For Businesses in Crisis, Fractional Sales Leadership Can Make a Difference

Crisis Sales Management
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A crisis can take many forms for a small to mid-sized business, but it is normally an economic crisis that threatens not only the business’s success, but its very survival. And when an economic crisis occurs quickly and without forecast – such as when the COVID-19 pandemic struck – business owners are left reeling. They find themselves in uncharted waters, facing one challenge after another, and seeking solutions to problems they could not have foreseen.

And because the old ways of doing business and solving problems no longer seem relevant, the wise business owner finally looks for new ideas and new solutions from a new breed of problem solver: the fractional sales leadership consultant. Who is this new kind of sales leader, and what makes their solutions uniquely effective for a business in crisis? Read on…

What is a Fractional Sales Leadership Consultant?

Simply put, a fractional sales leadership consultant is an experienced sales executive who now provides executive-level sales leadership to multiple clients, providing each client with the amount of time they need per week. This individual is a sales professional with years (usually decades) of experience as a corporate VP of Sales. After leaving the corporate world, the sales leadership consultant moves into more of a “free agent” role, serving smaller businesses. Because these businesses often don’t need (or can’t afford) to hire a full-time VP of Sales, for example, they turn to the fractional consultant.

What Does a Fractional Sales Leadership Consultant Offer?

Naturally, sales leadership consultants bring unique perspectives to problem solving for small to mid-sized businesses. But they typically have this in common: Their fresh ideas, keen insights, and crisis-proven solutions are based on best practices and real-world experience and expertise. Often these ideas, insights, and solutions have been honed by managing large sales teams and significant revenue streams. In an economic crisis, when every move to improve sales must be both productive and financially responsible, they can offer not only ideas that work but ones that keep business owners from making disastrous decisions. A fractional-time consultant understands the importance of financial responsibility and leading for a superior return on investment. Why? Because they have a long history of success providing the results required by the CEOs of the businesses in their corporate past. As the old saying goes, they have “been there and done that.”

How Can a Fractional Sales Leadership Consultant Make a Difference?

For business owners who recognize the severity and the stakes of their sales performance problem during a crisis, the fractional sales leadership consultant can be a lifeline. The consultant can also be a linchpin for necessary changes in sales operations. And the consultant can be the battle-tested navigator who can steer the ship while assessing critical sales situations, defining new sales strategies, and implementing new sales processes.

Fractional sales leadership consultants also make a difference during an economic crisis by saving the business money and time. During an economic crisis, revenue and profits often decline quickly and you don’t have much time to turn around the business before your situations gets dire. By using an outsourced VP of Sales a few days per week, the business enjoys expert leadership at a fraction of the cost of a full-time sales executive. This provides exceptional value for the business owner desperate to hold the line on costs. This decision also provides comfort to the business owner, because they know that sales is now being led by an experienced sales executive who has already steered ships successfully through turbulent waters.

Bottom Line:

In an economic crisis, only the strong survive. Sadly, most businesses don’t have a flexible, adaptable, and resilient sales operation built to weather the economic storm. A sales leadership consultant – working on a fractional time basis, however – can bring the sales leadership experience and wisdom necessary to help steer the ship to calmer waters and a rising tide.

At Sales Xceleration, we help struggling businesses not only stay afloat but rise above their competition – even in an economic crisis. Maybe that’s why, during the COVID-19 pandemic, our business and our licensed sales leadership consultants, are thriving. Clients continue to learn that our fractional-time Advisors are lifelines and linchpins and navigators who can help them overcome the crisis and save money while doing it.

To learn more about how your sales leadership experience can be critical to helping small to mid-size businesses thrive when you serve as a fractional sales leadership consultant, click here or contact us at 844.874.7253.