There are numerous CEO’s looking at do they need a CRO and CMO (or CRO and less senior marketer). Enter the Chief Revenue Officer. Each role expands based on a) the portion of the customer journey and sales funnel the executive manages, b) the challenges he/she must address in the organization or marketplace, and c) the importance of strategy versus execution. The Chief Sales Officer is a high-level executive in the business. Filter by location to see Chief Sales Officer salaries in your area. Without silos between teams, effective enablement starts to become the norm instead of feeling like dumb luck, as it often does with misaligned teams. Some may not feel entirely comfortable navigating board rooms and answering tough questions that go beyond the scope of the sales pipeline. Who Fits the CRO Role: A good CRO has the same experience and C-level savvy as the CSO, but thinks more holistically about growth. Good ones are adept at partnering cross-functionally, forging productive relationships with Finance, Product Management, Marketing, Customer Success/Service and Sales Operations. Recognizing this, the CRO has clear revenue generation processes and resources to maximize upsell, cross-sell, and renewals. hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(2352903, '57f05f0c-4081-442d-9e3b-c9756ddda9d8', {}); Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in October 2018 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness. Both of these professionals are essential in driving sales and increasing an organization's revenue. What’s your role? A chief revenue officer (CRO) is a corporate officer (executive) responsible for all revenue generation processes in an organization. sales and marketing integration Additionally, this post is written from the perspective of established organizations with large, often complex sales teams. Think back to the last time you worked for an organisation with heavily-divided sales and marketing teams. By managing the entire revenue stack, the CRO has a finger on the pulse of what’s happening out in the field, with lead generation, and with customer success. Symmetrics Group is a sales performance consulting and training firm that helps B2B clients develop and sustain high performing sales teams. Check out big ideas and practical tools to fuel your sales success. Pure Storage sees better than expected revenue, adds Delfino as chief revenue officer. So What Is a Chief Revenue Officer? In large companies, the CGO is a cross-functional catalyst used by executives to align and optimize their own team’s activities. Though the Chief Growth Officer (CGO) role isn’t new, most marketers today aren’t entirely sure what a Chief Growth Officer is or does. A chief revenue officer (CRO) is a corporate officer responsible for all revenue generation processes in an organization.In this role, a CRO is accountable for driving better integration and alignment between all revenue-related functions, including marketing, sales, customer support, pricing, and revenue management.. Am I looking to run all operations through the CRO? In a heavily saturated market, sales and marketing alignment is a powerful competitive weapon. Paul Albright: Be like Paul. Is measuring pipeline even the best metric? Who Fits the VP of Sales Role: Since this role has been around the longest, most people are clear on who fits. His/her focus is on the core sales funnel from lead to close – an effective Sales VP will collaborate with marketing and customer success above and below that funnel. The Chief Revenue Officer is an amalgamation of what used to be called the “VP of Marketing” and “VP of Sales” positions into one person reporting to the CEO. Get to know key team members and their areas of expertise. As the overseer of the entire revenue stream, the CRO evaluates each piece of the revenue stack without objective bias. Create a Social learning culture to transform your workforce, today! Some are unclear. This is a good thing for CMO’s who embrace the future direction and expectations of the business to align themselves as the CRO. In large organizations, you may see Sales VPs specialized by team (e.g., VP Field Sales, VP Inside Sales), who report to an SVP of Sales. The best CROs understand the differences between marketing and sales, while establishing processes to ensure a synergy across the full revenue cycle.They are prepared to lead and manage the end-to-end revenue value chain. He moves in lock step with the CEO and is clear on the role Sales plays in the company’s near and long-term success. A revenue engineer of sorts, the CRO focuses on driving profitable customer actions across the customer journey. Both need to have solid interpersonal skills and knowledge of important technology. #1 If you want to become an inspiring marketing leader and access some valuable tactics/ curated, thought-provoking content and tools, then subscribe to my private mailing list here. strategy and structure, process and technology, enablement and people, and management and coaching, Leaders who is adept at managing to sales goals (particularly current year pipeline), Skillful collaborators and communicators across the organization, Those who enjoy staying laser-focused on the team’s tactics to make the number, Those who prefer to stay closer to the customer, the sales team, and day-to-day business, than the board room, While managing the day-to-day business of sales, they continually question if the company’s model/approach is valid amidst customer, competitive or industry developments, In addition to current year performance, they anticipate multi-year strategies and align their sales organization accordingly, They use a fearless approach and their political savvy/clout to initiate bold changes with executive leadership when they are necessary, She knows how to identify revenue opportunities that have leverage and where to double down on resources, She is passionate about building long term customer value, in addition to closing customers, She is as comfortable in marketing circles as she is in sales circles and takes on a strategic and operational focus, She is data-driven and skillful with strategic and business unit revenue and budget planning. Typical skills or characteristics of Sales VPs: Chief Sales Officer: "The Strategic Sales Architect". When it’s time for massive change – what do you do? It’s no secret that sales and marketing teams have a reputation for being misaligned. Passionate about sales effectiveness? CSO vs CRO: The main differences. Today’s reality can be a barrier or a boon, depending on how you manage it. They use a highly data-driven approach to implement better buyer targeting, customer adoption, and pricing. Meet the team. Sales and marketing alignment is second nature to the CRO. A CRO (or CGO) is a great option if your company faces similar circumstances as described above for a CSO, but you also need a cohesive revenue strategy across marketing, sales, and customer success. There is certainly some overlap between the Chief Sales Officer and Chief Revenue Officer positions. But think hard whether that is the right question/ structure? The chief operating officer (COO) is a senior executive tasked with overseeing the day-to-day administrative and operational functions of a business. Much has changed in the last five years. Are you getting the most from it? They are gurus in their zone of near-term pipeline, forecasting, and sales team management, but they may not be capable of rethinking go-to-market strategy, re-assessing their sales resources, or executing structural changes to their organization and paths to market. Check out our media coverage – or request an interview. Have a great sales model but lack consistency across your organization? Other characteristics include: Chief Revenue Officer: "The Full Revenue Strategist". The teams under the CRO’s purview serve the customer via all touch points with their organization. As a Principal Consultant with Symmetrics Group, Masami Middleton combines the market focus and execution of a Marketing VP with the critical, data-driven orientation of a seasoned strategist. My take is. We’re here to clear that up for you and identify whether your company needs to hire for this C-level role. For organisations to scale effectively, marketers must put on their sales hats and vice versa. Topics: The average base salary for chief revenue officer jobs in the United States is $127,239 per year. PRINCETON, N.J., Jan. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Last month, Beyond announced the promotion of Chief Sales Officer Brent Rose to its inaugural Chief Revenue Officer … The chief revenue officer is a pivotal role directly influencing the future of a company, and covers new business sales, installed client base sales, marketing, and partner strategy. He orchestrates how multiple resources – e.g., inside sales, sales engineers, overlay resources, partners – can work in a unified way to make the company easy to buy from. Credits: Forbes Middle East. Why Sir Francis Bacon Would Have Loved the Challenger Sale. The CSO knows how the sales organization executes on a value proposition where multiple products/services are involved, in a way that resonates with the customer. The chief revenue officer combines some of the traditional responsibilities of a VP of Sales and a Chief Marketing Officer. It’s down to the CMO to adapt and deliver value from a revenue lens — great marketer’s naturally focus on those outcomes. Each department has a vested interest in achieving its own objectives. He strategizes across teams to expand customers’ adoption across the company’s portfolio of products/services. Who Fits the CSO Role: Senior sales leaders who are able to map sales strategy and structure to market needs are a good fit with the CSO role. Are you leveraging them? hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(2352903, '8cfa97e2-f29e-4ef5-a9da-d2ca5e8d5f53', {}); The Chief Sales Officer is proficient at all of the tactical things that make a great Sales VP, but also knows how to build a world-class sales team within a large, complex organization. They are skilled coaches to their sales teams and run their business with a disciplined cadence. How do you identify and fill the weak links in your teams? Hence, CEOs are turning to Chief Revenue Officers (CROs) to create the synchronicity between sales and marketing teams that are needed to scale quickly and sustainably. Technology is a tool, not a magic bullet. And the different thinking patterns of each role means both are critical to an organisation. hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(2352903, '36cbfd9b-d8be-4009-ba44-5e6a637b4256', {}); The Sales VP is effective at managing the full sales process from qualifying leads (MQLs) to closing business. He studies sales numbers in order to assess how successful sales strategies are in the business. A CRO is responsible for all revenue-generating activities and processes across teams. Upon taking her new post, the CSO maximizes her first 90 days to thoroughly understand the organization, establish quick wins, and set a long-term strategy. If their primary goal is to drive and manage revenue streams, they need visibility into every corner of the organisation that has an impact on closed business and customer retention. Chief marketing officers, who have among the shortest tenures in the C-suite, are used to pressure. Attracting and delighting customers are just as important as closing them. Call 1.847.359.6969! Over the last 25 years, Masami has served as a strategy consultant and marketing leader from Fortune 500 to start-up environments. Some organisations choose to hire for both roles, electing to keep marketing functions separate from sales and customer retention. SaaS companies are all over the globe, especially in tech hubs like Silicon Valley, are now seeking a new kind of expertise for their leadership teams. With the right person in the right role, your company can ideally position itself to maximize value across the customer lifecycle and over-deliver on sales and growth objectives. Masami is passionate about sales and marketing integration and helping organizations take a disciplined approach to defining sales and marketing process and enabling technologies. In many organisations, marketing owns part of the technology while sales owns another layer of the onion, creating silos within the organisation that prohibit a holistic view of current and projected revenue. A CRO’s role is to look at ways to generate and retain revenue across multiple channels with a long-term perspective, rather than the short-term horizon usually embraced by sales departments. A CRO can also “own” marketing and a CMO could also own revenue. 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