Would Your CEO Get in Your Car? How CRO’s Can Achieve Control

Chief Revenue Officers are juggling with a myriad of internal and external challenges. They’re also operating in an ever-changing environment…evolving market dynamics, internal mergers & acquisitions, major platform launches/disasters (delete as appropriate!) – to name but a few business-as-usual examples.

On the other hand, CROs are expected to deliver specific revenue outcomes…predictable and sustainable top-line growth. Starting yesterday. Simple. Thank you very much!

If you can allow me to conflate feedback from numerous surveys I’ve digested, and decades of personal experience, the number one personal concern for CROs is: “I feel out of control”. In short, CRO’s have all the revenue responsibility but a precarious grip on all the levers that are needed to generate it.

Control matters at two levels. It’s a primary leadership function required to guide a successful team. But (I think more importantly), stakeholders’ perception of their CRO being in control is what saves careers. The analogy I always use relates to your CEO sitting as a passenger in your car…you may take the odd detour but, overall, does she/he feel confident they will get to their destination safely, on time? In other words, CROs need to get control…but they need to ensure they are clearly being SEEN as in control.

In simple terms, I believe that true control can only be achieved if a CRO achieves these three things in their role - visibility, alignment and influence.         

Getting control never feels easy. Here are six highly practical tactics I have deployed successfully, both within my own businesses and with CROs I have advised.

1. Set the Blueprint with stakeholders and the team ??

In other words, align all functions and exec colleagues with a unified vision and strategy. In organisations with silos of marketing, sales, customer success etc. having one clear centralized roadmap is crucial to gluing teams together.

In the boardroom, the Blueprint is the most powerful way to control the mood music. It can be used on an ongoing basis to demonstrate progress across agreed strategic priorities while offering transparency, creating trust and demonstrating credibility. You need to deliver proactive and honest insights (both good and bad news) and show how planned initiatives are impacting revenue growth. They’re safe in your car!

2. Limit what needs to be controlled ??

“What gets measured gets done”. Make sure you stop any initiatives and activities that are not aligned to the Blueprint. And make sure you review all KPIs sitting on reporting decks and dashboards to ensure they relate ONLY to the strategic priorities you’ve advertised. It’s all about focus and prioritization.

3. Create bumper rails across the teams ??

Famously, generating revenue growth is a combination of science and art. However, the more science you can inject, the more control you get. Think about the CRO landscape in terms of the four cornerstones: optimising the organisation; retaining and growing customers; winning new customers; leadership and control. Within each of these areas, implement simple frameworks and processes that guide outcomes in a professional and consistent way.

One non-negotiable framework for all CROs is a playbook. It is vital that everyone across the organization takes a consistent approach to customer engagement. In other words, “The Way we Work” should clearly explain the sales approach, customer journey hand offs, supporting resources, governance processes etc. This controls standards and accelerates results plus, through induction, gives a soft landing to new joiners.

4. Sanitise and harmonise the pipeline ??

It’s rare that any pipeline can be trusted on face value. On first reviewing CRM reports I always unearth a large chunk of pure fiction and long list of dormant deals. Having a pipeline infected with poor quality content is incredibly dangerous. Other departments take data as gospel and use it in earnest. The worst-case scenario is when your CFO extrapolates toxic data and creates an embarrassing forecast that you have to defend in public.

The pipeline is at the very heart of your operation. Without accurate data you are flying blind. Make sure that you have the occasional pipeline amnesty – a short period (a week?) for everyone to clean their pipeline with no questions asked. Set up very regular pipeline reviews with simple clear agendas. You are aiming for predictability to underpin credible forecasts. The quality of your CRM is a direct window into your level of professionalism.

5. Get ahead of the risks ??

No senior stakeholder likes a surprise. A surprise is a huge red flag reflecting a lack of control. So CROs need to do everything reasonable to anticipate and mitigate risks.

I like to control risks in two separate domains. Firstly, CROs should own and regularly review a risk register for the overall business – this would typically include analysis against key categories such as the market, revenues/forecasting, operations, technology, people etc.

Secondly, CROs should take a specific and proactive approach to the risk of customer attrition (or churn). Given customers are the crown jewels of the business, this is an area that needs forensic attention. You need to understand the triggers of attrition in your industry and continually assess these risks, proactively, at a customer level. Finally, the reasons for attrition need to be recorded at a granular level so that remedial action can be taken. Some of this activity lends itself neatly to data automation and AI tools – but, beware my comments regarding CRM quality… it’s a case of ‘crap in- crap out’!

6. Create a single source of truth ??

It’s impossible to control what you can’t see. Disparate systems, data sources and definitions distort the truth.

A critical enabler of a single truth source is to create one single view of the customer – across the business. For example, a fit-for-purpose CRM platform that acts as the hub for customer intelligence and engagement. It should be perceived as ‘the place we live’ rather than a piece of software. Language needs to be aligned (e.g. what counts as a “lead”) – this ensures understanding and consistency.

Secondly, CROs should implement a centralized revenue operations capability (RevOps) to manage the stack of tools and data sources. This integrates CX, Sales, Service and Marketing activities. It collates data into insight. It acts as the glue, sets standards and creates a cockpit of trusted insight for the CRO.

I’d love to hear your views on how you gain control as a CRO. If you’d like help with the tools and frameworks I refer to above just reach out me at alan.crowther@optilium.co.uk and I’d be happy to send you some examples for free. Popular requests include Attrition Risk tools and Playbooks!