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Nacho ordinary sales leadership

Sales leadership without the VP salary

Nacho matches growing businesses with vetted, 100% US-based Fractional Sales Leaders who own your process, pipeline, forecast, and reps as your Head of Sales, starting at $125/hr.

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Free 30-minute call. Every match backed by the Nacho re-match guarantee.

The short answer

What is a Fractional Sales Leader?

A Fractional Sales Leader is an experienced sales executive, usually titled Fractional VP of Sales or Head of Sales, who runs your sales function part-time, usually 1 to 3 days a week. They own the sales process, pipeline, forecast, rep hiring and coaching, and the CRM, exactly like a full-time sales leader. Through Nacho, a Fractional Sales Leader starts at $125 an hour.

The word "fractional" describes the schedule, not the seniority. A Fractional Sales Leader is not a junior rep and not an appointment setter. It is a career sales leader who has already built and managed a sales team somewhere else, taking on your company as one of a small number of clients.

Sales is the function founders hold onto the longest, because they are usually the best seller in the building. That works until there are reps to manage, a forecast to defend, and more deals than one person can carry. Fractional sales leadership turns founder-led selling into a system without a full-time executive salary on payroll.

It helps to see the sales roles as a stack. A sales rep works deals and carries a quota. A sales manager coaches the reps and keeps activity on track. A VP or Head of Sales owns the whole function: strategy, process, hiring, and the number. A Chief Revenue Officer owns every revenue team at once. A Fractional Sales Leader puts the VP layer in place first, and often covers the sales manager job too until you need one full-time.

Seniority
VP of Sales or Head of Sales experience
Schedule
Usually 1 to 3 days a week
Reports to
You, the founder or CEO
Owns
Process, pipeline, forecast, reps, and the CRM
Cost through Nacho
From $125/hr from one monthly Talent Budget
Based in
The United States, 100% of the time

The job itself

What does a Fractional Sales Leader actually do?

A Fractional Sales Leader builds your sales process, owns the pipeline and forecast, hires and coaches reps, fixes the CRM, and sharpens the playbook. The work is building a sales team that sells without the founder, not closing every deal themselves.

Builds a sales process people follow.

Defines the stages, the exit criteria, and what happens at each step, so a deal moves the same way no matter who is working it. Selling stops depending on the founder remembering every follow-up.

Owns the pipeline and the forecast.

Reviews the pipeline every week, separates real deals from hopeful ones, and gives you a forecast you can plan hiring and spend around instead of a number that moves every time you ask.

Hires the right reps.

Writes the role, sets the interview loop, and knows what a strong rep looks like before the offer goes out. The next sales hire is chosen on evidence, not on how well they sold themselves.

Coaches and manages the team.

Runs one-on-ones, reviews calls, and sets clear targets and activity expectations, so reps know what good looks like and underperformance gets addressed early instead of at the end of the quarter.

Fixes the CRM.

Sets up or cleans up the CRM so it reflects what is really happening, chooses the fields and reports that matter, and makes sure the team actually keeps it current.

Sharpens the pitch and the playbook.

Tightens who you sell to, how you position against alternatives, and how you price and handle objections, then writes it down so a new rep can ramp from a playbook instead of from scratch.

What a Fractional Head of Sales does not do is generate demand on their own or carry the whole quota. Marketing fills the top of the funnel and reps work the deals. Your Fractional Sales Leader decides how those deals should be worked and makes sure the team works them that way.

Timing

When should you hire a Fractional VP of Sales?

Hire a Fractional VP of Sales when sales still runs through the founder but the business has outgrown that. The usual trigger is a team with reps nobody is really managing, a forecast nobody trusts, or a sales hire that did not work out.

Signs you are ready

  • The founder is still the best salesperson and the only sales manager.
  • You have reps, but nobody owns their coaching, targets, or results.
  • Your forecast is a guess, and the number changes every time you ask.
  • The CRM is out of date, so nobody trusts what it says.
  • You hired a rep who did not work out and could not say exactly why.
  • Revenue is growing, but every quarter starts from zero with no repeatable process.

When it is the wrong hire

  • You have not found product-market fit yet. A sales system built on an unproven offer just fails faster.
  • You need someone to carry a quota and close deals. That is a sales hire, not a sales leader.
  • You want more leads at the top of the funnel. That is usually a marketing problem first.
  • You have no plans to hire reps or change how you sell in the next year.
  • You are not going to change your process, pricing, or team based on what you learn.

We would rather tell you on the discovery call that your first move is a Fractional CMO to build demand than sell you a sales leader with nothing to sell into. If the real gap is capacity, an Executive Assistant or Specialist solves it for less.

Real numbers

What does a Fractional Sales Leader cost?

A Fractional Sales Leader through Nacho starts at $125 an hour. There is no placement fee and no separate retainer. Hours draw from one monthly Talent Budget with a $1,000 monthly minimum, so at the starting rate about $2,000 a month buys roughly 16 hours and about $8,000 a month buys roughly 2 days a week.

Sales leadership work is heaviest at the start. The first months are building the process, cleaning the CRM, and hiring or resetting the team. Once the system runs, the job shifts to pipeline reviews, coaching, and the forecast. The hourly model means you pay for the month you actually had.

The comparison most owners never run is the loaded cost of the full-time alternative. A salary is not the price of an employee. Payroll taxes, benefits, insurance, software, and equipment commonly add 25% to 35% on top of it, and a retained search adds 20% to 25% of the first-year salary in year one alone.

Fractional Sales Leader through Nacho Full-time VP of Sales
Rate From $125/hr, published up front $160,000 to $260,000 base salary, negotiated, often plus variable pay
Typical schedule 1 to 3 days a week 5 days a week
Payroll taxes and benefits None. They are not your employee. Commonly adds 25% to 35% on top of salary
Recruiting cost None 20% to 25% of first-year salary for a retained search
Equity None Often expected at this level
Time to first day About a week from the discovery call 2 to 4 months to search, close, and start
Ramp-up Arrives having run the function before 30 to 90 days before they truly own it
Commitment 3-month initial term, then month to month At-will in name, expensive in practice
If the fit is wrong Free re-match under the Nacho Guarantee Severance, a second search, and lost quarters
Illustrative annual cost About $96,000 at 2 days a week About $286,000 loaded on a $220,000 salary

Salary and search-fee ranges above are broad US market ranges for the role and vary widely by industry, region, and company stage. The full-time loaded figure covers base salary only, before any commission or bonus. Treat them as a planning starting point, not a quote. The Nacho column is our published starting rate.

What the $125 starting rate actually buys

  • $1,000 a month is about 8 hours: a monthly pipeline and forecast review, plus a sounding board for sales decisions.
  • $2,000 a month is about 16 hours: the above, plus real work on the sales process, the CRM, or a rep hire.
  • $8,000 a month is about 64 hours, roughly 2 days a week: full ownership of the sales function, including managing and coaching the team.

Unused budget above the $1,000 minimum rolls over, up to $200 a month. Everything bills as one flat monthly Talent Budget, and if you also need an Executive Assistant from $40/hr or a Specialist from $65/hr, they draw from the same budget. The only other fee is the $300 Delegation Strategy Plan, which comes before your first match. See how pricing works.

The process

How hiring a Fractional Head of Sales through Nacho works

You book a free 30-minute discovery call, we build a $300 Delegation Strategy Plan, and we introduce you to 1 to 3 hand-picked Fractional Sales Leaders from our vetted, 100% US-based network. Most clients meet their first match within about a week.

  1. Book a free discovery call.

    Thirty minutes, no obligation. Tell us where sales is stalling. We will tell you honestly whether you need a Fractional Sales Leader, or whether the real gap is somewhere else.

  2. We build your Delegation Strategy Plan.

    For $300 we scope the engagement in writing: what your Fractional Head of Sales owns, how many hours a month that takes, what the first 90 days should produce, and how you will know it worked.

  3. You meet your shortlist.

    We hand-pick 1 to 3 Fractional Sales Leaders from our vetted, 100% US-based network and send you their backgrounds. You interview them. Nobody starts until you say yes to a specific person.

  4. We handle the paperwork.

    Contracts, payments, and onboarding run through Nacho. Your Fractional Sales Leader starts on an agreed monthly rhythm and reports to you, not to us.

  5. You scale it up or down.

    A 3-month initial term gives the work time to land, then it is month to month. Add hours while you build the process or hire reps, pull back once the team runs on its own, and if the match is not right we re-match you free under the Nacho Guarantee.

Need a different kind of leader?

Every role comes from the same network under the same Talent Budget. Compare every Fractional Executive role.

Frequently asked questions

Fractional sales leadership questions, answered

What is a Fractional Sales Leader?

A Fractional Sales Leader is an experienced sales executive, often titled Fractional VP of Sales or Fractional Head of Sales, who leads your sales function part-time, usually 1 to 3 days a week. They own the sales process, pipeline, forecast, rep hiring and coaching, and the CRM the way a full-time sales leader would, but you pay only for the time you use.

What is a Fractional VP of Sales?

A Fractional VP of Sales is a senior sales leader who takes the VP of Sales seat in your company on a part-time basis. They set the sales strategy, build the process, manage the reps, and answer for the number in the leadership conversation. Fractional VP of Sales, Fractional Head of Sales, and Fractional Sales Leader usually describe the same role at different company sizes.

What is the difference between a Fractional Sales Leader, a sales manager, and a CRO?

A sales manager runs the day-to-day of a sales team: coaching reps, reviewing deals, and keeping activity on track. A VP or Head of Sales sits above that and owns the whole sales function: strategy, process, hiring, and the forecast. A Chief Revenue Officer usually owns every revenue team at once, often marketing, sales, and customer success together. Most growing businesses need the middle layer first, which is what a Fractional Sales Leader covers, and many also manage the reps directly until there is a full-time sales manager.

What is the difference between a Fractional Sales Leader and a sales consultant?

A sales consultant is usually hired for a defined project, like a playbook or a CRM setup, and leaves when the deliverable is done. A Fractional Sales Leader owns sales on an ongoing basis: they manage the team, run the pipeline review every week, and are still there when the new process meets real deals.

How much does a Fractional Sales Leader cost?

Through Nacho, a Fractional Sales Leader starts at $125/hr with no placement fee and no separate retainer. Hours draw from one monthly Talent Budget with a $1,000 monthly minimum, so at the starting rate roughly $2,000 a month buys about 16 hours and roughly $8,000 a month buys about 2 days a week. A $300 Delegation Strategy Plan is the only other fee, and it comes before your first match.

Can I hire a part-time sales manager to run my reps?

Yes. Managing and coaching reps is a core part of the role. A Fractional Sales Leader can run one-on-ones, call reviews, and the weekly pipeline meeting as your part-time sales manager, while also building the process and forecast above them. Your Delegation Strategy Plan sets how much of their time goes to each.

What does fractional sales leadership include?

Through Nacho, a Fractional Sales Leader can own sales process design, pipeline management and forecasting, rep hiring, coaching and performance management, CRM setup and reporting, targets and territories, and the sales playbook and messaging. Your Delegation Strategy Plan sets which of those come first.

When should a small business hire a Fractional Head of Sales?

The common trigger is when sales still depends on the founder but the business has outgrown that: you have reps or plan to hire them, nobody owns their results, and the forecast is a guess. That is usually before a company can justify a full-time VP of Sales.

Will a Fractional Sales Leader close deals for us?

The job is building and running the sales system, not being your top rep. A Fractional Sales Leader may join important deals and coach reps on live calls, but if what you really need is someone to carry a quota full-time, that is a sales hire, and we will tell you so on the discovery call.

What if the Fractional Sales Leader is not the right fit?

We re-match you free under the Nacho Guarantee until the fit is right. It is a re-match guarantee, not a money-back guarantee. Every person in the network lives and works in the United States, so a re-match never means going offshore.

Ready when you are

Build a sales team that sells without you.

Book a free, no-obligation discovery call. Tell us where your pipeline, forecast, or team is stuck and we'll tell you honestly whether a Fractional Sales Leader is the right fix.