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Also known as: Chief Revenue Officer, revenue chief

CRO

ConceptualRolesSales

Definition

CRO: The Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) owns all revenue-generating functions—typically sales, customer success, and sometimes marketing. The CRO role emerged to break down silos between acquisition and retention, creating unified accountability for the customer revenue lifecycle from prospect to expansion.

Example Usage

“Promoting our VP Sales to CRO with customer success reporting to him fixed our handoff problems. Revenue retention improved 15%.”

Common Misconceptions

CRO replaces VP Sales. CRO is broader; it integrates sales, CS, and sometimes marketing under one leader.
Every company needs a CRO. Smaller companies often do fine with separate sales and CS leaders.
CRO is just a fancy sales title. True CROs own the full customer revenue lifecycle, not just new business.

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