Questions operators ask
Straight answers before you book.
These are the questions presidents, founders and PE-backed CEOs ask me most often, usually in the first few minutes of a working conversation. If yours isn't here, bring it to one.
The role
What does a fractional CMO do for a home services company?
The same things a full-time CMO does, sized to what your company needs. I set the marketing direction, decide where the money goes across channels, partners and markets, run the agencies and vendors, and report to you or your board in signed contracts rather than leads.
Underneath that is one job: getting every source, partner and number onto one clear read of spend and return, so the whole picture makes sense and decisions can be defended.
How is that different from hiring a marketing agency?
An agency is built to execute its piece of the work, and many do it well. It isn't built to judge its own results against your other partners, or to recommend you spend less with it. A fractional CMO sits on your side of the table and holds every agency and vendor to the same read.
I built and sold an agency before I became the client hiring them, so I know how to get the best from one. Keeping a good agency is often a better outcome than switching.
When does a full-time CMO make more sense?
When marketing needs a leader every hour of every week, and the budget carries a senior salary, benefits and equity. That's usually a larger company, or one running several brands at once. Many $20M to $100M contractors aren't there yet, and a fractional CMO gives them the leadership without the hire. When a company outgrows the fractional seat, I help hire the person who takes it. How to decide.
Will you replace our marketing manager?
No. I work alongside the people you have, never around them. Often the right shape is working alongside the marketing leader you already have, so they stay the one you rely on and have an experienced hand on agencies, partners and systems.
Working together
How much of the week will you spend with us?
As much as the work needs. That's set once I know the situation: a company in the middle of an acquisition needs more than one with a steady plan. You get the scope before you commit to anything.
How is an engagement priced?
Scoped and priced upfront, with a defined finish line. There are no timeframes until the situation is known. Once it is, you see exactly what's included and what it costs before anything starts.
What are the three ways you work?
Diagnose, when you need an answer: a clear read on spend, sources and partners. Build, when the system you need doesn't exist yet: lead sources and CRM structure, follow-up, and the tools your reps use, including bringing acquired brands under one structure. Lead, when you need a leader: the fractional CMO seat, or working alongside your marketing leader. Each one is complete on its own. How each one works.
What do you need from our team to start?
Access to the systems, and working sessions with the people who run marketing, sales and the CRM. For the seat, the access a leader in it would have and a standing line to the CEO. For a build, a named owner on your side who will run it afterward.
Who owns the work when we're done?
You own every output: reports, lead-source structures, dashboards, documents. I keep my frameworks and methods.
Fit
Which trades do you work with?
My deepest work is in roofing and storm restoration. The system underneath those, lead sources, the call center, kept appointments and follow-up, is the same for any contractor whose reps sell in the home: windows, siding, HVAC replacement and remodeling. Industries.
Do you work with PE-backed companies?
Yes. I've been the CMO reporting to a PE-backed CEO, and I've worked through roll-ups where acquired brands each had their own lead sources and systems. Marketing for PE-backed companies.
Will you name our company or share our numbers?
No. Every figure on this site describes a company by its scale, never its name, and I don't name sponsors or clients in public. That's how I'll treat yours.
Where are you based?
Orlando, Florida. I work with home services companies across the US, in person when the work calls for it.
What happens in the working conversation?
Thirty minutes on the conditions in your business: the challenges in front of you, the resources you have today, and a plan worth committing to. If I'm not the right answer, I'll say so, and point you somewhere better if I can.
Still have a question? Ask it in person.
Book a working conversation →Thirty minutes. You'll leave with a straight answer on where to look first.