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Roles we recruit

Sales recruitment

Sales recruitment is the core of what Adroit does. We hire the people who create pipeline and close revenue, from a first outbound hire in a start-up through to Enterprise Account Executives running complex multi-stakeholder deals in established businesses.

Who these people are

  • Sales Development and Business Development Representatives building the top of the funnel.
  • Business Development Managers and Account Executives owning full-cycle revenue.
  • Enterprise Account Executives running long, multi-threaded deals with procurement and legal involved.

When to hire

  • Founder-led selling has proved the market and needs to become repeatable.
  • Inbound demand is arriving faster than the current team can work it.
  • A funding round, new product or new region has created a revenue target that existing headcount cannot reach.
  • Attrition or promotion has left a gap in a working sales motion.

What strong candidates look like

  • Can explain their number, their territory and how they actually hit target, without hiding behind team figures.
  • Talk about the customer's problem before talking about their own product.
  • Show a repeatable method for finding and qualifying opportunities.
  • Have operated in a comparable deal size, sales cycle and buyer type.

Modern GTM capability

  • CRM discipline: clean pipeline, accurate stages, useful notes.
  • Sales intelligence and data tools for account and contact research.
  • Sequencing and outbound platforms, used with judgement rather than volume for its own sake.
  • AI-assisted research, call summarisation and follow-up drafting.
  • Conversation intelligence and how to act on what it shows.

Human selling ability

  • Discovery that uncovers commercial impact, not just feature interest.
  • Listening ratio, follow-up quality and the ability to hold a room.
  • Resilience and self-management across a long month.
  • Judgement about which deals deserve time.

How we recruit this role

  • A proper briefing session covering deal size, cycle, ICP, stack, enablement and what good looks like in month six.
  • A targeted search rather than a CV keyword match.
  • Structured screening on performance evidence, tool fluency and selling ability.
  • A written submission that explains why each person fits, including any risks.
  • Candidate preparation, honest feedback and support to offer stage.

Assessment

How we screen for sales recruitment

The same five stages apply to every role we recruit. What changes is the weighting: the evidence that matters, and how much of the decision rests on mindset and fit.

  1. Stage 1: Experience and evidence

    What has this person actually done?

    We get specific about the numbers and the environment behind them, in the same format for every candidate, so you can compare people rather than compare CVs.

    Past performance is evidence, not a forecast. A strong number in a business with exceptional inbound tells you very little about a cold market, and we say so.

    Includes

    Quota, attainment and how it moved across the last three periods · Average deal value and sales cycle length · Market, customer type and the ICP they actually sold into · New business versus account growth, outbound versus inbound

  2. Stage 2: How they sell

    What happens when this person has to actually sell?

    We take them through real situations rather than competency questions, because selling is a behaviour and you can hear it.

    Includes

    Discovery: the questions they ask and the order they ask them in · Listening ratio, and whether they follow the thread or return to a script · Prospecting method and how they choose who to approach · Building rapport without performing

  3. Stage 3: Modern GTM capability

    Can this person operate inside a modern revenue team?

    Technology should give a seller more time in front of buyers. We check they understand that, and that they use it with judgement rather than for volume.

    Nobody needs experience of every platform, and we do not screen on a tool list. The principle is simpler: a strong modern seller can explain how technology makes them more effective, and where it makes them worse.

    Includes

    CRM discipline in Salesforce or HubSpot: clean pipeline, honest stages, useful notes · Conversation intelligence such as Gong, and what they changed after listening back · Sequencing and engagement platforms such as Outreach or Salesloft · Data and intelligence tools: Apollo, Lusha, Cognism, Clay, LinkedIn Sales Navigator

  4. Stage 4: Mindset and motivation

    Why does this person sell, and what happens when it gets hard?

    This is the stage most processes skip and the one that most often explains a failed hire. It is a proper conversation, not a personality questionnaire.

    The goal is meaningful human understanding, not a psychometric score. We report what we heard and where we are unsure.

    Includes

    Why they chose sales, and whether they actually enjoy selling · What motivates them beyond the commission plan · Ambition: what they want to be doing in three years, and how realistic it is · Resilience and how they describe a bad quarter

  5. Stage 5: Human and cultural fit

    Where is this person most likely to thrive?

    We are not looking for people who all sound the same. We are working out which environment brings the best out of this particular person, and whether that is yours.

    Cultural fit is not a code word for people who resemble the existing team. Used properly it is the difference between a good hire and a good hire in the wrong place.

    Includes

    Communication style, and how it lands with your buyer · Personality and values, described honestly rather than flatteringly · The working environment they perform best in · The management style that gets the most out of them

See the full screening process in detail

Common questions

Frequently asked

How long does a sales hire usually take?
Once a brief is complete we work to a shortlist quickly, and we agree that timeline with you at the outset. Time to offer then depends on your interview process.
Do you only recruit software sales people?
No. Most of our work is B2B technology and services, but the assessment approach applies wherever the sale is consultative and the team uses a modern GTM stack.
Can you help us decide what to hire?
Yes. If you are unsure whether the next hire should be an SDR, an AE or a leader, we will talk it through against your pipeline, your average deal size and who currently sells.

Related roles

Other roles we recruit

Most hires sit alongside another role. These are the ones we are asked about most often in the same conversation.

See all roles we recruit

Which service fits this hire

One hire like this is usually permanent recruitment. Several connected hires — a pod, a new region, a rebuild — is a team build.

Hiring for sales?

Tell us where this role sits in your team and what it has to deliver. We will tell you who is realistically available for it.