Thomas Reed Executive mandate Sales Leadership Seat · USD 5,000 / month
90-day Head of Sales mandate: Kestrel Industrial
Thomas Reed runs the team. He may not carry a quota of his own, and the reason is in clause 3.
Kestrel sells machinery on nine month cycles through six salespeople, two of whom produce 71 percent of the revenue. The MD has been the de facto head of sales for eleven years and wants out of it. The obvious thing for a fractional leader to do here is start closing deals, and this mandate forbids it.
From 11 January, Thomas owns the sales team, the process, territories and forecasting. He carries no quota, closes no deals in his own name and is not compensated on revenue. On a nine month sales cycle a fractional leader who sells is a leader who leaves mid-cycle with the pipeline in his head.
Document control
- Document number
- MAN-KES-01
- Version
- 1.0
- Effective
- 11 January 2027
- Owner
- Thomas Reed, Fractional Head of Sales
- Approved by
- Walter Kestrel, Managing Director
- Next review
- 12 April 2027
- Classification
- Confidential. Leadership team
Why
What the diagnostic found
| Observed | Evidence |
|---|---|
| Two of six produce 71 percent of revenue | 36 months of closed business by rep |
| Nothing those two do is written down | No playbook, no call structure, no account plan template |
| The MD is in most significant deals | By his own count, 14 of 19 six-figure deals last year |
| Nine month average cycle, no stage model | Deals are early, middle or late, by feel |
| Two reps have never had a formal review | Both joined in 2024 |
| Product knowledge is exceptional | This is a capable team that has never been led |
The first two rows together are the opportunity. Two people have worked out how to sell this equipment and nobody has ever asked them how.
Authority
Decision rights
| Thomas decides | MD decides | |
|---|---|---|
| Team structure, territories and account allocation | Yes | |
| Sales process, stages and the playbook | Yes | |
| Forecast method and cadence | Yes | |
| Coaching, reviews and development plans | Yes | |
| Which deals the MD is pulled into | Yes | |
| Quota allocation across the team | Proposes | Approves |
| Pricing, discount and commercial terms | MD | |
| Commission plan | Proposes | MD |
| Hiring or exiting a salesperson | Recommends | MD, with People |
| Signing anything | Never | MD |
Row five matters more than it looks. The MD wants out of deals and cannot get out of them by his own effort, because every rep escalates to him by habit. Making that Thomas's decision is what actually changes it.
No quota
Why the fractional leader does not sell
It would work in the short term. Thomas could take the three largest open opportunities, close two of them, and the quarter would look excellent. Here is why the mandate rules it out.
| If the fractional leader sells | Consequence |
|---|---|
| The best deals go to the person leaving in 90 days | Relationships and context leave with him |
| A nine month cycle outlasts the mandate | Deals handed over mid-cycle, at the worst point |
| Coaching time becomes selling time | It always does. Selling is urgent, coaching is not |
| The team learns nothing | The two strong reps stay strong, the other four stay where they are |
| The number improves and the company does not | Which is the worst outcome available here |
Plan
What the 90 days does
| Week | Change |
|---|---|
| 1 to 2 | Shadow the two strong reps on live calls. Write down what they do differently |
| 3 | Stage model defined from real deals, not from a template |
| 4 | Playbook v1 from the two strong reps, in their words, credited to them |
| 4 | MD escalation routed through Thomas. He decides which deals need Walter |
| 5 to 11 | Weekly coaching, one hour per rep, on their own live deals |
| 6 | First formal reviews for the two reps who have never had one |
| 8 | Forecast by stage, with the team forecasting their own deals |
| 12 | Review, and a decision on whether a permanent head of sales is now hireable |
Measures
How this gets judged on 12 April
| Measure | Today | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Playbook | None | Written, from the team's own practice |
| Stage model in use | None | Defined and used in the forecast |
| Deals the MD is personally in | 14 of 19 large deals | Under 5, by choice |
| Reps with a coaching rhythm | 0 of 6 | 6 of 6, weekly |
| Revenue concentration in two reps | 71 percent | Reported. Will not move in 90 days |
| Deals closed by Thomas | n/a | Zero. This is a measure |
As with the chief of staff mandate, the last row is a real measure and will be checked. A fractional sales leader with deals in his own name has optimised the quarter at the company's expense.
Document control
Revision history
| Version | Date | Author | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | 2 January 2027 | Thomas Reed | Agreed and signed. Effective 11 January 2027. |
| 0.2 | 29 December 2026 | Thomas Reed | Draft. Clause 3 written out in full after the MD asked, reasonably, why he was paying for a salesperson who would not sell. |
| 0.1 | 22 December 2026 | Thomas Reed | First draft from the sales diagnostic of 17 December. |