More firms are rethinking their traditional marketing and business development models. Could the CRO role be the key to unlocking your firm’s full growth potential?
A few years ago, I did a short stint as a client’s Fractional CMO. We were just a few weeks into the assignment, and the client asked me to re-frame the role as a Chief Revenue Officer. To be honest, I thought the request was kind of ridiculous. The overarching purpose of marketing is revenue growth. Why did we need to change the title?
Turns out …. he was definitely onto something. We’re seeing this role popping up in more firms. Done right, the CRO job should look like a dash of marketing, a pinch of business development, and a few cups of client success. In the best firms, it’s reshaping how they approach growth and client relationships.
This article explores:
- What a CRO does and why it matters to your firm
- Key responsibilities of a CRO in professional services
- Benefits of hiring a CRO
- Potential challenges to consider
What is a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO)?
In the evolving landscape of professional services, the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) is emerging as a pivotal role in many leadership teams. But what exactly is it?
A CRO is a senior executive responsible for all revenue-generating activities across an organization. This role goes beyond traditional sales or marketing leadership, encompassing a holistic approach to revenue growth across the entire client lifecycle.
It’s a role you see most frequently in product organizations. But it’s popping up in professional services firms more frequently. Unlike a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) or Chief Sales Officer (CSO), a CRO takes a broader view. They align all revenue-related functions. In a consulting firm this would include:
- Business development
- Marketing
- Client relations and delivery
The CRO’s primary focus is on creating a unified revenue strategy that spans the entire client journey.
In hindsight, the emergence of this role is completely logical. Marketing, business development and client service are artificial constructs that firms created to organize themselves. To the client, it’s all just one thing called client experience. (Big shout out to my podcast co-host Jeff McKay who’s been saying this for the 10+ years I’ve known him).
For professional services firms, a CRO can be particularly valuable. These three functions (business development, marketing, and client management) are frequently siloed.
A marketing unit developing thought leadership on emerging trends in digital commerce is shocked when none of the firm’s client-facing personnel can have a meaningful conversation about the topic. Yet, it happens all the time.
Key Responsibilities of a CRO in Professional Services
The role of a CRO in professional services firms is multifaceted. Here are the key areas of responsibility:
#1 – Revenue Strategy Development and Execution
A CRO is tasked with crafting and implementing a comprehensive revenue strategy. This involves:
- Setting realistic yet ambitious firm-wide revenue targets.
- Cascading those targets down to individual practices based on market dynamics and client demand.
- Identifying new revenue streams, unmet client needs, and untapped market opportunities.
For example, a CRO might identify an emerging need for cybersecurity services among mid-size businesses and develop a unified marketing, business development, and client education strategy to capture market share.
#2 – Cross-functional Alignment
One of the CRO’s most crucial tasks is breaking down silos between internal functions. This includes:
- Ensuring marketing and business development teams are working towards the same goals
- Aligning client success strategies with overall revenue objectives
- Creating a seamless hand-off between different stages of the client journey
A well-aligned revenue organization can respond more quickly to market changes and emerging client needs.
#3 – Data-Driven Decision Making
In many firms, the 3 disparate functions operate off different data sets. Marketing teams are interested in lead generation and engagement. Business development teams are concerned about win rates. And client delivery teams are concerned about client retention and keeping deliverables on schedule.
A good CRO looks across all these data sources to drive big picture decisions. This might include:
- Implementing processes to measure client satisfaction and client loyalty
- Integrating analytics across all three revenue-generating functions
- Developing meaningful KPIs to track performance at multiple levels in the firm
- Using data to identify trends and opportunities for growth
As an example, a CRO might use analytics to identify which types of clients are most likely to have unmet needs that would lead to expanded engagements, allowing the firm to focus its efforts more effectively.
#4 – Optimizing the Client Experience
At the end of the day, client experience is the most important thing a firm has. A highly engaged client base that’s willing to advocate for the firm and is quick to recommend is one of the greatest assets of the firm. A CRO:
- Oversees the entire client journey from acquisition to retention
- Develops strategies to increase client lifetime value
- Works to enhance the firm’s value proposition across the entire client lifecycle
#5 – Talent Management and Development
Finally, a CRO is responsible for building and nurturing high-performance revenue teams. This includes:
- Recruiting top talent for business development, marketing, and client management roles
- Developing training programs to enhance skills and knowledge
- Fostering a revenue-focused culture throughout the organization
Benefits of Implementing a CRO Role
While the central benefit of a more cohesive and unified client experience seems obvious, bringing a CRO into your firm can yield a number of additional business benefits.
#1 – Improved Revenue Predictability and Growth
With a CRO at the helm, firms often see:
- More accurate revenue forecasting
- More consistent, less lumpy revenue growth
- Better identification and pursuit of high-value opportunities
A study by Forrester found that companies with aligned revenue operations grew 19% faster and were 15% more profitable.
#2 – A More Cohesive Client Journey
A CRO can break down the silos that often exist in professional services firms. This leads to:
- Improved communication between departments
- Seamless transitions for clients as they move through the different stages of their journey
- Increased client loyalty and higher rates of retention
#3 – Better Response to Changes in the Market
The consulting space seems to be changing more rapidly than ever. Ultimately, the marketing unit craves real-time feedback from clients that it often lacks. Simultaneously, business development and client service teams crave high quality, on-point thought leadership that meets the real-time needs of their client base.
A CRO can help bridge these gaps by:
- Identifying emerging market trends early
- Quickly pivoting strategies in response to market changes
- Proactively identifying opportunities for new products and services
#4 – Better Resource allocation
Finally, a CRO can ensure that your firm is making the most of all its resources. This includes ensuring:
- Complementary use of marketing and business development budgets
- Investments with the highest potential impact on revenue receive the most priority.
By implementing a CRO role, professional services firms can create a more cohesive, data-driven approach to revenue generation. This not only leads to improved financial performance but also enhances client satisfaction and positions the firm for sustained, long-term growth.
Challenges of Hiring a CRO in Professional Services
While the benefits of bringing on a CRO are pretty compelling, it’s not without its challenges. It’s likely a position unlike many you’ve ever had in your firm in that it cuts across multiple functions at once. Here are a few key hurdles you may face if you choose to implement this role.
#1 – Organizational structure
Introducing a CRO may require significant changes to your firm’s structure:
- Many firms group marketing with IT and HR and tuck them into an “administrative support” function.
- By contrast, business development teams are frequently embedded within individual practices; reporting to a practice lead of some type.
- Often, these reporting relationships need to be re-thought to create accountability and collaboration within the revenue function.
- As a result, many firms face significant internal resistance to the changes necessary to make the role work.
It’s crucial to clearly define where the CRO fits within the organization and the responsibilities of this new role. This may mean redesigning job descriptions and KPIs for more than one leadership position.
#2 – Cultural reticence
Professional services firms, like all organizations, often have deeply ingrained cultures that are change averse. That’s okay. Pretty much all humans are hard-wired to be, at least somewhat, resistant to change. Challenges firms have to overcome include:
- Shifting towards a more integrated, less departmentalized, culture
- Aligning diverse departmental goals and metrics
#3 – finding the right skills
Finding the right CRO can be tough especially for a services firm. After all, the role primarily emerged in product companies. As a result, virtually any hire you might make is probably coming from outside the industry. To make it work, you’ll need to find someone who can:
- Balance business development, marketing, client relations, and analytics skills
- Listen with an open-mind to learn how to adapt their “product-based approach” to the nuances of a professional services organization
- Navigate complex, long sales cycles and even longer, more complex client relationships
The ideal CRO for a professional services firm needs a rare mix of skills and experience. They must understand the consultative sales process, the importance of thought leadership in marketing, and the critical nature of ongoing client success.
#4 – Implementation Costs
Bringing on a CRO isn’t cheap. Be prepared for:
- High compensation for top CRO talent
- Investments in new marketing and sales technologies to support integrated revenue operations
- Training costs for existing staff
#5 – Measuring ROI
Determining the success of a hire of this nature can be tricky. It’s tempting to focus solely on what’s in the title – this year’s revenue. But we always must remember that many of the things we do this year are about building demand, affinity and interest for the next one.
Don’t be myopic in your measurement approach. Consider how you will:
- Balance short-term revenue goals with long-term strategic objectives around reputation and brand relevance
- Attribute revenue growth to actual business initiatives undertaken by the CRO office vs. other contributing factors (a rising tide lifts all ships… is your growth really a result of what’s been done internally? Or did you just ride the wave of a few external factors beyond your control?)
- Consider metrics beyond just top-line revenue growth. Look at metrics like client lifetime value, cross-selling success rates, and new market penetration.
#6 – Change Management
Finally, how you manage the transition to a CRO-led revenue model will make or break your success. This involves:
- Communicating the purpose and value of the CRO role to everyone in the firm
- Explaining the role to clients, when appropriate, and making the case for why they should care
- Managing expectations from marketing, practice, and business development teams during the transition period
- Ensuring buy-in from partners and senior leadership
Remember, change doesn’t happen overnight. It may take 12, 18 months or more to see the full impact of a CRO on your firm’s performance.
Suggested First Steps
The rise of the Chief Revenue Officer in professional services could mark a significant shift in how firms approach revenue growth. CROs bring a unified, strategic view to revenue generation, breaking down silos and aligning business development, marketing, and client service efforts.
While the business case is clear – aligning the revenue organization with how clients think and feel about their experience with the firm – implementing on the vision will not be easy.
The most successful CROs will be those who balance:
- The traditional relationship-based nature of professional services with modern, data-driven approaches.
- The short-term revenue needs of the firm with the long-term positioning goals of the leadership team.
- The delicate relationship that inherently exists between the traditional marketing, business development and client relations roles within a firm.
Here are two practical steps to get started:
#1 – Assess Your Current Revenue Operations
Start by mapping out your existing revenue generation processes from lead generation to client retention. Look for areas where communication breaks down, where data isn’t shared effectively, or where client hand-offs are less than smooth. Talk to some of your clients. Frequently they’ll easily point to breakdowns in the journey.
This will help you identify the specific areas where a CRO could add the most value to your firm, whether it’s in aligning marketing and business development efforts or connecting delivery teams with other client acquisition initiatives.
Again, you’re looking for ways to see how these 3 disparate functions within the firm could work together better to offer an enhanced client experience and, in turn, make growing the firm more effective.
#2 – Engage Key Stakeholders
Set up meetings with your partners, practice leaders, heads of business development, marketing, and client success (if such a person exists). Present your findings from the revenue operations assessment and discuss how a CRO role might alleviate breakdowns in the client experience.
Listen carefully to their concerns and ideas – their buy-in will be crucial for the success of the initiative in the long-run. Use these conversations to gauge the cultural readiness for change within your firm and to start building a coalition of support for the CRO role.
The rise of the CRO in professional services is more than just a trend – it’s a response to the increasingly complex and competitive landscape we operate in. By taking a strategic, thoughtful approach to this role, your firm can position itself for sustained growth and success in the years to come.
