Fractional Sales Director
What a fractional sales director is, what they cost, and how to know if you need one.
If you’re asking “do we need a fractional sales director,” you’re probably already living the answer. Revenue has stalled, the founder or MD is still closing most of the deals, or you have a sales team with no one senior steering it. A fractional sales director fixes exactly that, without the cost or risk of a full-time hire.
What is a fractional sales director?
A fractional sales director is an experienced sales leader who works with your business on a part-time or flexible basis, typically a set number of days a month, rather than as a full-time employee. You get the same seniority and accountability as a permanent sales director: someone who owns your sales strategy, runs your pipeline, and leads your sales team, at a fraction of the cost and commitment.
Sales strategy: Who you target, how you win, and where growth comes from next.
Pipeline: A process you can forecast against, not guess at.
Team leadership: Coaching, managing, and hiring where needed.
Board reporting: Turning activity into a clear, honest picture of what's working.
What does a fractional sales director cost?
A full-time UK sales director typically costs £120k–£150k+ once salary, bonus, benefits and National Insurance are all in, before you’ve found out whether the hire works out. A fractional sales director costs a fraction of that, billed as a flexible monthly retainer scaled to the number of days you need. Most businesses start with two to four days a month and flex up as the sales function matures.
Senior leadership immediately: Not a first-time manager learning on your budget.
Lower cost and lower risk: Than a full-time commitment, with no recruitment fee and no severance if it isn’t the right fit.
Faster results: A playbook built from experience, not a 90-day plan to write one.
Objectivity: An outside perspective, free from internal politics or sunk-cost thinking.
A route to a full-time hire: If and when you want one, backed by evidence rather than a guess.
Is a fractional sales director right for your business?
Usually yes, if any of these are true:
Growth has plateaued and it isn’t obvious why.
The founder or MD is still the main person closing deals.
You have salespeople but no one senior leading them.
You need experienced sales leadership but can’t yet justify a full-time salary.
How TrinityHawk’s fractional sales directors work
We provide fractional sales directors to UK SMEs and scale-ups who need senior sales leadership without the full-time overhead. We step in as part of your leadership team, not as consultants who write a report and leave. Book a free sales review call and we’ll tell you honestly whether this is the right next step.
Book a free sales review call