AH Alastair Hall

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Sales advisory for UK founders and sales leaders. Fixed scope. Real plans.

When you do not need a fractional seat, you need someone to come in, look hard, and leave you with a working plan your team can execute. Most projects run four to twelve weeks. Each one ends with a single named deliverable, finished cleanly.

Why advisory, not fractional

Most founders and sales leaders I speak to know exactly what is broken. Pipeline forecasts are guesses. The comp plan is incentivising the wrong behaviour. The playbook is in someone's head, not on paper. The sales process has fifteen named stages but no one agrees what closed-stage two actually means.

What they do not have is the time, the lens, or the outside conviction to fix it. A full-time hire is overkill for the specific problem. A fractional engagement is more ongoing leadership than they need. The right answer is a focused project, scoped to the specific thing that is broken, delivered in weeks not months, with a deliverable your team owns.

That is what sales advisory is for.

Who this is for

  • UK founders and sales leaders with a specific, named sales problem
  • Businesses with an existing sales team and process, but a piece that is not working
  • Companies preparing for a fundraise, exit, or growth stage who need their sales function in good shape
  • Sales leaders who want a working plan, not a 60-page slide deck

Common advisory projects

Every advisory engagement is shaped to your situation, but five projects recur most often. Each is fixed-scope, with a single named deliverable, finished cleanly.

Project 01

Pipeline rebuild and forecasting

For teams whose forecast is a guess and whose pipeline reporting nobody trusts. We redefine stage definitions, agree the criteria for moving a deal forward, build the scoring rubric, and end up with a forecast you can take to a board meeting and defend.

Deliverable: documented sales process, stage definitions, scoring rubric, weekly cadence template, and a forecast model populated with your current pipeline. Typical timeline: 4–6 weeks.

Project 02

Comp plan and quota design

For teams whose comp plan is incentivising the wrong behaviour, or who are building a new plan for the next financial year. We audit the current incentives, identify the behaviour the business actually needs, and design a plan that pays for the right outcomes.

Deliverable: a documented comp plan per role, quota model, SPIF design, and a one-page rep-facing explainer. Typical timeline: 3–5 weeks.

Project 03

Sales process and playbook

For teams whose playbook lives in the founder's head, and whose new reps ramp on instinct rather than instruction. We document the sales motion end-to-end, from first-touch to closed-won and onboarding, including the actual emails, scripts and discovery frameworks your top reps already use.

Deliverable: a written playbook your next rep can ramp from on day one, including discovery frameworks, objection handling, email and call templates, and stage-by-stage actions. Typical timeline: 8–12 weeks.

Project 04

Hiring scorecards and onboarding

For teams about to make their first or fifth sales hire and want to avoid the £50,000-plus cost of a bad one. We design the role scorecard, interview rubric, structured interview questions, and the 30-60-90 day onboarding plan that gets a rep to first-deal faster.

Deliverable: scorecard, interview kit, structured questions, hiring panel guide, and a 30-60-90 day onboarding plan. Typical timeline: 4–6 weeks.

Project 05

AI-readiness audit

For teams who have read the £30k AI agency proposals and want a grown-up second opinion on what is actually worth building. We audit your current sales motion, identify the three to five workflows where AI genuinely saves time, and produce a build plan with realistic costs. If you want me to build it afterwards, that is an AI for Sales engagement; if not, the plan stands on its own.

Deliverable: AI-readiness report, prioritised workflow list with effort and ROI estimates, build versus buy recommendations. Typical timeline: 2–4 weeks.

How an advisory engagement runs

  • Discovery (week 0). A 30-minute call followed by a one-page scope document. Single named deliverable, timeline, and cost.
  • Kick-off (week 1). Stakeholder interviews, document review, ride-alongs on calls or pipeline meetings where relevant.
  • Build (weeks 2 to N-1). Weekly working sessions with you and your team. Iterating on the deliverable, not surprising you at the end.
  • Hand-off (final week). Documented deliverable, walkthrough with your managers and team, written guidance for adoption.

Where this fits with my other services

Advisory is the cleanest way to start working together. Many founders begin with one of the five projects above, find that the working style is right, and then move into a fractional Sales Director engagement to embed the changes long-term. Others prefer to take the deliverable, run it themselves, and call me back when the next thing breaks. Both routes are fine.

If your real problem is execution speed rather than process design, AI for Sales may be a better fit than advisory.

FAQ

Common questions about Sales Advisory.

What's the difference between sales advisory and fractional sales leadership?
Advisory is a fixed-scope project (rebuild your pipeline, redesign your comp plan, write your playbook) delivered in four to twelve weeks. Fractional is ongoing leadership of your sales function for one to two days a week. Many founders start with an advisory project and move to fractional afterwards if it makes sense.
What sales advisory projects do you take on most often?
Five recur most: pipeline rebuild and forecasting, comp plan and quota design, sales process and playbook, hiring scorecards and onboarding, and AI-readiness audits. Each is fixed-scope, with a single named deliverable, finished cleanly.
How long does a sales advisory project take?
Usually four to twelve weeks, depending on scope. A comp plan redesign can be three to four weeks; a full sales process and playbook build is closer to eight to twelve. We agree the timeline and the deliverable on the discovery call.
Will your advisory project work for our team?
Yes, because the deliverable is designed to be run by your team, not by an outside consultant. Every project ends with documentation, a walkthrough, and your managers trained on how to use what we built.
Can sales advisory turn into a fractional engagement?
Often. Many founders start with an advisory project to fix the specific thing that is broken, and then move into a fractional sales director engagement once they have seen the working style. There is no obligation to continue; the advisory project is complete on its own terms.
Do you take on retainers or only fixed-scope work?
Advisory is fixed-scope by design. If you want an ongoing relationship after the project, fractional sales leadership is the more honest contract for that. I would rather end a tight advisory project cleanly than dress it up as a retainer.

Got a specific sales problem you want to fix?

A 30-minute call. Name the problem, and we will see whether one of the five projects above (or a custom scope) is the right answer.

Book a 30-minute call [email protected]