Breaking Down "Fractional CRO"
Let's understand each component:
"Fractional"
A fraction of their time. Instead of full-time employment, a fractional CRO dedicates part of their week to your business—perhaps 1-2 days—while serving other clients with the remainder.
"CRO"
Chief Revenue Officer. The executive responsible for all revenue-generating activities: sales, marketing, customer success, partnerships, and go-to-market strategy.
What is a Chief Revenue Officer?
The CRO role emerged to solve a common problem: misalignment between sales and marketing. By putting one leader in charge of all revenue functions, companies can create a unified go-to-market strategy.
The CRO Owns:
- Sales: Strategy, team, process
- Marketing: Demand generation, brand
- Customer Success: Retention, expansion
- Revenue Operations: Systems, data
- Partnerships: Channels, alliances
- Pricing: Strategy, optimization
CRO vs Other Revenue Roles
| Role | Scope | Reports To |
|---|---|---|
| CRO | All revenue: sales, marketing, CS, partnerships | CEO |
| VP Sales | Sales function only | CRO or CEO |
| CMO | Marketing function only | CEO (or CRO) |
| VP Customer Success | Post-sale retention/expansion | CRO or CEO |
| Head of Growth | Growth experiments, PLG | CEO/CMO/CRO |
What Does a Fractional CRO Do?
Revenue Strategy
Develop go-to-market strategy, set revenue targets, and create plans to achieve them.
Sales & Marketing Alignment
Unify sales and marketing around shared goals, metrics, and processes. End the blame game.
Sales Process Optimization
Build and optimize sales playbooks, pipeline management, and forecasting accuracy.
Team Leadership
Lead, coach, and develop revenue teams. Hire key roles and build high-performing culture.
Revenue Operations
Implement systems, define metrics, and create data-driven decision-making processes.
When to Hire a Fractional CRO
Good Fit:
- B2B companies £1M-£20M revenue
- Sales and marketing misalignment
- Scaling beyond founder-led sales
- Need go-to-market expertise
- Preparing for funding round
Less Suitable:
- Pre-product-market-fit startups
- Pure product-led growth (no sales)
- Large enterprises (need full-time)
- Companies needing only lead gen
Fractional CRO Costs
1-2 days per week engagement
Salary + commission + benefits
Summary: A fractional CRO is a part-time Chief Revenue Officer who unifies and leads your revenue functions—sales, marketing, customer success—1-3 days per week. "Fractional" means you get a fraction of their time at a fraction of full-time cost.