Chief Revenue Officer Role Description

The CRO is Responsible for Predictable and Sustainable Revenue Growth

This post is updated. It was originally published in July 2016

Today, companies recognize the need for a company-wide revenue focus and a more integrated approach across marketing and sales. The CRO oversees the traditional responsibilities of the VP of Sales and the Chief Marketing Officer and is a member of the senior team overseeing go-to-market strategy and execution. The CRO is  responsible for aligning company resources, defining differentiated go-to-market strategies and delivering on the company’s revenue performance goals.

CRO KPIs

Chief Revenue Officer success is measured by revenue performance and he/she is responsible for customer retention, customer growth and new customer acquisition. The Chief Revenue Officer coordinates and aligns marketing, sales and customer success teams and ensures that processes deliver an effective end-to-end customer and buyer experience.

All revenue comes from customers and from the combination of customer retention, customer acquisition and customer share of wallet.  To maximize revenue performance, Chief Revenue Officer Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) should include metrics for:

1. Volumes. The % penetration in selected markets, segments and accounts
2. Velocity. The speed and efficiency of conversions though the marketing and sales funnel
3. Value. The value of the end-to-end funnel generated from the quality of inquiries and opportunities and the ability to maximize deal value.
4. Revenue. The ability to convert sales in the pipeline (close rates) at or above the expected rate and deliver on revenue objectives.

Chief Revenue Officer Role Description

The Chief Revenue Officer will report to the Chief Executive Officer and works closely with colleagues as a member of the senior management team. The Chief Revenue Officer is responsible for all revenue operations – defining and maintaining the company’s revenue strategy, revenue systems, and revenue programs.

• Defining ideal buyers, select market segments and isolate audiences to engage using data-driven insights
• Setting top-down goals and metrics based on both internal goals and external market opportunities in selected markets
• Partnering with product teams to define differentiated offerings
• Continuously developing and refining offer value propositions and differentiated positioning
• Articulating solutions and products value differentiators
• Defining go-to-market models across offers and segments to access buyers, customers, and influencers
• Organizing revenue teams around buyer segments, accounts and decision making units
• Managing a portfolio of programs to attract, engage and convert prospective customers.

Revenue Systems Responsibilities

The CRO will manage revenue operations including delivering brand experiences and customer touchpoints based on buyer/customer understanding and ensuring that teams are enabled with the right technology stack,  organizational structures and sales and marketing (revenue) processes tailored for each customer segment. Activities include overseeing:

• Establishing and maintaining brand touchpoints – including websites, social channels and marketplace outposts –  to engage buyers across segments
• Integrating the revenue technology stack including marketing automation, salesforce automation/ CRM, digital channels (e.g. web and social), business intelligence, and customer data platform
• Implementing predictable, repeatable, and scalable sales and marketing processes
• Attracting, hiring, training and retaining top sales, marketing and customer success talent and building a performance driven culture
• Structuring and managing successful relationships with alliance and channel partners.

Revenue Programs Responsibilities

The CRO will oversee campaign design and execution for marketing and sales campaigns and programs to optimize buyer engagement and the efficient and effective execution of ‘good selling’ that maximize sales conversions. The CRO will work with product and delivery teams to ensure customer execution results in customer success to reduce churn, maximize customer retention, increase cross-sell and upsell. Activities include overseeing:

• Executing target marketing programs using content and experiences to build attract, engage and convert, generating demand with target buyer segments, industry participants and influencers using a mix of paid, earned and owned media channels to drive predictable and sustainable lead flow and sales conversions.
• Overseeing marketing execution to deliver buyer engagement programs and performance with on-target funnel volumes and velocity.
• Managing sales teams activities and competencies to sell products and services and manage relationships predictably, meeting and exceeding targets
• Ensuring customer success teams are executing effectively to maximize retention, up-sell and cross-sell.

The Chief Revenue Officer is responsible for the company’s Revenue Architecture

The Chief Revenue Officer should be prepared to lead and manage the company’s end-to-end revenue value chain which requires a leadership style that is numbers-driven,  collaborative and also inspirational. The CRO brings a broader, strategic full-funnel perspective, recognizing that the revenue performance requires execution of orchestrated experiences across end-to-end buyer journeys using digital and physical channels.

A Revenue Architecture is a dynamic strategic design and execution framework for integrated, full-funnel marketing and sales. Learn more about Revenue Architecture.

Contact John Stone or Ed Funaro to learn more about CRO Success!  Book time now.