Fractional Chief Commercial Officer
Turning Commercial
Strategy Into
Measurable
Growth
B2B · SaaS · Startups · Scale-ups · UK-based
I build the commercial engine that funded startups and established B2B businesses need - from ICP design to pipeline architecture, strategy to hands-on execution. No proposals. No hand-holding. Just commercially focused growth, delivered.
Sound familiar?
The problems I’m brought in to solve
Funded Startups
- You’ve raised funding, but your commercial strategy isn’t converting
- You’re doing sales yourself and it’s holding the business back
- Investors want a GTM roadmap and you don’t have one yet
- You have a product. You don’t have a repeatable pipeline
Established SMEs
- Revenue has plateaued and nobody quite knows why
- Marketing and sales are disjointed, with friction between teams
- BD investment promised a lot and hasn’t delivered
- You’re winning customers but not growing them
Sound familiar? These are exactly the problems I’m brought in to fix.
Some of the results delivered by Helen
Who I work with
Two types of business. One approach.
Startups & Scale-ups
Funded B2B Startups
Post-seed to Pre-Series A
Your product is built or building. You’ve got funding. What you don’t yet have is the commercial architecture that turns that funding into pipeline. I work with technical, complex B2B and SaaS businesses where the sale takes real understanding of the buyer’s world, and a properly structured approach to get there.
Find out how I help startups →Stressed SMEs
Established B2B Businesses
£10–30M Turnover
You’ve built something real. But somewhere between £5M and £30M, the original commercial model stopped working. Revenue’s flat, BD isn’t delivering what it promised, and the business is behind on digital go-to-market. I come in and redesign the commercial engine for what comes next.
Find out how I help SMEs →About Helen
Commercial
Leader.
Hands-on.
Real results.
Helen Forsyth is a fractional Chief Commercial Officer (fractional CCO) based in the UK, specialising in B2B go-to-market strategy, pipeline growth, and commercial transformation. With 25+ years of experience across B2B sales strategy and revenue execution, she has worked with more than 28 UK businesses since 2014, from pre-revenue B2B SaaS startups to £30M-turnover SMEs, building commercial functions from scratch and delivering measurable pipeline growth.
She is a Non-Executive Director at The RoundView, a science-based sustainability framework, and is based in Devon. Outside work, she is an open-water swimmer who completed a relay crossing of the English Channel, a former school governor, and a supporter of domestic violence charities.
She’s driven by the belief that great commercial strategy should leave something behind: businesses that grow, teams that get better, and founders who can sleep at night.
Free resources
Take something useful away
For founders · Diagnostic
Is Your Startup Commercially Ready?
A 10-point checklist to assess the strength of your commercial foundations before you scale. Takes five minutes. Saves you months.
Download Free ChecklistFor founders · Methodology
The Five-Stage GTM Framework
The exact framework I use with every startup client - from Purpose to OKRs. A practical guide to building a go-to-market strategy that actually converts.
Download Free FrameworkThought leadership · Strategy
Why Your Startup Doesn’t Need a Sales Director Yet
The instinct to hire a senior salesperson is understandable. It’s also usually wrong at this stage. Here’s what you actually need first.
Read Free GuideClient voices
What clients say
“The strategy we undertook tripled the qualified sales leads, and halved our marketing costs, in 12 months.”
Luxury B2B Supplier
“Helen revolutionised our sales and marketing. I hate to think of where we might be now if we hadn’t done this when we did.”
T2 Construction Contractor
“Helen excels in giving strategic direction and also possesses the ability and enthusiasm to work hands-on, and build the pipeline, engaging with clients and assisting wherever required.”
Jack Johnston, CEO - AuditBot
Thought leadership
Ideas worth reading
AI Startups · Pricing Strategy
Price Growth and Brand Experience for AI Startups
The greatest risk for AI-first startups isn’t failure to perform. It’s that another AI startup will come along later and do the same thing cheaper, faster, and better.
Finding the elusive balance between predictable pricing for customers and aligning fees with value created is no small feat. Many SaaS models are not designed for the dynamism and acceleration we’re seeing in AI-first businesses.
Brand loyalty and user experience are mission-critical from day one. Even if your AI product is near-perfect, if something better or cheaper comes along, loyalty will waver. Sales and Customer Success teams, combined with a continuous improvement programme, are the differentiators that will keep clients engaged.
Key trends to watch:
- Pricing models need to reflect the full brand experience, not just product performance
- Sales and Customer Success will be crucial value creators, not cost centres
- Brand experience will overtake brand identity in importance
- Sniper, relationship-driven sales tactics will outperform traditional mass marketing
Pricing Strategy · Growth
Why Pricing Is Your Most Underrated Growth Lever
Pricing is one of the fastest and most powerful ways to drive profitability and fuel long-term growth - yet it remains one of the most neglected areas across most industries.
A McKinsey study found that a 1% improvement in pricing can result in an 11% increase in operating profits. No other business lever delivers that kind of impact so quickly, yet pricing often remains static for years at a time.
The most common mistakes: cost-plus pricing that ignores customer value, copying competitors without understanding their strategy, fear of change, and overcomplicating the offer.
Smart pricing strategies:
- Value-based pricing: ask “what is this worth to my customer?” not “what does it cost me?”
- Psychological pricing: anchoring, charm pricing, and good/better/best tiers guide decisions
- Tiered pricing: serve a wider range without diluting your brand
Pricing is not something you do once and move on from. It should be an ongoing part of how you think about business growth.
Commercial Strategy · Leadership
How to Bridge the Gap Between Sales, Marketing & Growth
Marketing generates leads but sales says they’re not good enough. Sales isn’t closing but marketing says it’s their fault. This problem isn’t just frustrating - it’s costing you money.
The root cause is that sales and marketing teams often operate in silos. Marketing is judged on the number of leads, while sales is judged on deals closed. There’s no shared ownership of the full customer journey.
A CCO is designed to bring cohesion between sales and marketing and drive growth. Unlike a CMO (who focuses on brand and awareness) or a VP Sales (who focuses on closing), a CCO takes responsibility for the entire revenue cycle - from lead generation to retention to upsell.
How a CCO solves the problem: diagnose where the breakdown is happening, align sales and marketing goals, streamline processes, optimise the customer journey, and foster collaboration with shared KPIs.
Scale-ups · GTM
Scale-ups: How to Avoid Expensive Distractions
In any business looking for growth, gut instinct is really useful. The challenge is making it more than a feeling, and turning it into an actionable, measurable plan.
One of the most frequent missteps in scale-up GTM environments is the knee-jerk reaction to new stimulus - especially if the inspiration came from an investor. Without a properly roadmapped plan, you end up zigging and zagging, which uses a lot of time and energy and doesn’t get you much further forward.
The gut/plan/gut sandwich: Listen to the gut instinct. Then research, develop, and plan how you might act on it - including OKRs so you can measure and evaluate the decision efficiently. Then back to gut instinct for the messy, creative execution that brings ideas to life.
Using this approach enables a team to momentarily slow down in order to ultimately go faster. And forward, not sideways.
FAQ
Questions founders actually ask
What is a fractional CCO, and how is it different from a full-time hire?
+A fractional CCO is a self-employed senior commercial leader who works within your business on a part-time or project basis. The difference from a full-time hire isn’t just cost - it’s experience. Because fractionals work across multiple businesses simultaneously, they’ve encountered a far broader range of commercial challenges, growth environments, and team dynamics than most full-time hires ever will.
You get all the skill, seniority, and judgment of a seasoned CCO without the salary, employment costs, or the risk of a wrong full-time hire. For a startup at your stage, that combination is usually more valuable than the full-time alternative.
How long does a typical engagement last?
+Most engagements run between 12 and 24 months. The first 90 days focus on building the commercial framework and establishing what works. After that, the work shifts to scaling what’s proven.
Engagements typically end when the business has grown to the point where a full-time commercial hire makes more financial sense. At which point I’d be the first to recommend it - and I’d help you recruit the right person.
How quickly can you start, and what does the first month look like?
+I’m usually available to start within three months, depending on current commitments. Before any engagement begins, I offer a free workshop - not a pitch, but a working session where we tackle a real commercial problem you’re currently facing.
If I can solve it and we enjoy working together, you already know the fit is right. If not, you’ve saved yourself an expensive mistake. After the workshop, if we both want to proceed, we agree a 90-day project plan with clear goals and a SMART framework to measure progress from day one.
Do you work remotely, on-site, or both?
+Predominantly remotely. I’m a strong advocate for a robust tech stack - the right tools for project management, communication, and accountability make remote collaboration genuinely effective. That said, working in person creates real value, particularly in the early stages of an engagement and at key strategic moments.
I’m based in Devon, with easy rail access to Bristol, London, Birmingham, Plymouth, and beyond. I’m happy to travel when it adds genuine value.
How does the commercial model work?
+I work on a monthly retainer basis. Retainers start at £1,100 per month for half a day per week and are quoted based on the scope and time commitment required for larger engagements.
I work outside IR35, which means I’m responsible for my own tax, national insurance, and pension - so you’re not carrying any of the typical employment overhead associated with a senior hire. Easy to onboard, no long-term employment commitment required.
Who are you not the right fit for?
+Businesses that are resistant to change. If the leadership team is unwilling to question how things have always been done, or if there’s no appetite for the honest conversations that drive commercial transformation, I can’t create meaningful impact.
I work best with founders and leaders who have open minds, energy for growth, and a willingness to be occasionally uncomfortable in pursuit of something better. I’m also not the right fit for businesses with no clarity on vision, mission, or values - not because those things need to be perfect, but because without some foundation to build from, commercial strategy has nothing to anchor to.
How do you measure whether the engagement is working?
+I use a five-stage framework for every commercial decision and action: Purpose (does this align to vision, mission, and goals?), Target ICP (are we clear on exactly who we’re targeting and why?), Core Message (is the reason for their attention clear and concise?), Call to Action (do we know what we want them to do?), and Outcomes & Key Results (what does success look like before we begin?).
Success isn’t vague. Every initiative has a defined outcome before it starts, so we always know whether it worked - and we can gear every subsequent action based on what we learned.
What’s the difference between working with you and hiring a consultant or agency?
+The fundamental difference is that I work team-side, not as an outsider. From day one I’m a core part of your commercial team - I do lead generation, outreach, pitching, presenting, and networking myself. I don’t consult and hand you a document. I don’t carry agency overheads, I don’t expect you to work within my systems, and there’s no junior team delivering what a senior person sold.
I am your commercial leadership. I just happen to be self-employed.
Not ready to commit?
Start with a conversation.
I don’t write proposals. I find they tell you what you want to hear, rather than what you need to know. Instead, I offer your first workshop free of charge. It costs nothing but an hour - and it shows both of us whether I’m the right fit before any money changes hands.
Book Your Free Workshop