that I'm getting value out of this, this person. Now I want to ask them more things and give them more questions to answer. So that's always how I started. I said, don't come in too hot. Just solve the first basic problems and then you earn the right to be at the table and be saying, hey, have you looked at this? Have you looked at that?

[John Kaplan]

I like that. And then how do you create a rhythm? I think the greatest organizations I've ever seen and I thought, Johnny did this, John McMahon did this really well. There was a cadence in the Organization. And when PTC was small, and then when PTC got huge, there was a cadence that evolved. And I think what sales organizations love. It's like, I remember being an athlete, they on Saturdays for game day, they wrote up, like, I'm supposed to have my ankles taped by XYZ time. If I'm part of the defense, I go out at a certain time. And I loved, like, it wasn't punitive. It wasn't micromanaging it. I was a part of a cadence that was a championship team. And so the cadence became favored, it became enabling. It became. I mean, you sought after it. And I'm talking about how you forecast, how you roll out QBRs, how you like, do you guys, both of you. I'd like to know this. Management, operating rhythm and creating a cadence. You know, you can feel it inside of an organization, and you can also feel when it's not there. Give me your thoughts on how you help people do that.

[Megan Gill]

Well, now I want to HEAR what John McMahon has to say.

[John McMahon]

You already know. Yeah.

[Megan Gill]

I mean, how do you create a cadence? It's funny because you talked about the difference between earlier stage and as you grow, as we got bigger, you have multiple cadences. You have a frontline manager cadence, which is typically all about recruiting and pipeline.

[John Kaplan]

Yeah.

[Megan Gill]

Then you have, you know, leadership level. It's, you know, we had this cadence that was also not just around forecasting and pipeline, but also around how are we going to segment. How are we going to plan for the following year? So that became quite a lot to manage. At the same time, realize you really have to have the right infrastructure in place because you can't expect the CRO to. To be inspecting pipeline. Right. Like, for every single. Every single team, you have to have the frontline managers doing it and then have a layer of inspection, you know, above them to make sure they're doing that part of the job.

[John McMahon]

Yeah. And there's also times when they want everything. So by the fifth day of the first month of the quarter, you have to roll up the forecasts, you know, by the 10th day of the first month of the quarter. This happens in the last, you know, in the last two weeks of the quarter, this happens. So there's a time element to it also. But back to something that you were asking Megan. What I've always thought that, you know, people like Megan give you that you can't get yourself as a CRO is they give you, from the data from talking to salespeople, they give you insights that you probably might have had a gut feel does this. Is this existing? Is this not existing? And they can help you with your gut feel to go investigate to see if that is happening. But a lot of times they turn up something, they say, you know, it looks like something's going on over here. Now you might want, as a CRO, go over there and investigate what's going on with that data that, you know, Megan has told me about certain insights into it.

[John Kaplan]

Now, does that mean, then, Megan, do you have a cadence for your ops people? Let's talk about it at smaller scale and let's talk about at larger scale. This is all about communication and it's about providing insights and it's about. Not so much the reporting mechanism. Is the reporting mechanism, but where do you find the time in the cadence, you know, And I find sometimes meeting sales ops people are like, I can't even get, you know, I can't even get on the docket for XYZ sales leader. What have you, what advice do you have there? Or any insights that you have on how to make it really work?

[Megan Gill]

Well, I used to spend. I had a set of metrics I wanted to look at every single week. And those metrics were part of the staff meeting that Cedric would hold every week. So I would review those metrics in advance, and then that's where I would be sitting with the team. Like, why haven't you looked at this? Why is this number, this what it is? And so over time, they started coming to the meetings with those answers already because they knew I was going to ask them because I didn't want to go into Cedric's meeting and have the same, you know, some very basic questions. Oh, why are we behind on recruiting in this region? Or why don't we have pipeline and in this other region? So it really starts with, I felt like it started with me, by me understanding the metrics and making sure that we were always prepared for that, for that weekly staff meeting. And then that had a cascading effect, right? Because then the heads, then Centrix directs, knew that this, these metrics were coming. So they wanted to understand it. So they would sit with their business, sales ops business partner and understand that same set of metrics.

[Podcast Host]

This whole episode is a great discussion on the role of RevOps and making it a linchpin for growth. Check it out. It's linked in the show notes.