Sales & Commercial Recruitment · Sales Manager
Sales Manager Recruitment
A Sales Manager is appointed to turn sales strategy into execution through a team. Their mandate is not to sell, but to ensure the team sells effectively, consistently and to target.
Sales Manager recruitment is the appointment of a leader responsible for the performance, activity and coaching of a sales team, ensuring individual and collective delivery against commercial targets.
Also advertised as: Regional Sales Manager, Area Sales Manager, Field Sales Manager, Internal Sales Manager, Sales Team Leader.
When a business needs a Sales Manager
The team has outgrown the founder
The founder or Managing Director can no longer provide the daily oversight, coaching and discipline a growing sales team requires to remain effective.
Activity is high but conversion is low
The team is busy but the pipeline is not moving. You need a manager who can coach on qualification and closing rather than just demanding more calls.
Inconsistent team performance
A few stars carry the number while others struggle. The business needs a manager who can raise the floor of performance across the whole team through structured management.
A new regional or channel team
Opening a new territory or sales channel requires dedicated leadership to establish standards and momentum from day one.
Replacing a 'super-seller'
The previous manager was the top salesperson who did everything themselves. You now need a leader who builds capability in others rather than competing with them.
What a Sales Manager owns
- Team performance against monthly, quarterly and annual targets
- Individual salesperson coaching, development and performance management
- Daily activity levels, CRM discipline and pipeline hygiene
- Accurate weekly and monthly sales forecasting for their team
- Recruitment and onboarding of new sales team members
- Commercial execution of the agreed sales strategy and pricing policy
- Escalation support for major deals and complex negotiations
The commercial problem a Sales Manager solves
The most common sales problem in mid-sized B2B businesses is the 'performance gap' between strategy and execution. A Sales Director can set a brilliant strategy, but if the sales team defaults to their own habits, that strategy never reaches the customer. A Sales Manager closes this gap.
Without dedicated management, sales teams often drift towards the easiest sales rather than the most profitable ones, pipeline data becomes unreliable, and coaching only happens when a deal is in trouble. A Sales Manager provides the continuous discipline and support that makes sales results predictable rather than accidental.
What success should look like
Consistent target achievement
The team meets or exceeds its number through distributed effort across the team, not just a few individuals.
Increased pipeline velocity
Opportunities move through the CRM faster because of better qualification and active management of stalled deals.
Higher team capability
Individual salespeople are measurably more effective in their roles twelve months after the manager is appointed.
Reliable forecasting
The manager's forecast for the team's performance is accurate, with minimal variance between forecast and actual results.
Who the Sales Manager reports to
A Sales Manager typically reports to a Head of Sales or a Sales Director. In smaller organisations, they may report directly to the Managing Director. The reporting line should provide them with clear commercial targets and the authority to manage their team's activity and behaviour to reach them.
What experience actually matters
- A track record of managing people, not just a high personal sales record
- Fluency in the specific sales cycle of the business (e.g. transactional vs complex B2B)
- Experience in coaching salespeople through specific hurdles such as qualification and negotiation
- Strong CRM literacy and the ability to use data to drive team activity
- Experience in the relevant route-to-market, whether direct, distributor or specification
- A background in building or professionalising sales teams in similar-sized organisations
Common hiring mistakes
Hiring the best salesperson
The skills required to sell are not the skills required to lead. Promoting a top performer without assessing their ability to coach others often loses you a great salesperson and gains you a poor manager.
The 'Player-Manager' trap
Giving a manager a heavy personal sales target often means they focus on their own deals at the expense of leading the team. The team's performance eventually suffers.
Valuing sector over leadership
Someone who knows the industry but cannot manage a team will not solve a performance problem. Leadership capability is harder to teach than product knowledge.
Lack of commercial authority
Hiring a manager but not allowing them to set standards, change processes or manage underperformance makes the role purely administrative.
Vague performance indicators
Measuring a manager only on the final number, rather than the leading indicators like activity and conversion rates, makes it impossible for them to manage proactively.
Adjacent roles you may actually need
National Sales Manager
For managing multiple regional teams or a nationwide sales operation.
National Sales ManagerHead of Sales
Where the requirement includes setting the sales plan and process rather than just executing it.
Head of SalesBusiness Development Manager
If the requirement is for an individual to win new customers directly rather than lead a team.
Business Development ManagerHow we search for a Sales Manager
We start by understanding the team the manager will inherit. We look at the current performance, the existing culture and the specific gaps in capability. Our search is focused on finding a leader who has successfully managed teams in similar commercial situations—whether that is professionalising a legacy team or scaling a new one.
We assess candidates not on their personal sales achievements, but on their ability to build and drive performance in others. We look for a demonstrated commitment to process, data and coaching, ensuring they can provide the discipline your sales function needs to deliver predictable results.
Further reading for employers
Questions employers ask
Common questions
A Sales Director owns the strategy: where you sell, what you sell, and how the whole function is structured. A Sales Manager owns the execution: making sure the team follows that strategy, stays active and hits their targets every month.
Performance can often be fragile if it relies on a few stars or a founder's effort. A Sales Manager builds a repeatable process and develops the rest of the team, ensuring performance is sustainable and scalable.
For teams of more than three or four people, a dedicated manager usually delivers better overall results by focusing entirely on team performance rather than their own deals.
While understanding the market helps, a manager's primary job is leadership and process management. We often find that a great manager from a related B2B sector can bring valuable new perspectives to a sales team.
The package should reflect the seniority of the leadership task and the size of the team managed. We advise on structure during the brief, typically involving a competitive base salary with a bonus tied to team performance.
What do you need to hire?
Evans recruits across three distinct propositions. The difference is not the title on the advert — it is the commercial situation the appointment has to solve.
Senior executive leadership
Board-level and senior functional leadership — permanent, interim and fractional: CEO, Managing Director, CRO, Sales Director, Commercial Director, CFO, COO and Technical Director roles.
Executive RecruitmentA sales or commercial professional
Permanent sales and commercial appointments for established businesses — the people who build pipeline, win customers, manage territories and run national sales teams.
Sales & Commercial RecruitmentSomeone to build or lead a new international market
Commercial and technical recruitment connected to market entry, territory development and overseas expansion — first hires in a new market, in either direction.
International RecruitmentSales & commercial recruitment enquiry
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