NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS FOR CHIEF REVENUE OFFICERS – “STOP DOING STUFF”
The priority for CRO’s is to obsess about customers and accelerate revenue growth. Time is the most precious commodity – so here’s a list of things to STOP doing in order to optimize team resources.
1. Stop unproductive initiatives
Businesses are full of good ideas that become projects with multiple arms and legs. Often they have loose (if any) goals, lack program management, and dilute critical resources. Focus down on the top 3 initiatives that are aligned with strategic goals and will generate benefits within six months.
2. Stop generating reports
Most reports are habitual, take excessive time and resource to create, offer ‘rear view mirror’ data and get ignored by the audience. See who shouts when reports get binned and replace with insight that’s forward-looking and aligned with strategic KPIs
3. Stop forecasting
OK, we know Finance wants to predict every morsel of revenue vertically and horizontally on a daily basis – but really!? Discipline sales teams to input clean data into a ‘one truth’ repository (e.g. CRM platform) in real-time so a light touch is needed to collate trustworthy information whenever it’s needed.
4. Stop Sales doing non-Sales stuff
Surveys show that customer-facing time can be as low as 25% due to the burden of admin and operational tasks on the front line. Think about how Customer Service, Operations or other support staff can take away duties they are far better equipped to handle.
5. Stop treating all customers equally
All profit-generating customers are important, but they don’t all need the same level of engagement – even if they are “large”! Implement a segmentation model that is ‘growth opportunity’ orientated and align effective digital and human channels for pro-active and reactive interactions.
6. Stop presenting internally
Thousands of man-hours are spent by organizations every month creating multi-page PowerPoints at internal operating boards. Think about updating execs using a simple Plan on a Page – highlighting key anomalies and offering deep dives on topical areas as needed.
7. Stop asking to be briefed
Front-line teams hate nothing more than execs demanding last-minute briefs – often on specific customers, before a scheduled meeting and a few months since the last request. Set standards for sales teams to regularly document appropriate CRM information in return for a win-win!