5 Plays Every CRO Must Master

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Being a Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) or VP of Sales has never been simple. Now it is even harder. You’re asked to grow revenue, but with smaller budgets. Investors want both growth and efficiency. That mix feels almost impossible to deliver.

The real challenge today is this: how do you grow quickly while keeping costs under control?

  • Pipeline is harder to create.
  • Buyers are tougher to reach.
  • Outbound emails and calls get ignored more often.
  • Yet, growth targets are higher than ever.

The old playbooks don’t work anymore. You can’t just hire more reps or spend more money. The CRO of today needs precision. You have to use smarter methods, not brute force.

Here are five plays every sales leader needs to survive—and thrive.

1. Re-Engineer Pipeline Creation

Pipeline is where it all starts. Ten years ago, a strong inbound engine might have carried you. Later, outbound prospecting at scale became the main lever. Today, both are too crowded. Inboxes are full of templated, AI-generated emails. Now buyers do their own research and talk to reps late in the process.

The best CROs are building multi-source pipeline engines. Instead of betting on one channel, they use four at once:

  • Signal-based outbound. Reps don’t just cold-call random lists. They look for buying signals—like a company raising money, hiring quickly, or switching software—and reach out at the right time.
  • Ecosystem selling. Working with big platforms (AWS, Salesforce, NVIDIA) or distributors adds credibility and reach. Co-selling gets you into accounts you couldn’t reach alone.
  • Customer expansion. The cheapest deal is the one with an existing customer. CROs are pointing resources at cross-sells and upsells, not just new logos.
  • Thought leadership. Buyers ignore most sales emails, but they listen to experts. Having your execs or product leaders post, speak, and share insights creates trust and inbound pull.

This isn’t just about more pipeline—it spreads out risk. When one channel slows, the others keep you moving.

2. Protect Cost of Sales While Driving Growth

The second battlefield is cost of sales (COS). Boards and investors watch this number closely. For most SaaS companies, the target is 30–35% COS, trending lower as you scale.

That’s tough if you chase growth at all costs. The old approach—hire more reps, hope some work out—doesn’t hold anymore.

Smart CROs keep COS in check by focusing on three levers:

  1. Territory design. Fair territories stop the problem of some reps being overloaded and others having nothing to sell. Data-driven design helps balance ARR potential and quota.
  2. Deal size segmentation. Big field reps shouldn’t chase small $10K deals. Those go to inside teams or pooled coverage. Field sellers focus on high-value accounts.
  3. Comp plans. Pay more for deals that are profitable—longer contracts, fewer discounts, higher margins. Pay less for quick wins that churn.

Cutting COS by even 1% can free hundreds of thousands of dollars at scale. That money can be reinvested in pipeline or saved as margin.

3. Level-Up Talent Productivity

Pipeline and COS get the headlines, but rep productivity is what makes or breaks results.

In most sales orgs, only the top third of reps hit quota. The rest drag the team down. Ramp times are long. Training is often weak. That leaves CROs with a choice: carry a larger team with mixed results, or keep fewer reps and make them great.

The best choose the second option. They keep A and B players, pay them fairly, and give them tools to win. Productivity goes up through three strategies:

  • Clear playbooks. Reps know exactly what each sales stage means. Using frameworks like MEDDIC or NEAT brings consistency and shortens ramp.
  • AI and RevOps tools. Call recording, deal scoring, and pipeline cleanup can be automated. Managers spend less time chasing data and more time coaching.
  • Ongoing training. Skills aren’t built in a one-time bootcamp. Strong teams deliver training in small doses every week.

Top reps often sell two to three times more than average ones. Fewer, better reps are worth more than a big team of underperformers.

4. Master Multi-Threaded, Value-Based Selling

Even with good pipeline and strong reps, deals often stall. Why? Because buying groups are bigger and budgets get more review. The days of selling to one champion are over.

Modern sales teams learn to multi-thread. That means reaching 5–7 people in each account: the decision maker, influencers, technical reviewers, and even compliance officers.

But it’s not just about reaching more people. The story has to change too. Buyers don’t care about product features alone. They want proof of value. Winning reps tie deals to:

  • Efficiency gains (example: 30% faster time-to-insight).
  • Risk reduction (example: 40% fewer errors in workflows).
  • Capacity unlocked (example: freeing $1M+ in staff hours).

CROs that shift their orgs from “product selling” to “value selling” see higher win rates and fewer dead deals.

5. Forecast With Data, Not Hope

The final test for every CRO is the forecast. Missed numbers destroy trust with boards and investors. And in 2025, “gut feel” forecasts won’t cut it.

Accurate forecasts require discipline:

  • Clear stage rules. No deal moves forward without hitting defined checkpoints.
  • AI scoring. Algorithms flag deals that are likely to slip, giving managers time to react.
  • Deal inspections. Pipeline reviews aren’t just status updates—they’re strategy sessions about how to win or save specific deals.

Forecasting isn’t just about accuracy. It’s about credibility. A CRO who consistently hits their forecast earns political capital. One who misses it loses the room.

The Bottom Line

The CRO role has always been high-pressure, but things are different now. The levers that used to guarantee growth no longer work on their own. The CRO of today has to act more like a portfolio manager than a pure sales leader—balancing pipeline sources, cost structure, rep productivity, buyer engagement, and board trust.

Want to learn more about how we can help you transform your revenue efficiency? Schedule a consultation.

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