What Is a Fractional Sales Manager? (And What They Do for Your Sales Team)

You’re a Founder Running Sales PLUS the Entire Company. What Could Go Wrong?

You’re the company founder, and you’re stuck running the sales organization. It could be because you lost your sales leader, haven’t been able to find the right one, don’t have the budget for one, or maybe you just like sales.

Regardless of why you are in this situation, it’s becoming crystal clear that you don’t have time to manage the sales team plus run everything else. But you are hanging on for dear life because if you don’t land new logos and drive revenue growth, things could go south for your company in a heartbeat.

I’ve seen it happen so many times with founders, and the result is never good. You burn the candle at both ends until you are completely burned out, and your sales team eventually flounders.

A big part of the problem is that when your attention is split, it is difficult to create a culture of accountability and provide the leadership consistency that sales teams need to perform at their best.

Pipeline reviews are irregular, sales reps don’t get side-by-side coaching, and the playbook is eventually abandoned. 

For all of these reasons and more, you become frustrated, your sales team operates in constant chaos, performance becomes unpredictable, and eventually your Board and investors tell you that it has to stop.

Yes, sales are crucial to your survival, and you feel compelled to be hands-on with your sales team. But the brutal truth is that you can’t be everything to everyone. There simply isn’t enough of YOU to go around.

So, that begs the question. When you are in this situation, how do you give your sales team the structure, leadership, and coaching to be top performers without breaking yourself or the bank?

The good news is the solution is faster and cheaper than you think: Hire a fractional sales manager to give yourself an extra set of hands.

Does Your Team Actually Need a Fractional Sales Manager?

A fractional sales manager takes on the job of running your sales team, filling in the gaps left when you’re too busy to do it yourself. They get hands-on with your team as soon as they step into the role, managing your sales team and allowing you to step back and run your company.

And because the role is fractional, not full-time, you get sales management without committing to a full-time hire. This takes the immediate pressure off of you and gives everyone breathing room to recalibrate and refocus on the pipeline, the forecast, the goals, and the discipline to drive sales.

With a fractional sales manager, your team gets back the guidance they’ve missed, and you get peace of mind knowing your team isn’t floundering. Here’s what your company gets with a fractional sales manager:

Coaching

One-on-one meetings and call reviews with each of your reps. Your fractional sales manager listens to actual calls. They pinpoint the moment a rep lost control of the conversation and have them run it again until they find and fix the weak points in the pitch, the follow-up, or the moment in the deal that fell through. This is the same structured approach behind our C.L.E.A.R. Sales Coaching Training, built for exactly this kind of coaching discipline.

Pipeline Reviews 

A fractional sales manager pushes regular pipeline reviews with reps. Your reps can’t work off thin or empty pipelines, and a fractional sales manager helps them rebuild pipelines they can actually use. I’ve written before about how most pipelines are really just wishful thinking dressed up as a forecast. A fractional sales manager builds a solid pipeline, from genuine prospecting opportunities to meetings and proposals, through to negotiations and closing the deal, and makes sure your team is hitting each notch on the pipe. 

Activity Accountability 

Your reps might be great at setting goals, but you can’t hold them accountable when you don’t have time to monitor their activity. A fractional sales manager not only gives your reps goals they can hit, but holds them accountable with no exceptions. They build the goals and target number around the pipeline, and they do the math. A fractional sales manager monitors and tracks consistently so your reps don’t backslide and miss the goals.

CRM Discipline

CRMs track your reps’ calls, interactions, data, and follow-up from the first prospect to the final sale. They require discipline from your reps to keep data accurate. A fractional sales manager reminds your team to continuously use your CRM and then reports back to you with accurate reads on the team’s sales. They check for deals that got left untouched and make sure your reps update the stages of each of their deals so that no potential sale is abandoned.

Process Reinforcement

Your playbook is useless if your team isn’t running it the way it instructs them to. As soon as a rep drifts from the process, starts skipping steps, taking shortcuts, and falling into bad habits, it can feel impossible to reinforce the playbook and correct them. A fractional sales manager reinforces the playbook through regular coaching and one-on-ones with your reps, so they aren’t getting away with cutting corners. Fractional sales managers make them repeat and learn the playbook processes before bad habits take root in their sales routines and become permanent.

Reporting Up

Despite handing over the sales management to your fractional sales manager, you’re the company founder, and you still have to stay informed. A fractional sales manager gives you an honest assessment of your reps’ wins and failings. You learn if parts of your playbook aren’t working, and you stay on top of progress with accurate number reporting from your fractional sales manager. If something is working, you know to keep enforcing it. If something isn’t working, you and the fractional sales manager know to course-correct before the problem gets out of hand and costs your company the deal. 

A fractional sales manager gives you and your team this specific, actionable guidance backed by their experience doing the same for other companies and their sales reps. They aren’t learning as they go on your dime; they jump right in, applying their knowledge immediately. 

I built the Sales Gravy Blueprint™ after watching good sales teams fall apart for the same reason yours is: there wasn’t a sales manager in place to set the goals and guide the daily practices to meet them. Every fractional sales manager we place runs the Sales Gravy Blueprint and comes with the experience of using it time and again to help other companies who were once in your shoes.

But How Do You Know If YOU Need a Fractional Sales Manager? 

Founders and small business owners carry a heavy load already, and figuring out training solutions built for small and scaling teams is only part of the equation. Management is the other part. Running a company can feel different every quarter, sometimes every day. It’s the nature of business, and it’s your job to anticipate the changes and nurture the business by meeting your team’s needs. 

Deciding if you need to hire a fractional sales manager isn’t just about how things feel right now. You need to look at the shape of your team. Do you have the right person running it? Did your team grow faster than you could keep up, or big enough to need more management but too small to make that management a permanent position? Certain parameters help you identify if a fractional sales manager is the best fractional leadership option for your team, so take a close look at what shape your team is in and consider the following: 

1. The wrong promotion. Your best closer is fantastic at getting deals through the finish line, and they have consistently been one of your top performers. Promoting them from sales rep to sales manager felt like the obvious next step. It turns out that they weren’t cut out for management, though. You’ve got a sales manager who is better at sales than managing, and their inability to lead causes the entire team to suffer.
2. The team that outgrew you. Your sales team got bigger than you planned. That in itself isn’t the problem. But scaling a team and not giving each rep the proper sales management they need through individual coaching and pipeline reviews means you’ve got a team that’s outgrown the management you can give them. Without the individual attention and training they would receive from a dedicated sales manager, even the top performers struggle.
3. The team that isn’t big enough yet. Your sales team is small and bringing in revenue, but your company can’t justify a six-figure management hire. It doesn’t make financial sense for you to permanently hire a sales manager, but without sales management, your team falls behind. It’s a catch-22 that founders fall into often, and getting bogged down in what to do only puts you and your team at a greater risk of a crumbling pipeline and poor sales.

I see these scenarios take shape in sales teams all the time, and without sales management, they grow, expand, and eventually overtake your team. Bring in a fractional sales manager, and they will fit whatever shape your team is in. 

Why Not Just Hire a Full-Time Sales Manager? 

When you’re a busy company founder, it’s easy to fall back on excuses instead of addressing the problems your team is facing. 

You rely on veteran sales reps to mentor your newer reps. You think, “These are adults. They don’t need someone to micromanage them.” You assume the CRM will keep your reps honest (and assume everyone is tracking with it as they should be). Or you just decide to push the problems off for when you do make a full-time hire. None of this is sales management for your team. 

Your best sales reps are the best because they are selling, not coaching others. A CRM has valuable data, but it can’t help a rep through a stalled deal. And this doesn’t keep accountability on your team if you or a sales manager isn’t checking behind them. Running your team off glorified activity trackers marketed as sales tools or a few thin spreadsheets isn’t leadership, and it doesn’t work. It’s also a fast way to fail.

Every company has different reasons for bringing on a fractional sales manager, but they usually look like at least one of these: 

1. You can’t justify the price of a full-time hire. Your team is small, and a new hire package is more than you have to spare. A full-time salary runs upward of six figures, and that’s before you factor in benefits and bonuses. 
2. Your need is now. Not in three months, after a search for a full-time hire that, done right, takes time you don’t have. Then factor in months of ramp time. Your reps don’t stop needing a sales manager while you wait to fill and train the role.
3. You’re not in a place to commit. Committing to a full-time hire is about more than just price. There is training involved, and getting them comfortable enough to lead your team is a long-term commitment when you need a short-term solution. 
4. You want to see results first. A fractional sales manager doesn’t need the training and ramp time of a full-time hire. They jump in fast and drive results from the start. 

Manager or Strategist? Know the Difference

The difference between a fractional sales manager and fractional CRO comes down to strategy vs. execution. 

A fractional CRO owns the company’s entire revenue strategy at an executive level. They build the processes and forecasting models that your business runs on. It’s the highest tier of fractional leadership Sales Gravy offers, built for companies making decisions at the scale of the entire revenue engine, not just the sales team. 

A fractional sales manager operates inside your existing sales team. They give your reps coaching and hold them to the playbook so that deals keep moving.

What to Look for in a Fractional Sales Manager

When you’re determining what a fractional sales manager should bring to the table, use this checklist for a baseline of qualifications:

1. A track record that reflects managing, not just sales. Selling and managing, even in the same sales space, are different skill sets. Ask a potential fractional sales manager how many reps they’ve hired and coached to quota. Make sure their answer shows results, not vague estimates. 
2. A coaching game plan. Find out how often they run one-on-ones with reps and how they tackle pipeline reviews. Their cadence should be repeatable and measurable, or they will phone it in on your dime.
3. CRM comfort and performance reporting. Your fractional sales manager needs to be comfortable working in whatever CRM your team uses and be able to relay the data to you plainly and accurately.
4. Backup talent. Your sales team will need more than daily management from a fractional sales manager. Whether it’s recruiting and onboarding support or something else your team needs next, a good fractional sales manager knows when to pull in the right experts or resources when that time comes.
5. A clear path ahead. The first 90 days with a fractional sales manager are crucial. Ask a prospective fractional sales manager how many hours they plan to spend with your reps and what changes to expect in the first quarter. 

The longer you operate without sales management, the weaker your pipeline gets, the more bad habits your reps develop, the more deals you’re letting die, and the greater risk you’re putting your company in. 

Don’t fail your team and your company by leaving them without the sales management you need. Bring on a fractional sales manager from Sales Gravy to get your team back on track. Schedule a consultation today.