The engagement model
You should never wait a quarter to find out whether it is working.
Everything below is agreed before a contract is signed: the time commitment, the outcomes, the checkpoints, and how the engagement ends. No discovery at renewal.
In short: I embed two to three days a week for a minimum of three months, reporting to the founder or CEO rather than to a committee. A written diagnosis lands inside the first fortnight. Outcomes and checkpoints are agreed before the engagement begins, reviewed weekly, and measured at thirty, sixty and ninety days.
The commitment
Two to three days a week. That is the level at which a fractional executive can own a commercial agenda rather than comment on it.
Below two days the role becomes advisory. You get opinions instead of decisions, and nothing moves between sessions because nobody is carrying the work. Above three days you are approaching the fully-loaded cost of a permanent hire without the permanence — at which point a permanent hire is the better answer and I will tell you so.
The reporting line matters as much as the days
I report to the founder or CEO. Not to a committee, not to a board sub-group, and not through another executive. Commercial decisions need one decision-maker in the room, and an engagement structured to require consensus produces recommendations rather than change.
The first ninety days
Week 1–2
Diagnosis
Pipeline data, conversion by stage, channel economics, team structure and martech assessed. Conversations with you, with sales, and with a sample of customers. You receive a written diagnosis and a prioritised roadmap — not a deck.
Month 1
Quick wins
Unattributable spend stopped. Messaging sharpened. Metrics baselined. Definitions agreed with sales in writing. Visible movement inside thirty days, most of it from stopping rather than starting.
Month 2–3
Execution
Strategy in market. Pipeline building. Attribution instrumented. Weekly review against the outcomes agreed at the start, with the numbers visible to you and to the board.
Month 4+
Scale or hand over
Scale what works, cut what does not. Engagements extend because results are visible — or conclude with a handover that leaves the function running without me.
What you get, and what you do not
| You get | You do not get |
|---|---|
| An executive who owns the commercial number and sits in your leadership team | An adviser who recommends and leaves you to implement |
| A written diagnosis and operating plan you keep regardless of what happens next | A slide deck presented once and never opened again |
| Outcomes and checkpoints agreed before the contract | A retainer with deliverables defined as activity |
| Direct work with your team, your sales function and your board | A layer between you and the work |
| A function documented well enough to run without me | A dependency that makes the next renewal inevitable |
How it is measured
Outcomes are written down before the engagement starts. Which ones depends on the constraint we identified, but they are always commercial rather than operational:
- Pipeline generated — against a definition sales has agreed to in writing
- Revenue influenced — attributable, not estimated
- Cost per qualified opportunity — the efficiency number that survives board scrutiny
- Conversion by stage — so improvement can be located rather than assumed
- Investor readiness — where a raise is in scope
Checkpoints at thirty, sixty and ninety days. If the numbers are not moving, that is a conversation we have at the checkpoint, not something you discover at renewal.
On commercials
Monthly retainer, priced against days committed rather than hours worked — because what you are buying is ownership of an outcome, not time. It sits materially below the fully-loaded cost of a permanent executive at the same seniority, with no equity, no notice period and no search fee. I price after scoping, because the right structure depends on what is actually being bought.
How it ends
Deliberately, and with a handover. The three usual endings are a transition to a permanent CMO I have helped recruit, a step down to advisory hours once the function is stable, or a defined sunset when the work is done.
In every case you keep the operating plan, the agreed metrics and dashboards, the documented processes, the team structure and the vendor relationships. An engagement that leaves a business more dependent than it found it has failed, whatever the numbers looked like while it was running.
Whether we are a fit
A fit if
- You want to delegate the commercial agenda, not supervise it more efficiently
- You decide fast when the data supports it
- You are prepared to let someone senior make calls you would have made yourself
- Your board accepts that marketing drives revenue
- You can commit to three months minimum
Not a fit if
- The strategy is already decided and you need execution
- You are choosing on price
- You need to approve individual decisions
- The engagement would report into a committee
- You want a report rather than a change in the numbers
Common questions
Questions about the engagement
How many days a week does a fractional CMO work?
Two to three days a week is the usual commitment for genuine commercial ownership. Below two days the role becomes advisory — you get opinions rather than decisions, and the work does not move between sessions.
Above three days you are approaching the cost of a full-time hire without the permanence, which usually means a full-time hire is the better answer.
What is the minimum engagement length for a fractional CMO?
Three months. Anything shorter produces a diagnosis without a rebuild.
The first fortnight establishes what is actually wrong, the first month delivers quick wins, and months two and three are where structural change becomes measurable. Ending at week six means paying for the analysis and none of the benefit.
How much does a fractional CMO cost in the UK?
Fractional CMO engagements in the UK typically run on a monthly retainer priced against days committed rather than an hourly rate, because the value is in ownership rather than time.
Expect it to sit materially below the fully-loaded cost of a permanent executive at the same seniority, with no equity, notice period or search fee. I price per engagement after scoping, because the right structure depends on the outcome being bought.
How do you measure whether a fractional CMO engagement is working?
Against outcomes agreed in writing before the engagement starts: pipeline generated, revenue influenced, CAC movement, conversion by stage, and investor-readiness where relevant.
Checkpoints are set at thirty, sixty and ninety days. If those numbers are not moving, the engagement is not working — and that should be a visible conversation rather than a discovery at renewal.
What happens when a fractional CMO engagement ends?
A proper handover: a written operating plan, agreed metrics and dashboards, documented processes, the team structure, and vendor relationships.
The most common endings are a transition to a permanent CMO the fractional executive helped recruit, a step down to advisory hours, or a defined sunset once the function runs independently. An engagement that leaves a business more dependent has failed.
Next
Next step
Start with the free audit.
Thirty minutes. I will identify the single biggest commercial constraint in your business and give you three things to act on — whether we work together or not.
Book your free audit30 minutes · No pitch · Actionable regardless of outcome