Sales director and CRO executive search and recruitment in the UK

A sales leadership hire is judged on a number sooner than any other seat, and that is why it fails so often. The candidate who beat a target at the last company sold a different product to a different buyer from a pipeline somebody else built, and the search has to separate the person from the conditions they worked in. Most of the work is that separation.

The UK market charges 25 to 33 per cent of first-year salary for retained search and 15 to 25 per cent for contingency. What sits inside that number is set out openly, which is unusual in this market and deliberate.

What changes when the seat is the sales director or CRO

Why sales-leadership searches fail

The usual failure is hiring the best individual seller instead of a leader, or the leader of a mature team for a company that still needs its playbook written. Both look strong in interview, because both can talk about a large number. The brief has to say whether the job is turning founder-led selling into a repeatable motion, or scaling one that already works, because the people who are good at the first are rarely the people who are good at the second.

How to assess a track record

Ask for attainment as a share of plan over at least four quarters, with the size of the team and the average deal behind it. Then ask what the pipeline looked like on arrival and on departure, and who generated it. A leader who grew a team and left a healthier pipeline than they inherited is the hire; one who rode a rising market and cannot explain their conversion rates is not. References from people who reported to them say more than references from the chief executive.

On-target earnings, described rather than guessed

Sales leaders are paid a base and a variable component that together make on-target earnings, and the split, the measure and the timing of the variable are as much a part of the offer as the base. Decide whether the variable pays on bookings, revenue or margin, whether it is quarterly or annual, and what happens in the first two quarters before the new leader can move the number. Candidates read a vague plan as a plan that will be changed against them.

Fractional first?

A fractional sales director two days a week can write the sales process, hire the first account executives and show whether the motion works before the company commits to a full-time leader on a full variable plan. It is the cheaper way to learn which kind of sales leader the company needs, and it often turns the permanent brief from a guess into a specification.

How sales director search firms and headhunters differ

Sales leadership is recruited by three kinds of firm: generalist search firms with a commercial or revenue practice, specialist sales recruiters who know the enterprise and regional sales leaders in one sector, and contingency agencies that fill sales roles in volume. The specialist knows who has actually hit a number in your market; the generalist knows who has run a revenue organisation at scale.

Whichever kind is used, the firm should check the track record against the plan the candidate was set rather than against the candidate's account of it, and should be able to say how the candidate's last on-target earnings plan was built and paid.

The part-time version of the seat is set out on the fractional sales director page, with how to hire a fractional sales director step by step.

The process, where it differs

Brief the motion

Founder-led, newly repeatable or scaling, with the current pipeline, win rate and average deal written down, so the search is aimed at the right stage of sales leader.

Map

Sitting sales leaders who sold to the same buyer through the same channel, plus the number twos ready to step up, rather than anybody holding the title.

Assess the number

Four quarters of attainment against plan, the team they ran, and a working session on the company's own pipeline, with references from people who reported to them.

Base, the variable plan, any guarantee for the first two quarters and the start date agreed together, in writing, before the offer goes out.

What to ask a search firm

Which sales leaders have you placed at our stage, and what did each of them inherit?
How do you check a candidate's attainment against plan rather than their own account of it?
Will you approach number twos ready to step up, or only people with the title?
What variable plan do candidates at this level expect, and what makes them turn one down?
At what point would you tell us to hire a fractional sales director first?

Where it goes wrong

Hiring the best individual seller and expecting a leader
Taking an attainment figure without the plan, the team size and the pipeline behind it
Leaving the variable plan to be written after the offer is accepted
Briefing for a scaling leader when the sales motion has not been proved yet

When a search is the wrong instrument

If the company still sells through the founder and has not proved that anybody else can close, a full-time sales leader on a full variable plan is an expensive way to find out. A fractional sales director writes the process and hires the first sellers two days a week, and the permanent brief is written once the motion works.

Common questions

How long does a sales director search take?

Eight to twelve weeks to an accepted offer is typical, then the notice period, which for a UK sales leader is usually three months. A candidate leaving before a commission payment falls due will usually ask for it to be covered, which is worth budgeting for before the offer rather than discovering at it.

Should we hire a sales director or a CRO?

A sales director runs the sales team and owns the number. A chief revenue officer also owns the other functions that produce revenue, usually marketing and customer success, and sits on the leadership team as the single owner of the revenue line. Companies with one sales team and a founder still close to marketing usually need the first.

When should a company hire a full-time sales director rather than a fractional one?

When there is a proven sales motion and a team of sellers to lead every day: a pipeline target the board holds one person to, several account executives to coach, and a forecast that has to be right each quarter. Before the motion is proved, a fractional sales director usually writes the process and hires the first sellers for less.

What does a sales director headhunter charge?

A UK headhunter running a retained sales director search charges 25 to 33 per cent of first-year earnings, usually billed in thirds, and a contingency recruiter charges 15 to 25 per cent on placement only. If a company engages an operator it was introduced to here, it pays getoperators a fee of 15% of the engagement's value over its first twelve months, with a minimum of £3,500 ($4,800 in the United States, AED 17,500 in the UAE), under its Terms of Business. Nothing is added to or taken from the operator's rate.

Two ways in

Permanent, or the part-time version first

Retained search runs a full-time appointment end to end. Operator Search answers the same brief fractionally in five business days, which is usually the faster way to find out whether the seat is real. Or browse the bench and approach somebody direct.