70 problems keeping Chief Revenue Officers up at night.
I wrote this a year ago, but updated it this week (May 2024) to reflect what I’m currently hearing.
For the eagle eyed, there are more that 80 on this list, but I didn’t want to change the title!
Sales Director/VP Sales: “I can’t wait to become a CRO. Seems like a good gig.”
CRO:
Growth is slowing and I don’t know what to do about it
My team isn’t working as one
My teams are pulling in different directions
My teams have competing priorities/metrics
I’m the only person that has responsibility across the whole revenue function
I’m not the only person that has responsibility across the whole revenue function
Our CFO seems to be aiming towards a completely different goal
I’m in a strategic role but my success is measured by the monthly bookings
I have no idea how to operationalise AI for my customers and team
I don’t know how to structure my team efficiently
I don’t have experience in marketing
I don’t have experience in customer success
I don’t have experience in (digital/SMB/Enterprise/Global) sales
Our teams are working in different systems
Our commission scheme isn’t driving the right behaviours
Our customers get conflicting/competing messages from product, marketing, sales, success
Why do so many opportunities end in no decision?
We did an event and hardly anyone came
The acquisition we made is not integrating fast enough
Why is there no-one in the office?
We have to give up too much discount to close deals
Our competitors are undercutting us
Our SDRs are focused on SQLs not on revenue
Every quarter end we see deals slip
I want to know what other companies are doing
My sellers aren’t capable of having business value conversations
Some sellers are great, some are rubbish, but I don’t know why
I can’t find great sellers to hire
My good sellers are leaving
My bad sellers won’t leave
When sellers leave, they take all the knowledge about our target prospects
Do I promote my best sellers or bring in new managers?
Our marketers don’t understand our customers
I need to reduce our CAC but I don’t know how without harming bookings
We have no insight to how our customers find us
Our marketers don’t trust our sellers
Our sellers don’t trust our marketers
Our sellers and customer success teams aren’t aligned on their accounts
My sales managers are not coaches
I need to hire more sellers if I am going to make the plan
We don’t have a great handover between our teams
Our proposition isn’t landing with customers
Our product is not differentiated against the status quo
Outbound isn’t working
Inbound isn’t working
We aren’t moving quick enough
We are too focused on a single product/region/segment
We are spread too thin across multiple products/regions/segments
We don’t get any revenue through our partners
We don’t provide content and tools that our buyers really value
We have a sales process but the sales people don’t follow it
My sellers don’t know how to use LinkedIn properly
We have too many systems that aren’t integrated with each other
Our sellers aren’t using CRM so I can’t see what’s happening
Our customers don’t understand what we do
I don’t understand the possibilities we have within the data our customers create in our product
I don’t understand how AI is going to transform my organisation
I don’t have a clear understanding of what our buyer’s experience is
I don’t know why churn is increasing
I can’t figure out how to sell into new segments/industries/regions
Our newest product isn’t selling
Our newest office isn’t selling
Our sales story isn’t resonating with customers
Our sales content is poor
Our competition seem to be running rings around us
We provide our sellers with training but they don’t listen
Our sales people don’t know how to sell digitally
Our customers aren’t using our product as they are supposed to
We don’t understand the real value our customers get from our product
Our website doesn’t teach buyers what problem we solve
We don’t have any calculators or diagnostics to help customers learn
We aren’t generating testimonials that customers trust
Our social channels aren’t very social!
We don’t generate many referrals from our customers
We need to change our commercial model
Our net revenue retention is just covering the churn that’s increasing
Planning for next year takes up too much of our time
I don’t have enough hours in the day
I don’t know what good looks like
I’m going to miss plan and have to re-forecast
I don’t know what to do to make things grow faster
I don’t spend enough time speaking to customers
My CEO can see fear in my eyes
My family say I’m stressed
I’m not sure how long I can stay in this role