The Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) is responsible for all revenue generation processes in an organisation. Can’t be so hard right? In principle, revenue generation is simple.

Sell more stuff = make more money.

Of course, the reality of delivering that equation, especially in larger, more complex B2B organisations is not quite so simple.

It neglects to unpack how we find more people to sell to; how we sell to them more effectively; how we overcome internal cultural barriers; how we strengthen our position against competitors and how we deal with skills gaps.

The equation also overlooks more subtle revenue generation opportunities like:

  • Raising your prices
  • Growing the value of individual customers
  • Increasing the size of your average customer

What are the 3 primary objectives a CRO should focus on?

The CRO has a wide remit, with a skills requirement ranging from leadership level strategic thinking and relationship building, extensive on the ground sales experience, to the tactical aspects of programmatic methods and data analysis.

It’s a complex role, with numerous touchpoints and team building responsibilities right across the entire business. Their advantage is that their north star is very clear. Revenue generation is key. But to avoid losing focus and momentum, where should a CRO’s focus remain consistent on a daily basis? What are the primary objectives they should be striving towards to reach their north star?

In our opinion, on a daily basis they should be striving for outstanding delivery in just three primary areas:

MARKETING EXCELLENCE

This is an Feature List Item that is part of an Feature List. Notice the connector between the three graphics to show that they are related.

SALES EXCELLENCE

This is an Feature List Item that is part of an Feature List. Notice the connector between the three graphics to show that they are related.

CUSTOMER EXCELLENCE

The CRO has a good chance of success by committing at least 75% of their time to team building, efficiencies and strategy across these 3 key areas.

KPIs for marketing, sales and customer excellence

Key performance indicators for a Chief Revenue Officer against each of these core objectives will vary from one business to another. But we’ve provided some commonly themed KPIs against each as a starting point:

Marketing Excellence

  • KPI 1 – Define a flexible, scalable and tested lead generation mechanism
  • KPI 2 – Define and deliver a unique, engaging and repeatable prospect journey that results in x% increase in conversion
  • KPI 3 – Build a talent strategy and deliver training that delivers an agile, growth focused and continuously learning marketing team

Sales Excellence

  • KPI 1 – Identify and report on friction across the full sales journey and test, improve, test improve, test etc.
  • KPI 2 – Automate as much of the sales process as possible using technology
  • KPI 3 – Deliver a scalable sales process that results in x% increase in close rate

Customer Excellence

  • KPI 1 – Implement automated process to gather customer feedback and use this to inform future growth strategy
  • KPI 2 – Build an outstanding, best in class customer experience from onboarding, throughout the customer lifecycle
  • KPI 3 – Increase revenue from the customer base by X%

The Chief Revenue Officer has a lot to deal with, and high delivery expectations from senior stakeholders. There are of course other critical objectives on which the CRO needs to focus, including relationship building to remove silos and cultural barriers, new market growth opportunities, product and service improvement and data analysis and delivery.

However, a rigid focus on the above in the first instance will get the revenue engine working effectively, chugging away to produce the revenue stakeholders expect, freeing up time for the CRO to make other aspects of the role a primary focus.

If you’re thinking about building a revenue engine, get in touch today to discuss how we’ll be able to help you info@ledgerbennett.com