How to speak CRO: An enabler’s guide

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in my career is that if you’re in enablement, you’ve got to speak CRO.

In enablement, we've been talking for a long time about getting a seat at the table, and at a lot of organizations now, enablement has that.

We've earned that right, but there is still a missing link between the work we do and the way we communicate the results in a way that resonates with our Chief Revenue Officers (CROs).

Our CROs are our number one cheerleaders if we're doing it right, and our number one detractors if we're not building the business case that they can support internally.

The disconnect: We have the seat, but are we using it?

Enablement has spent years and years fighting for a seat at the table. The good news is, many of us now have it. But here’s the thing – there's still a glaring disconnect between the value we’re driving and the way we communicate that value to our Chief Revenue Officers.

When CROs understand us, they become our biggest champions. But when we miss that connection, they can just as easily become blockers. We need to build the kind of business case that resonates with how they think.

That means less about our processes, and more about our outcomes.

Think like a CRO: Sales velocity is your shared language

It’s worth mentioning that many great enablement professionals have been laid off despite doing exactly what I mention in this article. They have proved value, they have done an amazing job.

If that's you reading this article, don't take it personally. Very often, those decisions have nothing to do with us and a lot more to do with an overall business need or spending cuts that are way above our pay grades.

If you're already doing what I outline and you've been laid off, just keep in mind that there's no silver bullet, there's unfortunately nothing that's going to guarantee that your job will always be protected.

But one of the best ways to make sure that you not only retain your position and grow your team, but also get the most done because you have the gravitas behind you, is to be able to build a strong partnership with your CRO.

One of the best ways to communicate enablement value is through the lens CROs already use: sales velocity. It’s a powerful framework for aligning our work with their priorities.

Let’s break it down:

Number of leads: We’re not top-of-funnel, but we do influence this. We create better qualification processes, enable outbound motions, and improve referrals. That directly impacts the volume of quality leads entering the pipeline.
Average Contract Value (ACV): Enablement supports bundling strategies and stronger sales techniques that help reps avoid unnecessary discounting. The result? Higher-value deals.
Sales cycle length: This is a big one. We help reps build urgency and communicate value earlier in the process. When a seller can say, “Let’s get you on this platform in 30 days so you can start realizing ROI,” that’s enablement in action.
Win rate: If we’re targeting the right ICPs, training on the right personas, and giving reps the tools to differentiate, win rates improve. Simple as that.

Enablement can touch every part of this equation. But we have to be intentional about drawing the line between what we do and what the business sees.

Face time matters – but make it count

Does face time with the CRO help? Absolutely. But you don’t need to be in their calendar every week. A meaningful touchpoint every five to six weeks can be enough – if you use that time well.

Come in prepared. I recommend keeping it tight: four or five bullet points on what you’re working on, where you are now, where you’re trying to go, and what levers you’re pulling to get there.

Keep it high-level. Let them choose where to dig deeper.

That’s how you stay aligned and earn trust.

If Duolingo had a “how to speak CRO” course…

If I were designing a Duolingo-style crash course in speaking CRO, it would start with three modules:

Understanding value: We toss around the word "value" all the time in enablement, but what does it mean to your CRO? Look to your company-wide OKRs, not just your team goals. If the company is focused on expanding into new markets, your programs should support that.
Communicating outcomes: Enablement lives in the world of causation. We can’t always prove we’re the sole reason a number improved – but we can show how we contributed. Frame your work in terms of the outcomes it supports.
Translation goes both ways: CROs also need to understand our world. If we’re able to make sure that our CROs understand how we connect the dots between the work we're doing and key elements of our revenue generation, all of a sudden, we're building much stronger connections.

The value conversation: causation > correlation

Here’s the truth: You won’t always be able to tie enablement work to revenue with a neat little bow.

Sometimes you get lucky with what I call a "pure play" – a brand new product, for example, where enablement can take credit for the lift through the training that we're doing on it.

But most of the time, that kind of clarity is rare. Product, marketing, sales ops, and others are all involved in things like personas, talk tracks, and marketing materials.

What matters more is that we show how enablement drives impact.

If you're improving efficiency – whether that's shortening ramp time, boosting win rates, or helping teams move faster – those are business-critical outcomes.

The most important thing is not necessarily to feel like you have to be able to show the value dollar for dollar – if you're looking at your team's head count and saying: “I have to prove dollar value for every person on my team”, you're never going to win that battle.

And I don't think anybody should be asking us to do that. More important is, what is our influence on the key metrics of the business?

It's not always revenue, very often it can be in efficiency too.

Draw the dotted line. Don’t be afraid of causation. Just don’t oversell correlation.

Relationships matter. But CROs give you the map.

Is the CRO your most important stakeholder? It depends.

That relationship is definitely important, but whether it’s the most important or not varies on your org and what you're working on.

If the house is on fire in knowledge management, your frontline managers might be your most urgent relationship. If churn is the problem, you’ll want to focus on customer success.

But the CRO gives you the big-picture view.

Without that relationship, you risk getting siloed and missing other fires across the org. When you're aligned with the CRO, you can prioritize where enablement is needed most.

Sales enablement vs. revenue enablement

I’m a big believer in revenue enablement. Sales enablement is still hugely valuable, but a lot of orgs are starting to realize that a great sales motion only takes you so far.

Organizations are realizing that even if they empower their sales team and have a fabulous sales enablement team, that’s not enough.

If the customer moves into an unoptimized post-sale motion, with an unoptimized customer support engine, all of a sudden, they’ll feel like they’ve gone from having filet to a hamburger.

The result is more churn and dissatisfaction in the post-handoff process. The buyer journey doesn’t stop when the contract is signed.

Revenue enablement gives you a chance to influence the full bowtie – from first touch to renewal and expansion. And it strengthens your case with CROs because you're thinking about the entire revenue engine.

Objections are a gift

One of my favorite reminders: If your CRO is pushing back, that's a good sign.

The best thing you can have is your CRO raising objections, because it means you're asking the right questions. If you've got a CRO that's nodding along with everything you say? That's not good.

Objections mean you’re asking the right questions. They mean you’re thinking at a strategic level.

I love when my CRO challenges me. It shows they’re invested, and it pushes me to sharpen my thinking.

Ultimately I want my CRO to poke holes, to ask deep questions, to say “are you sure it's going to work this way?”, because what we’re looking to solve in enablement is never cut and dry. It's never easy. If it was easy, teams would do it without us!

The CRO sees not only from a different level, but they come at it from a different perspective, so I want them asking those deep questions.

Then, just like if you have a sales background, and you've handled objections, you want to come into that meeting prepared to handle their objections.

Come to those meetings prepared. Anticipate questions. Practice with a colleague if you need to. One of the best things you can do is role play with another leader on the CRO’s team – they can offer feedback on how to refine your pitch and prepare for objections.

Respect the value of their time, and they will respect when we ask for that time because they know it will be well spent.

Imposter syndrome? That’s a good sign too.

I was recently asked how to overcome imposter syndrome. My honest answer? You don’t.

Feeling imposter syndrome means you’re doing something that challenges you. That’s a good thing. Growth doesn’t come from staying comfortable. The key is to lean into it, not retreat.

Take a minute to appreciate the fact that doing hard work requires hard thinking, and it's absolutely worth it.

If you’re nervous about talking to your CRO, it probably means the conversation matters. Don’t Slack it. Don’t email it. Have the meeting. Show up. That’s where real respect is built – on both sides.

Be bright. Be brief. Be gone.

Years ago, I took a personality profile that labeled me a classic Type A. The tagline for that was the phrase: “Be bright. Be brief. Be gone.”

It’s my mantra when it comes to CRO conversations:

Be bright: Come with ideas. Share your point of view. Don’t play it safe.
Be brief: High-level bullets. Clear impact. Concise messaging.
Be gone: Respect their time – and your own. Say what you need to say, then let the results speak for themselves.

If there’s one thing I hope you take from this, it’s that enablement isn’t just about supporting reps. It’s about driving the business forward. And to do that, we have to speak the language of the people setting the direction.

This article is based on Gail’s appearance on our Sales Enablement Innovation podcast. Check out the full episode, or reach out if you have insights you’d like to share on the show!