While hiring a fractional Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) typically costs about 75% less than hiring an in-house CRO, it still requires a significant investment of time and money. However, the best fractional CROs have the skills, experience, and acumen needed to act as shrewd revenue advisors, helping their clients to achieve profitable revenue growth that is sustainable over the long-term, justifying their cost many times over. In fact, when the relationship is managed correctly, fractional CRO services can effectively align sales and marketing functions to generate significant revenue growth over both short-term and long-term planning horizons.

Of course, that begs the question, “How do I manage a fractional CRO partnership well?”

Outsourcing of various functions is not a new topic; it has been a trend for 20 years or more. It really started with the idea of sticking to a company’s ‘core competencies’ and outsourcing (or just getting rid of) things outside core competencies. What I’m talking about here is true outsourcing, not just making employees contractors to try and avoid payroll taxes and HR compliance issues.

Any function can be outsourced. I’ve heard of virtual companies that have only one employee, and that employee is the CEO and owner of the business. In the case I’m thinking about, the owner had outsourced product design, manufacturing, distribution, marketing, sales and accounting. I guess the ultimate step would be to find a company that offered outsourced CEO services and outsource that too.