I take the operating seat beside the owner for part of the week. I run the leadership meeting, own the scorecard and the quarterly priorities, fix the systems that slow the team down, and make the operating calls, so the owner can get back to listings, recruiting and relationships. In practice, every seat gets a clear owner, the numbers live in one place, and problems get solved in the weekly meeting. It's the same work a full-time COO does, sized to what the team needs right now, and built to hand off when the team is ready.
When the owner is still the bottleneck but the team isn't ready for a full-time executive salary, or when a moment calls for senior operating experience: a merger, a growth stretch, an EOS rollout or a systems overhaul. It's often how you build the seat before you hire for it. A fractional COO puts the structure in place first: the leadership rhythm, the scorecard, the systems and the first quarterly priorities. Once the team runs that without me, we decide together who takes the seat: a full-time COO, or an operator from your own team, with me coaching them. Either way, they step into a seat that already works.
Some of it, today. Lead intake, CRM updates, follow-up, reporting and the questions agents ask every week are good candidates. The real work is getting your playbooks, CRM and numbers into one place your team and AI can both use. I start with the process, not the people. Most teams have ten spreadsheets and a CRM nobody trusts, so the first step is one source of truth for the numbers. From there, automation and AI take on the repeat work. I built that layer on one of the largest real estate teams in the country and led its company-wide AI adoption.
An EOS Implementer teaches the system in sessions. An Integrator runs it inside the business, every week. I'm an Integrator. I installed EOS in 2020 and ran it as the Integrator for six years, through fast growth and a major merger. That meant running the weekly leadership meeting, owning the scorecard and the quarterly priorities, and making sure every seat had a clear owner. I install and run the cadence with your team, and I work alongside an Implementer if you already have one. If you don't, I can still get the system running and keep it running.
It depends on the shape of the work, so there isn't one rate. Every engagement starts with the Operating Diagnostic: a fixed fee for about three weeks inside the business, credited toward any work that follows. After that, the work takes one of three shapes: a fractional Integrator in the seat for part of the week, a standing monthly advisory call, or a fixed-fee project such as a merger integration, a comp model or an inside sales build. For most teams, a fractional COO costs less than a full-time executive salary, which is often the point. You build the seat before you hire for it.
With a 30-minute call. If there is a fit, the next step is the Operating Diagnostic: about three weeks inside the business for a fixed fee, ending in a written plan. You get a written read on what's breaking, why, and the three moves that matter most. From there it becomes a monthly retainer, a fixed-scope project, or a plan your team runs on its own. Fixed-scope work covers things like a company brain install, a merger integration, a comp model or an inside sales build. The Diagnostic fee is credited toward any work that follows.