Stepping into the role of a chief sales officer (CSO) presents a unique challenge: delivering immediate results while laying the groundwork for long-term success. To aid in this transition, Gartner has developed “The Executive FastStart,” a comprehensive toolkit designed to guide CSOs through their first year with confidence and effectiveness. Based on insights from thousands of CSO transitions across various industries, this framework focuses on four critical areas: establishing priorities quickly, understanding your environment and role, building relationships and your personal brand, and delivering on priorities in the first year and beyond.
Establishing Priorities Quickly
The initial step for any new CSO is to swiftly establish priorities. According to Gartner’s CSO Priorities survey, key areas of focus include new customer acquisition, account management and growth, and optimizing the go-to-market strategy. Aligning efforts with these priorities can lead to significant impact. However, understanding the expectations of the CEO and board, as well as assessing the sales function’s capacity to meet these expectations, is crucial.
Understanding Your Environment and Role
Role clarity is paramount for a new CSO. It’s essential to grasp the reality of the role, its potential within the organization, and the steps necessary to realize that potential. Addressing any ambiguities, such as reporting lines, and understanding the enterprise culture and politics are vital. For those new to the role, structured plans to address experience gaps and leverage industry-specific benchmarking data can accelerate acclimatization and build credibility.
Building Relationships and Personal Brand
Building relationships and a personal brand is a critical focus area, with over 50% of CSOs indicating a need for support in this domain. Establishing a strong personal brand involves defining your value and influence early on. Effective communication tailored to your audience is key to building this brand. Regularly refreshing your understanding of stakeholders and refining your personal brand is essential, as is ensuring that your brand aligns with enterprise expectations.
Delivering on First Year Priorities and Beyond
Achieving success as a transitioning leader typically takes over seven months, underscoring the importance of focusing on the entire first year rather than just the initial 90 or 100 days. To accelerate this process, it’s crucial to create a strategic plan that delivers impactful results in 30-day increments. Identifying both visible and invisible risks, securing early wins, and defining competencies that drive high performance are essential strategies. Additionally, understanding how your leadership style aligns with your team and peers, and establishing metrics to track and improve functional importance, are differentiators that can set top performers apart.
Embracing the Journey
The journey of a new CSO is filled with opportunities to make a lasting impact. By leveraging the Executive FastStart framework and focusing on these four key areas, CSOs can navigate their first year with strategic insight and effectiveness, setting the stage for long-term success.
