What is a Fractional COO and Why You Need One

Have you ever had a moment in your Agency when you wanted to confide in an executive operations partner, but realized you don’t have one?

When it comes to the day-to-day operations, there may have been certain tasks you’d like to have handed off to an operations manager or specialist so you can focus on what you do best; being the CEO of your business. In a thriving and growing business, a Chief Operating Officer (COO) ensure processes and strategies are implemented. But in a small online business, it may be tough on your budget to find support a full-time executive leader that is so needed in your time of growth.

I want to ask a very honest question, if you don’t have a COO on your team… what’s the reason?

I’ve heard my clients tell me it’s because…

• The budget for a COO is too high
• They haven’t found the right COO
• They haven’t found the right situation to bring one in

If you’re scaling and growing your small/mid-sized agency, chances are you need the help of a COO to maintain operations while you continue building your vision.

Let’s talk about a new option, the Fractional COO.

A fractional COO is someone who can bring in the expertise of an operations executive, but at a part-time or as-needs-basis.

Let’s cover what a fractional COO is and why it’s time you bring one into your agency!

Benefits of a Fractional COO

A fractional COO is a key partner in your business, providing operations-focused strategies and input on a part-time or hourly or retainer basis. They can offer executive-level leadership processes to help your agency reach its goals, whether that’s for marketing campaigns, finances, or scaling and expanding the business – think hiring a larger team!

In short, a fractional COO is there to help make sure your business is positioned for extreme maximum growth, by working through specific roadblocks, bottlenecks, and inconsistencies in the business.

But I’m not going to keep sharing about what a fractional COO is, I’d rather share what the benefits of working with one are – there are plenty!

As the CEO of your agency, it’s not ideal that you take care of all logistics, operations, and processes. You’re there to keep the vision of your business growing and continuing to expand. It’s difficult to be the visionary while also focusing on the operational tasks that need to be carried out.

So, imagine bringing in a COO that can spot trouble areas, such as…

• Understanding and reorganizing the systems that you already have in place, to continue growth and continuously convert clients.
• Deep diving into your current business operations to audit and streamline, finding opportunities to automate and scale.
• Seeing crossroads in financial branches and creating a clear road map with actionable steps to help with execution..
• Guiding and organizing different teams and groups, to maximize team synergy and improve efficiency.

And not only are these some of the benefits that a fractional COO can provide for your agency, they are also highly flexible and easy on a business’s budget. It’s one of the best ways to bring in executive-level expertise for certain hours or specific projects, at a much lower budget than hiring someone full-time.

I’ve been working as a fractional COO with my clients for the last 2 years, (and before that, in my corporate life, I was part of the senior management team responsible for operations) coming in on an hourly basis each week to check in on teams, work through the roadmap for the month, and set financial revenue goals with the CEO of the company.

I’ve seen that it is much more efficient to work with an agency in this capacity without putting any large financial burdens on their plate.

When to Hire a Fractional COO

You know, hiring a fractional COO can be a process… like most of the processes in your business.

It can be another asset to your business for a certain period of time, or a long-term investment to continuously help your business grow.

In my experience, it’s time to consider hiring a fractional COO when you hit these roadblocks:

1. You find that your time is spent managing your team and not moving the needle in your business forward.
2. You’re struggling with managing too many administrative tasks, taking away from time to grow your business and continue client outreach.
3. You want to expand your team but need help to logistically plan a successful hire.
4. You feel overwhelmed with the daily tasks that you can’t fathom how to reach the next level in your business.
5. You’re consumed with the churn of work that the client experience is being affected.

If you’re experiencing any of those – it’s time to consider hiring a fractional COO. Someone who can give your business high-level project management and organization, quarterly strategic mapping, and be your right-hand team member to strategically plan.

Get efficient and sustainable growth

One of the most important factors I focus on with each of my clients is efficient and sustainable growth. This means really digging into the internal systems of a business and working on rebuilding them to grow efficiently and sustainably.

Some questions to ask yourself if you’re deep in the churn and feel overwhelmed most days…

• What are you best at and are you doing that to grow your business?
• Where are the bottlenecks in your processes?
• What does your team need to excel in their responsibilities?

If you struggled to honestly answer any of those questions – it’s time to consider hiring a fractional COO.

Your Move

If your agency is continuously bringing in 6-7 figures of business, but you’re noticing that you’ve hit a plateau, or things are getting “wild”, a fractional COO is one of the best solutions to consider. They’re able to bring in their executive-level expertise to your business to help work through the roadblocks, help manage the overwhelm, and strategically plan to help you move forward.

Ready to bring in a fractional COO? Here are some things to consider:

1. Are you ready to hand off managing tasks to your COO and focus on where you excel in business as the CEO?
2. Do you want to get your time back to focus on sales, developing products/offerings, or other areas, and have your fractional COO manage your team?
3. Are you prepared to do the work and strategically plan to move your business forward for efficient and sustainable growth?

Come over to our Free Exclusive Community where you can find support from other CEOs on the same journey.