Use these questions to identify a candidate’s technical knowledge and abilities
Use these questions to determine how a candidate handled situations in the past
Use these questions to assess a candidate’s personal traits and cognitive skills
Why this matters:
Good Chief Revenue Officers (CROs) will have a strong sense of strategy—and the ability to balance their strategies to be challenging and yet attainable. This question provides insight into this candidate’s process.
What to listen for:
- While following their own process and intuition, great CROs will also survey other key stakeholders for their viewpoints, ranging from fellow members of the executive team to sales reps and other front-line revenue drivers.
- Strong candidates will mention the necessity of collecting data before crafting a strategy; this might include competitive data, sales data, website data, customer behavior, etc. They may also mention the need to simplify strategies to be more attainable.
- The best candidates might discuss how they’ll scan the marketplace to find gaps—and explore white space (i.e. previously unknown) opportunities.
Why this matters:
The best CROs are inherently numbers people: they know that metrics form their best tools for year-over-year success.
What to listen for:
- Candidates should be comfortable discussing the most relevant and central KPIs to revenue success. Depending on your specific industry and tactics, this might include bounce rates, MQLs to SQL ratios, conversion rates, cost per customer acquisition, site visits, etc.
- Strong answers demonstrate the ability to use performance indicators as feedback loops, e.g. exploring ways to achieve even better results with some fine-tuning.
Why this matters:
Digital marketing is a key focus within the purview of a CRO. The ability to choose and execute successful digital marketing tactics can be a big differentiator.
What to listen for:
- Candidates should demonstrate the ability to drive high-quality inbound leads through digital marketing tactics ranging from content marketing to paid social campaigns.
- The best candidates will have done their research: listen for indications that the candidate is aware of what your company is already doing for digital marketing—and has some ideas for how to expand on or diverge from existing efforts.
Why this matters:
Chief Revenue Officers wear many hats, from strategic planning to product development, sales-to-marketing alignment to long-term partnerships. They must feel comfortable removing unimportant tasks from their plate to focus on mission-critical projects. Your CRO should navigate this effortlessly.
What to listen for:
- Look for references to specific delegation and time management strategies, like blocking off time for an important project.
- Listen for strategies they use to focus on mission-critical tasks that might not command urgency.
Why this matters:
Being a revenue leader takes leadership, good judgment, action orientation, and ironclad grit. You’re looking for someone who doesn’t get easily discouraged and is willing to do whatever it takes to get to the best solution for the company.
What to listen for:
- Strong candidates will demonstrate resilience and perseverance in the face of challenges. Their stories will demonstrate the ability to learn from mistakes, and the willingness to keep tackling solutions until they find one that works.
- Listen for examples of the willingness to take responsibility for action, including missteps.
Why this matters:
Ideally, a great CRO should have a passion for capital markets. The specific stock doesn’t matter—what matters is the reasoning behind the candidate’s interest levels. Why are they interested in these industries and companies? What does it say about their approach to business growth and to markets in general?
What to listen for:
- Strong candidates will be interested in growing a company and discuss how “going public” can be an indicator of a company's financial health.
- Solid answers will show strategic instinct and a passion for understanding market performance on a day-to-day basis.
Why this matters:
When attempting to achieve sustainable business profitability, the clashing of CFO and CRO perspectives is always a possibility. A great CRO sees business from the standpoint of growth, while a CFO tends to focus on increasing efficiencies or expense reduction. The key here is to find middle ground based on each other’s expertise.
What to listen for:
- Answers may mention the importance of working as a team, evaluating all points of view, rather than working in a silo.
- Top candidates will demonstrate an understanding of approaches that fuel growth through communication.
Why this matters:
Here, you’re looking to assess a candidate’s resourcefulness. CROs must be well informed and willing to take the time needed to generate accurate insights. But they should also be wise about where to look. Do their colleagues already have the information they need? Do they have a list of go-to resources to tap into? A methodical approach to uncovering information is essential.
What to listen for:
- Answers may mention digging up information from the target companies, third-parties, industry databases, and similar sources.
- Insightful candidates will also show a willingness to ask for help from associates and superiors.
Why this matters:
Errors can cost investment firms and lenders millions of dollars, lead to erroneous conclusions, and eat up valuable time, so attention to detail is essential for this role. Even with tight deadlines, it’s best for CROs to double- and triple-check work from the outset, rather than have a report rejected when an error is spotted by reviewing associates and managing partners.
What to listen for:
- Listen closely for details about the candidate’s review process and how they cross-check numbers.
- A strong answer may note that it’s tricky to spot errors on a computer screen, so reviewing a hard copy is a must.
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