The Revenue Takeover
Andy Jaffke
Senior Sales Leader at Teradata | Figuring out the value of AI & GenAI | Passionate Coach and Mentor
I was listening recently to the summary of the book "CMO to CRO" on Blinkist. It defends an integrated approach to Revenue as the key goal for any company or organization.
Whether revenue is generated through donations or through sales of products and services, without revenue, no organization can exist, operate or survive.
The key idea of "CMO to CRO" is that instead of the traditional and more organizational and siloed focus on "Sales", "Marketing", "Support", "Training", "Sales Ops" or "Customer Experience", to focus instead on the overarching company goal: Revenue.
The dilemma
Since many years working in sales, I often asked ask myself why most companies still split C-Level responsibility between Chief Marketing Officers (CMO's), Chief Revenue Officers (CRO's) and lately also Chief Customer Officers (CCO's), creating - at least from my perspective - an important separation, thus a siloed and separated organization with a direct impact on prospects and existing customers and also affecting negatively internal cross-team collaboration between Sales, Marketing and Customer Experience.
The question: What are the Pro's and Con's of such an departamental approach?
Pros:
Cons:
In summary, while specialization and clear accountability are advantages, organizations must balance them with effective communication and a holistic view of the customer journey.
Collaborative efforts across CMOs, CROs, and CCOs can lead to better outcomes for both prospects and existing customers.
My perspective
From my perspective and working since more than two decades in sales for multinational software companies, the cons clearly outweigh the pros.
All these departments would be better run and led under one single organization and leader to better align goals and efforts, to improve overall efficiency, customer experience and satisfaction and to ultimately drive a more sustainable and profitable growth.
This is about both higher degrees of effectiveness and efficiency.
Get one team working towards a common goal: Understanding and addressing our customers needs, listening to the problems our customers face and supporting them to the best of our abilities, to solve these efficiently together.
From my point of view, this integrated and streamlined approach, would positively impact and accelerate the success of any product & services company.
Therefore, the book "CMO to CRO" brings a fresh perspective and offers a path towards the so called "Revenue Takeover".
For any Sales Manager and C-Level executive well worth the read and food for strategic thought.
The Journey from CMO to CRO
In today's digital landscape, businesses face a myriad of challenges in delivering seamless customer experiences. The culprit?
Organizational silos that fracture communication and cohesion across departments, hindering the delivery not only of a unified brand but most importantly excellent customer experience.
This also creates data silos where departments create and protect "Their" data, installing independent "Tech stacks" and hindering an organization to easily access and use all the available data to the best benefit of the business. This adds more inefficiencies at the IT and data level.
A possible solution following "CMO to CRO"? A transformation from Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) to Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) and a holistic approach to revenue generation.
Author's note: As mentioned already in the introduction, I think that this is not only about CMO to CRO, it is about a fully integrated approach to revenue bringing all customer facing organizations under one helm: The CRO.
The real life problem
Imagine a potential customer coming in as a lead from a social media marketing campaign engaging with a chatbot on your website, only to receive a disconnected call from a salesperson the next day.
Such disjointed experiences are all too common, stemming from siloed departments operating with separate budgets, technologies, and processes.
The result? Inefficient operations, frustrated employees, and ultimately, dissatisfied customers and lost revenue.
The Solution
Revolutionizing Revenue
Enter the concept of RevTech – Revenue Technology – a centralized approach to integrating all customer interaction technologies.
We all know the new "Tech" buzz being added to everything today. Is it MarkeTech, HRTech or now RevTech.
The message here is: By unifying tools under one umbrella, companies can deliver personalized experiences across every touchpoint, from initial awareness to post-purchase support.
The suggestion that "Tech" will solve all our problems is not new but most importantly: Technology alone is NOT enough.
A Modern, Integrated Front Office
Organizations must first and foremost restructure their teams into a integrated, modern front office – a unified revenue team that aligns marketing, sales, customer success, and support functions.
This cohesive, collaborative and deeply connected team ensures everyone is working towards a common goal: Optimizing the end-to-end customer journey.
The Blueprint: The Revenue Takeover
The Revenue Takeover suggested by "CMO to CRO" is a four-phase approach to transforming businesses.
Author's note: I basically turned the suggested process upside-down and put the suggested third point as the first point:
From my experience, technology should only be selected once clear goals are set and the right organization has been designed.
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Phase 1: Aligning Revenue Strategy
Define overarching goals that transcend departmental boundaries and develop an integrated plan to achieve them. Encourage collaboration and communication among teams, emphasizing the collective effort towards revenue growth.
Cornerstones of a Revenue Strategy
The cornerstones of a Revenue Strategy typically revolve around the following key elements:
1. Market Segmentation: Identifying and understanding our target industries and different customer segments based on their needs, behaviors, and preferences. This enables targeted product&services, marketing and pricing strategies.
2. Product Portfolio Management: Managing the product or service portfolio to maximize revenue and profitability. This includes decisions regarding product development, bundling, and lifecycle management.
3. Pricing Strategy: Determining the optimal pricing for products or services based on factors such as value perception, competition, cost structure, and customer willingness to pay.
4. Sales and Distribution Channels: Developing effective sales and distribution channels to reach target customers efficiently. This may involve direct sales, online channels, partnerships, or third-party distributors.
5. Marketing Strategy: Developing and implementing marketing strategies to generate awareness, attract leads, and convert them into customers. It also involves building customer advocacy to attract new customers sharing existing customers' success stories.
This involves activities such as branding, advertising, content marketing, social media engagement, lead generation campaigns, event marketing and depending on the industry community marketing and lobbying (Regulated industries).
Effective marketing amplifies the impact of other revenue strategies by driving demand and creating opportunities for sales.
6. Customer Experience: Focusing on delivering exceptional customer experiences to drive repeat purchases, loyalty, and positive word-of-mouth referrals.
This involves aspects such as product quality, service excellence and personalized interactions such as workshops and special events.
7. Revenue Forecasting and Analytics: Utilizing data and analytics to forecast revenue, track performance, and identify opportunities for optimization.
This includes monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs) and conducting regular analysis to inform decision-making.
8. Optimization and Continuous Improvement: Continuously optimizing revenue strategies based on market dynamics, customer feedback, and performance metrics.
This involves experimentation, testing, and adapting strategies to achieve better results over time.
These cornerstones work together to form a comprehensive Revenue Strategy that aims to drive sustainable growth and profitability for the business.
Phase 2: Creating a Unified RevOps Team
Build a dedicated Revenue Operations (RevOps) team comprising individuals from marketing, sales, and customer support.
This team oversees the holistic management of customer-facing technologies and programs driving efficiency and collaboration.
Phase 3: Choosing the Right Leader
Select a visionary Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) to lead the transformation.
The CRO aligns processes, reviews and refines goals in close collaboration with his first line leadership team in charge of the execution of Marketing, Customer Experience and Customer Support.
He ensures that the customer's voice is heard and that product management develops products aligned with the needs of the existing and prospect customers.
Employee and customer centric management and culture
The CRO further evaluates resources to drive a integrated employee and customer-centric approach to revenue generation.
Too many CRO's neglect the importance to develop and grow their own team members recognizing them as the motor for excellent customer service and experience while solely focusing on the customers (Customer centricity).
It's logical that only great motivated and empowered employees will deliver the best possible customer service.
Phase 4: Leveraging the Right Tech
Once you got pillars 1-3 implemented, it's time to assess your current technology stack across all integrated organizations against your business/revenue objectives.
Consolidate overlapping tools and prioritize solutions that address key needs.
With expert guidance, implement and optimize technology to enhance the customer experience.
Phase 5: Measure and adjust
The book forgot an extremely important aspect: You can only improve what you can measure!
Make sure you define the right key metrics you can measure your success against.
Revenue growth is easy to measure but there should be a few more such as Net Promotor Score and Profit which should be part of your executive dashboard.
Both Employee NPS and Customer NPS must be measured to make sure we have the right levels of employee satisfaction and engagement.
You will agree with me that if only 40% of our employees would recommend a friend to work at our company, we would have a serious problem.
You need a formal - at least annual - review cycle to evaluate your revenue strategy, your goals and analyse what you have achieved, what not and why to then adjust your priorities to both the market changes, client needs and your own strategic priorities.
Visionary Leadership and Collaboration
The Revenue Takeover is not a quick fix but an integrated approach, a journey towards sustainable growth.
With visionary and collaborative leadership, a culture of employee mentoring and coaching, cross-functional collaboration, and a commitment to integrated employee and customer-centricity, businesses can unlock their full revenue potential in today's competitive landscape.
Embrace the journey, and the rewards will follow.
Good Luck!