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Summary:
A VP of Sales can command a salary of $150,000-$300,000 per year. A CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) might be retained for $200,000+ a year in salary.
Instead, you can expect to invest between $9,000 and $11,000 a month in a Fractional Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) that replaces both roles and generates the same results as a Full-Time.
The Problem:
Your small businesses has hit a revenue ceiling. You can't seem to crack the code to growing revenue predictably or profitability. You have a feeling that your marketing and sales leadership, strategy, and results are the root cause.
But you're limited in your ability to invest enough to solve both at the same time.
A Possible Solution:
It won't work for every business. It also depends on your long-term goals and your current situation...but...
What if you could get executive level marketing and sales leadership for one fractional executive fee instead of two? With a cost that is less than one full-time executive hire.
Enter the Fractional Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) for Small Businesses
What is a Fractional Chief Revenue Officer? It's an experience executive that oversees your entire revenue generation program. Simply put: Marketing + Sales = Revenue.
How Much Does a Fractional Chief Revenue Officer Cost?
An expert Fractional Chief Revenue Officer for small business can cost between $9,000 per month and $14,000 per month depending on the complexity and scale of your sales and marketing programs.
With a CRO you can gain the sales and marketing leadership you've needed, and have enough resources left over to invest in and implement new revenue generating strategies.
When Does it Make Sense to Hire a Fractional Chief Revenue Officer?
There's a number of common signs and symptoms but here is a condensed list:
You've exhausted internal team members' expertise and skill.
You're holding up the strategy for both sales and marketing
You've run out of referrals and need net new revenue growth
A full-time Chief Revenue Officer is hundreds of thousands of dollars out of budget
Two full-time executive hires would break the bank
Bringing on two fractional executives (A chief marketing officers (CMOs) and or fractional VPs of sales) also isn't feasible
The gift of a Fractional Chief Revenue Officer is that you've got a financially minded special business expert. They understand that most small businesses don't have a $1,000,000.00 marketing budget. Check out great Fractional CRO's partner with CFOs.
Why not just Fractional Marketing or just Fractional Sales?
What happens if you hire an unbelievable fractional chief marketing officer and just assume Sales will figure it out.
A small business owner invests money into a well thought out Marketing strategy lead by an incredible fractional chief marketing officer, and it works as planned! That's good right?
You are starting to get all kinds of new opportunities. As the new opportunities roll in you, you suddenly realize that all along, your sales program has been broken. Or worse, this was the straw that broke it. You realize:
You're not following up with leads consistently
Your team isn't qualifying leads properly and wasting time on mediocre leads
Your sales people are overwhelmed and dropping the ball
Your sales comp plan was broken and you're now bleeding money
There wasn't alignment on what was being promoted in marketing and now sales isn't being trained or held accountable to selling what is being marketed
You've invested heavily in marketing and you think it's working, But now sales side of the equation (Marketing + Sales = Revenue) has entirely gummed up the works. And those dollars you invested in marketing? They aren't coming out. You're somehow worse off.
What happens if you hire an unbelievable fractional chief sales officer and just assume they'll get more new leads from tired old strategies.
Traditional Sales is dead. Let me prove it with 3 questions:
Do you answer cold sales emails?
Cold calls?
LinkedIn spam messages?
I certainly don't. And if you're not and I'm not. Then it's a safe bet that few other decision makers are either. And if we're not answering or buying that way, how can a traditional outbound sales strategy or "hunter" succeed?
Over 70% of the decision to buy is made before making first contact with a sales rep. That means marketing is now the tip of the spear for net new revenue.
Unless you've got an incredibly well known product like Salesforce or Microsoft (that have spent billions on marketing), you're not going to create the demand and influence buyers with cold calls and one sheeters.
Revenue generating opportunities that sales can take advantage of are almost exclusively generated by and/or super charged by marketing efforts.
Events and sponsorships - organized by marketing
Messaging on those banners and booths - written by marketing
Speaking engagements - paid for by marketing dollars
Thought leadership - influenced by marketing
Website user experience - owned by marketing
Lead magnets and one sheeters - developed by marketing
SEO - Requires content marketing
Google Ad words, Facebook remarketing - overseen by marketing
Organic Social, webinars, and PR - led by marketing
The world has changed, and the line between sales and marketing has blurred. It's become one revenue function that requires expertise to "zip" sales and marketing up into one funnel and one solution.
Summary: Revenue Growth is a Journey
If a Fractional Small Business Chief Revenue Officer is right for you today, it's not the end game. Small businesses beyond $15m in revenue need full-time executive level leadership in both marketing and sales. But for now business under $10m struggling to get to the Next Level in revenues and profits can afford both Marketing and Sales leadership with a fractional Chief Revenue Officer.