- Heather Ransome
- Jul 11, 2023
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 30, 2023
Hiring for an executive position can be an extensive, time-consuming process. Crafting a compelling job description, advertising the opening, conducting multiple rounds of interviews, and handling onboarding can leave you drained. Despite these efforts, it can feel like finding the right candidate is akin to searching for a needle in a haystack. Maybe the organization will get lucky and find The One. Most of the time they wind up hiring Someone that is good enough because they have used so many resources, they are fatigued and running out of time. Then, shocker, that Someone turns out not to be the right fit. They have invested weeks and months of training into this person. The board isn't pleased that work is stalled and that mistakes were made. It's hard to swallow when so much time and resources have been spent. The process of starting over can feel daunting, and the organization has missed some important benchmarks.
"This sounds familar. But why should I hire a fractional executive?"
In the above scenario, if the organization would have embraced the more popular than ever fractional hiring model, hiring an executive on a part-time, contract basis, there would have been a much shorter runway to get to work and see results, and would have avoided the uncomfortable HR meetings trying to figure out how to let Someone go. In the fractional world, if a first candidate doesn't work out, it's easier to part ways and find a better fit without the guilt of a significant investment. Embracing a fractional hiring model can save you time, energy, and money, and can ultimately lead to better results for your business.
"I get it, but isn't a Fractional Executive just a fancy word for a consultant?"
Not really. A fractional executive is supplying knowledge, experience, and wisdom like a consultant, but they are leaders in their own right and are typically working more directly with your teams inside the organization on multiple levels. Consultants are typically working with a few key members in leadership as advisors, or on special projects. For example, in the case of the Fractional Sales Leader role, Heather may assist at the executive level on strategy. She could be putting a Proven Repeatable Sales Process (PRSP) in place, creating or adjusting product or service pricing models, comp plans, forecasts, marketing, affiliate programs, and strategic partnerships while also leading the sales team at large and perhaps working with the individual sales professionals as a performance coach.
"But that sounds like a full-time position. Why wouldn't I hire someone like Heather as an employee?" It sounds like a lot, but when you hire a person that offers their Experience as a Service as a free agent, they come prepared and bring a lot of these tools pre-built that just need to be customized to fit your organization. Every organization is unique, and maybe some of the upfront work will take a little more time, but any good fractional executive will tell you, that there is a point in time when, if they did their job right, they are not needed on a full-time basis. That frees up the organization to use their HR spend on another aspect of the company that may need development, or even better, seeing better profit margins due to a lower cost of labor.
"How do I know that I need a Fractional Sales Leader at all? My organization has a small sales team."
Most sales teams that are best suited for these services have about 1-10 sales professionals on the team. Sometimes there is an existing VP or Sales Manager that needs some extra support, but most often her services are sought out to take stress off of those that may be pulling double duty as the organization's sales leader, like a CEO/Owner or VP. How will you know though? Remember we mentioned those tools that fractional execs already have in existence that they bring to the table? I have a system of assessing your organization to see if a fractional sales executive is even needed at all. This is a one-time cost, no-obligation audit that will also be a great way for you to get to know me and see if she is a Someone or The One Fractional Executive that you need to hire.