Transparent Pricing
What Does aFractional VP of Sales Cost?
The short answer: $6,000–$14,000/month. Here’s what drives that range, what’s included, and how it stacks up against the full-time alternative.
Transparent Pricing
The short answer: $6,000–$14,000/month. Here’s what drives that range, what’s included, and how it stacks up against the full-time alternative.
$6,000–$8,000/mo
Advisory
Strategic guidance, monthly/biweekly calls, playbook review. Light touch — best for founders who are still selling themselves and want a senior sounding board.
$8,000–$12,000/mo
Active Leadership
Weekly 1:1s, pipeline reviews, deal coaching, rep management. Embedded in the business 1–2 days/week. The most common engagement for $1M–$8M ARR founders.
$12,000–$14,000/mo
Full Engagement
Everything in Active Leadership plus hiring support, onboarding new reps, and higher time availability. Right for companies with 3–5 reps scaling fast.
A fractional leader running 1:1s with 3 reps, managing pipeline, and building the playbook from scratch requires more time than an advisory engagement. More hours = higher retainer.
Most engagements run 1–2 days per week. Light-touch advisory engagements start around $6,000/month. Full sales leadership — managing people, running reviews, attending key deals — runs $10,000–$14,000/month.
A $2M ARR startup with 1 rep needs less than a $10M ARR company with 5 reps and a SDR team. Complexity and organizational scope affect time and therefore cost.
Most founders commit to 6–12 months minimum. The first 90 days are the highest-value phase — diagnosis, playbook build, rep coaching. It takes time to see results in sales. Short engagements rarely deliver full value.
I’m Louie Bernstein — I have 50 years in business experience, including 22 as a bootstrapped founder. My Fractional Sales Leadership business has been helping founders since 2017.
I work with founders at $1M–$15M ARR who need real sales leadership without the full-time VP cost. No equity, no ramp time, no severance. Just a senior leader who’s been in the seat before and knows how to build what you need.
My retainers run $6,000–$14,000/month depending on scope and time commitment. Most founders in the $1M–$10M ARR range work with me at $8,000–$12,000/month for 6–12 months. That covers real sales leadership — team management, playbook development, deal coaching, and pipeline oversight.
A full-time VP of Sales at a $5M–$15M ARR startup typically commands $180,000–$280,000 in base salary — before equity, benefits, and the 3–6 month ramp. At $12,000/month, a fractional leader costs $144,000/year with no equity, no benefits, no ramp time, and no severance if it doesn't work out.
I work on rolling monthly retainers with a minimum commitment (typically 3–6 months) to ensure there's enough time to build and see results. Sales leadership that's hired and fired in 60 days doesn't work for anyone. But there's no multi-year lock-in.
Rep 1:1s, pipeline reviews, playbook development, deal coaching, rep hiring support, and direct availability for your team. I don't disappear between scheduled calls — your reps can reach me when a deal needs attention.
Flat monthly retainer. Hourly billing creates the wrong incentives — I should be helping you close faster and build better systems, not running up hours. A retainer aligns my incentives with yours.
Let’s spend 30 minutes together. I’ll walk you through what an engagement would actually look like for your business and what it would cost.