# CMO to CRO by Mike Geller, Rolly Keenan & Brandi Starr - Blinkist

What’s in it for me? A revolutionary approach to driving revenue growth in the digital age.

In a world where customer expectations are higher than ever, delivering a top-notch customer experience – or CX – has become the holy grail of business success. Yet many companies still struggle to deliver seamless, end-to-end experiences that truly delight their customers.

This Blink to CMO to CRO offers a solution to this pervasive challenge. Drawing on the knowledge of seasoned consultants, it provides a comprehensive roadmap for transforming your organization’s approach to CX and unlocking unprecedented growth.

Through real-world examples and practical insights, you’ll learn how to align your technology, teams, and leadership around a unified CX strategy. Whether you’re a marketing executive, sales leader, or CEO, this Blink will equip you with the tools and knowledge you need to boost revenue like never before.

The problem

In the fast-paced world of digital business, marketers find themselves grappling with a tangled web of challenges. Cross-platform inconsistencies, a lack of communication, and misplaced focus threaten to derail even the most well-intentioned strategies. The root cause? Organizational silos that create a fractured, inconsistent customer experience.

Imagine a prospective customer engaging with a chatbot on your website for 20 minutes, only to have a salesperson call the next day without any context from that interaction. Or picture a new customer receiving conflicting messages from different departments, each with their own goals and metrics. These disjointed experiences are all too common – and they're costing companies dearly.

At the heart of the problem lies a lack of transparency and collaboration between teams. Marketing, Sales, IT, and Customer Service each operate within their own silos, with separate budgets, technologies, and processes. Data remains isolated in disconnected systems, making it impossible to gain a holistic view of the customer journey.

The result is a chaotic, inefficient organization where innovation stagnates and customer needs go unmet. Talented employees, frustrated by the lack of alignment and progress, jump ship for more agile competitors. Gradually, the business loses ground, bleeding customers and revenue until it reaches a point of no return.

Left unchecked, silos can be a death sentence in today’s customer-centric landscape. As buyer expectations rise and competition intensifies, delivering a seamless, personalized experience across every touchpoint becomes non-negotiable. Marketers who fail to break down barriers and unite their teams risk falling behind – and taking the business down with them.

But for marketers with the courage and vision to lead the charge, the opportunity is immense. By championing a more collaborative, customer-centric approach, they can position their company to thrive in the digital age, driving revenue and growth for years to come.

Beware, though! Silos are notoriously stubborn and change is never easy. But with the right strategy, you can steer your organization toward a brighter future – one where every team is aligned around delivering exceptional experiences that win hearts, minds, and wallets.

The solution

Now that you’ve learned about the errors of the past, it’s time to look ahead at the promise of the future. The path to sustainable revenue growth lies in fundamentally reimagining how companies approach marketing, sales, and customer experience. The future belongs to organizations brave enough to shatter the silos of the past and embrace a holistic, customer-centric model powered by integrated technology and collaborative teams.

At the heart of this transformation is RevTech – Revenue Technology – the centralization and integration of all technologies that drive customer interactions across the revenue cycle. By bringing these tools under one umbrella, companies can deliver a seamless, personalized experience at every touchpoint, from initial awareness to post-purchase support.

But technology alone isn't enough. To truly harness its power, businesses must also rethink their organizational structure. Enter the Modern Front Office – a unified revenue team that brings together marketing, sales, customer success, and support functions with a shared goal of optimizing the end-to-end customer journey. No more disconnected departments working in isolation; in this model, everyone is aligned around driving revenue through exceptional customer experiences.

Imagine the impact of a revenue team operating like a perfectly orchestrated set of dominos, each function and individual building upon the momentum of others. Marketing attracts the right leads, seamlessly handing them off to Sales for conversion. Customer Success keeps buyers delighted, while Support proactively resolves issues. Every interaction is informed by a complete view of the customer, enabled by the free flow of data across RevTech systems.

Of course, making this vision a reality requires more than just rearranging the org chart. It demands a fundamental shift to an open concept mindset, where team members are empowered to collaborate across boundaries, share accountability for outcomes, and make decisions based on what’s best for the customer and the business as a whole.

For marketing leaders, this represents an unprecedented opportunity to drive strategic change and deliver measurable business impact. By championing RevTech, the Modern Front Office, and a culture of transparency and alignment, they can position their organizations to thrive in an increasingly competitive and customer-centric world.

Phase I: Leveraging the right tech

Imagine a future where your customer experience is seamless, your teams are aligned, and your revenue is skyrocketing. This is the promise of the Revenue Takeover –  a four-phase approach to fundamentally transforming your business by putting the customer at the center of everything you do.

Phase 1 is about laying the foundation with the right technology. But before you start shopping for shiny new tools, take a step back and define your use cases. Ask yourself, What are the key business objectives I’m trying to achieve? How do my people currently work to accomplish these goals? Where are the gaps and inefficiencies?

Creating a matrix of your existing tech stack against these use cases will reveal overlaps and opportunities for consolidation. It’ll also highlight areas where manual processes are draining your team’s time and energy. Don’t forget to gather feedback from your end users too – their hands-on experience and sentiment toward the tools they use every day is invaluable.

Armed with this insight, you can start evaluating solutions to address your highest-priority needs. But here’s the thing: choosing the right tech is both an art and a science. It’s all too easy to get distracted by flashy features or fall victim to persuasive sales pitches.

This is where bringing in an expert technologist can be a game-changer. They live and breathe this stuff, with deep knowledge of the market and an unbiased perspective. Trust them to guide you toward solutions that deliver real value against your specific use cases – which may not always be the buzziest or most expensive options.

Once you’ve made your selection, a thoughtful implementation strategy is key to realizing the full potential of your investment. Focus first on the big picture – how will this technology enhance the customer experience and drive toward your desired outcomes? Then develop a phased plan to progressively roll out functionality, integrate with existing systems, and optimize performance.

Getting the right tech in place is a critical first step that can yield rapid results – there’s typically at least a 10 percent improvement in key metrics like profitability and customer engagement. But the real magic happens when you build on this foundation, aligning your people and processes around a shared vision of customer success. That’s what the next three phases of the Revenue Takeover are all about.

Phase II: Creating a unified RevOps team

In the previous phase, you focused on getting the right technology in place to enable a seamless customer experience. But as any seasoned leader knows, tools are only as effective as the people and processes behind them.

Enter Phase 2 of the Revenue Takeover: building a unified Revenue Operations – or RevOps – team to manage your customer-facing technology stack holistically. This is where the real organizational transformation begins.

Bringing together individuals from siloed departments like Marketing, Sales, Customer Support, and Success into a single, cohesive unit is no small feat. It requires buy-in from the highest levels of leadership, starting with the CEO. Paint a compelling picture of the efficiency, productivity, and customer experience gains that a dedicated RevOps function can deliver and secure their blessing to move forward.

As you assemble your RevOps team, look for people who bring a mix of technical expertise, strategic thinking, and a deep understanding of the customer journey. This may mean reassigning existing team members to new roles, bringing in outside talent to fill gaps, or a combination of both. The key is to create a team that’s more than the sum of its parts, with a shared mission of driving revenue through technology-enabled customer success.

Leading this team is a role that demands a unique skill set. You need someone who can bridge the worlds of marketing, sales, and IT, with equal parts technical acumen and business strategy. They must be able to work closely with other revenue leaders to understand their goals and develop a holistic plan for the entire tech stack. Choose wisely – the success of your RevOps function hinges on this person!

As with any major change initiative, transparency and communication are essential. Make it real by giving the RevOps team dedicated space to collaborate, new titles that reflect their elevated responsibilities, and a clear mandate to support the entire revenue organization. Socialize their role widely, setting expectations for how other teams will engage with them through defined intake and prioritization processes.

Expect challenges along the way, from talent gaps and overlaps to resistance from those reluctant to relinquish control. The key is always to keep the end goal in mind: a more cohesive, responsive, and data-driven approach that delivers exceptional customer experiences and drives revenue growth.

Phase III: Aligning your revenue strategy

You’ve now laid the groundwork by getting the right technology in place and building a dedicated RevOps. But to truly realize the vision of a customer-centric, revenue-driven business, you need to fundamentally change how your people work together.

Enter Phase 3: operationalizing the Revenue Takeover by aligning your entire revenue organization around shared goals and integrated processes. This is where the rubber meets the road – where you start to see real, tangible changes in behavior, collaboration, and ultimately, business results.

It starts with defining three “Wildly Important Goals” – or WIGs – that cut across departmental boundaries. These are objectives so critical to your company’s success that failure to achieve them would render any other accomplishment meaningless. Think along the lines of doubling revenue in 18 months or regaining a market leader position in your space.

The key is that these WIGs cannot be achieved by any one function alone. They require the collective efforts of every team in your Modern Front Office: Marketing, Sales, Customer Success, Support, and RevOps. Bringing your revenue leaders together to align on these shared goals is a powerful forcing function for breaking down silos and fostering cooperation.

But it’s not enough to simply agree on the destination. You also need a roadmap to get there. That’s where integrated planning comes in. With the WIGs as your north star, work with the operational leads in each department to define the specific activities, milestones, and metrics that will drive progress toward those overarching objectives. The magic happens when these teams start to see how their work intersects and builds upon each other to create momentum.

Expect resistance. Change is hard, and people will naturally cling to the comfort of the status quo. Your job as a leader is to paint a compelling picture of the future you’re creating – one where customers are delighted, employees are empowered, and the business is thriving. Help your teams connect the dots between their day-to-day work and that aspirational vision.

Depending on the size and complexity of your organization, it may take a year or more of consistent, iterative effort to fully operationalize the Revenue Takeover. But the payoff is well worth the journey.

Phase IV: Choosing the right leader

In the world of business, as in sports, there are no bad teams – only bad leaders. This is the fundamental truth at the heart of the Revenue Takeover, and it’s what makes Phase 4 the most critical step in the journey. To truly realize the full potential of your business transformation, you need one final ingredient: visionary leadership.

Enter the Chief Revenue Officer – or CRO – not just a title, but a fundamentally new approach to driving growth. This isn't your typical CRO focused solely on sales and bookings. Nor is it a CFO obsessed with cutting costs and maximizing margins. The CRO in a Revenue Takeover is the unifying force that brings together every function that impacts the customer experience and revenue – you guessed it, Marketing, Sales, Customer Success, Support, and RevOps.

Finding the right person for this role is critical. Look for a leader with deep cross-functional knowledge, proven ability to inspire and motivate teams, strategic vision, and resilience to weather the inevitable ups and downs. The ideal candidate may come from within your own ranks, often a forward-thinking CMO or Head of Customer Success. But don’t be afraid to look outside if needed to find that unique mix of technical expertise, business acumen, and leadership prowess.

With the CRO in place, it’s time to unleash their potential. In the first 100 days, they must focus on three key initiatives. First, aligning processes across the revenue organization to deliver a seamless end-to-end customer experience. Second, resetting functional goals to support this customer-centric vision and the overarching revenue targets. And third, evaluating resources and organizational structure to ensure the right people and skills are in place to execute the plan.

This is a tall order that requires a significant shift in mindset and ways of working. So communicate often, keep the big goal in mind, and don’t get discouraged by early setbacks. 

Remember that the Revenue Takeover is a roadmap, not a silver bullet. But armed with the right mindset, toolkit, and leadership, there’s no limit to what you can achieve.

Final summary

In a world where customer expectations are higher than ever, the key to explosive revenue growth lies in shattering silos and embracing a holistic approach powered by technology and collaboration. The four-phase Revenue Takeover roadmap shows you the way.

First, centralize your RevTech stack to enable seamless CX. Next, build a RevOps team to manage it cohesively. Then, align your entire revenue organization around shared goals and integrated processes. Finally, appoint a visionary CRO to lead the charge.

By championing this customer-centric model, forward-thinking you can position your organization to thrive in the digital age and achieve unprecedented success. The journey won't be easy – but fortune favors the bold.