Insights — Executive Recruitment — 3 min read
When Should a Business Hire a Head of Sales?
A Head of Sales earns its cost once there is a team large enough to need daily leadership and a commercial plan already worth executing.
In short
A business typically needs a Head of Sales once a sales team exists that is too large or too dispersed for the Managing Director or a Sales Director to manage day to day, and a commercial plan already exists for that person to execute. The role is about disciplined delivery of an agreed plan, so it becomes valuable only once there is enough team and enough plan to make that discipline matter.
The Head of Sales question tends to arrive at a specific moment: the team has grown past the point where its manager can also be its top salesperson, but the business is not yet convinced it needs a full commercial strategist at director level.
Getting the timing right matters more than getting the title right — hire too early and there is not enough team to lead; hire too late and inconsistent execution has already cost the business pipeline and morale.
What signs point towards hiring a Head of Sales now?
- The sales team has grown to the point where one person can no longer manage everyone directly and still sell.
- A commercial plan and targets already exist — set by the Managing Director, a Sales Director, or the board — and the missing piece is disciplined day-to-day delivery.
- Activity levels, CRM discipline and pipeline quality vary significantly between sellers with no one consistently holding the line.
- New starters are onboarded inconsistently because whoever is managing sales is also carrying a full sales target.
- Forecasts are frequently wrong not because the plan is unclear, but because activity against the plan isn't being managed.
What signs suggest it is too early?
- The team is small enough that the Managing Director or founder can still coach each seller individually without it consuming disproportionate time.
- There is no commercial plan yet for a Head of Sales to execute — that gap points to a Sales Director appointment first, since a manager cannot deliver a plan that does not exist.
- Sales performance issues trace back to proposition, pricing or lead quality rather than team management, in which case a stronger commercial plan is needed before another layer of management is added.
How does this differ from needing a Sales Director?
A Head of Sales executes a plan; a Sales Director sets one. If the business cannot yet answer where growth should come from next year, adding a Head of Sales manages the symptoms without addressing the cause. See our fuller comparison of the two roles for the detail — this article assumes that distinction and focuses on timing.
| If this is true | Consider |
|---|---|
| Plan exists, execution is inconsistent, team has outgrown one manager | Head of Sales now |
| No agreed plan for where growth comes from | Sales Director first |
| Team is still small enough for the MD to manage directly | Wait, or use fractional support to test the appetite |
| Multiple sellers, high turnover, weak onboarding | Head of Sales, likely urgently |
What does the role cost if left too late?
In our experience, businesses that delay this hire tend to see the cost show up as inconsistent onboarding, avoidable seller turnover, and pipeline data nobody trusts — rather than as an obvious single event. None of these are dramatic individually, which is why the decision often gets deferred longer than it should.
Can the role be tested before committing permanently?
Where the requirement is real but the business is not certain of the ongoing cost, an interim appointment can prove the value of dedicated sales management before a permanent hire is made. A Head of Sales role depends on daily presence with the team, which makes it a harder fit for a fractional arrangement than a strategic role such as Sales Director or Commercial Director.
Discuss a Sales Director requirement
Permanent, interim or fractional. The conversation starts with what the business actually needs the role to own, not with a job title.
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