Nobody Was Buying “Fractional.”
Two founders, two different disciplines, and a category where every firm sells the same job title. The work was to find the thing above the services and build the business around that.
Positioning → Brand System → Site Architecture → Copy
Jason Slattum runs revenue.
Grace Slattum runs people.
Presented literally, that looks like two firms sharing a domain.
The obvious answer would have been to split the site in half. Fractional CRO on one side. Fractional CHRO on the other. We did not think that solved the real problem.
The category was selling roles. Buyers were describing conditions. They were saying sales was missing plan, the team was under strain, the company had outgrown its operating model, or the founder was carrying too much.
So we built the brand above the functions. Leadership That Steps In. Fractional leadership, advisory and consulting became three ways to engage the same standard, not three different businesses.
Then we rebuilt the site around the situations that create demand, rather than the titles used to deliver the work.
One brand. Multiple seats. One operating idea.
Two Founders. Two Disciplines.
SLATT is Jason and Grace Slattum.
Jason is a commercial operator with deep revenue experience.
Grace is a senior people and organizational leader.
Both are credible.
The problem was the relationship between the two. A buyer with a revenue problem could easily dismiss the people work. A buyer with a people problem could wonder why a revenue operator was on the homepage.
The issue was not capability.
It was coherence.
Presented as a list of services, the breadth looked unfocused. So the first job was to find the idea that made the breadth make sense.
The Category Was Selling Roles.
Most fractional firms lead with the job title.
Fractional CRO. Fractional CHRO. Fractional CMO. Fractional CFO.
That is useful if the buyer already knows exactly what is wrong.
Most do not.
They know growth has stalled.
They know the executive team is stretched.
They know decisions keep rolling back uphill.
They know one function is creating pressure somewhere else.
They do not always know which role fixes it.
That changed the positioning. The business was not selling access to part-time executives. It was selling leadership capacity when the company had outgrown the way it was being led.
That is the frame everything else sits under.
So We Stopped Leading With the Modality.
“Fractional” describes how the engagement works.
It does not describe the value.
So we moved it down.
The brand promise
Leadership That Steps In
Fractional Leadership / Executive Advisory / Hands-On Consulting
Three ways to engage.
One standard.
The point was not to explain each service in isolation. It was to make the relationship between them obvious.
The client has a business problem.
SLATT determines the level of leadership needed.
The structure follows the problem.
We Replaced the ICP With Situations.
Most firms define their ideal client by company size, revenue, headcount or sector. Useful internally. Not very useful to the buyer.
We organized the site around six situations instead.
The buyer does not need to diagnose the function.
They only need to recognize the condition.
That is enough to start.
Breadth Needed a Structure.
SLATT also has a broader bench across marketing, operations, finance and technology. That could easily have turned into a capabilities grid. We organized those roles by trigger instead.
The role comes after the condition.
That keeps the site focused on the buyer’s problem instead of the firm’s org chart. It also lets multiple functions sit under one brand without looking like unrelated services.
The Position Needed Rules.
The operating principle is simple.
Responsibility Without Authority Is Theater.
SLATT is not set up to give advice from the edge of the business. The work requires access, authority and accountability. That became a clear set of rules.
No advice without access
No recommendations without action
No leadership without authority
The same logic carries into the engagement model. The goal is not to stay forever. Every engagement is designed around the point where the client no longer needs the same level of outside leadership.
That matters because it keeps the model from becoming dependency dressed up as support.
The Site Had to Carry the Same Position.
The visual system was built to avoid the usual fractional and professional-services language.
No corporate blue.
No stock boardrooms.
No soft HR language on one side and hard revenue language on the other.
One system for the whole firm.
Black ground.
Off-white type.
One signal color.
Large, direct headlines.
Real photography.
A simple slash device used throughout the site.
The important part was not the aesthetic. It was consistency. People and revenue had to feel like equal parts of the same business.
The design could not quietly recreate the split the positioning had just solved.
The web style guide, v2. Seven boards, one system.
The Copy Had to Sound Accountable.
The same rule applied to the language.
Short. Direct. No service-business throat clearing.
The scope follows the problem, not a preset menu.
The Business Rarely Tells You Which Leader It Needs.
The work is fractional. The standard is not.
What Are We Walking Into?
The contact form followed the same logic. Instead of asking buyers to choose a service before the call, it asks where the pressure is showing up, what is happening, and how soon it matters.
That is more useful to both sides. It also keeps the buyer from having to prescribe the solution before the diagnostic has happened.
Five Pages. One Argument.
The homepage carries the promise. Services carries the situations and the bench. Partners explains how the broader model works. About establishes credibility. Media extends the point of view.
Everything points back to the same idea.
Leadership that steps in when the business has outgrown the way it is being led.
Live at slattconsulting.com.
Hover to scroll a page. Click to open it full length.
One Brand. Multiple Seats.
SLATT started with two founders whose services were easy to understand separately and harder to understand together. The work was not to simplify the services. It was to find the idea that made all of them make sense.
That idea sits above revenue, people, operations, finance and technology. It also sits above fractional, advisory and consulting.
The result is a firm that can add capability without having to reinvent the story each time.
The business does not have to explain why the services belong together. The positioning already does that.
There are no performance figures yet. This is a positioning and identity case, and it should be read as one.
Full disclosure: I sit on the SLATT bench as fractional CMO. I led the positioning and brand work and am also listed on the Partners page.
Amoebaworks. Positioning, brand system, site architecture and copy.
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