A few days ago, a LinkedIn notification caught my eye.
“Nicely done, fellow CCO! :-)”
It was in response to this simple post.
“I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Chief Commercial Officer at…”
Another talented executive stepping into a Chief Commercial Officer role. Another sign that what once seemed like an oddity has now become a movement. A seeming acknowledgement of an emerging community.
When I named Heather Combs 3Pillar’s first CCO nearly five years ago, people were puzzled.
“Chief what?”
I got that a lot. At the time, we didn’t even fully know how to define the role, but we knew what problem we were trying to solve: disconnected growth.
Today, the CCO is no longer an experiment. It’s a strategic imperative. And not because the org chart needed shaking up but because the customer does not live in our silos.
Customers Think in Journeys. Companies Operate in Departments.
Talk to any growth-stage CEO and you’ll likely hear some version of this pain:
- Marketing generates leads, but sales doesn’t follow up.
- Sales closes deals, but customer success can’t deliver on the promise.
- Product builds new features, but no one tells the market—or the customer.
- Ops reports KPIs, but nobody can quantify the actual health of our client relationships.
Each team is doing their job, but the customer experience is fractured. That’s because no one owns the end-to-end commercial relationship.
Enter the Chief Commercial Officer.
What a CCO Actually Owns
The CCO isn’t just a glorified CRO. Nor are they just a hybrid of sales and marketing. They’re the connective tissue between product-market fit and go-to-market execution.
A modern CCO owns:
- The full customer lifecycle, from demand generation to retention and expansion.
- Commercial strategy and pricing.
- Marketing, sales, customer success, and revenue operations.
- Alignment between brand promise and customer experience.
More than a role, the CCO is a response to complexity. A growth integrator. A customer advocate. A strategic anchor.
What the Data Says: This Isn’t a Fad
When you step back, it’s clear this rise isn’t anecdotal. It’s evidence of a systemic shift:
- 2,000+ go-to-market C-suite appointments (including CCOs) were made globally between 2020–2021, according to Bain & Company.
- McKinsey found that companies with a dedicated customer leader experienced 15% higher retention and 10% better gross revenue retention over three years.
- Forbes reports that customer-centric firms grow revenue 4–8% faster than their competitors.
- Boyden’s research shows that CCOs are increasingly responsible for spanning field sales, brand, innovation, and product-market alignment—not just top-line revenue.
These aren’t vanity titles. They’re roles forged in the fires of modern growth challenges.
Why the CCO Is Rising Now
Three forces make the CCO more relevant today than ever:
1. The Subscription Economy
In recurring revenue models, value is delivered over time—not at the point of sale. If no one owns renewals and expansion, you’re leaking growth. Net Revenue Retention is the lifeblood of predictable growth.
2. Explosion of Commercial Data
Dashboards are abundant. Insight isn’t. The CCO turns data into decisions, and decisions into outcomes—across marketing, product, and customer teams.
3. Demand for Predictability
Boards don’t want heroic quarters. They want sustainable growth. CCOs provide integrated forecasting and control across the entire commercial funnel.
The True Mandate: Make the Customer the Center
Here’s the part I wish more people said out loud:
The CCO is the voice of the customer in the C-suite.
They ensure that commercial decisions aren’t just numbers-driven, but human-centered. That what you promise aligns with what you deliver. That you don’t just sell a product, but steward the economic relationship.
This only works if we rewire our culture around the customer, not just the deal.
That means:
- KPIs shift from activities (calls made, leads generated) to outcomes (NRR, LTV, satisfaction).
- Teams align not around functions, but around customer moments: awareness, conversion, onboarding, expansion.
- Growth becomes holistic, not heroic. Coordinated, not coincidental.
What CEOs Should Be Asking
If you’re leading a company right now, these are the questions to reflect on:
- Do we have one person accountable for the entire customer lifecycle?
- Are we using our data to connect insights across silos—or just track activity within them?
- Can we measure the propensity of each economic relationship to sustain and growth?
- Is our commercial team aligned not just on revenue goals, but customer success outcomes?
If not, you’re flying blind into today’s growth headwinds.
Final Word: The Role Is a Title. The Mindset Is a Mandate.
I’ll admit, it felt like a risk at the time to give someone the title “Chief Commercial Officer” when there was no playbook. But looking back, it was one of the most strategic decisions we made.
Because in a world where complexity is rising, competition is tightening, and customers have infinite choice—clarity, cohesion, and trust win.
That’s what the CCO brings. Not just commercial integration, but customer integration. Not just accountability for numbers, but stewardship of economic relationships.
And judging by my LinkedIn feed, I’m no longer the only one who sees it.
What role does the customer play in your growth model today?
