Who is a Fractional CRO?
For media and advertising organizations looking to stay competitive in a rapidly evolving business climate, it often benefits them to consider the idea of hiring a fractional Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). A fractional CRO is an expert capable of uniting marketing, sales, and customer success initiatives, developing strategic plans for profitable growth, and providing sound advice to company leadership.
This post will delve into the advantages of hiring a fractional CRO, as well as outline essential qualities one should look for in a potential hire.
A fractional CRO can offer invaluable strategies and insights geared towards generating long-term revenue. By pursuing a holistic approach that stretches across departments like sales, marketing and customer success, they are able to not only suggest effective campaigns and initiatives, but also follow through by overseeing their implementation and success.
The responsibilities of a fractional CRO include, but aren't limited to:
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Pinpointing low-hanging growth opportunities
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Identifying strategies that scale revenue and minimize cost
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Implementing tech stacks that improve efficiency
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Standardizing sales processes and execution throughout the department
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Analyzing data to create and adjust growth strategies
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Overseeing sales, marketing, and customer success departments
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A fractional CRO can be the missing piece for your organization to scale revenue and become the dominant market leader in media or advertising.
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If you’re considering to hire a fractional CRO, here are some key traits to keep in mind in your vetting process:
Expertise and Insights in Sales, Marketing, Technology, and Customer Success
It's no secret that today's market is volatile and ever-changing. To keep your business ahead of the competition, it takes more than just sales growth - it requires thoughtful execution of strategy across marketing, sales, revenue operations (RevOps), and customer success.
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The right fractional CRO has the experience, insights, and expertise to help lead these initiatives, optimizing revenue growth and ensuring long-term success.
Having all of these skills amplify one another which allows the fractional CRO to identify hidden opportunities for growth and craft an actionable plan to capitalize on them.
Focused on Connecting Disconnected Departments
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Traditionally, organizations in media and advertising have driven revenues in silos resulting in frustration and stagnant sales. However, sustainable revenue growth occurs when all departments of your organization are working together synergistically - from marketing and sales to customer support and experience. So if one department is trying to go in a different direction, your revenue is likely to suffer as a result. A well rounded fractional CRO has the expertise to create alignment and connectedness between revenue-generating departments, so you can drive maximum revenues.
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Client-centric Approach To Marketing and Sales
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When it comes to success in the marketplace, knowing your buyers and their journey is critical. At every point of your customer relationship, you should prioritize their experience and make it as smooth as possible between marketing, sales, and client success. To maximize revenue and succeed at scale, a fractional CRO will provide your team with this mindset from the start so they can work together seamlessly. A fractional CRO is focused on building a strategy that keeps your customers at the center of your growth.
Driven By Data Not By Gut
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If you want to stay ahead of the curve and scale your revenue, collecting and analyzing data is essential for your organization.
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Your fractional CRO will be able to review client behaviors and develop a plan to enhance the buyer's experience. Being able to analyze statistics such as website traffic sources, time spent on webpage sessions, bounce rates, and lead conversions are all important details for a fractional CRO to assess. Even more intricate info like contact points for salespeople, and traceable click-throughs for campaigns can have major impacts on profitability. Leveraging this data, fractional CROs can identify new ways to engage buyers across various channels and deliver consistent messaging with an omnichannel approach.
Well-Versed Communicator
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Fractional CROs have an important task of connecting with numerous teams within your business. As a result, they must know how to effectively communicate with people who all desire something different and have their own expectations. CEOs, vice presidents, sales personnel, marketing professionals and client success specialists heads all possess unique ways of tackling strategy and execution. Fractional CROs regularly engage these individual groups; so it is essential for them to be excellent communicators and have an in-depth understanding of how to interact with a variety of personalities.
Strategy and Implementation Experts
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The true power of a fractional CRO lies in their ability to transform strategy into tangible action giving your organization the benefit of invaluable strategic direction. Fractional CROs are experts in evaluating situations and creating detailed blueprints to achieve sustained growth. When you hire a fractional CRO, you get the skills to help align your internal operations, scale revenue efficiently, and implement the right strategies quickly and effectively, without compromising on quality eliminating costly mistakes in time and resources.