They sound similar and get mixed up all the time. Hiring the wrong one is expensive, so here is the plain-English difference and how to choose.
Written by Michelle Terpstra, founder of Revenue Rascals · Updated November 2026
A VP of Sales runs the sales team: hiring reps, managing the pipeline and hitting the number. A Chief Revenue Officer owns everything that brings revenue in: product-market fit, marketing, sales and repeat business. Hire a VP of Sales when your go-to-market system works and needs someone to run it. Bring in a fractional CRO when the system itself needs to be designed or fixed.
| Fractional CRO | VP of Sales | |
|---|---|---|
| Owns | The whole revenue engine: offer, marketing, sales and retention | The sales team and the sales number |
| Main job | Design the go-to-market system and get it working | Run and grow a sales process that already works |
| Best when | Growth has stalled and you are not sure why, or everything still runs through the founder | You have product-market fit, a repeatable sale and need more capacity and management |
| Time | Part-time, alongside your leadership team | Usually full-time |
| Typical cost | $5,000 to $25,000 a month | A full-time executive salary plus commission and benefits |
| Hands off to | A sales leader and team once the system runs | Their own managers and reps |
A common path is to bring in a fractional CRO to design the go-to-market system, build the sales team structure and hiring plan, then hire a sales leader to run it. That way you hire the VP of Sales into a system that works, instead of asking them to build one while also hitting a number.
A fractional CRO is also different from a fractional CFO or CEO. A CFO owns your finances and a CEO runs the whole company. A CRO owns everything that brings revenue in.
Not every business needs a full CRO engagement yet. Here are three ways to get that thinking, from mentorship to an executive on your team.
Mentorship or advisory to build your revenue plan and work it every week, with a small crew doing the same. Team members can join too.
Hands-on, 90 days: we design the team, install the sales operating system, and help you hire and coach the right people so sales run without you.
Michelle joins your leadership team to own product-market fit, marketing, sales and repeat business, and leads the go-to-market engine herself.
Usually, yes. In companies that have both, the VP of Sales often reports to the CRO, who also oversees marketing and customer success.
A fractional CRO typically runs $5,000 to $25,000 a month, compared with $300,000 or more a year for a full-time CRO. You can hire Michelle as your fractional CRO on a retainer, rev share or equity.
A part-time sales leader who manages the team and pipeline without a full-time salary. It is a good fit when the system works and you need management, not design.
If your strategy is solid and you need someone to run daily sales activity, hire a sales manager. If growth has stalled and you are not sure why, or everything still runs through you, you need the system designed first. That is a CRO’s job.
Yes. Designing the team, writing role scorecards and building the hiring framework are part of the work, so the sales leader you hire walks into a system that already works.