Make Better Sales Leadership Hires Before They Become Expensive Mistakes
Sales Hiring Expert provides independent sales leadership hiring reviews for companies appointing, replacing or rethinking critical sales leadership roles.
I help founders, CEOs, investors and leadership teams clarify the role, define the right profile and reduce hiring risk before appointing a VP Sales, Sales Director or Head of Sales
SALES LEADERSHIP HIRING RISK
The Right Sales Leader Depends on the Stage, Team and Growth Plan
A sales leader can have an impressive track record and still be wrong for the role in front of them.
The challenge is not simply finding someone who has led sales before. It is understanding what type of sales leader your business actually needs now and whether your role, expectations and assessment process are built around that reality.
Wrong Leadership Profile
The target profile is based on impressive CV’s or familiar company logos, rather than
the sales stage, team
structure and growth challenge the leader will actually face.
Unclear Leadership Requirement
The business knows it needs “a sales leader”, but has not clearly defined whether it needs a builder, scaler, fixer, coach, operator or market opener.
Unrealistic Expectations
Revenue targets, team build plans, market conditions, authority and resources are
not properly aligned with
what the new leader is expected to deliver.
Poor First Year Alignment
The first 6–12 month outcomes, internal support, board expectations and decision rights are not clear enough before the appointment is made.
Weak Assessment Process
The interview process tests confidence, narrative and
past success, but does not properly assess leadership judgement, coaching ability, sales discipline or stage-fit.
Costly Replacement Risk
When a sales leadership hire fails, the impact reaches beyond salary, affecting revenue momentum, team confidence, hiring quality and investor trust.
THE COMMERCIAL COST
A Wrong Sales Leadership Hire Costs More Than the Salary
When the wrong sales leader is appointed, the impact is rarely limited to one person’s compensation.
It can affect revenue performance, team confidence, forecast accuracy, hiring quality, investor trust and the company’s ability to execute its next stage of growth.
Estimated cost of making a bad hire
£115,000*
Estimated unrealised growth from failed leadership
£1,500,000**
The Sales Leadership Hiring Review starts from
£3,500
*Based on £130k base salary, replacement recruitment cost, management time, team disruption
**Based on a £10m ARR business targeting 30% growth and achieving 50% of revenue goals
THE CORE SERVICE
The Sales Leadership Hiring Review
An independent review for B2B software companies appointing, replacing or rethinking a critical sales leadership role.
The Review helps clarify what type of sales leader your business needs, what they must deliver, how they should be assessed and whether the role is set up for first-year success.
01. Leadership Requirement & Business Stage
Why is this sales leadership hire needed now, and what does the business really need this person to change, build or improve ?
02. Role Definition & 12 Month Outcomes
What must the sales leader deliver in their first year and are expectations clear enough before going to market ?
03. Leadership Profile & Market Reality
Does the target profile match your company stage, sales motion,team structure, market position and compensation level?
04. Compensation, Authority & Expectations
Are the package, targets, resources and decision-making authority aligned with what the leader is expected to deliver?
05. Assessment & Selection Process
Can your hiring process properly assess sales leadership capability, or is it relying too heavily on CV’s, confidence and past company logos?
06. First Year Success Conditions
Will the appointed leader have the internal support, clarity, team structure and authority needed to succeed in their first year?
WHO THE REVIEW IS FOR
For B2B Software Companies Making Critical Sales Leadership Decisions
Appointing a First Sales Leader
For founder-led or early-stage software companies hiring their first VP Sales, Sales Director or Head of Sales
and needing to define the
role properly before going to market.
The Review is designed for companies that need clarity before appointing, replacing or redefining a senior sales leader.
Evolving Sales Leadership
For businesses where the sales leadership requirement has changed, the team has outgrown the current structure or the next stage of growth requires a different leadership profile.
Scaling Sales Leadership
For companies preparing for growth, investment, UK/EMEA expansion or a more complex sales organisation, where the next sales leadership hire will materially affect revenue execution.
Clearer Leadership Role Definition
Stronger Hiring Decisions
The Sales Leadership Hiring Review gives you a practical view of what needs to be clarified, challenged or improved before appointing a critical sales leader.
Leadership Hiring Risk Scorecard
A clear assessment of where the current
hiring approach may be creating risk across role definition, profile, expectations, assessment and first-year success
Leadership Role & Outcome Brief
A practical brief defining why the role exists, what the leader must deliver and what success should look like after 6 and 12 months.
Interview and Assessment Guidance
A more structured approach to evaluating candidate evidence, role fit and first year success potential.
Findings Report
A concise written report setting out the
key issues identified, why they matter commercially and what should be
addressed before progressing the hire.
Outcome Based Role Scorecard
A redesigned scorecard for your priority sales hiring, focusing on what great really looks like.
90 Day Improvement Plan
A clear action plan for improving your internal sales hiring capability
Software Sales Hiring Review
From £3,500
Use Agencies Where They Add Value.
Not Because Your Sales Hiring Process is Broken.
Specialist search has a place, particularly for confidential, highly specialist or business critical appointments.
But many software companies pay recruitment fees repeatedly because they have never built the internal capability to scope, attract and assess sales talent properly.
Sales Hiring Expert helps you improve that capability, so you can hire more confidently yourself and understand when external search is genuinely justified.
Hire Better Internally
Build a more structured, realistic and repeatable approach to sales hiring.
Reduce Unnecessary Spend
Stop automatically paying agency fees for roles your business should be capable of hiring directly
Use Search Strategcially
Recognise when a role is sufficiently specialist, confidential or strategic to justify external support.
“You did such a good job that we’ve been able to recruit all the people we need and the quality has been really good - and our agency fees are a big fat zero.”
UK GM - Data & Analytics Consultancy
Built from 17 years of Software Sales Hiring
The Software Sales Hiring Review combines three practical approaches developed through years of seeing why software sales hires succeed, stall or leave.
OBH
Outcome Based Hiring
Define what success needs to look like before deciding who to hire
SCALE
Assess alignment between the candidate and the reality of the role
HUNTER
Improve the full hiring journey, from attraction through to onboarding and retention.
Sales Hiring Advice Built on Real Search Experience
I’m Jon Eyers. For 17 years, I have specialised in hiring sales and commercial talent for B2B software businesses across the UK, Europe and the US.
Sales Hiring Expert was created because too many failed sales hires are considered candidate failure, when the real problem began with role definition, interview process, expectations or hiring alignment.
Before You Pay Another Recruitment Fee, Find Out Whether the Real Problem Starts Internally
The Software Sales Hiring Review gives you a clearer, more commercially realistic way to hire software salespeople.
Book a Sales Hiring Review Conversation
Complete the form below and I’ll be in touch to arrange an initial conversation about your current sales hiring approach and whether a review would be valuable.