Why the best salesperson rarely makes the best CRO
As payment companies grow, one of the most important hires they'll make is a Chief Revenue Officer. Whether you're a fast-growing payment gateway, PSP, acquirer, open banking provider or fraud platform, your CRO will ultimately be responsible for turning great products into sustainable revenue.
Yet it's also one of the most misunderstood executive hires in fintech.
Too often, businesses assume their highest-performing Enterprise Sales Director is the obvious choice. Whilst they may be exceptional at closing deals, building a predictable revenue organisation requires a very different skill set. The difference between a £10 million payments business and a £100 million one is rarely the product. More often, it's the quality of the commercial leadership.
What does a Payments CRO actually do?
A modern CRO owns far more than sales. They are responsible for creating a commercial engine that consistently acquires, retains and grows customers. Typically this includes responsibility for:
- Enterprise Sales
- Business Development
- Partnerships
- Customer Success
- Revenue Operations
- Sales Enablement
- Commercial Strategy
- Forecasting and Pipeline Management
In many fintechs, they'll also work closely alongside Product, Marketing and Customer Operations to ensure every department is aligned around growth.
The biggest hiring mistake:
One of the most common mistakes is hiring purely from a household name. A candidate may have spent years at Stripe, Adyen or Worldpay. That doesn't automatically mean they'll succeed inside a 70-person scale-up. Large organisations provide:
- recognised brands
- mature marketing
- established sales processes
- inbound demand
- specialist support teams
Scale-ups don't. Your CRO may need to build all of that from scratch. Look for people who've built revenue functions, not simply inherited them, if that's where your business is today.
Experience that matters:
When interviewing CRO candidates, I'd focus less on turnover figures and more on how that revenue was created. Questions worth exploring include:
- Have they built sales teams from zero?
- Have they entered new markets?
- Have they recruited and developed sales leaders?
- Have they created repeatable sales processes?
- Can they forecast accurately?
- Have they improved retention as well as acquisition?
- Have they worked with complex enterprise buying cycles?
In payments, commercial credibility is hugely important. A CRO should understand topics such as:
- acquiring, issuing
- payment orchestration
- open banking, fraud prevention
- embedded finance, interchange
- scheme relationships, enterprise integrations
They don't need to be deeply technical, but they must be commercially fluent.
Beware of the "network hire":
Many companies hire someone because "they know everyone." Networks are valuable. Relationships open doors, but they don't replace leadership. Eventually every CRO needs to build systems that continue generating revenue even when they're not personally involved. That's what creates scalable growth.
Cultural fit is critical:
The best CROs spend as much time coaching as they do selling. Look for leaders who:
- develop people
- challenge constructively
- collaborate with Product and Marketing
- embrace data
- communicate transparently
- enjoy solving complex commercial problems
If every success story starts with "I closed the deal," they may still be operating as a salesperson rather than an executive leader.
The interview question I always ask:
One question often reveals the strongest commercial leaders:
"Tell me about a quarter where you missed target."
Great candidates don't blame marketing, pricing or the economy.
Instead, they'll explain:
- what happened
- what they learnt
- what they changed
- how they prevented it happening again
The ability to analyse failure is often a stronger predictor of success than discussing the biggest deal they've ever won.
Final thoughts:
Hiring a Chief Revenue Officer isn't about finding your best salesperson. It's about finding someone capable of building an organisation that consistently delivers growth. The best CROs create structure, accountability, coaching, forecasting and culture. The revenue is simply the result.
Let's start with a conversation.
Hiring senior talent is a significant investment, and the right advice at the outset can make all the difference. If you're recruiting within payments or fintech and would like to discuss the market, compare hiring strategies or gain an honest view on your search, I'd be pleased to help. There's no pressure and no hard sell, just straightforward & honest advice based on more than 20 years of specialising in the payments industry.
Email: bn@payments-recruitment.co.uk
Website: www.payments-recruitment.co.uk
