SaaS sales - What are Top 5 CRO's to work for & 5 Worst to work for?
I've always seen a bunch of flowers thrown at the Vanta CRO (good LinkedIn marketing strategy?) - but never worked for her
Interesting, will check her out...thanks!
@Ryan_Repvue - I work at an org where CRO has complete control/oversight over every function within our sales organization and directly impacts the culture of the role you will be walking into. I've also seen this from multiple companies & isn't as unique as you make it seem with your comment, although I get what you're getting at. Although i agree with 1, 2, 3 - you're overlooking what I'm asking about and the impact certain CRO's can have on an organization on things like culture, sales methodologies & how they're adopted, enablement, strict sales playbook vs giving reps more autonomy. FYI - my company isn't small & is viewed as a leader in its market & CRO has complete control over every function & aspect of our sales organization.
Thanks for clarifying - I'm trying to understand if your comment is painting this situation that you're in as a good thing or a bad thing (I'm guessing bad?). There's certainly a balance between 'installing your playbook' as a CRO and micro-managing every aspect of it. Given what you describe it may be pretty challenging as a sales director / management where you don't have much say in HOW you lead your team.
Honestly CROs come and go and as an AE your success is going to be more tied to the product market fit of the company and your direct manager. Where the CRO has the most impact on your experience is as follows: 1. Constructing a great compensation plan that's rewarding, fair, and doesn't change on a whim 2. Not putting up with ineffective first line management, and making changes when they need to. 3. Providing 'air cover' for the sales organization across the rest of the executive team and being a genuine advocate for their team. The "BEST" CROs are typically going to be those that (through either luck or foresight) were able to hop on board a very fast growing company at the right time and ride that wave through to exit. They typically are skilled but also remember... timing, territory (product!), talent, in that order. You should be trying to do the same thing. Very few people would have experience with a ton of CROs and so I'd recommend looking at things like this first. Hope it helps!