Insights — Executive Recruitment — 3 min read
How Do You Recruit a Sales Director Who Can Actually Build Growth?
Building a growth engine and running an established one require different skills. Recruit against the one your business actually needs.
In short
Recruit for evidence of having genuinely built growth before — new markets, new segments, new pipeline sources — rather than for polish or a strong CV in a stable, already-growing business. Test how a candidate has diagnosed a stalled growth problem previously, what they changed, and what happened as a result, and be explicit in the brief that the mandate is to build, not to maintain.
Many Sales Director hires are competent custodians of an existing sales operation, not people who have ever had to construct one, or reconstruct one that had stalled. That distinction rarely appears clearly on a CV, which is why so many growth-focused appointments underdeliver.
Recruiting for a genuine builder means changing what you look for and how you test it, not just writing 'growth-focused' into the job title.
Why do many Sales Director hires fail to build growth?
- The brief describes growth ambitions, but the assessment process actually tests for competence in running an established, already-functioning sales operation.
- Candidates with strong CVs from larger, well-resourced businesses have often inherited infrastructure — CRM, brand recognition, an established pipeline — that a growth-stage business does not yet have.
- The interview process rewards polish and presentation over evidence of having actually built something from a difficult starting point.
What does a genuine 'builder' track record look like?
| Builder evidence | Operator evidence (also valuable, different mandate) |
|---|---|
| Opened a new market, segment or channel from nothing | Improved conversion in an established pipeline |
| Built a sales process, CRM discipline or forecasting method where none existed | Refined an existing, working process |
| Hired the first members of a sales team | Managed and developed an established team |
| Navigated ambiguity — no existing brand recognition or reference customers | Operated with strong existing brand and customer proof |
How should the brief be written to attract the right candidate?
State plainly that the role is to build, not to inherit and optimise — what specifically must exist in eighteen months that does not exist today. Vague growth language ('drive revenue growth') attracts operators as readily as builders; specific construction language ('establish our first structured outbound function', 'open our first defined vertical') filters for the right profile from the outset.
What should you test in assessment?
- Ask for a specific example of growth that stalled, how they diagnosed the cause, and what they changed — not just a result they achieved.
- Ask what they built with limited resource and no existing infrastructure, and what they would have done differently.
- Ask how they would approach the first 90 days in your business specifically, based on what you have told them about its current state.
- Probe whether their reported growth was driven by their own commercial decisions or by favourable market conditions they inherited.
Does engagement model affect who is available for a build mandate?
Some experienced builders prefer interim or fractional engagements precisely because building is the part of the job they enjoy, and they move on once the function is established. If your requirement is genuinely a build-then-hand-over mandate, that preference can work in your favour rather than against it.
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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