How to evaluate a
fractional CMO proposal
Most fractional CMO proposals look the same. The 12 questions that separate operators from polished consultants.
Most fractional CMO proposals look the same on the surface — same hours, same R$ band, same vague mention of "strategy and execution." The differences are in the operating contract: who owns which KPIs, what the 90-day exit clause looks like, and whether the CMO will sit in your CFO meeting or just send a monthly deck. This guide gives you 12 questions in three categories — Accountability, Operating Model, Exit Conditions — to separate operators from polished consultants.
Why most CEOs choose the wrong fractional CMO
Three failure patterns recur in the Brazilian mid-market.
Pattern 1: hiring the resume. The proposal lists Globo, Itaú, Ambev. Beautiful logos. The CEO assumes Big Brand experience translates. It doesn't. Big Brand CMOs operate budgets of R$50M+, with 40-person teams and Tier-1 agencies on retainer. Mid-market is the opposite environment: R$3-8M budget, 1-3 internal headcount, no agency tower. The Big Brand CMO arrives, asks "where's the brand book?" and burns 60 days before realizing they have to actually do the work themselves. By month 4 they've quietly lost interest. Pattern 2: hiring the talker. The proposal is dense with frameworks. "Customer Lifecycle Activation Model." "Demand Generation Operating System." "Brand Equity Architecture." The first 30-day diagnostic is a 47-slide deck. The CEO reads it, feels smart, signs the renewal. Six months in, pipeline is unchanged. The CMO leaves, and the CEO realizes they bought thinking, not execution. Pattern 3: hiring the cheap one. R$8K/month. Sounds great. Twenty hours per week sounds like a lot. Then the CEO discovers the "fractional CMO" is actually a 28-year-old marketing manager renting a senior title, with no track record above R$10M revenue companies. The work shows.The 12 questions below are designed to surface all three failure patterns within a 60-minute first call.
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Category 1: Accountability (Questions 1-4)
The single most predictive question across all 12 is the first one.
1. "What revenue or pipeline number are you willing to be on the hook for at day 90, day 180, and day 365?"
Operators answer this in numbers within 30 seconds. Consultants try to redirect: "It depends on the funnel inputs," "Marketing influences but doesn't control..." That redirection is the answer.
The right shape of answer for a R$50M company:
"Day 90: weekly war room running, pipeline visibility installed, top-3 channel attribution clean. Day 180: qualified pipeline up 30-50% from baseline. Day 365: CAC down 15-25%, revenue contribution from marketing up 20-40%. If those don't move, the engagement gets re-scoped or ends."
If they refuse to commit to numbers, you're not hiring a CMO. You're hiring an advisor.
2. "Who owns CAC by channel — you or my sales/finance team?"
The fractional CMO must own CAC. Period. If they say "we'll co-own with sales," translate that as "I'll explain why CAC missed but I won't be accountable for it."
In Brazil, this question separates the senior fractional from the senior consultant in 10 seconds. The fractional says "I own it. If sales has bad data quality, I'll fix the source. If finance allocates costs differently, we'll align in week 1." The consultant says "We'll set up a steering committee."
3. "What's your weekly reporting commitment to me, the CEO, beyond the leadership meeting?"
A real fractional CMO answers: "Weekly written update, max 1 page. Three numbers, two wins, one risk, one ask. Sent Friday 5pm. You read in 90 seconds."
Anything with the words "dashboard," "automated reporting," or "Looker Studio link" without the human written context is a red flag. Dashboards are noise. The CEO needs the CMO's interpretation, not their data.
4. "Have you ever fired a marketing team member, or recommended firing one, in your last three engagements?"
This question filters for organizational courage. A senior fractional CMO will have done this in 2 of the last 3 engagements. They'll talk about it openly: "Yes. The content lead at {Client X} couldn't level up. I brought it to the CEO at month 3 with a 30-day improvement plan and a backup hire pipeline. We made the change at day 45."
If they say "I always work with the existing team and find their best version" — they're avoiding the most uncomfortable part of the job. Pass.
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Category 2: Operating Model (Questions 5-8)
5. "How many client engagements are you running right now, and what's the maximum you'll take?"
The honest answer is 2-3 active clients, with a hard cap at 4. Anyone running 5+ at "Full" engagement size is doing one of two things: lying about the time, or relying heavily on junior team members to deliver the work in their name.
Acceptable answer:
"Two Full engagements right now. One Light. I cap Full at 3, with one Light maximum on top. I block off Mondays and Tuesdays per Full client and rotate the rest. If a client needs more than that, they need a full-time hire, not me."
6. "Who else from your team will be on this engagement? What do they do, and how much of the deliverable comes from them vs. you?"
The fractional CMO model means the CMO does the senior work — strategy, governance, leadership meetings, key hire decisions, tough conversations. Junior support is fine for execution: media buying ops, content production, analytics dashboards.
The red flag is when the proposal includes a "delivery team" that does 60% of the work — you're effectively buying an agency under a fractional CMO label.
Acceptable answer:
"Just me. If we need media buying or content production capacity, you'll either hire it in-house under my supervision, or I'll bring in a vetted contractor and you'll pay them directly, not through me. I don't mark up other people's labor."
7. "What does the first 30 days look like, in deliverables, not in framework?"
Bad answer: "Diagnostic phase, stakeholder interviews, market analysis, competitive benchmarking..."
Good answer:
"Week 1: I sit in your sales meetings, finance close, and customer success review. I read your last 6 months of marketing spend and pipeline data. Week 2: I interview your last 5 won deals and last 5 lost deals. Week 3: I deliver a one-page diagnostic to you and your CFO — what's working, what's broken, what changes by month 2. Week 4: we install the operating cadence. War room with sales every Wednesday. Monthly review with leadership. Quarterly with finance. By day 30 the meetings are running themselves."
The good answer is concrete. The bad answer is process language. CEOs choose process language because it sounds rigorous. It isn't.
8. "What's your relationship with our existing agency / our existing team going to look like?"
Operators answer with a clear governance model:
"I'll audit your agency in week 2. If they're doing good work, I become their direct point of contact and tighten the brief. If they're not, I'll write a transition plan with you and your CFO before month 2. Either way, I don't run agency politics. I make a call and you back it."
Consultants give vague language: "I'll work collaboratively with your existing partners." That means six months of confused authority.
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Category 3: Exit Conditions (Questions 9-12)
9. "What does a successful exit from this engagement look like, in concrete terms?"
This is the most underrated question in the entire vetting process. A fractional CMO who plans for permanent attachment is not a fractional CMO — they're an outsourced marketing department on retainer.
The right answer:
"Two exit paths. One: in 12-18 months, you've grown to a size where a full-time CMO closes the math. I help you hire them, hand off, and exit clean. Two: in 12 months, the operation is running on rhythm with your in-house head of marketing taking the seat I created. I exit and stay as a quarterly advisor at 1/3 the cost. Either way, I plan for my own dispensability from week 1."
If the fractional CMO doesn't have an exit thesis, they're not selling you a CMO — they're selling you dependency.
10. "If after 90 days the operating cadence isn't installed, what's your refund or termination clause?"
Most proposals are silent on this. Good ones include explicit language:
- 30-day termination clause for cause
- Pro-rata refund on month 1 if diagnostic isn't delivered
- A clear "off-ramp" written into the contract: at month 3 review, either party can exit with 30 days notice and no penalty
If the proposal includes a 12-month minimum without exit conditions, you're being sold a retainer, not a partnership.
11. "What's your plan if my CFO challenges your spend allocation in month 2?"
This question tests whether the CMO will defend marketing decisions to finance — or fold under pressure.
The right answer:
"Two things. One: I'll have prepared the case before the meeting. If I'm advocating for a R$200K test budget on a new channel, the document I send your CFO 24 hours before the meeting includes assumed CAC, payback period, and the kill criteria — when we shut it down if it's not working. Two: I'll be in the room defending the case myself, not via your team. Marketing without a CFO-credible advocate gets the budget cut first."
12. "Tell me about an engagement that didn't work and why."
This is the final filter. A senior fractional CMO has had at least one engagement go sideways in the last 3 years. They'll talk about it openly:
"{Client Y}, mid-2024. CEO and founder were aligned on the math but not on the timeline. They wanted pipeline tripled in 90 days, which wasn't realistic for their funnel maturity. I told them month 2. They pushed for results faster, started running side campaigns without my input, eroded the operating cadence. We exited at month 5, both knowing it wouldn't have worked. I learned to interview the founder/CEO dynamic harder before signing."
If the candidate says "all my engagements have been successful," they're lying or they're junior. Either way, pass.
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How to use the 12 questions in practice
Don't ask all 12 in one call. The first conversation should hit 1, 5, 7, and 9 — those four cover Accountability, Operating Model, and Exit. The second conversation, after they've sent a written proposal, hits the rest.
If you only have time for one question, ask #1 ("What revenue number are you on the hook for?"). Operators answer in numbers within 30 seconds. Consultants don't.
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What a strong proposal looks like in writing
A real fractional CMO proposal for a Brazilian mid-market B2B has four pages:
- Page 1 — Diagnosis. What I observed in the discovery call, in 4-5 bullet points, in your language not mine.
- Page 2 — Engagement. Hours per week, scope, deliverables for the first 90 days, named.
- Page 3 — Numbers. What KPIs I'll be on the hook for at day 90, 180, 365. Risks and assumptions explicit.
- Page 4 — Commercial + exit. Monthly fee, payment terms, termination clauses, IP/confidentiality, exit conditions.
If the proposal you received is 30 pages of frameworks and case studies, the sender is selling a process. If it's 4 pages of operating language, you've found an operator.
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Why this matters more than the candidate's resume
In B2B mid-market Brazil, the gap between the best fractional CMO and the average one isn't experience or pedigree. It's operating philosophy. The best ones plan their own dispensability from week 1. The average ones plan their permanence.
The 12 questions above are designed to surface that distinction in 60 minutes of conversation. If the candidate flunks 3 or more, you don't have a CMO. You have a high-paid consultant in disguise — and the math will not close in 12 months.
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FAQ
What's the most predictive question to ask a fractional CMO?
Ask: 'What revenue or pipeline number are you willing to be on the hook for at day 90, day 180, and day 365?' Operators answer in numbers within 30 seconds. Consultants try to redirect with phrases like 'it depends on the funnel inputs' or 'marketing influences but doesn't control.' That redirection is the answer.
How many client engagements should a fractional CMO be running at once?
The honest answer is 2-3 active clients with a hard cap at 4. Anyone running 5+ at Full engagement size is doing one of two things: lying about the time, or relying heavily on junior team members to deliver the work in their name.
What does a strong fractional CMO proposal look like in writing?
A real fractional CMO proposal for Brazilian mid-market B2B has four pages: Page 1 — Diagnosis (what was observed in discovery, in your language). Page 2 — Engagement (hours, scope, deliverables for 90 days). Page 3 — Numbers (KPIs the CMO will be on the hook for, with risks and assumptions explicit). Page 4 — Commercial + exit (fee, terms, termination clauses, exit conditions).
What's a red flag in a fractional CMO proposal?
Three: (1) avoiding hard numbers when asked what they'll be accountable for, (2) including a 'delivery team' that does 60% of the work — that's an agency under a fractional CMO label, (3) refusing to discuss exit conditions and termination clauses.
Marcelo Russo
Fractional CMO and founder of Meu Departamento de Marketing (MDDM) since 2016. 24+ years in B2B marketing across JWT/WPP, XP Investimentos, BRF, Carrefour, Península Participações, BW8 Martech.
Top 100 Marketing Professionals in Brazil 2024 (Revista Cloudez). Author of Marketing Estratégico de Elite. Writes the bi-weekly newsletter "CMO Marcelo Russo on Marketing" on LinkedIn and Substack.
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