One of the most common misconceptions I encounter is that a fractional BDM is essentially a consultant who shows up, gives advice, and sends an invoice. That is the opposite of how I operate and how the best fractional BDMs in the market operate.
A fractional BDM is an embedded operator who owns pipeline outcomes. They do not just advise on strategy. They execute it. Here is an honest, granular breakdown of what that looks like day to day, week to week, and across the arc of a typical engagement.
The Weekly Rhythm of a Fractional BDM
My work across ten-plus companies has settled into a consistent weekly rhythm. The specifics vary by engagement, but the structure is remarkably consistent.
Monday: Pipeline Review and Weekly Planning
Every Monday morning I open HubSpot or Salesforce and go through the full active pipeline for each company I am working with. I am looking for:
- Deals that have not had activity in five or more business days and need a follow-up
- Opportunities that have advanced and need a next step scheduled
- New leads that came in over the weekend and need same-day qualification
- Outbound sequence metrics from the prior week: open rates, reply rates, bounces
This review informs the week's priorities. If sequence performance is dropping, I need to revise messaging this week. If three deals stalled, I need to figure out why and plan the right follow-up approach for each.
Tuesday and Wednesday: Outbound Execution
These are my primary prospecting days. I typically spend four to six hours across Tuesday and Wednesday on direct outbound activity: researching target accounts in Apollo, writing personalized email intros, sending LinkedIn connection requests to decision makers at target accounts, and following up on existing sequences.
This is the work most people picture when they think of a BDM. The research, the writing, the sending. I use Clay for data enrichment when I need to build a prospect list at scale, Apollo for managing sequences and tracking engagement, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator for identifying the right contact at each target account.
I aim to touch 20 to 40 new prospects per week in active outbound, depending on the engagement scope and the target ACV. For higher ACV deals with longer sales cycles, fewer and more personalized touches. For lower ACV deals with faster sales cycles, higher volume and tighter sequences.
Thursday: Discovery Calls and Partner Work
Thursdays are my preferred day for discovery calls. Prospects reached earlier in the week have had time to consider the outreach, and mid-week calls tend to have lower no-show rates than Mondays and Fridays.
In a typical week I run two to five discovery calls for an engagement, depending on pipeline stage and outbound volume. I handle my own discovery calls rather than handing them off, because the insights from those conversations directly inform my outbound strategy in ways that a handoff would obscure.
Thursday is also when I do partner outreach and follow-up. Partnership relationships require consistent nurturing, and having a dedicated day for it prevents it from being crowded out by outbound activity.
Friday: Reporting and Iteration
Every Friday I produce a brief pipeline update for the company leadership. Not a slide deck. Usually a concise summary in the shared Notion or Google Doc: outbound activity this week, calls booked, opportunities created, pipeline status, and what I am changing next week based on what I learned.
I also use Friday afternoon to update sequence copy, retire underperforming messages, and write new variants based on the week's call learnings. The best subject lines and opening lines I ever write come from phrases I heard in discovery calls. Friday is when I mine those calls for copy gold.
Monthly Deliverables
Beyond the weekly rhythm, here is what I produce monthly in a typical fractional BDM engagement:
- Pipeline report: Total qualified opportunities created, pipeline value, conversion rates from outbound to discovery call to qualified opportunity, and deal progression across stages.
- ICP and messaging updates: A short memo documenting what we learned about the ICP this month, any segment shifts, and the messaging changes I made in response.
- Sequence performance analysis: Which sequences are working, which are not, and the specific copy changes I made.
- Partner pipeline update: Status of active partner relationships and any referrals generated.
- 90-day outlook: Projected pipeline and forecast based on current activity levels and conversion rates.
Strategic Work That Happens Quarterly
In addition to weekly execution, I take on heavier strategic projects on a quarterly basis:
- ICP refresh: A full analysis of closed-won and closed-lost deals to validate or revise the ideal customer profile.
- Playbook update: Revisions to the BD playbook based on what has been learned in the prior quarter.
- New channel testing: Designing and launching an experiment in a new outbound channel or a new segment.
- Pricing and positioning input: Because I am talking to prospects constantly, I often have more current information about competitive positioning and pricing sensitivity than anyone else in the company. I surface this quarterly in a structured way.
The Tools I Use Every Day
Transparency about tooling helps companies understand what to budget for and what access to set up before day one:
- Apollo: Primary prospecting and sequence tool. I live in Apollo for list building and outbound management.
- HubSpot or Salesforce: Pipeline management and deal tracking. I keep these clean and updated daily so leadership always has an accurate picture of pipeline health.
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator: Account research and warm outreach. Essential for identifying decision makers and personalizing outreach.
- Clay: Data enrichment at scale when I need to build large prospecting lists with rich data.
- Notion or Google Docs: BD playbook, weekly reporting, and strategy documentation.
What I Do Not Do
Being clear about this prevents misaligned expectations. A fractional BDM typically does not manage a sales team, run marketing campaigns, handle customer success, or own post-close account management. The focus is upstream: generating new qualified pipeline and building the systems that make pipeline generation repeatable.
If you need someone who does all of the above, you are looking for a fractional CRO or a fractional VP of Sales, both of which are different roles with different scopes and different pricing.
Want to see how this plays out for your specific company? Book a strategy call and I will give you a clear picture of what I would be doing in my first 30 days at your company. Or visit my pricing page to understand what different engagement structures include.