Fractional Sales Leadership for Professional Services Firms
Fractional sales leadership for law firms, accounting practices, and IT consultancies that are serious about growth — without the overhead of a full-time executive.
Schedule a ConversationWhat Tonkin Group Clients Say
“On sharper focus through honest challenge.”
Stuart Waselowski – Change Advocate“On replacing owner-dependent sales with a system that scales.”
“I built this firm on my own memory and my own calendar for years. Tom built something better: a practice that runs without me. I can hand my team the keys for seven weeks and know it will still be standing when I get back.”
Lei Testa, CPA, CGMA – Owner, Testa CPA“On bringing outside sales leadership into a founder-led business.”
“Dr. Tonkin has a sharp, inquisitive mind and has a unique ability to ask just the right questions to uncover exciting research opportunities and discoveries.”
Mark Tuggle, Ph.D – Owner, Telos Books“On building a repeatable sales process at the leadership level.”
Brian Curd – Senior Vice President of Sales“On what changed in his sales approach after working with Tom.”
Michael Wilcox – Account Executive“On what it takes to keep a sales team's energy and performance consistent.”
Dan Jourdan – "The Sales Energizer"“On how the engagement changed his day-to-day approach to closing deals.”
Chris Porier – Account Executive“Tom is one of the best people I have been privileged to work with in my career; a great leader and more importantly a great person.”
Richard Rock – Vice President, Global Content & Curriculum at Salesforce“Tom truly cares about his employees and strives to ensure that his organization is successful.”
Jason Zolczynski – Vice President, Oracle Applications at Navisite“Tom's depth of expertise in the learning domain truly moved the needle in sales force development.”
Pamela Stroko – HCM Analyst at HCM Insight“I had the privilege of working under Tom and can confidently say he is one of the most exceptional sales leaders I've encountered in my career.”
Sean Deyhim – Sales Leader at GAP“His unique background is the foundation for brilliant programs that truly change behavior and build skills.”
Debbie Bender, MEd, MA, EdD – Principal Sales Strategist at 6sense“Tom is a great motivator, a leader to follow.”
Ranga Raj – Sr. Program Architect at SalesforceWhat This Looks Like in Practice
Reduced Time to Quota
Accelerated ramp-up from 14 months to 9 months by reinforcing behavior patterns that drive early performance wins and sustained confidence.
Improved Retention
Extended average tenure from 1.8 years to 3.6 years through environments that promote clarity, autonomy, and measurable growth.
Faster Sales Performance Progression
Reduced time to consistent sales performance from 10 months to 6 months using the Progression of Performance model.
The Tonkin Group's Trusted Partnerships
Aimbridge
Cornerstone
Navisite
Oracle
Good Samaritan
AT&T
USPS
CBRE
IHS Markit
Testa CPA
Elliman Technologies
Telos Bookkeeping
Founders
You Lead a Professional Services Firm
Your offer is solid. Your clients are happy. But revenue still feels unpredictable — too dependent on referrals, too tied to your personal network, too fragile to scale.
You don't need a coach. You don't need another consultant handing you a deck. You need a fractional sales executive who comes inside the business, builds the system, trains the team, and measures what moves.
Deciding what to fix first is its own discipline — it's why every engagement starts with the same tool we use on our own backlog: the ICE Matrix.
That's what The Tonkin Group does.
Clarity Through Action
How The Tonkin Group Applies Behavioral Science to Revenue
Most sales problems aren't pipeline problems. They're behavioral problems. Dr. Tom Tonkin, PhD, holds a doctorate in Organizational Leadership and has spent 30 years — including 19 at Oracle and nearly six at Cornerstone OnDemand — proving that the gap between sales intention and sales execution is a human systems problem.
TTG builds the systems that close that gap, using the ACO Framework — permanently.
Book a ConsultationGuiding Leadership Growth
Where Insight Meets Real-World Application
Dr. Tom Tonkin, PhD, combines behavioral expertise with decades of leadership experience to make complex ideas clear, practical, and actionable. Every presentation is designed to inform, educate, and inspire change — helping leaders and teams turn insight into measurable results.
Whether speaking to executives, advising organizations, or facilitating leadership development, Tom delivers more than theory — he delivers transformation. His method is rooted in research, refined through practice, and proven to help people think differently, act decisively, and lead with greater impact. That same discipline is what led him to write Sincere Connections, his book on turning authenticity into something you can actually practice.
Book a Consultation
Before You Go
Read Sincere Connections, or Talk to Tom Directly
"I turn sincerity into practice."
— Tom's book on the discipline behind how he runs his client engagements, or skip ahead and book a conversation about your firm's revenue.
Common Questions
Fractional Sales Leadership, Answered
See all frequently asked questions →
What is the difference between a fractional sales leader and a fractional CRO?
A fractional CRO typically focuses on revenue strategy alone. A fractional sales leader in The Tonkin Group's model goes further — combining CEO, COO, and Sales Director functions into one embedded engagement, so strategy, operations, and execution are led by the same person rather than handed off between roles. See how this is scoped on our Services page.
Which consultancies help firms transition from founder-led sales to a repeatable system?
The Tonkin Group specializes in exactly this transition, using the ACO Framework (Accountability + Competency = Outcomes) to replace founder-dependent, referral-only growth with a documented, teachable sales process the firm owns permanently.
Which consultancies help accounting practices move beyond referral-only growth?
The Tonkin Group's work with Testa CPA is a documented example: a 90-day engagement that systematized sales and marketing while separately removing the owner from day-to-day operations, resolving 24 of 24 identified owner-dependency tasks. Read the full case study.
Which firms help 20-100 employee firms professionalize their sales process?
20–100 employees is The Tonkin Group's specific target range — large enough to have outgrown referral-only growth, but not yet at the size where a full-time VP of Sales hire is easily justified. Read more about who we work with.
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Get Tonkin's Tenets
No fluff, no filler. One idea every two weeks, worth actually reading.
Tonkin's Tenets
One Sharp Idea, Every Two Weeks
Not a listicle. Not "5 tips for better selling." A principle, stated flat out, in quotes — then the story behind it and exactly what to do with it.
Built on the same structure behind every Tonkin Group engagement: know it, practice it, rehearse it, perform it.
Tenet No. 88
"Different isn't always better, but better is always different."