6 Signs Your Organization Needs a Chief Growth Officer

Marketing and sales are the two key ingredients of any successful business; one creates the buzz, and the other seals the deal. 

But if marketing and sales are the lifeblood of success, then Chief Growth Officers (CGOs) are the heart that keeps it pumping. 

While a relatively recent addition to the C-suite, CGOs are increasingly common in larger multinational firms, with around 14% of companies now employing one. If your company isn’t among that 14%, it’s worth considering whether you’re missing out on an opportunity for greater success. 

What Does a Chief Growth Officer Do?

A CGO does exactly what it says on the label—they drive a company’s growth. But, of course, it’s not as simple as that sounds. 

CGOs are C-suite executives often brought on board to break down silos between marketing, sales, and IT. They are most often found in technology companies, although an increasing number of consumer products and services companies have started adding them to their C-level teams too. 

CGOs are C-suite executives often brought on board to break down silos between marketing, sales, and IT.

CGOs develop and implement growth strategies aligning with the company’s goals and objectives. They conduct market research to identify new opportunities, lead efforts to improve existing products and services, and drive innovation in the sales and marketing teams. 

CGOs also monitor and manage financial metrics related to growth initiatives, among other responsibilities. 

Your Company Needs a Chief Growth Officer If… 

1. You want to utilize technology to ignite marketing growth 

Companies that have CGOs enjoy several advantages by including them in their C-suite. Statistically, CGOs are significantly more likely to drive the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and groundbreaking marketing technology (MarTech).  

Companies with CGOs are nearly 50% more likely to invest in AI and ML for marketing and sales, and they are almost two-thirds more likely to embrace new MarTech. 

Investing in AI and ML-powered MarTech makes sense for organizations that want to achieve explosive growth. It enables personalized marketing and sales through in-depth customer profiles. It can also aid lead quality assessment, reduce costs, predict customer behavior, automate tasks, and free up valuable time for teams.  

Most importantly, integrated MarTech empowers data-driven decision-making with superior customer and market data. 

2. You want more data-driven decisions in sales and marketing

Companies serious about data can access $430 billion in gains through data-driven solutions. Data-centric marketing leads to 15-20% higher return on investment (ROI), motivating many to hire CGOs for this purpose. 

CGOs foster data-driven decision-making in sales and marketing by promoting data literacy, defining growth-aligned metrics, and consolidating customer, sales, and marketing data. CGOs also play an important role in ensuring robust data governance and security measures. They can support C-suite members such as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) or Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) in formulating and implementing policies that address data quality and compliance with regulations like the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

3. You want to drive skills development in your sales and marketing teams

Organizations with a CGO empowering their marketing and sales departments also benefit from increased skills development among their talent. Only 43.7% of companies without a CGO aim to invest more in skills training, whereas 59.4% of companies with CGOs plan to intensify skills development. 

This phenomenon occurs for two reasons: firstly, CGOs need to encourage internal talent to acquire new skills to keep up with the demands of growth, and secondly, because a CGO is a cross-functional leader, those working under their guidance need cross-functional skills. 

4. You want to enter new markets

Entering new markets isn’t child’s play. For every company that attempts international expansion, four others fail. Those odds aren’t great—and, trust me, you’ll want the odds on your side. 

If you want to expand into new geographic regions or international markets, a CGO will be able to formulate market entry strategies, conduct market research, and form partnerships with the government and companies in that location to ensure market penetration. 

5. You want to revitalize your brand

Only a quarter of businesses last past the 15-year mark. And once they last past that point, they’re faced with a new challenge: staying relevant. 

If your company is 50 years old and you want to revitalize your established brand because you’ve fallen a bit behind the times, with fresh, funky, and innovative new competitors nipping at your heels, you need a CGO. 

A CGO can conduct a thorough brand analysis, reposition your brand, develop targeted marketing campaigns, and drive customer engagement initiatives to reignite interest and regain market share. 

6. You want more oversight of your marketing and sales departments 

Nearly half of marketing teams with a CGO state that addressing the risk of fraud is critical, compared to 32.4% of those without a CGO. Teams with CGO oversight typically possess more of just that: oversight.  

Due to the fact that the CGO role is performance-driven, you can anticipate a rigorous approach to any unregulated spending as they assume control of your marketing and sales financial performance. 

A CGO is also the ideal individual to collaborate with risk and compliance officers to guarantee your safety from both internal and external threats to your company. 

Where to Find Top Chief Growth Officers

Whether you’re a tech mogul, an ambitious start-up, or an established consumer brand, a CGO can help drive the kind of growth you’ve always envisioned.  

You need an executive search partner. You see, CGOs should have a very particular set of skills—skills that not every marketing or sales executive will have. 

That’s where we come in. Stanton Chase has been helping companies achieve their growth objectives for more than 30 years. We can help you too. 

Our consultants have professional networks that stretch from every corner of the globe. We have access to CGO candidates you never thought you’d be able to reach. 

Click here to reach out to one of our consultants. 

About the Author 

Tom Goorman is Stanton Chase’s Global Leader for its Marketing and Sales function. He has over 20 years of experience in executive search, providing strategic partnerships to clients across various industries, including technology, industrial, telecommunications, and professional services. He possesses a talent for discovering and nurturing C-suite executives and board members who drive exponential growth and success for their organizations.