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SalesARC vs a fractional VP of Sales firm
You need a senior leader on the number, and the system underneath them that you get to keep. Leadership with a system underneath it, or leadership alone.
The honest short version
When every deal still routes through you, a fractional VP is the obvious hire — typically $5,000–$20,000 a month, most between $8,000 and $15,000 for 20–30 hours a week (Activated Scale, 2026). You get a person, not the system: the playbook, the CRM, the prospecting and the quoting get built in the first two months at retainer rates, and leave when they do. SalesARC Perform puts our leadership on a platform you keep, priced below the market because the system is the product and the leadership runs on it. Have reps? Standard is $4,999/mo for our leadership of up to five of them. No reps yet? Basic is $2,499/mo for our leadership of SalesARC BDRs, with BDR hours billed on top at $19.65/hr, every two weeks. Every Perform plan starts with a strategist call and a signed quote.
Side by side
| Fractional VP firm | SalesARC Perform | |
|---|---|---|
| What you get | A senior sales leader, part-time | A senior sales leader on the SalesARC platform: running SalesARC BDRs (Basic), leading your own reps, up to five (Standard), or the full sales motion (Enterprise). The monthly price is the leadership fee only; BDR hours are billed on top at $19.65/hr, every two weeks. |
| Typical cost | $5,000–$20,000/mo (Activated Scale, 2026); most $8,000–$15,000 | $2,499 / $4,999 / $7,499 per month leadership fee, plus BDR hours where you use them at $19.65/hr, billed every two weeks |
| The system | Theirs, or yours if you already have one | The SalesARC platform underneath it — Playbook, Prospect, ArcClaw™ and Propose, each priced on the pricing page, built in the first weeks and yours after |
| Visibility | Their report, on their cadence | The same project boards, call scores and pipeline we look at, any hour |
| When it ends | The leader leaves; the system often does too | The leader leaves; the platform and the playbook stay |
| Best for | A team with a working system that needs a leader | A founder who needs the system and the leader, and wants to keep the system |
What you get
- Fractional VP firm
- A senior sales leader, part-time
- SalesARC Perform
- A senior sales leader on the SalesARC platform: running SalesARC BDRs (Basic), leading your own reps, up to five (Standard), or the full sales motion (Enterprise). The monthly price is the leadership fee only; BDR hours are billed on top at $19.65/hr, every two weeks.
Typical cost
- Fractional VP firm
- $5,000–$20,000/mo (Activated Scale, 2026); most $8,000–$15,000
- SalesARC Perform
- $2,499 / $4,999 / $7,499 per month leadership fee, plus BDR hours where you use them at $19.65/hr, billed every two weeks
The system
- Fractional VP firm
- Theirs, or yours if you already have one
- SalesARC Perform
- The SalesARC platform underneath it — Playbook, Prospect, ArcClaw™ and Propose, each priced on the pricing page, built in the first weeks and yours after
Visibility
- Fractional VP firm
- Their report, on their cadence
- SalesARC Perform
- The same project boards, call scores and pipeline we look at, any hour
When it ends
- Fractional VP firm
- The leader leaves; the system often does too
- SalesARC Perform
- The leader leaves; the platform and the playbook stay
Best for
- Fractional VP firm
- A team with a working system that needs a leader
- SalesARC Perform
- A founder who needs the system and the leader, and wants to keep the system
Sources: Activated Scale, Fractional VP of Sales Cost Per Month Guide (2026) . Six-month minimum, month to month after. BDR hours billed on top at $19.65/hr, every two weeks.
When a fractional VP alone is the right call
If your sales system already works — CRM trusted, sequences running, quotes clean — and what you lack is someone senior to run it, hire the leader and skip the platform. Adding software to a working system is cost, not value.
When SalesARC is the right call
If the system is the problem as much as the leadership is, Perform builds both at once and leaves the system behind — the leader runs your number, and the playbook, the CRM and the quoting stay yours when the engagement ends. If you are under $10M and have never had a written playbook, you are probably in that position — and you find out at the fractional VP’s second invoice.
We were the founder doing all the selling, so we know what it is to want someone senior to take the number. Hire the leader alone, and the system walks out with them. Hire the leader on a platform you keep, and you are in the deals you choose — not every deal.
Stop being the bottleneck. Start with the playbook.
Trusted by The Rock Group, Fasturtle and Phoenix Strategy Group — and we run our own outbound on SalesARC.
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