#94 Annual vs. Continuous Planning – with Laura Cross , VP at Forrester

In this episode:

Laura Cross, VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester, joins Janis and Philipp to unpack the shift from annual to continuous planning. Laura shares why static, one-and-done plans don’t work in today’s fast-changing environment and how RevOps can take the lead in building adaptive, customer-centric planning processes.

We cover:

• Why annual planning often creates misalignment and mistrust
• The rise of continuous, “always-on” planning cycles
• How to balance board-level compliance with GTM agility
• Common pitfalls: siloed planning, unrealistic timelines, political dynamics
• Why putting the customer at the center fixes more than process
• RevOps as the facilitator of sync & sequence across functions
• Practical steps to operationalize strategy through revenue cadences

Links:

• Laura Cross on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauracross
• Weflow: getweflow.com
• RevOps Chat Community: getweflow.com/community
• RevOps resources: getweflow.com/revops
• Janis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janiszech
• Philipp on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philippstelzer

Chapters:

• (00:00:00) Intro & Meet Laura
• (00:02:10) Annual vs. Continuous Planning – The Shift
• (00:05:30) Why Annual Planning Fails in Practice
• (00:09:20) Misalignment, Finger-Pointing & Trust Issues
• (00:14:15) The Role of RevOps in Sync & Sequence
• (00:19:00) Overhead, Culture & Mindset Shifts
• (00:24:30) From Strategy to Execution: Revenue Cadences
• (00:29:40) Final Thoughts & Forrester Resources