Fractional Sales Leadership is the practice of using an external, well-versed expert (also known as a C-level executive) to fill leadership gaps in your business on an interim, part-time basis.
The way it usually starts when you’re a business owner is that you recognize there’s just not enough of you to go around. With each lost sales opportunity, or lack of volume through the sales pipeline, the gap is growing between where you’re at and your revenue targets.
You seem to be the only one who can make the process work.
As the top executive, you are already wearing too many hats, and you realize you can’t keep overseeing sales while handling all the other aspects of your business.
Maybe you don’t have an effective sales manager leading your team, or perhaps you don’t have a sales leader in place at all.
If your sales team hasn’t been performing the way you know it should, it might be time to consider taking new action.
Key Article Takeaways:
- Four considerations to improve sales results, and how to gauge their fit
- Why building a sales platform for success requires two distinct leadership skill sets
- How you can get back to working “on” your business with peace of mind
So, what should you do? Let’s explore the options…
(1) You can keep doing what you’re doing and try to work smarter.
No matter the issue, this is always an option. You can keep true to the strategy you think will win. It will take some extra time to sit down and focus, but you might be able to get the company going in the right direction.
To yield different results than the ones you’re seeing now, you will need to identify the issues that are currently hindering sales growth and develop a plan to correct them.
Just as important, you will need to dedicate hands-on sales coaching time to help your sales team embrace and apply new approaches until they can achieve desired results on their own.
(2) You can explore sales training options.
Proven sales trainers are great at what they do: introducing and fine-tuning sales skills.
A drawback to consider is that different salespeople seldom need the same type of training, and sales trainers are typically not skilled and/or versed on the personalized sales challenges occurring in your unique environment.
If you think getting back to the basics — like refreshing relationship development skills or objection handling tactics — will hit the heart of what’s causing sales performance problems, sales training could be the right option.
(3) You can hire a full-time sales manager.
A dedicated sales manager is a great asset when the timing is right and a solid sales platform is in place. A common misstep to protect against is underestimating the scope of skills needed to address the complete sales leadership “iceberg.”
Effective sales leadership includes both tactical and strategic elements. While both are critical to success, hiring a sales leader capable of managing the full scope of tactical and strategic elements can be cost-prohibitive for a small or mid-sized business.
It’s also important to note that executive-level strategic expertise is typically only needed for a fraction of the time compared to the tactical sales management role of operating the sales department.
This is why “the right fit” is almost always two different resources, at different times.
After you’ve addressed deep-level strategic functions, a capable sales manager with strong tactical skills can be positioned for success at a reasonable investment rate. These candidates are also more likely to stay with your company long-term.
(4) You can hire an executive-level fractional sales leader.
Business consultants follow ready-made plans or provide high-level advice that falls on your lap to execute. Whereas fractional sales leaders leverage real-life experience to help you design, build, implement, and operate the new concepts and systems.
In my role as Fractional Sales Leader, I embody extensive knowledge that gets applied to developing sales strategy, accountability tools, evaluating sales personnel, knowing the ins and outs of hiring the right salespeople, and more.
I take a deep dive into your business and combine the insights gained with my experience base to build a strategic sales plan that aligns with company-level objectives.
Once you’re ready to implement, I will partner with you to put your tailor-made blueprint into action by complementing your staff resources as needed to ensure successful adoption and operation.
When our partnership is complete, you will understand exactly what will drive your business to success and feel confident in your ability to carry it forward to achieve scalable growth.
How does Fractional Sales Leadership work?
At this point you may be thinking, “Sure, a fractional sales leader sounds great, but what exactly will you do to help me?”.
Well, because every business is different and each battle has its own unique obstacles, there’s no single way to answer that question.
As fractional sales leaders, we’ve worked with hundreds of large and small companies, giving us the edge of easily adapting and understanding a wide expanse of business environments.
Our relationships look different from organization to organization based on needs, staff structure, timeframe for growth targets, etc.
We may work together on something as small as a workshop, or you could bring me in to solve a specific problem within your sales department. Often, I fulfill an interim sales leadership role through regular, on-site engagement. Ultimately, the level of my involvement directly corresponds to your unique business needs.
If you’d like to discuss the improvement you’d like to see in your business, contact me at (512) 808-6691 or jspencer@salesxceleration.com or book a call through my Scheduling Tool.
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I am part of a national group of Senior Sales Leaders who collaborate to share insights like the examples shown in this article. We formed because of our shared passion to help business leaders exponentially grow their revenue.
