{"id":48872,"date":"2022-01-12T17:16:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T17:16:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=48872"},"modified":"2022-11-01T22:19:39","modified_gmt":"2022-11-02T05:19:39","slug":"is-the-head-of-sales-job-going-extinct-the-rise-of-the-cro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/au\/blog\/is-the-head-of-sales-job-going-extinct-the-rise-of-the-cro\/","title":{"rendered":"Is the head of sales job going extinct? The rise of the CRO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chief revenue officers (CROs) seem to be everywhere these days. Since Forbes dubbed the chief revenue officer a \u201cCEO\u2019s secret weapon<\/a>\u201d nearly a decade ago, the role has exploded in popularity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to industry analysts at Ventana<\/a>, almost one-quarter of organisations will establish a chief revenue officer role by 2023. Businesses are realising that to stay agile, strategic, and most importantly, sustainable, they need a CRO who can fold marketing, sales, and customer success into one seamless revenue machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the last seven or eight years, we\u2019ve seen a real emphasis on the chief revenue officer,\u201d said Michael Maoz, Senior Vice President of Innovation Strategy at Salesforce. \u201cThey\u2019re able to pinpoint how organisations can strategically move themselves into a very successful future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What does a chief revenue officer do exactly?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Great question. It\u2019s an evolving discussion that comes up with our customers every day. A CRO leads the revenue-generating processes across your entire organisation. They see how all departments can drive revenue for the company; those departments can include sales, marketing, customer success, and finance. The CRO leverages cross-functional knowledge to create a complete view of the customer lifecycle from bringing in new leads to closing deals to renewing customer contracts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we learned from recent research is that \u2018growth\u2019 has a different definition than it did 10 years ago,\u201d said Karen Semone, Vice President of Innovation Strategy at Salesforce. \u201cGrowth isn\u2019t just describing the financial valuation of a business anymore. It\u2019s a broader term, inclusive of growing talent, market share, brand relevance. The evolving role of the CRO considers this more holistic definition of growth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alignment is the name of the game, as CROs break down silos to gain full visibility into every part of the business. With a birds-eye view of all revenue activities, they\u2019re able to identify new sales channels, uncover untapped markets, and take advantage of other previously unknown revenue opportunities. They\u2019re able to scale operations to maximise revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the CRO often has a background in sales, the role should not be confused with the vice president of sales. It\u2019s a big job with plenty of responsibility. Although the tasks may vary day to day, they might look something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n