Episode 11 – Help is on the Way

Rokture Ramblings – Episode 11 – Help is on the Way

Hello everyone and welcome to Rokture Ramblings, where I discuss topics around digital 

marketing, marketing technology, and marketing operations for the financial services industry. 

My name is Fernando Pena and I’m the founder of Rokture, where I can help you master the digital 

channel. So today’s topic is a little bit of self -promotion, but basically what it has to do 

with is that why would you hire a fractional executive like myself to do the type of work that 

needs to be done within your organization? And this is a valid question as it’s a question that 

I get many times. And so what I thought I’d do is just a quick video and a quick overview of why I 

believe that my services would be beneficial to your organization. So what I’ll be going over 

today is coming into a new company as a leader, what you might be promised. Second part is what 

you realize really is taking place once you take a look under the covers of your organization. 

How a fractional executive can help, the benefits  

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of that hired help, and also where do you go next when it comes to making that decision. So let’s 

go ahead and get started.  

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So as a new CEO, or even as an existing CEO, when you’re within an organization, oftentimes what 

you’re promised or what’s reported to you is very different than the reality of what you see. 

Many times you’re given a sort of overview that the products are well -defined and so are the 

services and the resources that are needed to succeed are there. They just need to be pushed 

in the right direction. Also that you have a receptive board and staff that’s willing to make 

whatever change needs to be made in order to succeed. The processes that exist are efficient 

and the procedures are also in place to make sure there’s guardrails around those processes 

and they just require a little bit of refinement in order to really see the light shine there. 

And also you have budget that’s allocated and properly budgeted towards specific initiatives 

and it’s available for business growth. Now unfortunately what happens is the reality of it 

is that you look behind the covers and you have a bit of a disaster.  

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So in this photo here, you see that there is a single telephone pole that’s almost salvageable, 

but not quite. And some companies unfortunately do look this way, where it appears that maybe 

something might be salvageable, but that might not be the case. But what the CEO realizes then 

is that there are a number of changes that need to be made and it’s overwhelming in many cases. 

The leaders that are in place right now unfortunately cannot see the obvious. So there might 

be an answer sitting right in front of them, but just because of the fact that they’ve sort of 

been in the weeds and they maybe have done things a certain way for an extended period of time, 

they’re not able to see this change that is very visible to anybody from the outside. Process 

and productivity are much worse than anticipated and require extensive revisions. So not 

just these little subtle refinements or tweaks, they require a complete rework. Budget forecasts 

are flawed and allocations are unclear. This is pretty critical  

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because of the fact that unfortunately to grow many organizations, you do require a healthy 

budget. And if this is something that is not properly allocated, then that will have a negative 

impact on your organization. And then probably the most important is that the skill set that 

is necessary for positive growth is not available within the existing resources. So this is 

an issue that is easily resolved by bringing in a fractional executive. So the fractional is 

to the rescue. Now, we’re not all supermen, only some of us, but we can get a lot done that unfortunately 

internal resources cannot. So even if you were to hire a new CMO, there’s a certain expectation 

that that CMO has to really align very closely with the culture and also maybe not take the type 

of risks that are needed in order to drive change within that organization. Now, it’s not to 

say that a fractional CMO can’t align with the culture and really assimilate very well. We, 

in fact, can and we adapt to those situations. But  

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sometimes as an outsider, you’re able to make decisions and able to advocate on certain things 

that an internal staff member cannot. And that’s one of the reasons why a lot of companies bring 

in consultants, for example, is to make those tough decisions. But unlike a consulting company 

or an agency, it’s not just a project based engagement. This is something that is more long term. 

I mean, it could be as short as a few months, but it could span longer even to a period of years. 

But the CMO or the fractional executive becomes an integral part of that team. They’re just 

not there full time, but they are still being able to contribute in ways that are really unmeasurable 

in many instances. The great thing about a fractional CMO is that the onboarding is quick. So 

if you need someone and you need to make your numbers for an upcoming quarter or an upcoming year, 

then bringing in a fractional is a great way to do so. And that’s because you’re able to skip the 

whole benefits negotiation. You’re  

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able to skip the equity and the other complex compensation reviews, etc. So this is basically 

an expense. And as a result of that, then you have the ability to make decisions more quickly. 

You also have the availability of an extensive resource pool. So there’s only so many full time 

CMOs that are out there. And unfortunately, pilfering one from another organization is complicated. 

And there’s a lot of discussion around, again, the things that I mentioned before, compensation 

and just working environment. With a fractional, it’s like going to the store and buying a good 

or a service that is purchased. You’re able to shop around. You’re able to find something that 

is to your liking, make that purchase. And in many instances, you have not a receipt, but you 

have some sort of guarantee or understanding that the services that are being promised or the 

expectations that are set are going to be met. As I mentioned before, the expense for a fractional 

CMO doesn’t reflect as negatively on the balance  

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seats because it is an expense. So it’s a service and it’s not a cost of a resource or an employee 

that is within your organization. And then unlike the consulting or the agency, the thought 

process behind a fractional and the engaging with one is more strategic. So it’s more so let’s 

think about what needs to be done long term because this is going to be a long term relationship. 

And let’s try to make sure that we’re evolving towards those strategic goals and also the expectations 

of what that organization is setting out to do. So it’s not a project based or a finite income 

and outcome. It’s really just based on what that company needs to do and how does that fractional 

help to accomplish those objectives.  

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So what are the benefits of the hired help? I did touch upon a few of them in the previous slide, 

but honestly, I could have made this slide three or four pages long because there are a lot of 

benefits to hiring a fractional executive. First off is that you get access to an experienced 

executive at the fraction of a cost. So if you think about the fact that a lot of executives are 

being paid X amount, a fractional oftentimes end up being maybe a third of that amount. And of 

course, this is all dependent upon what is being requested and how much you normally pay your 

executives. But what you’re looking at here is that oftentimes the contribution of this executive, 

even on a part time basis, will more than pay for the expense involved. And many of us have frameworks 

and we have plans in place that we can prove that this is what’s going to happen and predict what 

will take place. The other thing, too, is that you have the benefit of that third party advisory 

and advocacy. So as I mentioned  

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before, with a an employee that is coming in and becomes a part of the leadership team, there’s 

a there’s a risk in sort of making decisions that are going to impact the organization. But when 

you have a third party making those recommendations, sometimes it’s a little bit more palatable 

and easier to provide that update when it comes from someone outside of the company. There’s 

a positive reward to risk in the equation here when you’re looking at a hiring a fractional as 

with a leader, a part of the leadership team. It takes a lot to push them out of the door if they’re 

not performing satisfactorily with an executive that is on a fractional basis. On the other 

hand, you’re just able to discontinue that contract. And at that point, everybody goes their 

separate ways. You don’t have equity to pay out. You don’t have options to pay out or anything 

else like that. It’s just a clean sort of break if that’s what is desired. You also have the ability 

to think outside of the existing role boundaries.  

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So although you may be hiring, like, let’s say, a CMO. So, for example, when I go into an organization, 

oftentimes what I find is that marketing may not be the only issue that they have. And there’s 

other operational inefficiencies that need to be addressed as well. So even though the role 

may call for a quote unquote CMO, in reality, you’re bringing in an experienced executive that 

is able to make decisions that are going to better the entire organization. You also get an introduction 

to more comprehensive strategies. So, again, you’re bringing in someone with outside ideas, 

experiences, maybe new outside of the industry. And so that all helps, absolutely, to make 

sure that you are leveraging the best sort of tactics and strategies that you can to succeed. 

Then you have proven playbooks, processes and results. So this is a big one, because since we’ve 

done this many times before, you’re getting sort of the best of all worlds here. And as a result 

of that, instead of wasting time trying  

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to get a CMO or another executive up to speed, we’re going to come in with proven processes that 

we can just plug in whatever needs to happen. Of course, we can modify it because every situation 

is unique. But the framework itself is pretty much repeatable. And in that case, then we can 

get to results that much faster. Huge benefit and one that I think is lost oftentimes when organizations 

are thinking about what to do when it comes to acquiring talent for their leadership team.  

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So what next? Determine your overall strategies and goals. What are you trying to do? What are 

you trying to accomplish? If that’s too much, then hire a fractional to help with that initiative 

as well. It needs to be very clearly defined as far as what you’re trying to do so that you can make 

sure that you are leading everything into the right direction. And again, this is something 

where a fractional executive can help you with this definition and get to a point where you can 

determine what success really is. Next is pick up the phone. Email works, of course, but ultimately 

you’re going to have to have a conversation with this fractional executive. And oftentimes 

by phone is the most effective way to find out if they’re speaking the same language as you are 

and that they have the same goals and expectations and make sure you’ve got a great working relationship. 

There’s going to be some some trying times in getting a company turned around to succeed or to 

really achieve those growth targets  

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that have been put forth in front of you. So make sure that you’ve got a great rapport with that 

individual and that you’re ready to do business and get to what needs to be done. And then once 

engaged, set those internal expectations so that the fractional can do what they need to do. 

One of the risks here is that sometimes when you have a specific line of business or department 

that is pushing for a new executive, if it doesn’t seem like the CEO or the rest of the leadership 

team is completely aligned, then whatever that fractional or that team tries to to push forth 

may not necessarily get a lot of traction. So the CEO does have to define that this is an important 

process and this is an important project and and give that fractional all the support that he 

needs. Ultimately, the fractional will do what they need to do, but they just need that advocacy 

from the CEO to make sure that everybody understands that we’re serious about change and transformation. 

And so therefore give this fractional  

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CMO the the runway needed and and let them make the decisions that need to be made. So that’s my 

spiel, my little sales pitch there. But if any of this sounds interesting to you or if you do find 

that you’re running into some challenges and can use expert advice, please reach out to me here 

in this slide. You have all my contact information. Love to have a discussion, even if it doesn’t 

net into an engagement. We will still both be better off after having that discussion. So thank 

you so much for listening. Until the next time with the next topic. Have a great day. Bye bye.