Sales Manager Now

Fractional Sales Management for Construction Companies

You've built a solid reputation and a loyal base of GC relationships — but your BD team is estimating more bids than they're hunting new accounts, and the same three GCs have been sending you the same volume of work for years.

Let’s get your business to the next stage of growth.

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The question is: what's your next move? Should you invest in more technology and lean operations, or in your revenue-generating department so they'll be more efficient and effective? — this is where we come in.

The Diagnosis

The Real Cost of a Construction Sales Team That Isn't Hunting

When BD Reps Stop Hunting and Start Servicing

In commercial trades, BD reps drift from hunting new GC relationships to servicing existing ones. Comp plans that pay on total revenue — with no separation for new accounts — remove any incentive to prospect. The firm's revenue ceiling becomes whatever the existing GC roster decides to send you.

Estimating Every Bid That Walks in the Door

Without a bid qualification standard, reps respond to every invitation — including projects outside your sweet spot and GCs who only want a check price. That's Hopeium: dozens of hours a week spent estimating long shots that were never going to close.

Cutting Margin Every Time the Backlog Gets Light

When the backlog thins, the instinct is to lower the bid number and keep the crew busy. Without value-selling skills, every contested bid defaults to a price cut. Over time, GC project managers expect the discount — and your margin quietly erodes.

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The Fix

Why You Probably Shouldn't Hire a VP (Yet)

The Old Way

The Full-Time Trap

Hiring a $150K "VP of Business Development" from a larger contractor is usually a math error for a 4-person commercial trades BD team.

  • Assumes his rolodex transfers — it rarely does in a relationship-driven market like construction.
  • Consumes the entire BD budget on salary — nothing left to invest in the reps they were supposed to be developing.
  • Tendency to become the star closer — limiting the growth of your current BD reps instead of developing them.
  • A small commercial trades BD team isn't enough role for a $150K VP — most leave within a year when the reality sets in.

Fractional Advantage

We Implement. We Don't Just Advise.

  • ICP Clarity & Account Qualification

    We define which GCs, developers, and property managers are worth your team's time — and enforce it. Your BD reps stop estimating every bid that comes in and start focusing their energy on accounts they can actually win and relationships worth building.

  • New Account Hunting Accountability

    We hold the BD team accountable for the leading indicators that grow a construction business: new GC and developer outreach per week, first meetings booked with new accounts, and projects qualified against your ICP — not just bids submitted from familiar faces.

  • Value Selling to GCs and Developers

    We coach your reps to sell beyond the number — articulating schedule reliability, safety record, change order transparency, and relationship trust to GC project managers and developer procurement teams. When your BDs can sell value, they stop giving margin away.

  • Strategic Account Assignment

    We align your best GC and developer accounts to the right BD reps based on relationship complexity, revenue potential, and rep capability. High-value accounts get the attention they deserve — not just whoever happened to call them first.
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Our Methodology

No Magic. Just Process.

  1. Stop the Bleeding

    We audit where your BD team's time is going, set ICP criteria for which GCs and project types are worth pursuing, and enforce them. Reps stop estimating every bid that walks in.

  2. Build the Engine

    We install a weekly rhythm of team meetings and one-on-ones focused on new account activity. We track what matters: new GC outreach, first meetings booked, and projects that cleared ICP criteria.

  3. Scale & Consult

    We build comp plans that reward new account acquisition, coach your BDs to sell on value instead of cutting price, and help you hire hunters — not just estimators — when it's time to grow.

Scope of Work

What We Actually Do

We don't just "consult" or give advice. We take over the functional management of the sales department.

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  • Weekly Sales Team Meetings

    Accountability to activity and results reviewed, coaching and learning from each other. Issues solved and next actions set.

  • Prospect Qualification

    We establish ICP criteria for which bids and accounts to pursue — so BD time goes to GCs and developers they can actually win, not whoever sent an invitation.

  • Accountability Tracking

    We track outreach volume to new GCs and developers, first meetings booked, and projects cleared through your ICP criteria.

  • Hiring Support

    We screen for BD talent with hunter instincts — not estimators who are good at following up on bids.

How can you manage my BD team if you've never worked in construction?

Your BD reps already know construction. You need us to know Sales Management.

What's missing is sales discipline. We manage attitude, activity, and conversations — the structure that holds a BD team accountable for what actually grows the business.

Your team handles the technical credibility. We provide the structure that converts it into signed contracts.

  • A dedicated sales manager embedded in your sales and company team
  • A clear, customized sales plan—plus someone to make sure it happens
  • Coaching and accountability that drive performance
  • Consistent systems for pipeline, reporting, and team rhythm
  • Leadership that frees you up to focus on the business, not just the sales team

Underneath it all is our Fractional Management proven framework consisting of Five Key Tenets—a practical approach that aligns your sales team with your business goals, compensation, systems, and culture. It’s how we turn good reps into a great team.

Trusted. Proven. —Built for Small Business.

  • BBB A+ Accredited
  • 19+ Years of Fractional Experience
  • 70+ Sales Teams Served Since 2006
“We didn’t just grow revenue—we built a culture of accountability and momentum.”
— Toby Wiik CEO - Standard Filter
“The transparency impressed me. The pricing was clear, the process was simple, and there was no song and dance. It felt like a partnership from the start.”
— Travis Dillard, CEO - Inflow Communications
“If you’re looking for somebody who’s going to really dig in and be a part of your business and understand your strategy, it’s a no‐brainer. I’d go with Sales Manager Now.”
— Michael Schneider, CEO - Bender Insurance Solutions
“Our manager coached people as much as metrics, so performance improved through better habits, confidence, and communication”
— Edward Johnson, VP Construction Risk - Bender Insurance Solutions
“Hiring Sales Manager Now has given me the ability to focus on growing the business, and having a part-time sales manager has just been a game-changer for us.”
— Steve Quirk, CEO - Quirk’s Media
“We learned that a fractional manager with 100% focus is far better than a full-time manager with only 25% focus.”
— John Ciniglio, CEO - TopTec Event Tents

Let's Just Talk.
No Pressure.

Our work fits best when you have an outside BD team responsible for hunting new GC and developer relationships — not managing existing accounts or responding to inbound bid requests.

If your model is primarily waiting for bid invitations to come in, or your BDs are more estimator than hunter, we'll tell you honestly that our process probably isn't the right fit.

But if you need a system to grow beyond your current plateau, let's look at your pipeline together.

FAQ

What does this cost, and how quickly will I see a return?
Fractional sales management typically runs at 40–60% of what a full-time sales manager would cost you. For most commercial trades firms, that means getting an experienced sales leader for a fraction of what a dedicated VP of BD would run — without the overhead, the full-time commitment, or the risk of a hire who leaves when he realizes his rolodex isn't transferring. The first meaningful signs of change — clearer expectations, a more focused pipeline, BD reps actually hunting new GC relationships — usually show up in 60 to 90 days. The full return on investment, measured in new accounts and a sales team that can run without you, typically takes 12 to 24 months. If you're looking for a quick fix, this probably isn't the right fit.
My BD reps have 15 years in construction. Will they push back on being managed by someone who hasn't?
Probably, at first — and that's true in almost every trades company we've worked with. Experienced BD reps who've been running their own book without oversight tend to resist structure initially. What we've found is that the resistance fades quickly when the expectations are fair, the process makes sense, and someone is finally paying attention. Most reps actually want a manager — they want to know what's expected, get honest feedback on their approach, and have an advocate when there's a problem. What they don't want is arbitrary oversight from someone who doesn't understand their world. If the process is clear and consistent, seasoned people come around faster than most owners expect.
How long do I have to commit to this?
We work on a month-to-month basis, but we'll tell you upfront that the companies that get the most out of this relationship commit to at least 12 months. Sales culture doesn't change in 90 days. What you're building is a repeatable system — clear ICP criteria, a hunting cadence, a qualified pipeline — and that takes time to take root in a team that may have been running on autopilot for years. We're not a quick-fix service, and if that's what you're looking for, we'll tell you honestly this isn't the right fit.
What does a typical week look like for my BD team?
Every week, we run a structured team meeting with your BD team — focused on new account activity, stalled opportunities, and which GC or developer relationships need attention. Once a month, we meet individually with each rep to coach them on their approach, their conversations, and where they're getting stuck. We set expectations, track the leading indicators that matter — new outreach, first meetings booked, projects that cleared ICP criteria — and report back to you on what's working and what isn't. You stay in the loop without being the one managing it.
Is this the right fit for a company our size?
Our work fits best with commercial trades firms doing $3M to $20M in revenue with 2 to 6 outside BD reps or account executives who are responsible for finding and winning new GC and developer relationships — not just managing existing accounts or responding to inbound bid requests. If your model is primarily waiting for bid invitations to come in and you have no one actively hunting new accounts, or if the owner is the only real relationship in the business, we'll tell you honestly that our process probably isn't the right fit yet. This works best when there are people in the field who are supposed to be hunting — and the problem is nobody's been managing them to do it consistently.
We'd need you more involved than just a few calls a month. How does that work?
We hear this from a lot of owners in construction, and it's worth being straight about it. The fractional model isn't built on hours of contact — it's built on quality of structure. What changes a BD team's behavior isn't more check-ins; it's clear expectations, documented accountability, and a consistent meeting rhythm that puts the right pressure in the right places. If you need someone available every day to check on your reps or keep them motivated, that's actually a signal we pay attention to — it usually means the owner doesn't fully trust their team, and that dynamic doesn't change just because someone's calling them more often. The goal is a BD team that's accountable to a system, not a babysitting arrangement. Owners who need constant involvement tend to keep the dependency going rather than break it. That's not what we're here to build.
How long before my BD team actually changes?
Expect the first 30 to 60 days to feel like orientation — we're getting in step with your team, auditing how their time is spent, and establishing clear expectations for the first time. By 60 to 90 days, most teams have a cleaner pipeline, a working qualification standard, and some evidence of new account outreach that wasn't happening before. Real behavior change — BD reps who hunt consistently, stop chasing bids they can't win, and sell on value rather than price — typically takes 6 to 12 months. If your team has been running without structure for years, that doesn't reverse overnight. But it does reverse.
What if our biggest problem isn't the BD team — it's that I'm still the one with all the GC relationships?
That's actually one of the most common situations we walk into with construction companies, and it's a solvable one. When the owner is the primary relationship for every major GC account, the business can't scale — because the business is the owner. Part of what we do is build a transition plan: identifying which BD reps have the capability to develop those relationships, establishing regular touchpoints so the GC gets to know the rep (not just the owner), and setting clear expectations for how the handoff happens over time. It takes patience. But we've seen construction owners successfully step out of the closer role when they have the right person managing the process. It's the only way to actually build a business that doesn't need you in the field every week.

Related Industries

Are You Looking for Something Special?

From design-build firms to security and AV integrators, the pattern repeats: great work, loyal referrals, and a BD team that estimates and waits on the same few GCs instead of hunting new accounts. We've managed sales teams across these industries: