The concept of a Fractional Chief Revenue Officer is new to many business leaders, but it has grown rapidly in the past few years. The idea of fractional leadership (especially at the executive level in small businesses), however, is exceptionally old. Many companies employ a CPA who sometimes wears the hat of (and even title) of a Fractional CFO.
Fractional Chief Revenue Officers work to bring a unified vision to three key areas that control the growth of the company revevnue: Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success/Service. When these areas run in harmoy the customer journey (sometimes referred to as a customer roadmap) is smooth and leads to higher customer retention, repeat business, increased profits, and encouraging growth.
Top level leaders in the field are difficult to find and expensive to retain. For this reason many small and medium businesses simply try to get by with the owner, President, or General Manager covering these areas. The results often lead to burnout of an important leader and less than stellar results from under managed and under developed teams. Because cost is a barrier some of the brightest leaders in the Revenue Operations world have choosen to ply their trade on a Fractional basis. Just like your CPA has many clients, a Fractional Chief Revenue Officer works for multiple clients. By working with a handful of companies they are able to greatly reduce the price to the client, while still bringing their personal expertise to bear. In addition, by working with clients across a broad spectrum of industries they gain additional experience that will help all of their clients grow, thrive, and prosper.
While the concept of a Fractional Executive is old by comparision to a Fractional Chief Revenue Officer, the new position is here to stay as the results for business and business owners are off the charts.