Fractional Sales Director or an outsourced sales agency?
A fractional sales director builds the sales system: who to sell to, at what price, the pipeline and the team. An outsourced sales agency supplies outbound volume and books meetings, on a retainer with a target. The sales director costs £5,367 to £9,967 a month at two days a week. Get the motion converting with the seat first, then buy volume against it.
Below is what each one actually owns, what they cost on the same basis, how each one fails, and when to pick the other one.
| A fractional Sales Director | An outsourced sales agency | |
|---|---|---|
| Who owns the outcome | Who you sell to, at what price, and why they buy | Volume of outbound activity, immediately and at scale |
| Commitment | One to three days a week, flexing with the work, no end date assumed | A monthly retainer with a minimum term, often with a per-meeting element |
| How it is priced | £700 to £1,300 a day | A monthly retainer, often with a per meeting or per opportunity element, and a contract with a minimum term. |
| Typical monthly cost | £5,367 to £9,967 a month at two days a week | No like-for-like monthly figure is published here; see how it is priced |
| How it fails | Being asked to personally make the calls, which is a senior day rate spent on activity rather than on the system that produces it. | Booking meetings for a business that cannot yet convert them, which fills a diary, burns a market and teaches the company nothing. |
| Pick it when | Deals are not converting and nobody can say why | The sales motion is proven and the only missing ingredient is volume |
What an outsourced sales agency actually is
An external team that prospects and books meetings on your behalf, usually paid monthly with a target attached.
What each one owns
| A fractional Sales Director | An outsourced sales agency |
|---|---|
| Who you sell to, at what price, and why they buy | Volume of outbound activity, immediately and at scale |
| The pipeline: stages, forecasting and what is actually real | A team that already exists, with no hiring lead time |
| Hiring and coaching the salespeople you already have | The tooling and the lists, which you do not have to buy |
| Closing, and teaching the company how to close | Meetings in the diary, which is the thing being paid for |
What neither of them does
Neither fixes an offer nobody wants. If the product does not sell when you sell it yourself, more outbound simply finds out faster and more expensively.
How each one fails
The fractional Sales Director: Being asked to personally make the calls, which is a senior day rate spent on activity rather than on the system that produces it.
An outsourced sales agency: Booking meetings for a business that cannot yet convert them, which fills a diary, burns a market and teaches the company nothing.
What they cost, on the same basis
A fractional Sales Director charges £700 to £1,300 a day, which is £5,367 to £9,967 a month at two days a week. A monthly retainer, often with a per meeting or per opportunity element, and a contract with a minimum term. The monthly and annual arithmetic for the fractional side, against a full-time equivalent, is on the cost page for this seat.
Pick an outsourced sales agency when
- The sales motion is proven and the only missing ingredient is volume
- You need activity this month and cannot wait to hire
- The market is large enough that burning some of it does not matter
We would rather say that plainly than win an engagement that was the wrong shape. Nobody pays us to list on the bench, so there is nothing in it for us either way.
When you want both
A sensible order rather than a pairing. Get the motion right with a fractional seat first, then buy volume against something that is known to convert.
Common questions
Should I hire a fractional Sales Director or an outsourced sales agency?
A fractional sales director builds the sales system: who to sell to, at what price, the pipeline and the team. An outsourced sales agency supplies outbound volume and books meetings, on a retainer with a target. The sales director costs £5,367 to £9,967 a month at two days a week. Get the motion converting with the seat first, then buy volume against it.
Is a fractional Sales Director cheaper than an outsourced sales agency?
On a like-for-like basis it usually is, because you buy the days you need rather than all of them. A fractional Sales Director runs £700 to £1,300 a day, most often one to three days a week. A monthly retainer, often with a per meeting or per opportunity element, and a contract with a minimum term. But cheaper is the wrong question if the work genuinely needs the other one.
When is an outsourced sales agency the better choice than a fractional Sales Director?
The sales motion is proven and the only missing ingredient is volume. You need activity this month and cannot wait to hire. The market is large enough that burning some of it does not matter.
Can I use a fractional Sales Director and an outsourced sales agency at the same time?
A sensible order rather than a pairing. Get the motion right with a fractional seat first, then buy volume against something that is known to convert.
What is outsourced sales leadership?
A senior sales leader engaged from outside the company, part-time, to own the sales strategy, the pipeline and the team without a full-time hire. It is usually the same arrangement as a fractional sales director, priced on a day rate of £700 to £1,300 a day in the UK. It is different from an outsourced sales agency, which supplies the people making calls rather than the person leading them.