Fractional VP of Sales in Houston
Bedrock Sales Strategy provides Fractional VP of Sales leadership to B2B companies in Houston, Texas. Mike Dowhan works inside your business as your sales leader — building the strategy, installing the infrastructure, and leading the team that executes it — without the cost or commitment of a full-time executive hire.
Most companies that call us are not short on effort. They are short on structure. The reps are working, the pipeline looks busy, and the revenue still arrives unpredictably. That is a leadership and infrastructure problem, and it is the problem this engagement is built to solve.
What does a Fractional VP of Sales actually do?
A Fractional VP of Sales is an experienced sales executive who leads your sales organization on a part-time, ongoing basis. The distinction that matters is ownership. A consultant diagnoses the problem and hands you a plan. A Fractional VP of Sales owns the outcome and leads the people responsible for delivering it.
In practice that means running the forecast, holding the pipeline reviews, coaching the reps and the sales manager, sitting in on the deals that matter, and being accountable for the number. It is a seat on your leadership team, not an advisory retainer.
When does a Houston company need one?
The pattern is consistent. You need a Fractional VP of Sales when one or more of these is true:
Revenue growth has stalled or turned inconsistent, and nobody can explain why
You are the founder or CEO, sales reports to you, and you do not have the time or the background to lead it properly
You have salespeople but no sales process, no playbook, and no reliable forecast
You have tried to hire a VP of Sales and it did not work, or the search stalled on cost
Your sales manager was promoted from a rep seat and has never been taught to lead
You cannot see your pipeline clearly enough to plan the next two quarters
None of those are fixed by hiring another rep. They are fixed by putting sales leadership and sales infrastructure in place — which is the work.
Fractional VP of Sales or a full-time hire?
A full-time VP of Sales is the right answer when your sales organization is large enough and stable enough to keep an executive fully occupied, and when you can absorb the salary, the variable comp, the benefits, and the risk of a bad hire in a role that is notoriously difficult to recruit for.
A Fractional VP of Sales is the right answer earlier than that. You get executive-level sales leadership at the fraction of capacity your business actually needs, starting in weeks rather than months, without a search process and without the severance exposure if the fit is wrong.
Many Bedrock Sales Strategy engagements end with the company hiring a full-time VP of Sales — into a role that is now defined, with a process that works, a comp plan that makes sense, and a team worth leading. Building that seat properly is part of the job.
What happens in the first 90 days?
Every engagement follows the Bedrock Sales Strategy Method — Discover, Design, Build, Execute, Sustain — and the first ninety days cover the first three stages.
Discover. A structured assessment of the sales organization: pipeline and win/loss patterns, sales process and stage definitions, CRM data quality, comp plan, team capability, and the gaps between what is claimed and what is actually happening.
Design. Translating your business goals into a sales strategy — ideal customer profile, positioning, value proposition, territory and account approach, and a revenue plan the numbers actually support.
Build. Installing what is missing. Sales process and stage definitions, playbook, forecast cadence, KPIs and scorecards, CRM configuration, and the management rhythm that holds it together.
By the end of the first quarter you have a documented sales operating system and a leader running it. Execution and coaching continue from there.
Why work with a Houston-based sales leader?
National fractional firms will assign you an operator from anywhere. That works for some businesses. It works less well when your buyers are in energy, industrial technology, manufacturing, construction, or transportation — sectors where deals are technical, cycles are long, and multiple stakeholders have to agree before anything closes.
Mike Dowhan has led sales organizations in Houston companies and globally. He is in the market when you need someone local and available remote for any engagement.
Who leads the engagement?
Mike Dowhan is the Founder and President of Bedrock Sales Strategy, which he launched in 2019. Over a career spanning more than 30 years he has led and advised sales organizations across B2B and technology, with earlier experience at Morningstar, Toptal, The Boston Consulting Group, and Goldman Sachs. He holds an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and a BSE from Princeton University, and is a Certified Sales Leader through Sales Xceleration.
What does a Fractional VP of Sales cost in Houston?
Bedrock Sales Strategy prices each engagement to its scope rather than publishing a rate card. Sales assessments and infrastructure projects are scoped and billed as projects. Ongoing Fractional VP of Sales leadership is a monthly engagement sized to the days per month your business needs.
The comparison worth making is not against a consulting fee. It is against the fully loaded cost of a full-time VP of Sales — salary, variable compensation, benefits, and the cost of getting that hire wrong.
What industries does Bedrock Sales Strategy work with?
B2B organizations across SaaS and technology, financial services, professional services, manufacturing, construction, transportation, and talent marketplaces — from founders building a first sales playbook to executives rebuilding an underperforming team.