Fractional and Interim CRO Firms: 16 Compared by Model and Fees

AspireSix principal consultant James Trotter describes a SaaS company whose customers took 17 months to see value from the product. A focused sales playbook and a tighter handoff to implementation brought that under five months, and in-year bookings rose 73%, the case reports. The interview does not say whether this was an AspireSix engagement or an earlier role, so ask. A second case comes from another partner's former job, and the homepage notes that its headline figures are its executives' achievements in prior roles.

The firm offers a fractional CRO alongside technology and organization work. Its homepage (opens in a new tab) promises "Flat fees. Clear deliverables." with no equity, and aims to affect cash flow, revenue or margins within the first 90 days. No price is published on the pages read.

SwipeClock, a workforce management software company moving from channel sales to selling direct, brought in a Chameleon interim CRO and CMO. They rebuilt its sales approach and playbook while Chameleon searched for a permanent VP of Sales and head of marketing. The case says direct revenue reached seven figures in eight months and names CEO Coleman Barney; it carries no publication date.

Its interim CRO page (opens in a new tab) says most engagements take 2 to 4 weeks from the scoping conversation to the first day in seat (some have started in 7 to 10 days), run 3 to 12 months and end with a handoff to the permanent CRO. The fee is a fixed monthly amount quoted after scoping. Fractional engagements have a fixed scope agreed after an initial revenue review, and its recruiting practice can run the permanent search.

Sizemore, a facility services company, had grown to about $135 million in revenue without a formal sales organization, with 74% of revenue from one client. It engaged Dave MacIntosh, a Chief Outsiders fractional CRO. Over eight months, the case says, he built the sales process, compensation plans and onboarding, and recruited the company's first VP of Sales. The case reports Sizemore growing from $135 million toward a $155 million run rate, which MacIntosh says is partly organic growth. An operations executive at Inspirit Equity, which acquired Sizemore during the engagement, is quoted. In an Einstein Moving case (opens in a new tab) set in 2024, a fractional CSO lifted the call answer rate from 70% to 95%, and the case reports sales up 21% year over year in the first four months.

The fractional CSO page offers part-time leadership, full-time interim cover and project work, priced as a monthly retainer without a published figure. The firm says more than 2,000 businesses have used its fractional executives, across all roles.

The fractional CRO page links three case studies, including DecisionLink, an enterprise sales software company where the firm reports online revenue up 27%. The cases and most of the page's testimonials describe marketing work, and none is labeled as a fractional CRO engagement. Most services on its site are digital marketing. The page names six fractional CROs; four of them, Rich Makover, Bert Harkins, Jay Kleinman and Matt Oess, are also listed as partners on TechCXO's fractional CRO page.

It prices fractional CRO work at a standard $350 an hour, says clients typically use about 20 hours a month, and starts retainers at $7,000 for 20 hours. It says its CROs can join in as little as two weeks. Ask who contracts with the executive you would get and, because the firm also sells marketing services, whether the CRO's plan will draw on them.

Reliable Payments, a payment processor, had significant turnover in sales leadership during the pandemic, so CEO Patrick Gallagher stepped into the role and engaged Fahrenheit, the firm's 2022 case reports. The firm assessed the sales team, provided interim sales coaching during the search and ran the search itself. The case reports an experienced VP of Sales hired within three months and every key member of the sales team retained.

Fahrenheit, based in Richmond, Virginia, lists chief revenue officer, VP of business development and VP of sales among its fractional and interim roles. Its sales advisory (opens in a new tab) practice also offers go-to-market, sales process, training and executive search work. No fees are published on the pages read.

Mahdlo's case on a specialty insurer's retail partnership, which the site files under fractional CRO, says the partnership's book of business doubled during the engagement, with Mahdlo leading planning, activation and performance reviews across six functions. The client is unnamed, as are most clients in its 16 case studies.

The firm publishes its models in hours. A fractional executive works 40 to 70 hours a month on a monthly retainer; an interim leader works 60 to 100 hours a month and helps source your permanent hire; project work runs 20 to 40 hours a month for a fixed project fee. Engagements typically last 6 to 12 months and are built to hand over to your own hire or a lighter retainer, with the fee quoted per engagement. Mahdlo names its fractional CRO advisors, has a separate fractional VP of Sales (opens in a new tab) page, and agrees four or five KPIs before the work starts.

A ten-person electrical manufacturer under new ownership brought in a Sales Xceleration fractional sales leader after COVID-19 exposed its lack of a sales plan. The case reports 20% quarter-over-quarter growth in its last two quarters and a fivefold increase in pipeline over six months. It quotes chairman and CEO Pat Forbis without naming the company.

The firm places fractional VPs of Sales who apply its own sales management system, and says fewer than 0.3% of applicants qualify. It reports more than 8,000 clients served and a 20% to 30% first-year revenue increase reported by its clients, both across the firm. Its FAQ (opens in a new tab) says most engagements last 3 to 12 months and that pricing varies with scope.

TechCXO partner Matt Oess served as fractional CRO and CSO at Alliance Bus Group, a bus dealership with locations in seven states and a 50-person sales team that had no shared systems or KPIs. He standardized the sales process, built dashboards and retrained the team. The case reports more than 40% aggregate revenue growth in the following year and quotes CEO Doug Dunn; it is undated.

TechCXO has separate fractional CRO and fractional CSO (opens in a new tab) pages: a CRO for the whole revenue engine, a CSO when you have pipeline but not predictable revenue. It says its network has more than 200 partners and principals; several partners on its CRO page also appear as fractional CROs on Digital Authority Partners' site. No fees are published on the pages read.

James Costantini, COO of Kwant, says on Cultured Perspective's homepage that the team helped "revive our toxic sales culture into one that was effective and creative." Other testimonials come from the CEOs of Astor + Banks and Black With No Chaser. None says which service the client bought.

Marcus Knight founded the firm in 2020. It starts with an assessment of revenue operations, the sales process and marketing, then puts a CRO in part time to carry out the plan, and includes the fractional CRO in its growth-stage package. No prices are published on the pages read.

Paul Hemming, CEO of C-Link, a SaaS platform for the construction industry, recommends Roger Sowerbutts from "his time as Fractional CRO at C-Link." The managing director of PanRF says it engaged him at the start of 2023 for investor strategy, and then for its business plan, go-to-market and pitch decks.

Sowerbutts runs the practice himself. He lists more than 30 years in B2B sales, including at Hewlett Packard and Microsoft, and says his scale-ups and exits returned over $600 million to shareholders and founders. He belongs to the CxO Lab network of fractional executives. No prices are published.

George Ramsey, founder of Bold Music, a ten-person consumer services company, credits founder Matt Lauro and his team on the firm's homepage. "Without Matt's expertise, it wouldn't have happened," he writes. A head of product at KellyOCG, a workforce solutions company of 3,000 employees, credits Lauro's brand messaging with helping its market entry.

Fractional CRO, as the firm calls itself, is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and works with founders and presidents in staffing, professional services, IT and financial services. Clients work with Lauro or another of the fractional CROs on its team page (opens in a new tab). No prices are published on the pages read.

Next Level Revenue's fractional CRO page reports that a B2B professional services firm with three years of flat revenue grew from $3 million to $7 million over three years after bringing in a fractional CRO. Its case studies describe an executive search firm, a career development company and an IT and cybersecurity firm, none of them named.

The firm puts one CRO over both marketing and sales, working to its own Next Level Revenue System. Its service page prices the work at $8,000 to $12,000 a month, while its FAQ (opens in a new tab) says $8,000 to $10,000, so confirm the figure in your proposal.

Captivate Talent placed Cognism's first US sales hires after its Series A and later recruited leaders as the company grew. Its clients page features this and other named cases about permanent recruiting; Captivate recruits for SaaS revenue teams.

Its Boost marketplace is the fractional service. You post a project, revenue leaders pitch for it and Captivate schedules the introduction. Boost requires a minimum of two months and as little as two hours a week, and says its most successful engagements run 5 to 10 hours a week. Leaders are paid by the hour, and the company pays their market rate plus a 30% markup.

Adam Rubenstein, co-founder and CEO of Traq.ai, says on the clients page that the firm assembled a list of qualified candidates. The company hired one part time to guide the build-out of its sales team and sales process, and he gives the service "10 out of 10 stars."

Fractional-CRO is the revenue leadership practice of Vendux, launched in 2019 to match companies with fractional and interim sales leaders. It focuses on CRO, CSO and VP of Sales roles, mainly in B2B SaaS and technology, and describes a typical engagement as one to three days a week for six to eighteen months on a monthly retainer. No fees are published on the pages read.

GrowthExpert's testimonials, from co-founders of CarrotsAndCake, Lloyd and Channel, describe help with growth marketing. One of them refers to a company other than the one it is attributed to.

It is a marketplace. You post a job, GrowthExpert vets the posting, interested experts are introduced by email, and the engagement runs off the platform. Its fractional CRO and fractional VP of Sales (opens in a new tab) pages show named profiles with minimum monthly rates from $500, across sales and other growth specialties. Using it is free for companies "for a limited time only," and it gives general hourly tiers of $75 to $300 for its growth talent. GrowthExpert says its experts are double vetted by it and the GrowthMentor community; still interview the proposed leader and check references for your role.

Brandon Wasoski, CEO of Growthhub, says on RevPilots' pricing page that a fractional VP of Sales it supplied improved the company's sales process, conversion and cold outreach, and that "we're seeing record revenue." Peidi Wu, CEO of Spotter Labs, describes a fractional head of sales who managed the sales team.

RevPilots is a sales recruiter that also supplies fractional sales management, account executives and SDRs, each priced individually. Its pricing page advertises full-time recruiting at 20% to 25% and describes retained executive search as typically 25% to 35% of first-year salary, so confirm the model for a leadership hire. Its homepage (opens in a new tab) offers a 90-day replacement guarantee on hires.