Fractional Sales Director or a chief revenue officer?
The short answer: a fractional Sales Director brings the judgement for part of a week; a chief revenue officer brings something different that is often confused with it. Here is what each one actually owns, what they cost on the same basis, and when to pick the other one.
What a chief revenue officer actually is
A revenue chief: one person owning marketing, sales and retention together, so the number they answer for is the whole commercial line rather than new business alone.
What each one owns
| A fractional Sales Director | A chief revenue officer |
|---|---|
| New business: pipeline, pricing, and the team that closes it | Marketing, sales and retention answering to one person |
| The forecast, and whether the number in it is real | The handover between them, which is where revenue usually leaks |
| Hiring and coaching salespeople | Pricing and packaging across the whole commercial motion |
| What gets sold, to whom, at what discount | One forecast rather than three that disagree |
What neither of them does
Neither fixes a product the market does not want. A wider remit finds that out across more functions at once, which is faster and more expensive.
How each one fails
The fractional Sales Director: Being held to a revenue number while marketing and retention report somewhere else, which is accountability without the levers.
A chief revenue officer: Being appointed over functions that have no leaders yet, so a strategic seat spends its days running campaigns and renewals personally.
What they cost, on the same basis
A fractional Sales Director charges £700 to £1,300 a day, and most engagements run one to three days a week. The same shape as any fractional seat, days a week against a day rate, because at this size it is usually the same person taking a wider remit rather than a different market. The monthly and annual arithmetic for the fractional side, against a full-time equivalent, is on the cost page for this seat.
Pick a chief revenue officer when
- Marketing and sales already disagree about what a lead is
- Retention and expansion matter as much as new business
- You have leaders in each function and need one person over them
We would rather say that plainly than win an engagement that was the wrong shape. Nobody pays us to list on the bench, so there is nothing in it for us either way.
When you want both
Rarely at the same time, and usually a sequence: a sales director while new business is the constraint, a wider revenue remit once the other functions exist to coordinate.
Common questions
Is a fractional Sales Director cheaper than a chief revenue officer?
On a like-for-like basis it usually is, because you buy the days you need rather than all of them. A fractional Sales Director runs £700 to £1,300 a day, most often one to three days a week. The same shape as any fractional seat, days a week against a day rate, because at this size it is usually the same person taking a wider remit rather than a different market. But cheaper is the wrong question if the work genuinely needs the other one.
When should I pick a chief revenue officer instead?
Marketing and sales already disagree about what a lead is Retention and expansion matter as much as new business You have leaders in each function and need one person over them
Can I have both?
Rarely at the same time, and usually a sequence: a sales director while new business is the constraint, a wider revenue remit once the other functions exist to coordinate.