Is your revenue process truly aligned with your customer’s journey?

In a recent job interview, I was given an opportunity to share my vision for transforming a traditional Value-Added Reseller (VAR) into a dynamic, customer-centered vendor. This was no small ask. The company’s pain was clear — they had relied on vendors for everything from marketing to engagement. Now, after acquiring a niche product, they faced a steep challenge: to shed the passive, reactionary role of a VAR and embrace a proactive, strategic vendor mindset.

I understood their hesitation. They had built a system around external support, where marketing is handled by the Vendors. Now, they are stepping into uncharted territory, with an internal structure not yet equipped for a go-to-market transformation: an outdated process needs a genuine shift.

This shift demands more than contacts or industry connections; it requires an overhaul of their entire revenue approach, realigning every touchpoint with the customer’s evolving needs. Together, let’s explore why traditional methods fail and how, by addressing root issues, we can reshape a revenue process into a scalable, customer-driven model that endures.

A Limited View of the Customer

Typically, VARs engage with customers either when the vendor invites them in or when a sales manager seizes an opportunity on the ground. This approach creates a pattern where little to no strategic marketing is cultivated within the VAR itself. As a result, these organizations often lack experience in building a scalable business from the ground up, and they fall short in understanding what it takes to establish themselves as a vendor — a position requiring a deeper alignment with customers. In this case, it was clear that the organization wasn’t prepared for the transformation required to go to market independently.

Yet as I shared my strategic vision for addressing these challenges, I sensed a disconnect. The interviewers seemed focused on the assumption that, with my contacts in sectors like automotive (for which the product was designed), I could simply “open doors.” But to paraphrase Hamlet, "there’s something rotten in Denmark." A deeper issue lingered beneath the surface: the organization’s ingrained habits and its reluctance to address the root causes hindering true growth and transformation.

Reflection Through Forrester’s Lens: The Mirror vs. The Window

Many companies, like this VAR, believe they’re gaining insight into their customers by constructing ideal customer profiles and personas. But without a holistic, customer-centered transformation, these “windows” quickly turn into mirrors — reflecting the organization’s own beliefs and priorities back at them. To break away from this pattern, Forrester's insights remind us that companies must dismantle their inward-focused processes and tactics. Failing to do so means perpetuating an outdated approach, where superficial reorganizations are treated as solutions to deeply rooted issues.

Forrester’s 2024 data reinforces this perspective. Only 12% of marketing leaders believe their organizational design will help meet revenue targets in the coming year, and just 7% feel they have the right competencies in place. In this case, the company’s lack of experience in strategic marketing placed them squarely in this category. But rather than trying to "fix" their lack of experience with superficial restructuring, a genuine transformation was needed, grounded in the customer’s journey.

Building a Scalable Business: The Forrester Opportunity Lifecycle

A critical piece of advice from Forrester’s Opportunity Lifecycle framework is that modern organizations need a common view of the customer, shared across marketing, sales, and customer success teams. For a company like this VAR, unifying these perspectives could mean the difference between growth and stagnation. Each interaction a customer has with the business is an opportunity to capture signals that inform the next best experience, but only if these signals are shared and interpreted collectively across departments.

Moreover, Forrester’s framework rejects the outdated concept of “marketing-qualified leads” (MQLs) in favor of treating each interaction as an “opportunity” aligned to both solutions and revenue. This model would provide a much-needed structure for an organization with minimal experience in strategizing independently, giving it the tools to track the lifecycle of each customer and ultimately support buying decisions effectively.

Facing Reality: Changing Lanes Instead of Building Walls

In organizations like the one I encountered, the revenue process is often constrained by siloed thinking, with each function — marketing, sales development, and customer success — operating in its own lane. This setup breeds inefficiency and reflects an outdated mindset where individual team goals do not align with overall revenue targets. As Forrester points out, it's high time companies stop separating marketing from customer success, as each department plays a vital role in creating cohesive customer experiences that drive growth.

To truly transform, companies must create shared goals that prioritize the customer’s journey. This shift in thinking calls for significant internal changes, but it’s essential if an organization wants to evolve from a passive VAR model to a proactive vendor role.

The Challenge of Becoming a Vendor: My Strategic Takeaways

The shift from VAR to vendor is not a simple transition. It demands a reorientation of strategy, processes, and goals around the customer lifecycle. This company, now with a new product in a niche market, needed to move away from relying on my industry contacts to “open doors” and instead build a framework where marketing, sales, and customer success operate cohesively.

My strategic recommendation was to lay the groundwork for a customer-centric revenue process. By implementing a unified customer view and adopting an “opportunity” mindset, they could position themselves as a responsive, value-adding vendor. Additionally, Forrester’s insights on reorganization serve as a reminder: superficial structural changes won’t address the underlying issues. Instead, they needed to focus on enhancing talent, aligning technology, and building competencies that could blend human insights with AI capabilities.

The Long Road to Transformation

True transformation is never easy, especially for an organization accustomed to functioning as a VAR. But with the right focus, such a company can become more than just a provider of IT solutions. By building a scalable business framework that prioritizes customer alignment and operational efficiency, they can evolve into a proactive vendor with a reputation for value, insight, and engagement.

The real challenge lies in shifting perspective — replacing the mirror with a genuine window into the customer’s world. For this company, that meant understanding that sustainable growth requires not just the “who” of customer access but the “how” and “why” of delivering value. As Forrester rightly emphasizes, transformation demands a willingness to break from the past, avoid superficial changes, and commit to a customer-first strategy that paves the way for long-term growth.

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