What Is A Chief Revenue Officer And How To Know When It’s Time To Hire One
What is a Chief Revenue Officer?
A chief revenue officer (CRO) is a senior executive who oversees the sales of a company's products and services and often leads other essential business functions (like marketing).
The CRO position is usually considered a C-level job, which means it reports directly to the CEO or another C-suite executive. A CRO leads teams that are focused on growth and revenue generation.
What does a Chief Revenue Officer do?
Good CROs track the numbers and understand what factors contribute to revenue success. They keep their team's goals aligned with company-wide objectives and work to ensure that the various sales channels are integrated and working together effectively.
A good way of looking at the role is focusing on revenue goals, revenue strategy, and revenue growth.
Here are some responsibilities of a CRO:
Researching and planning the marketing strategy for the company
Measuring and reporting on the success of initiatives
Developing strategies to increase customer engagement
Managing relationships with other departments within the organization, such as sales, product development and customer service
The traits of a good CRO
The best CROs are the ones who can see what's coming and then make it happen. They're the ones who know that the future is here, now, and they're ready to move forward with it. With that in mind, here are five traits you should look for in your CRO:
1. A willingness to learn new things.
2. A desire to be part of something bigger than themselves.
3. An ability to lead without needing to be in charge all the time--they know when it's time for someone else to lead instead!
4. They’re eager to try new things even if they don't always work out on the first or second attempt. They are willing to keep trying until they find something that DOES work!
5. An understanding that there will always be more work than time available for any given project. They need to think about how much time each task will take and how long it will take before another one becomes available again to schedule accordingly!
How do you know it’s time to hire a CRO?
There are several revealing signs that it's time to hire a CRO. For example:
Your company has plateaued.
If there is no growth or if your company is not scaling effectively, you need someone who can help you generate more business.
The number of sales reps has doubled since you started the company.
You need someone who can unify them as a team and help them understand how to work together while they pursue different goals.
Your sales team is consistently missing their targets.
You need someone to help your team achieve the numbers they should be hitting to thrive financially and prevent burnout.
There seems to be a lack of accountability in your company to achieve goals.
You might feel like “one person” isn’t meeting their targets, but more systemic issues are at play if this is happening across the board. You need someone to take charge and lead from the front lines instead of only checking in on top performers every once in a while.
Your sales team isn't working well together--or worse yet--they're actively sabotaging one another!
This means some serious change management needs to be implemented ASAP before things get out of hand with bitter competition over clients or internal sabotage by employees trying their hardest not to get fired!
How much does hiring a chief revenue officer cost?
As with any significant investment, it depends. Your company's stage, size, and scope of operations are all critical factors in determining the exact salary range you should offer.
Naturally, the more seasoned and highly sought-after a potential CRO is, the higher their compensation requirements will be.
That being said, hiring a CRO is an investment with the potential to lead to a significant return on investment.
Remember: as a high-level executive position that oversees both sales and marketing teams and functions, your chief revenue officer can spur massive increases in your business's revenue by optimizing all elements of sales activity within your company—from customer acquisition and lead generation campaigns to deals pipelines and conversion rates.
According to Indeed, the average base salary of a CRO in the united states is $88,199 per year.
How can you find the right person for the job?
To spot the best candidate, Sloane Staffing can help.
If you have to hire a Chief Revenue Officer for your company, we recommend that you outsource this role to a third party. In our experience, this is the best way to ensure that your new hire has the necessary skills and personality traits to be successful in the role.
We've used our strategies many times over the past few years, and they have successfully exceeded our clients’ expectations.
A CRO can help optimize various parts of your sales process.
A CRO can help you optimize various parts of your sales process. They will be able to focus your sales team’s efforts on the right things and make sure that they have the tools they need to succeed.
Also, a good CRO will ensure that your sales and marketing teams are aligned in their efforts and will guide them in working together to generate more leads. This presents the responsibility for finding and hiring the right people, training them properly and coaching them towards achieving their goals.
Finally, they’ll work with you to improve the overall sales process by effectively leveraging CRM technology, implementing new strategies like a consultative selling approach or account-based marketing, and ensuring everyone has clear targets.
Conclusion
Businesses seeking to take a fresh approach to monetize content or diversify their existing business models should seriously consider whether or not adding a CRO would bring about the growth and success they have imagined for their business.
It is essential to look outside of the box to innovate and maximize revenue streams. Still, it is just as important to make sure that you are doing so in ways that are savvy and within your control by bringing in an expert who can assist your company grow from within.
