We have been making quite a bit of noise about how important it is for enterprises to name a Chief Growth Officer (CGO). As companies look to embody a Converged Growth mindset, a CGO is needed to lead the charge from both a strategic and “day to day” perspective. The financial benefits speak for themselves, but the benefits to process and internal alignment (and employee satisfaction) make naming a CGO a mandate for 2023.
So, what should you be looking for in an ideal CGO? We have put together this handy position description for you to peruse, and even use in your search. We’ve tried to cover the bases when it comes to both the role and responsibilities, as well as the type of individual that would be best to lead the Converged Growth charge for the organization.
You can download a handy PDF version of this position description here.
WIP Position Description
Chief Growth Officer V1.1
Position Overview
- Reports to the Chief Executive Officer
- Core responsibility is to
- Deliver sustainable and growing top line revenue
- Consistently and predictably grow the total customer base
- Grow revenue per customer and reduce customer churn
- Owns the end-to-end core customer relationship, including
- DX – pre-sale demand experience
- Engage > Nurture > Convert
- CX – post-sale customer experience
- Succeed > Develop > Grow
- DX – pre-sale demand experience
- Ensures continuous organizational stewardship of customer journey
- Manages a Converged Growth organization
- Unified team
- Customer lifecycle aligned
- Operationalized go‑to‑market
- Sustainable programs
- Optimizable architecture
- Delivering net lift
- Span of control includes
- Growth outcomes
- Integrated GTM
- Programs
- Processes
- Systems
- Organization
- Data + analytics
Core Areas of Responsibility
- Go‑to‑market planning + strategy (20%)
- Growth objectives
- Growth Engine
- Performance analysis
- Pre-sale Growth (30%)
- Demand marketing
- Field marketing
- Sales development
- New customer sales
- Sales enablement
- Post-sale Growth (30%)
- Customer success
- Customer marketing
- Customer account management
- Growth operations (20%)
- Go‑to‑market technology stack
- Go‑to‑market data + reporting
- Go‑to‑market optimization insights + analysis
Operating Principles
- Mindset
- Stop “random acts” – instead, driving a repeatable, scalable Growth Engine
- Engage right place, right time
- Outside in vs. inside out GTM
- Build a pull vs. push Demand Process
- Shift from data-driven approach to insight-driven approach
- Optimization over “testing”
- Continuously raising maturity
- Approach
- Conversation Track Architecture driving segmentation, dialogue
- Perpetual Demand model
- End-to-end (Engage > Nurture > Convert > Succeed > Develop > Grow) scope of customer lifecycle
- Customer stewardship orientation to org design
- Execution
- Blended teams
- Customer journey rationalized roles, content and channels
- Continuous demand programs vs. interruptive ‘campaigns’
- Demand Process underpinning for systems and data
Stakeholder Collaboration
- Set a new internal paradigm for marketing, sales and customer success team collaboration
- Drive a shared Growth Team identity for all go‑to‑market units
- Operate in strong collaboration with
- Product / engineering org leader
- Communications / brand org leader
- Financial org leader
- IT leaders
Required Knowledge, Skills + Characteristics
- Both an abstract and concrete thinker
- Balance of capabilities
- Financial / analytical
- Process development + optimization
- Relationship development
- Content + creative development
- Digital transformation
- Change management
- Past front-line experience in two out of three related segments
- Demand marketing
- Sales / account management
- Customer success
- Undergraduate degree + MBA preferred
- Preferred, past experience includes
- Previous Chief Growth Officer
- Previous Chief Commercial Officer
- Previous Chief Revenue Officer
- Previous General Manager
To learn more about Converged Growth and the benefits of naming a Chief Growth Officer for your organization:
