Fractional leadership can help your business to usher in a new era of success. The role can bring a lot to the table, and indeed, a lot of start-ups are turning to fractional CROs to help them grow. The question is why? What are the tangible benefits of hiring a fractional CRO?
The idea of taking some tasks off your plate is reason enough to hire fractional executives. However, the benefits extend far beyond that.
Let's cover eight benefits of hiring a fractional chief revenue officer or another executive.
The average base salary for a chief revenue officer in the United States is $237,508. For early-stage start-ups, this is an astronomical price that you simply can't afford. And if you want cheaper talent, you risk compromising quality, right?
However, the fractional model helps you fix this. You can hire someone on a part-time basis, which means you only pay for the work you need. You also don't need to provide benefits and compensations that you usually do for executive roles.
And what about quality?
The fractional model is growing in popularity. According to ScaleWise's 2022 survey, 93% of senior B2B tech leaders are thinking about working as fractional executives. With this growing pool of talent, you never have to compromise on quality.
So, you get experienced revenue leadership for a 'fraction' of the price!
A fractional CRO or other interim sales leaders can offer you much more flexibility. Since you're not hiring a full-time position, you can easily alter the employment duration and intensity.
As your business grows, you can scale their involvement up. Conversely, you can reduce the hours if you find you have less need for a chief revenue officer.
In other words, fractional leadership is the key to unlocking sustainable and scalable teams.
Fractional CRO services can also bring immediate benefits to your business. These business leaders already have incredible knowledge about revenue operations, sales expertise, and more, meaning they can start to boost revenue from the moment they set foot through your door.
Hiring executives like chief revenue officers can take up to 4 months, but a fractional CRO can be placed in 3-4 weeks. And, as a fractional leader, they'll be used to hitting the ground running and quickly assessing your business.
That way, they can settle into your culture and start developing and implementing revenue growth strategies instantly.
We already touched on the fact that a fractional CRO provides top talent at a cheaper price. But have you considered the fact that they aren't just experts in their area? They're also experts at scaling.
How many of your leadership team have prior experience scaling and growing an early-stage start-up? A fractional chief revenue officer can help you identify start-up growth opportunities and expand into new areas with strategic growth guidance.
There are so many areas where a fractional CRO can help, whether that's helping you to execute comprehensive revenue strategies or putting out fires and steering you away from common pitfalls as you grow.
Never underestimate the power of experienced revenue leadership!
It might feel a little scary hiring someone who isn't entirely on your team. Fractional CROs might work for other teams, too, or they might have worked for a competitor before. However, you should look at their position in a positive light.
A fractional CRO can bring an objective insight thanks to their external perspective. They can assess problems objectively to provide more efficient strategic revenue leadership. This fresh perspective can be incredibly powerful, preventing your start-up from developing tunnel vision.
They're not there just to provide pushback, though. A fractional CRO joins your company already aligned with the CEO's vision, which means they can continue to work efficiently without becoming distracted by the day-to-day minutia.
Hiring a full-time CRO is risky. You can never guarantee that a hire will work out, but making the wrong choice can ruin your start-up.
Disengaged employees cost the world $8.8 trillion in lost productivity according to Gallup. That's 9% of global GDP. For start-ups, this kind of costly mistake could be terminal.
Monetary issues aside, getting a full-time hire wrong also costs time. It can take months to rectify, plus the added financial cost of advertising the new role and so on.
Fractional hires, on the other hand, completely get around this issue. You can hire someone for the exact needs your company has at the time, which means less risk of hiring someone over- or under-qualified.
Furthermore, the short-term contract means that it's less of a problem if it doesn't work out. Besides, this is less likely, because a fractional CRO is focused on specific tasks and can't waste time by the water cooler getting involved in office politics.
Not to mention, their sales expertise and oversight can help you avoid potential mistakes, avoiding unnecessary costs.
The start-up environment is undeniably fast-paced. Luckily, fractional hires are great at keeping up. They are adept at integrating into different organizational cultures and systems swiftly.
Plus, with a narrower focus on a specific set of tasks, they can quickly roll up their sleeves and get to work without wasting time learning the ropes.
Again, this saves your business time and money.
Often, their background experience means that fractional leaders come on board with an established network of contacts. They can help you develop and grow your business by putting you in touch with industry connections and partnerships.
Depending on their area of expertise, they might even be able to offer qualified leads to start our sales processes, kickstarting your operations and ensuring you can quickly meet your initial revenue targets.
The immediate impact of a fractional CRO is reason enough to hire one. Of course, you also need to hire the right person for the job.
Here at Fractional Wizards, we can help you kickstart your growth and drive business success with the perfect fractional CRO to fit your business.
Whatever your revenue goals are, they’re possible. You just need the right person for the job.
Book a call today to explore your potential. Hurry, we only have limited spots!
