Introduction
At Reditus, we hold that startups need the best revenue teams to help them grow quickly. This is what a CRO can do for your business. These executives bring strategic knowledge to help the startup scale. However, many startups are unable to afford a good CRO.
One solution that is gaining traction is the use of a Fractional Chief Revenue Officer (Fractional CRO). In this post, we will look into the use of Fractional CROs. We will explore their role, benefits, and how they help startups grow.
Similar roles and titles are Fractional Chief Growth Officer and Fractional Chief Commercial Officer. Roles vary, but tend to include marketing, sales and customer success teams.
What is a Fractional Chief Revenue Officer (Fractional CRO)?
A Fractional CRO is a revenue generator; an experienced leader who works part-time or on a contract. They are short-term or long-term sales leaders. Fractional CROs develop and execute a strategy for their clients. This role aligns sales, marketing, and customer success to drive business growth.
At Reditus, they are part of an overall Fractional Revenue Team. This team includes sales, marketing, customer success, and fractional revenue operations. A team like this offers you a competitive advantage over a single CRO.
A Fractional CRO firm offers their skills and services on a part-time basis. Fractional CROs help firms increase sales and grow over time. They use their broad industry knowledge to quickly grow their clients.
Why a Fractional VP of Sales Isn't the Same as a Fractional CRO
A Chief Revenue Officer owns the entire revenue function: sales, marketing, customer success, and revenue operations, working as one coordinated system. A VP of Sales owns sales.
Reditus defines a Fractional CRO as the executive who unifies all four functions under one accountable owner, not just the person who closes deals.
In smaller companies, that full CRO mandate rarely gets hired for directly. It gets absorbed by whoever is already in the room, and that’s usually the VP of Sales. The title on the door doesn’t expand to match the job. Marketing keeps running its own roadmap. Customer success keeps its own goals. Revenue operations, if it exists at all, reports somewhere else. Sales owns sales, and the coordination a real CRO would provide never happens.
This isn’t a staffing shortcut. It’s a scope reduction, and it produces the exact symptom the Reditus B2B Buyer Model describes: a fragmented revenue team pulling in different directions instead of one system built around how B2B buyers actually decide.
Fractional CRO | Fractional VP of Sales |
Owns sales, marketing, customer success, and revops as one system | Owns sales |
Accountable for the full revenue number | Accountable for the sales number |
Coordinates handoffs between teams | Executes within one team |
Built to prevent the misattribution problem RBBM describes | Not scoped to solve it |
A company that needs a CRO and hires a VP of Sales instead hasn’t solved the problem. It’s given the problem a smaller title.
Fractional CRO Agencies, Consulting Firms, and Alternatives
Most companies researching a fractional CRO run into three types of providers: fractional CRO agencies that place a single contractor into your business, fractional CRO consulting firms that diagnose your revenue problems and hand you a strategy document, and individual fractional executives working solo across a handful of clients.
Each solves a different, narrower problem. A fractional CRO agency gets you a person. A consulting firm gets you a plan. Neither gets you the coordinated team that plan actually requires to execute.
Reditus operates as a fractional revenue team, not a single fractional CRO placement or a strategy engagement. The CRO function is one part of a team that also covers marketing, customer success, and revenue operations, built to execute the strategy, not just write it down.
When you’re comparing fractional CRO firms, the real question isn’t which one has the best individual executive. It’s whether you’re buying a person, a document, or a working team.
Benefits of a Fractional CRO
1. Cost-Effective Solution
A full-time CRO may be both difficult for your budget as well as too much for your needs. Fractional CRO companies provide the expertise of a growth leader at a fraction of the cost.
2. Flexibility and Scalability
Fractional Chief Revenue Officers offer flexibility with work on both a short term or long term basis. This allows firms to grow their team as needed. We suggest you hire a Fractional CRO, meaning with past work in sales leadership, marketing and customer success.
3. Industry Expertise
Fractional CRO agencies bring a wealth of skills across various industries, markets, and business models. Their diverse skill sets enable them to bring fresh perspectives and help you make well-informed decisions.
4. Objective Insights
A Fractional CRO offers an impartial view, free from internal biases or politics. They objectively evaluate existing strategies, identify gaps, and recommend solutions. These recommendations improve your sales processes and establish growth and retention policies.
5. Quick Results
Fractional CROs dive into firms quickly. They leverage their experience to make an immediate impact. This ensures a more rapid ROI than a full-time executive.
How Fractional CROs Drive Revenue Growth
- Strategic Planning
Fractional CRO professional services include detailed reviews of your current programs. They then develop plans tailored to the company’s unique goals and challenges. These plans include sales pipeline work, pricing strategy, customer segmentation, and go-to-market approaches. - Sales Enablement
Fractional CRO’s also drive sales enablement. These programs empower sales teams with the tools, training, and resources to achieve their goals. They develop and refine sales cycles, establish metrics, and ensure alignment between sales and marketing. - Revenue Optimization
The Fractional CRO will analyze pricing, identify growth opportunities, and optimize revenue streams. They implement data-driven strategies to increase customer lifetime value (LTV) and enhance growth. - Customer Success Strategies
Fractional CROs enhance customer success by creating customer retention and growth programs. They ensure customer satisfaction, develop customer journeys, and drive upsells. These efforts maximize revenue from existing customers.
How to Hire a Fractional Chief Revenue Officer
- Define your specific needs and revenue goals. You should understand what you are trying to achieve. If you haven’t defined what your target market, sales cycle, sales targets and desired growth rates are, then you may need a broader fractional revenue team rather than just a CRO. Understanding what you require will help you identify the skills and experience you’re looking for.
- Define the candidate profile you need. They should demonstrate relevant experience and track records at similar companies and industries. Consider skills such as relevant sales strategy, sales execution, sales cycle management and leadership.
- Identify one or two candidates for consideration. Remember, this is a part-time contractor, designed to be low-risk. So it’s ok to move quickly and test someone out for a month or two. A good CRO may have already found you, or you may have found their content. If so, that’s a great sign that they can sell. Check out their LinkedIn profile for relevant skills and clear presentation.
- Be sure to assess the candidate’s fit into your team and culture. Perhaps most importantly, you need to have a good working relationship with your Fractional CRO. Look for solid communication skills, adaptability, and ability to collaborate.
- We recommend 1-2 conversations total, and if you like the candidate, to move into a reduced-cost 4-8 week trial period. If they’re good, they’ll quickly propose a similar low-barrier to entry offering anyway. Such efforts are designed to lower the cost of sale, so look for such an offer from the candidate.
- At this point, we recommend sitting back and watch how the candidate sells you. Let them take the reigns and observe. This, better than anything, will indicate if they know what they’re doing, and if they are the right person to represent your company.
Conclusion
Fractional Chief Revenue Officers (Fractional CROs) are a low risk way to grow your startup. Their expertise, flexibility, and cost make them a great option to enhance your growth strategy.
With a Fractional CRO, you get seasoned leadership without committing to a full-time hire. This lets your startup scale quickly, make informed choices, and stay competitive. Their experience helps drive strong revenue growth and can greatly increase your company’s value. Contact Reditus if you’d like to learn more.
