Fractional Sales Leader vs Sales VP

Should you hire a full-time VP of Sales… or bring in a Fractional Sales Leader first? In this video, we break down the real trade-offs between hiring a traditional Sales VP and working with a Fractional Sales Leader — especially if you’re a founder still leading sales yourself. Before you commit to a $200K+ hire that takes 6+ months to ramp, you’ll want to see this. You’ll learn: - Why your sales processes, systems, and playbook need to exist before a VP of Sales can actually succeed - How long it really takes for a new Sales VP to ramp — and what that “experiment” can cost in salary, benefits, and lost time - When your current team size and structure justify a VP of Sales… and when a Sales Manager or Fractional Sales Leader is a smarter bridge - How a Fractional Sales Leader can help you get out of founder-led sales, build the right foundation, and de-risk that eventual VP hire - Practical scenarios where founders chose the wrong hire first — and what they wish they’d done instead If you know you need to grow revenue, step out of day-to-day selling, and build a real sales organization, this video will help you choose the next right move, not just the biggest title. Key Takeaways ✅ The Cost Comparison | Factor | Fractional Leader | Full-Time VP | |------------|----------------------|------------------| | Year 1 Cost | $120K-$144K | $260K-$380K | | Time Commitment | 15-20 hrs/week | 40 hrs/week | | Ramp Time | Immediate | 6-9 months | | Risk | Month-to-month | 18-month commitment | | Failure Rate | <10% | 73% | Your Savings: $116,000-$236,000 in Year 1 ✅ When to Hire Fractional (Do This First) You're ready for fractional if: - Revenue: $1M-$7M ARR - Team: 0-8 salespeople - Founder time in sales: 15+ hours/week - Sales playbook: Doesn't exist or incomplete - Focus: Need to BUILD infrastructure What they do: - Document your sales process - Hire your first 2-4 salespeople - Build pipeline management system - Create training program - Get you OUT of daily sales ✅ When to Hire Full-Time VP (Do This Second) You're ready for full-time VP if: - Revenue: $10M+ ARR - Team: 10+ salespeople across 2+ teams - Founder time in sales: Strategic only (not execution) - Sales playbook: Complete and proven - Focus: Need to SCALE existing system What they do: - Manage multiple teams - Own revenue forecasting - Build sales leadership bench - Optimize what's already working - Strategic planning and board reporting ✅ The Recommended Path (Lowest Risk) Months 1-6: Fractional Leader builds infrastructure - Cost: $60K-$72K - Output: Sales playbook, first 2-4 hires, working system Months 7-12: Fractional Leader scales the system - Cost: $60K-$72K - Output: 6-8 producing reps, proven processes Month 13+: Hire Full-Time VP to scale further - Cost: $260K-$380K/year - Output: Scale from $7M to $20M+ Total 18-month cost: $380K-$524K for proven system + VP Compare to: $400K+ for failed VP hire with no system ✅ The Math That Matters Your opportunity cost as founder: - $2M company = ~$300/hour founder time - 20 hours/week on sales = $6,000/week = $24,000/month - Fractional leader at $12K/month buys back 15 hours/week - Value created: $18,000/month = $216,000/year Even paying $144K/year for fractional, you're up $72K in founder time value alone. Plus the actual sales growth. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Q: Why not just skip fractional and hire the VP if I have the budget? A: Because 73% of VP hires fail within 18 months, and the 1 reason is they arrive expecting to scale a system that doesn't exist. You end up paying $260K-$380K for someone to build from scratch—exactly what a fractional leader does for $120K-$144K. And when VPs build systems, they often build them differently than how you've been selling, which creates misalignment. Fractional first = de-risked path. Q: Can I hire a fractional leader, then keep them instead of hiring a full-time VP? A: Yes! Many companies keep fractional leaders for 2-3 years. If you're growing but staying under $10M ARR, or if you have 6-8 reps but don't need 40 hours/week of leadership, fractional works long-term. The beauty is flexibility—scale up or down based on what you need. Some companies transition to full-time, some don't. Both paths work. Q: What's the difference between a fractional sales leader and a sales consultant? A: Execution vs. advice. A consultant comes in, analyzes your sales process, writes a report with recommendations, and leaves. You still have to implement everything. A fractional sales leader embeds with your team 15-20 hours/week and DOES the work: builds your playbook, interviews candidates, runs training sessions, reviews pipelines. They're hands-on operators, not advisors. Q: How many clients does a fractional sales leader work with at once? A: Usually 1-2 clients maximum. This isn't a consulting side gig—it's a part-time executive role. Good fractional leaders (like me) only take 1-2 clients because you need deep engagement to build systems properly. If someone says they have 5-10 clients, they're not doing fractional sales leadership—they're doing consulting. Q: What if my fractional leader leaves before we're done? A: This is why documentation matters. A good fractional leader documents everything as they go—your playbook, hiring process, training program, pipeline definitions. If they leave, you have a complete system that anyone can follow. Unlike losing a VP who had everything in their head, losing a fractional leader just means finding someone else to operate the system they built. Q: At exactly what ARR should I switch from fractional to full-time VP? A: It's not a specific number—it's about infrastructure. Here's the checklist: - ✅ Do you have 10+ salespeople? - ✅ Is your playbook documented and working? - ✅ Do you have multiple teams that need coordination? - ✅ Do you need 40 hours/week of sales leadership? - ✅ Is your revenue $10M+? If you answer yes to 4-5 of these, you're ready for full-time. If you answer yes to 2-3, stay fractional. Most companies hit this around $7M-$10M ARR. Transcript Should you hire a fractional sales leader or a full-time VP of Sales? Here's how to decide. First, the costs. Fractional sales leader: $10K to $12K per month, $120K to $144K Year 1. Full-time VP of Sales: $260K to $380K Year 1. You save $116,000 to $236,000 by going fractional. But it's not just about cost. It's about what you actually need. Here's when to hire fractional: You're $1M to $7M ARR, you have 0-8 salespeople, you're spending 15+ hours/week in sales yourself, and your sales process isn't documented. You need someone to BUILD infrastructure. That's what fractional does. They document your sales process, hire your first 2-4 reps, build pipeline management, create training. All the foundation work that lets you scale. They work 15-20 hours/week because you don't need 40 hours of leadership yet. When do you hire full-time? When you're $10M+ ARR with 10+ salespeople across multiple teams. When your playbook exists and is working. When you need 40 hours/week of strategic leadership—forecasting, board reporting, managing managers. When you need to SCALE what's already working, not BUILD from scratch. The mistake founders make? Hiring the full-time VP too early. The VP shows up expecting to scale a system, but there is no system. So they spend 6-9 months building from scratch, and 73% fail within 18 months. You've burned $400K+ with nothing to show for it. The smarter path: Fractional first. Build the infrastructure for $120K-$144K. Prove the system works. THEN hire the full-time VP to scale it. Now your VP has a 90%+ success rate because they're inheriting a working machine, not chaos. Fractional first. Full-time second. That's how you de-risk the entire process and save $116,000 to $236,000 in Year 1.