After working out if you actually need a CRO, the next question is: what does an excellent CRO candidate look like?
All Chief Revenue Officers (CROs) need to carry out the three core functions of alignment, optimisation and accountability. In other words, look for CRO candidates that can harmonise your commercial function, improve its performance, take responsibility for all aspects of revenue growth and report directly to your board and investors.
Here are five of the key attributes all CROs should have.
5 attributes of a game-changing CRO
The CRO role cherry-picks elements of the CEO, CFO, Head of People and commercial VP roles. To ensure your CRO outlay is a worthwhile investment, ask candidates to prove they have the following attributes.
An obsession with data
From funnel metrics and marketing data to unit economics and CRM insights, a CRO should track, analyse and leverage information from across the commercial function. Great CROs need deep knowledge of data analysis and data generation processes to ensure you’re learning from every single commercial touch point – be it refining your Ideal Customer Profile based on customer segment analysis or reducing Cost of Acquisition (CAC) through pinpointing inefficiencies in your sales & marketing funnel. With the arrival of AI, a CRO should also know how to leverage a variety of MarTech & BI tools to enhance data collection and analysis.
Proven commercial expertise
According to McKinsey, 72% of externally hired CROs have at least 15 years’ experience in commercial roles. But experience of sales and marketing is not the same as impact. For example, you want to find a CRO that has previously increased global Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) from the growth stage you’re currently at to where you plan to be in the next 2-3 years. Ideally someone who has executed a successful GTM strategy, improved unit economics and enhanced Net Revenue Retention (NRR). If a CRO candidate cannot back up their experience with proven results and metrics, then look elsewhere.
Finance and investor understanding
CROs act as the CEO’s revenue champion: fighting revenue’s corner with the finance department and investors. As such, look for a CRO that has a deep understanding of both CFO and investor mentalities. For instance, a CRO that speaks a CFO’s language – using historical data, benchmarks and P&L fluency – will be able to ‘sell’ the commercial strategy to the CFO and secure the appropriate budget. Meanwhile, with CROs representing ‘company revenue’ at board meetings and fundraising rounds, having a CRO with a strong track record of raising investment (over your upcoming rounds) will help sell a convincing growth story to prospective investors.
Effective change management
CROs are not just revenue figureheads – they get stuck in and drive fundamental change, such as introducing new sales processes, revamped marketing KPIs or newly-defined expansion strategies. Driving effective change requires leadership, communication and strong interpersonal skills to align differing viewpoints and departments. Look for a CRO that can articulate their plans, convince internal stakeholders beyond the commercial function (i.e. HR and product), get the C-Suite on board and build strong relationships externally (i.e. supply chain and partnerships).
Long-term vision
There’s a reason you hire a CRO to manage not replace commercial VPs. Sales and marketing leads are focused on the short-term delivery of results, such as quarterly or annual targets. A CRO, however, is focused on the company’s long-term future, balancing short-term revenue needs (i.e. customer acquisition and retention) with long-term strategic direction (i.e. revenue expansion opportunities in new markets). You therefore need a CRO that can identify and capitalise on long-term trends that may impact your customers and markets.
Get a Goldilocks CRO
Ensuring the right CRO hire for your company requires finding the CRO attributes that are ‘just right’ for you.
At ScaleWise, our permanent, fractional and interim CRO hiring process starts with a candidate brief tailored to your bespoke needs. Led by an experienced CRO who knows what good looks like, we’ll outline the essential skills (i.e. successfully scaled from Series A to Series B), ideal skills (i.e. developed commercial team leads through to heads of level), personal attributes (i.e. decisive and persuasive) and desired industry experience (i.e. SaaS or MarTech) to help you find the right CRO, fast.
