If there was a slogan for the recent CRO Summit in San Francisco, I believe "you must adapt" would have been it. Amidst a room full of CROs for the day, the one constant was the discussion of change, and in particular, what that change has meant for both them and their revenue teams.
We all know that the Growth at All Costs era is firmly in the rearview mirror and the Efficient Growth era is here. But it was interesting to hear CROs talk about the practical impacts of the shift and what is actually happening within their organizations. The most intriguing to me is that there was near-unanimous agreement that this shift is putting a huge emphasis on a basic skill that is too easily overlooked: communication.
As I sat in a session about the impact of crisp, precise, and impactful storytelling, I watched a room full of GTM leaders nod their heads along in almost universal agreement. After the session, I spoke to a few privately to understand more. Each was adamant that in a macro environment that leans toward less demand, the best-communicating sales reps stand out. They are defined by those who are able to not only tell compelling stories, but follow up well; have organized, purposeful communication throughout the sales cycle; and stand out among their peers as they consistently close business in a challenging environment.
You may say, “Well, that’s always the case”, and I wouldn’t disagree. However, the general feeling seems to be that there is a starker difference between the haves and have-nots in the current environment. The game has changed, you must adapt.
But this isn’t just a bottoms-up shift. Top-down leadership practices need to change too. While the talk about rep-level communication was there, there was significantly more discussion and interest in the importance of internal communication across two dimensions:
- How CROs drive strong cross-functional alignment with marketing
- How CROs most effectively communicate with the CEO and board
CRO and Marketing Alignment
On the first, I talked to multiple attendees that called out the true pain of aligning well with marketing. There just so happened to be a CMO Summit happening at the same venue, and little did these CROs know that their CMO counterparts bemoaned the same lack of alignment. I’ve certainly experienced the lack of alignment throughout my career, but the honest truth is that alignment mattered less in the Growth at all Cost era. Spending more could gloss over any pain caused by a lack of alignment.
Now, both CROs and CMOs are seeking ways to align on pipeline generation, hiring plans, and overall GTM strategy. Unfortunately, they feel hamstrung by the lack of solutions in this space to give them timely data-backed insights and recommendations. They often rely on the ever-inadequate spreadsheet, which is no good for either driving alignment or keeping up with real-time progress. The game has changed, you must adapt.
CRO Alignment with the CEO and BOD
And then came the panel on how the CRO should best communicate with the CEO and board of directors. This was an interesting discussion because the panelists had diverse backgrounds, from multiple stages of venture-backed companies to private equity settings. Between listening to the panel and talking to a few of them afterwards, the biggest takeaway was the need to be proactive.
As the revenue leader, it’s critical that you not only bring a detailed plan to hit company goals, but you also know when things are off track and have a plan to make things right – before being asked. It’s the difference between reporting the news versus making the news, and CROs always want to be doing the latter.
A CRO’s Current Needs Align with Revcast’s Value
Selfishly, the exciting thing for me at the summit was the fact that Revcast is in a position to help solve many of these challenges for revenue leaders. We provide a solution that helps drive internal alignment around a plan as well as proactively identify key revenue risks (and opportunities for accelerating your growth and reducing costs).
Our mission is to help revenue leaders better communicate with their key stakeholders, and in the end, help these leaders to better serve prospects and customers as a result. If you’re interested in learning more about how we’re doing this, schedule some time with us to get a solution walk-through and CRO-level KPI dashboard demo.
