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8 Jobs for Modern B2B CMOs · Sales Pipeline Radio

• 0:16
  Welcome everybody to another episode of Sales Pipeline Radio.
• 0:19
  I'm your host, Matt Heinz.
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  Very excited to have you all here as we get close to the end of July,
• 0:25
  hitting the dog days of summer.
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  Today, very excited to have with us the chief marketing officer
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  of ABC fitness and we're going to get to this also the head coach.
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  of the I want to get this right, Dallas United Crew.
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  We're gonna get into that a little later.
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  Cristine Kao.
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  Cristine, thanks for joining us today.
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  Cristine: Hey Matt, how are you doing?
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  Matt: I am good, I am good.
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  Well, I mean there's so many things we could talk about on a lot of fronts,
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  and we'll get to a few of them, but the one thing I wanted to start with
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  is just The role of the modern CMO in an organization and a lot of hats to
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  wear and you shared with me something that you found, actually, I think your
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  CEO forwarded to you recently around the eight roles, the modern CMO has.
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  So maybe just quick for people that don't know you introduce yourself and then let
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  me intro this concept of the eight jobs.
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  Cristine: Yeah.
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  Well, thank you for having me, by the way, Matt, I've been a long time listener.
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  So very excited to be participating live for the first time.
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  So.
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  Amazing to be here.
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  Yes.
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  First of all, I want to give a shout out to my CEO, Bill
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  Davis of ABC Fitness Solutions.
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  He was the one who forwarded me this article written by, Ravi Rupre
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  and it's a very much of a PE backed newsletter and I've been in the PE
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  world for the last three rounds now.
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  So I thought this was something fun for us to talk about the modern
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  CMO needs to be eight things.
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  Again, not three, not four, eight.
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  Revenue Accountable, a Sales Leader, a Customer Journey Designer, a
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  Brand Builder, Pricing Committee Member, Strategic Growth Driver
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  Corporate Development Officer, as well as a Financial Steward.
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  Just a few things, right?
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  Matt: A couple, just a couple.
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  Yeah.
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  Cristine: Just a couple.
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  I'm sure other folks will have a few more.
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  I personally have two more to add as well, but boy, what a List of
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  eight things to get started with.
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  Matt: Well, it's interesting because I think you can get, I mean, you can
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  get tired just thinking about all those different things you have to do.
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  But my reaction to that is like, okay, like some of these seem a little more
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  tactical, but I like the idea that we want a CMO to be a strategic growth driver.
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  We want them to be a financial steward, a corporate development officer.
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  Like this is not something the arts and crafts person does in an organization.
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  So as you expand those jobs and elevate the responsibility there.
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  I think that's a good thing for the CMO role in general.
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  What do you think?
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  Cristine: Absolutely.
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  I would add that this is not unique to a PE environment, this is very
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  much applicable to any modern marketer that you have to be adaptive, right?
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  And agile to the various things that the business needs and you
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  modulate between these eight roles.
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  You know, I suspect in the PE (private equity) environment, revenue accountable
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  will always probably be number one, right?
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  How do you get to the rule of 40 versus, you know maybe some of more consumer
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  brands or other brands are more about brand and storytelling, product marketing.
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  And so so yeah, I, I really do think it's not you have to do it all at the same
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  time, but rather how do you prioritize accordingly to the business need?
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  Matt: You said you wanted to add two more things to the list.
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  What were your additions?
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  Cristine: Okay.
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  So again, I'm a big believer in more of a mission led type of company and
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  so I'd be remiss not to add cultural champion as a CMO, as well as I'm a fan
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  of also alliteration is a product pundit.
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  You have to know, especially in the world of product led growth now,
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  which is we're seeing more and more of, you have to really be obsessed
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  with the customer and buyer journey.
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  Matt: Absolutely.
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  It's, honestly, a buyer journey.
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  It's a user journey as a Brent Adamson sometimes talks about it as a, like,
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  don't screw things up journey, right?
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  Like, as we go about our day, just trying not to, like, disrupt things.
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  It's a mindset, right?
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  If you take that imposter syndrome with the protecting the status quo,
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  keeping those things come together, it's important to keep those in mind as well.
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  We're talking today on Sales Pipeline Radio with Cristine Kao.
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  She is the Chief Marketing Officer of ABC Fitness.
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  And you mentioned, having done a few tours of duty in private equity
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  land, which is unique, right?
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  This is not startup land, venture capital, private equity is somewhat
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  of a different thing, but you cut your teeth in a lot of healthcare space.
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  She's been over eight years at GE Healthcare, not a startup.
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  Talk a little bit about going from a global enterprise megacorp like GE
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  and getting into private equity land.
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  What were you able to bring from your experience that was a benefit?
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  And what were some of the new lessons that you had to learn or
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  new skills to build to be successful with a earlier stage company?
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  Cristine: Oh, wow.
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  Man, that's a throwback.
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  It's GE healthcare for me was more than a decade ago.
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  You know, the one thing that I really appreciated about GE as a whole,
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  at least in the late 90s, early 2000s was the obsession around Six
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  Sigma and operational efficiency.
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  This is where I really got a firsthand experience into operational design and
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  using data and system and process to design-- whether that's change management
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  to any discipline for that matter.
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  And so I still find myself today applying a lot of that Six Sigma
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  lean thinking into everything I do.
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  And I think that has helped me in the PE environment where, you know, very
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  technical, very process driven, right?
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  Oftentimes you have to build things from the startup, right?
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  So People Process and Technology is your three pillars always
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  when you effectuate any change.
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  And so I find myself applying a lot of that still in the world today.
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  And again, being comfortable with data and processes has,
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  I think, helped me a long way.
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  Matt: So you're kind of in a unique position to be able to speak from direct
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  first hand experience about Six Sigma, pragmatic marketing, agile, right?
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  Are those overlapped or do they build on each other or how do you think
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  about and how do you in your own, way you operate combine elements of
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  the three that work best for you?
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  Cristine: And we're getting philosophical now, Matt.
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  I love it.
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  But that's the funny part, isn't it?
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  That modern marketing now is not just your traditional marketing.
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  In fact, in that newsletter that we were just talking about from, from
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  Ravi, he opened that with, it's a shift from a role focused on building
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  brand awareness and vanity metrics.
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  Again, his words, not mine, to more of a revenue powerhouse responsible for
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  direct revenue impact and the bottom line.
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  And so when I think about all the things that I've had exposure to, whether
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  that's Six Sigma, to Pragmatic, to Agile it all contributed to appreciation
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  for a couple of things in my mind, one is this idea of being able to
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  adapt to rate the mix of the business and the maturity of different things.
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  Second, I would say I really got comfortable with
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  iterative learning, right?
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  You, fail fast, learn fast and getting into more of a sprint
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  cycle and be comfortable testing always for anything you do.
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  And then I would say, the one thing that I took away from Agile,
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  especially, I applied some of the Agile design and team design.
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  We now have squads in marketing and in that concept of squad, you know, having
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  always obviously a business partner to kind of help develop initiatives
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  and programs, but bringing the best of different expertise within the
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  team at a moment in time as a squad has helped us very much along the
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  way of how we scale over time, as well as being efficient because we're
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  always strapped for resources, right?
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  So with the few resources that we have, how do we bring a squad
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  together to be very concentrated and very impactful a quarter at a time.
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  So again, most of all, I think, again, marketing is bringing view of technology
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  and process, I think has been a great addition to the arsenal, if you will.
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  Matt: Yeah, I agree with that especially if you've got eight to 10 jobs as a CMO,
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  and if you have those jobs and your team's trying to execute on some of that strategy
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  and vision as well I think knowing what you need to get done, being disciplined
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  enough to get that work done efficiently, but also be open to new ideas, right?
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  And some of those ideas, some of those new things are pivots, right?
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  You start the year with a plan.
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  Here's what we're going to go do.
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  Some of it works.
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  Some of it doesn't; you can't just stick with the plan if it's suboptimal.
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  So you make pivots, but then new ideas come in.
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  You weren't so clairvoyant at the beginning of the year you knew
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  everything that was going to happen.
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  So how do you lead and then manage it and encourage a team when things are
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  always kind of changing, and you kind of need to adapt to that over time?
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  Cristine: We often joke that we all should have, that friend's
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  shirt with the couch pivot.
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  I feel like at least in the PE world and especially now in marketing, we all
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  should be wearing that shirt on a daily.
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  You know, I'm a big fan of long range planning and I'm sure a
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  lot, all the companies do it.
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  And reason why I start with that is because you have to
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  have a plan with an end in mind.
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  And in my mind, the pivots and the priorities may change.
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  The input of these things may change.
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  For example, like what you did last month may not work again this month.
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  Matt: Right.
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  Cristine: And it happens a lot.
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  And so how do you pivot from there?
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  But directionally, you should never steer away from your North Star.
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  And if you find yourself departing from that path, boy, that's a immediate
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  conversation with your executive leadership team, your CEO and your
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  board to, course-correct, to validate.
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  And that's where I think folks can maybe get stuck or get caught up in the pivot.
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  Meaning constantly changing what feels like direction, but when in reality is in
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  my mind, it's more about course correct to the same North Star that the rest
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  of your team is also running towards.
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  Matt: Yeah.
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  And I think context on that is important because if people don't
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  understand the context of why you're making this pivot, they're like,
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  this is a rudderless ship, right?
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  Like we don't know where we're going and we're just making things up and
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  trying to find a new way of doing it.
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  So I think sometimes over communicating...
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  someone told me once they said, every one of your employees
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  has an enormous bowl, right?
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  And your job is to fill that bowl with information and context.
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  And if you don't provide that, if you don't over communicate, they're
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  going to fill that bowl on their own.
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  And you may not like what they put in it and what they put in
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  other people's bowls as well.
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  So sometimes the truth is not always like a fun story to tell, but if the
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  truth is the truth, I think the people you want on the boat, in the boat with
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  you, in the bus, whatever transportation analogy you want to use, they're
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  going to appreciate the openness.
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  They're going to appreciate that yeah, things do change.
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  And let's just start rowing in the same direction.
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  Cristine: Yeah, I know it's cheesy, but it's true.
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  If, people understand the why behind it they will move along with you
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  in the same direction for sure.
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  And I think you're trying to segue to my dragon boating experience.
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  Matt: You think you're trying to like talk about rowing the boat in one
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  direction and going to talk about this...
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  I'm looking at LinkedIn, this long history of boat clubs, and I'm always
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  impressed by like smart, successful people that also have an investment
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  in significant things outside and this is clearly a through line for you.
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  So can you talk a little bit about where your passion for, I don't
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  want to call it boating because that's not fair because it's not
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  like, this is not yacht club, right?
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  Cristine: No it's a boating club.
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  Matt: Where did that come from and why is it so important to you?
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  Cristine: You know as we were just talking about the why one of the things
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  I've really enjoyed over the years was actually coaching people, helping
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  them find their passion and, and achieve what was thought impossible.
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  I have worked with breast cancer survivors.
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  I've worked with teenagers.
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  I've worked with senior adults as old as 80, who never thought they could compete
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  in a team as an adult and they did.
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  The best feeling in the world, really.
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  they look at you with with that just a pure satisfaction of knowing that
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  they've done something that they couldn't do a year ago or two years ago.
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  It's pure joy for me.
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  And and so as an athlete also in transitioning to coach.
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  That's something I really enjoyed outside of work and I tell you
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  though, Matt, if you've never been on water in a kayak or a canoe or
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  whatever, I encourage you to do so.
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  There's something about the sea life, the salt the water is
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  pure pure meditational for me.
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  it's cleansing and it's calming.
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  It's the best way to honestly to distress as well.
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  Matt: I've done that, but only recreationally, right?
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  Not when I'm trying to get somewhere as fast as possible.
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  I was a big fan of The Boys in the Boat.
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  It was a super interesting story when it first came out.
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  I went to University Washington, that boat house is still there.
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  It's in fact, they're doing a whole fundraising around trying to get it
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  renovated and keep it there forever.
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  And I got a friend who we, worked at a startup and he was an alternate in the
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  Olympic rowing team back in the day.
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  And he just talks about what it means just in terms of tenacity
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  and mental acuity throughout life.
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  And honestly, he came to us as a sales rep with zero experience.
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  But we're like, I think the mental makeup of an Olympic
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  alternate is going to be okay.
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  And he became a sales leader.
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  Surprise, surprise, very quickly.
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  Sine the pandemic, it's a lot easier for people just to like sit in our
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  basements and work from home and still have these insular lives.
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  Can you talk about the importance of like getting out, not only
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  getting on the water, but doing with other people that are trying to
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  pursue a similar sort of challenge?
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  Cristine: Yeah, and the fact that I could do that with my company now as
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  well, which is A jelling, an interlock of best life and interests, if you will.
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  You know, the one thing that I am a firm believer of is that, health and family
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  always comes first for that reason.
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  I'm a breast cancer survivor.
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  I've had health scares.
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  My family has gone through a lot of things and I'm really a fan of active lifestyle
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  as a preventative way to living longer, living healthier, enjoying your life.
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  And you're right.
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  It is easy nowadays, especially after COVID, right?
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  to simply stay home and do nothing.
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  And this is why I think a team sport has been transformational for me is that
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  when you have a human connection; whether you're at the gym or you're on the water
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  with your team, that sense of connection and community is so important nowadays.
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  And that's not something you could replace with watching TikTok or Instagram or
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  being on screen or even just a virtual interaction, I suppose, like this.
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  And in ABC Fitness Solutions and not to plug for the company, we help 40
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  million people around the world doing exactly that-- finding healthier habits
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  and, and exercise that makes them happy.
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  And so I can't encourage everybody enough to, even if it's just 10 minutes walking.
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  One step more is then what you had yesterday, so start small and next thing,
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  you know, you will be running marathons.
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  Matt: We've all got to pay bills and there's a lot of places we can go to
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  work to do that, but there's a lot to be said for places you can do that,
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  that are purpose mission driven, right?
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  That are trying to, do something different in the world.
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  You don't have to change the world entirely, but if you
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  have an impact on a few other people, that's meaningful, right?
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  You still take your money home, but you also know, that you're doing
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  something good for the world overall.
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  Christine, thank you so much for joining us today.
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  Really appreciate it.
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  Glad you are open to us veering off into a little bit of philosophical as
• 15:45
  well as talk about paddling as well.
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  So thanks again for doing this.
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  Cristine: Absolutely.
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  Thank you for having me again.
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  Look forward to connecting with folks online and as a CMO community,
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  I look forward to hearing from folks what else you think we should
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  add to the list of the eight?
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  Matt: Absolutely.
• 15:59
  Awesome.
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  Well thanks everyone.
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  We're gonna be on hiatus for the next couple weeks.
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  I'm on vacation with the family for a couple weeks.
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  We'll be back mid August with more episodes.
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  Until then, thank you so much.
• 16:08
  Enjoy your summer.
• 16:08
  We'll see you next time on Sales Pipeline Radio.