The Role of a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) a Revenue Storm White Paper

Vol. 1. No. 1

The Role of a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) A Revenue Storm White Paper

Authored by: Needed, Process Ownership Foundational Rationale for LaVon Koerner President and Since it is increasingly understood that is diffi- Position Chief Revenue Officer cult to differentiate on the basis of “what we When a company desires aggressive and acceler- sell” and therefore a company must differentiate ated revenue growth, it must be prepared to meas- on the basis of “how we sell,” a company-specif- ure and manage one revenue stream at a time. ic and cross-functional revenue generation process must be designed, installed and managed A Revenue Stream is a flow of revenue of a spe- to advance a chosen Go To Market Strategy. cific product offering(s) from a specific market segment(s) through a specific channel(s), either Every business wants to gain and sustain a com- direct or indirect. Since not all revenue streams petitive advantage in the marketplace. There is are created equal, it must be annually determined no single source of sustainable competitive which streams can only be modestly increased advantage except terrific day-in and day-out and which streams can be geometrically explod- execution across every dimension of the organi- ed and then focus limited corporate resources zation that in anyway participates in the differ- and efforts in the appropriate direction. Realizing entiating revenue generation activities. that over-investing in the wrong revenue stream Why? Everything else can be quickly copied or will hurt the company’s bottom line and under- bested by someone else, somewhere else, in our investing in the right revenue stream will hurt the increasingly global, converged, redefined, web- company’s top line, one person (CRO) is needed enabled, high-bandwidth world. So how can you to oversee the prediction, execution, and produc- set yourself apart from everyone else? Through a tion of the individual revenue streams. Once clear, well executed Go To Market Strategy. these decisions are made, the CRO can coalesce organizational support towards the common goal Therefore, the goal of every company is to clar- of revenue production. ify its Go To Market strategy and assure its implementation by designing and creating a The CRO will identify and monitor the high gain cross-functional Revenue Generation Process “acceleration compression points” within the that leverages the unique strengths of the organ- Revenue Generation Process and correct the inter- ization to increase Speed to Revenue by col- nal “miss-alignments” in the Business lapsing the time from Suspect to Sale. Development Engine that creates organization drag on revenue performance. Due to its counter- intuitive nature, and in the absence of a CRO Someone should be identified as position, many companies do exactly the wrong the “official” owner/guardian of things when they attempt to accelerate the growth the entire Revenue Generation of profitable revenue. For example, if a company Process. continually finds itself “whipping its horse across the quarterly revenue finish line,” the real prob- lem may not be a slow or unmotivated horse, but That being said, someone should be identified poor revenue management practices. as the “official” owner/guardian of the entire Revenue Generation Process. This individual Surviving off the heroic efforts of a whipped would be its caretaker, providing leadership and horse puts the company in a highly vulnerable management to assure the success of its installa- market position. The better, safer and long-term tion and execution. answer is to securely anchor each revenue stream with a solid, well-conceived Go To Market Revenue Storm recommends you consider cre- Strategy fully supported by a fully aligned ating a new position within your organization Business Development Engine that is proactively for a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) who has monitored and managed by a CRO. The estab- ultimate accountability for profitable revenues. lishment of this position is a good first step in that direction. The position overview follows. General Function the GTMs including sales process, sales process tools, business development organizational struc- Once the Company’s Business Strategy is estab- ture, legal, finance, compensation, hiring and lished, the Senior Management group, under the selection criteria, and rewards and recognition. leadership of the CRO, is responsible for selecting a Go To Market Strategy (GTMS) to connect the business strategy to the company’s targeted cus- About Revenue Storm tomers, and installing a revenue process and man- Today’s analysts and shareholders have made it aging its implementation on all existing revenue clear to businesses of all sizes — ever increasing streams and/or potential new revenue streams. profits is the goal. That leaves companies with two major choices: reduce expenses or grow profitable revenues. Executives have made a career of reduc- The CRO must foster good com- ing expenses. While expenses can still be munication and teamwork improved today, due to a decade of cost-cutting among the various organizational efforts, the greatest potential impact is GROWING functions. PROFITABLE REVENUES. Companies tend to take two approaches to the Revenue Equation: 1) The CRO drives the achievement of revenue and pro- Dole out larger revenue goals and assume the vides a worldclass business development growth compensation plans will drive the desired results, engine capable of out performing those of the competi- or 2) Push out more products and services to the tion. The CRO must foster good communication and market hoping more revenue options will yield teamwork among the various organizational functions more revenue dollars. Neither is a good strategy. and share best practices among the revenue stream An aligned organization, executing against a well- managers, so successes and “lessons learned” regard- defined and communicated Go-to-Market Strategy ing revenue production are leveraged. is essential to reap replicable revenue growth year after year. It demands more careful thought, focus, Essential Duties and and planning than ever before. Revenue Storm Responsibilities was created to bring together an integrated set of consulting and training methodologies to bring Acceleration Plan: The CRO will create and clarity and focus to organizations navigating in implement a plan to create demand and achieve today’s tumultuous business climate. revenue results by operationalizing the GTMs on targeted revenue producing streams. We emphasize Clarity, Speed and Revenue. We work with each level of the organization, using Revenue Generation Process: The CRO will business drivers that are important to those teams create, install, and manage a complete revenue to gain consensus and focus. We help companies process from Suspect to Sale for each revenue identify their strengths, leverage what is working stream. through the installation of process and tools, and help uncover vulnerabilities where improvements Business Development: The CRO may or may are needed. We look for both small, but fast not own sales/business development headcount impacting changes to build team excitement and (virtual sales team) but such headcount would be motivation as well as going to work on the bigger, goaled to support the Revenue Acceleration Plan. more global issues that when resolved will yield a Pipeline Management: In order to assure that well-aligned, fast churning Revenue Engine. profitable revenue targets will be achieved, the Let’s start a Revenue Storm within your organi- CRO will monitor revenue pipelines of each zation that will thunder in the marketplace and revenue stream to determine in advance the rattle your competitors. level of risk to obtaining desired goals and what adjustments should ultimately be implemented For more information visit our website at to accelerate revenue. www.revenuestorm.com. Marketing: The CRO will create and implement marketing initiatives that support the Revenue Acceleration Plan. US Headquarters European Headquarters Functional Alignment: The CRO will work Chicago United Kingdom with the other executives to continually improve tel 224 659 7710 tel +44 (0)1752 547784 alignment of each functional group to support