“Who will be the first person candidates speak with?”

A CRO I know recently told me he almost didn’t take the job he just accepted. And the reason why is a warning sign for how so many searches fail before they even start.

But before I tell you his story, let me give you the context.

The context 

When I started Bullingstone Associates, I made a deliberate choice: we focus purely on appointing SaaS Chief Revenue Officers and their direct reports. That’s it.

Why? Because CROs have the shortest average tenure in the C-suite—just 18 months. That tells me something’s broken. It’s not bad luck. It’s bad hiring.

And here’s what I think is going wrong:

A. Lack of confidence in running CRO searches
In my experience, clients often feel less sure about CRO searches than other C-suite roles. It took them to a seemingly safe option of focusing on hiring a Chief Revenue Officer from a business which externally looked like theirs, rather than finding a candidate most suitable to the unique challenges their revenue organisation faced. 

B. Misunderstanding the role
A lot of executive search teams either come from a generalist C-suite background, or from sales hiring, but lower down. That means they either don’t understand what a CRO is dealing with below them, or what it takes to operate as a peer on the exec team and board. And when you don’t understand the job, it’s hard to hire for it.

C. Weak execution
Too often, junior team members make the first approach to candidates. They follow a script. They pitch the job in vague terms. They miss nuance. CRO candidates tune out—or never even consider the role properly. Great people slip through the net without anyone realising.

So this is what we do instead:

1. Specialise to build confidence
We only focus on CROs and their leadership teams. That gives us deep, practical knowledge. We can ask sharper questions, challenge assumptions, and help clients move from vague ambition to real clarity.

2. Bring deep CRO and wider business context
I have a unique combination of experience; I have led teams which have strategically built out large teams underneath CROs, and I’ve run searches for other roles across the C-suite. That gives me deep knowledge but also wider context and a multi-angled network. 

3. Lead with senior people
No one without real, relevant experience makes the first call to a candidate. That early conversation matters too much. If you get it wrong, the best people quietly drop out—or never consider the role in the first place.

The Story

Last week, I took a CRO I know reasonably well out for a Friday afternoon beer. He’s about to start a new role that he’s excited about. We were catching up, but around beer two and a half, the CRO in him came out.

“So Wayne,” he said, leaning back, “what actually makes your business different? What’s your unique offering?”

I think he expected something a bit vague. But I talked him through it—our view of the problem (A, B, C), and the way we fix it (1, 2, 3).

To be honest, A and B didn’t really land.

But at C—specifically, the point about senior people always making the first call—he sat forward. He looked genuinely animated.

"It’s funny you say that," he said. "That’s exactly what happened to me. I nearly didn’t go for this job."

He told me the story.

He’d been called about the job he’s just accepted by someone he didn’t know. He took the call, listened, but it didn’t sound particularly appealing. It felt generic, off somehow. So he said no.

But he had a friend at the company, so he messaged them: “I was called about a job with you guys today. Not right for me, but hope all’s well.”

Almost immediately, his phone rang.

His friend told him the job was actually a great fit and insisted he speak to the Partner at the firm running the search.

That second conversation was completely different. The Partner listened. Reacted. Explained. Was straight with him about where the challenge really lay. It made sense.

A month later, the role was his.

But they came so close to never even having him in the process. So close to him being one of the candidates in the "not interested" bucket—one of the reasons a search firm might explain they’re struggling.

It’s rare you get to see that sliding doors moment so clearly. But I think it happens all the time.

It’s why at Bullingstone, senior people make the first call to candidates. Always.