A fractional sales leader works a few days a month or week for a company that is not ready for a full time head of sales. The buyers are founders who are still the best closer in the company, have a few salespeople or none, and cannot say why deals are won or lost. You win them by selling a short diagnostic first, so the first purchase is small and the result is visible. This page covers who to approach, what the diagnostic includes, and how to price the engagement that follows.
Who hires one
Look for companies with 5 to 50 people and revenue from a repeatable product, where the founder still leads sales. Signs you can see from outside: a "head of sales" or "first sales hire" job open for months, a LinkedIn page showing three or four salespeople with short tenures, a founder who posts about "scaling sales", or a recent funding round with no sales leader on the team page. A company that has burned through two sales hires is often the warmest buyer, since the cost of another bad hire is in everyone's mind.
Sell a 30 day diagnostic first
Asking a founder to sign a six month retainer for a role they have never bought is a big step. A fixed price diagnostic is easier to say yes to. A fictional fractional leader, Grace Adeyemi, sells this for $4,500:
- Week 1: review the last 20 closed deals (won and lost) and the sales process as it exists, and sit in on three calls.
- Week 2: interview the founder and each seller. Map where deals stall.
- Week 3: build a one page plan: target buyer, the stages, what a good first call sounds like, and the three numbers to track.
- Week 4: present, and agree the next 90 days.
If the plan makes sense, the company signs a monthly engagement. If not, they have paid for something useful and you have a reference.
Price the engagement
Fractional engagements are commonly priced as a monthly fee for a set number of days. Do the arithmetic from your own rate. At two days a week, about eight days a month, and $1,000 a day, the fee is $8,000 a month. Smaller companies often start at one day a week. Say plainly what the days buy: pipeline review, coaching the sellers, hiring help, and a weekly meeting with the founder. Agree an end date or a review at 90 days, and state that you do not carry a quota.
The first email
Subject: Your first sales hire
Hi Luis, I saw you have been looking for a head of sales since July. Before you hire one, I would offer a 30 day review of how deals are won and lost today, for a fixed fee. I have built sales teams at three software companies of your size. At the end you get a one page plan, whether or not we work together after. Would a 20 minute call be useful?
Grace Adeyemi, grace@adeyemisales.example
1100 Pine St, Seattle, WA 98101. Reply "stop" and I won't write again.
Use plain commercial email practice: a real name, an address and a working opt-out, honored within 10 business days under CAN-SPAM. For the first message structure, how to cold email a CEO helps.
Where the buyers gather
Founder communities, investor portfolios and startup newsletters. Ask two or three investors for an introduction to portfolio companies that lack a sales leader. Tell them exactly what you would do. The close cousins, fractional CMO and fractional COO, use many of the same channels, and when to hire your first salesperson shows the reader's side of the decision.
Proof that helps
Write one short case study with numbers: pipeline before and after, a win rate, a shorter sales cycle. Use real figures from past work and get permission before you name a client. See the case study template.
Rocketship can find the founders and heads of operations at companies that fit your description, such as software companies of 10 to 50 people in the US, email them from your own Gmail and follow up. Start the 7-day trial; card required.