Fractional Leaders feat. Jon Payne

In this ‘Fractional Leaders’ blog, we chat with Jon Payne, Founder of RevOps Mentor and a seasoned expert in lead generation, sales, and automation for B2B and D2C businesses.

Jon shares his journey from telesales to running one of the UK’s leading HubSpot agencies, the impact he’s proudest of, and his practical advice for scaling businesses with smarter systems and fewer bottlenecks.

Can you please introduce yourself and your journey to becoming a Fractional Leader?

Hello, I’m Jon. Founder of RevOps Mentor. I’ve spent the last 30 years in lead generation and sales, working primarily with B2B and D2C organisations. I began in telesales and, 18 years ago, founded Noisy Little Monkey – an SEO agency that grew into one of the UK’s biggest HubSpot partners with a 20-strong team. I sold the business two years ago and now focus on running strategic workshops with C-suite teams, then working alongside in-house marketers and salespeople to deploy lead generation campaigns, sales funnels (or flywheels, if you prefer), and smart automation.

Let’s talk impact, what achievements are you proud of the most?

The most meaningful impact has been on the people I’ve worked with. Despite going through some extremely tough times together, many of the Noisy Little Monkey team have gone on to lead successful consultancies or hold senior positions – and we’re still friends. That says a lot.

Through free SEO training sessions I ran for Bristol Council, I helped dozens of small businesses and charities recover after being de-indexed by Google. That grassroots impact mattered.

From a commercial perspective, I’m particularly proud of my work with an international training provider. We increased their £200m+ revenue by 18% in a single year with only 2 additional hires (HubSpot admins) and very little additional budget – purely through automation. It worked because they were great people and we built a smart, scalable system together.

Based on your work with start-ups and scale-ups, do you have any pieces of wisdom you could share with businesses in scale-up mode?

I agree with Charlotte’s  “Customer First” mantra. I’d add: go deeper. Truly understand your buyer journey and remove friction at every stage.

A simple example: if someone fills out your contact form, don’t just send a generic confirmation email. Include a Calendly link so they can book a 15-minute call at a time that suits them. It’s low effort, high reward. Most teams overlook this, yet if you’re using Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, the functionality is already there. Roll it out today – you’ll shorten the sales cycle and improve conversion, instantly.

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If you are a fractional leader and would like to be featured as part of the “Fractional Leaders” series please get in touch.