Hiring kitReviewed by Adroit Staffing editorial reviewPractice guidance, no data claims9 min read
The short answer
A Sales Manager's job is to make other people effective, so test coaching, deal inspection and performance conversations directly. The most common mistake is hiring the best individual seller and assuming management follows.
Key facts
- Owns
- Team performance, coaching, deal inspection, forecast at team level
- Typical span
- A small frontline team, reporting to Head of Sales, VP or founder
- Test with
- A live coaching exercise on a real call recording
- Different from
- Head of Sales, which owns strategy, structure and the number overall
- Service fit
- Permanent recruitment; executive search where confidential
What the role should own
Write the boundary down before you advertise. Most disputes in the first quarter come from work nobody agreed was in scope.
Owns
- Coaching each seller on a regular, scheduled cadence.
- Deal inspection and stage discipline in the CRM.
- Team forecast, and the accuracy of what each seller commits.
- Onboarding new joiners and getting them productive.
- Performance conversations, improvement plans and escalation when needed.
Does not own
- The overall commercial strategy and go-to-market design.
- Their own large personal quota, unless the role is explicitly player-coach.
- Marketing spend and demand generation.
- Compensation design, beyond feeding evidence into it.
When the business actually needs this role
Hire now when
- There are enough sellers that coaching and inspection cannot fit around another job.
- The Head of Sales or founder is spending most of their week on deal-level detail.
- New joiners are ramping slowly because nobody owns onboarding.
- Forecasting is inconsistent because nobody inspects deals weekly.
Wait when
- There are one or two sellers and the constraint is pipeline, not management.
- You need revenue now and would be removing a productive seller to manage.
- Nobody has defined what the manager is allowed to decide.
- The sales process has never been written down, which is a Head of Sales job first.
Outcomes to define before the search starts
Agree these in writing with everyone on the interview panel. They become the scorecard, the offer conversation and the first review.
| Outcome | What it means | Measured by |
|---|---|---|
| Coaching cadence running | Every seller has a scheduled one-to-one, call review and deal review that actually happens. | Calendar evidence plus written coaching notes in the first two months. |
| Ramp time reduced | New joiners reach productivity faster than the current baseline. | Time to first closed deal compared with the previous cohort. |
| Forecast accuracy at team level | The team commit matches actual closed revenue within an agreed tolerance. | Commit versus actual across two quarters. |
| Performance of existing team improved | Measurable improvement among people already in post, before any new hires. | Individual conversion rates and attainment against baseline. |
Essential versus desirable evidence
Keep the essential list short enough that a strong candidate can actually meet it. Everything else is desirable.
Essential
- Direct line management of sellers, with named examples of development.
- A coaching method they can demonstrate, not just describe.
- Experience running deal reviews and holding a forecast.
- Having handled underperformance through to a resolution.
Desirable
- Experience in a team of your size and motion.
- Having onboarded several new sellers in a structured programme.
- Comfort with the CRM and call-recording tooling you use.
- Having been a strong seller themselves in a comparable market.
Strong signals and red flags
Strong signals
- They talk about their team's results before their own.
- They can describe how a specific person improved and what they did to help.
- They coach on behaviour and questions, not on personality.
- They ask what support and authority they will have.
Red flags
- Every success story is a deal they personally closed.
- Coaching described as motivation and energy with no method.
- Underperformance always resolved by the person leaving, with no attempt in between.
- Reluctance to be recorded or observed coaching in the process.
Recommended interview stages
Structured screen
- Purpose
- Confirm genuine line-management experience and team size.
- Format
- 30 minutes, same questions for every candidate.
Management interview
- Purpose
- Test how they diagnose and develop people.
- Format
- 45 minutes with the hiring leader, structured around real situations you face.
Live coaching exercise
- Purpose
- See the coaching, which is the job.
- Format
- They review an anonymised call recording or deal and coach a member of your team for 20 minutes.
Team meeting simulation
- Purpose
- Test how they run a pipeline review.
- Format
- A 20-minute mock deal review with two of your sellers, followed by their written summary of the risks.
References on people leadership
- Purpose
- Verify how they are experienced by the people they manage.
- Format
- A manager, a peer, and at least one former direct report.
Sample scorecard dimensions
Score each dimension in writing, independently, before the panel talks. Copy this table into your ATS.
| Dimension | What a strong answer shows |
|---|---|
| Coaching ability | Observes behaviour, asks rather than tells, leaves one clear action. |
| Deal inspection | Finds the real risk in a deal and names the missing evidence. |
| Forecast discipline | A method for stage integrity, not a gut feel. |
| Performance management | Direct, fair and documented, with examples both ways. |
| Onboarding capability | A structured plan they have run before, not an intention. |
| Credibility with sellers | Enough commercial substance that the team will listen. |
| Upward honesty | Raises problems early with a proposed response. |
Questions worth asking
- “Tell me about someone in your team who improved. What did you actually do?”
- Tests: Whether development is a habit or a claim.
- “How do you run a one-to-one?”
- Tests: Structure, cadence and whether coaching is scheduled or accidental.
- “Show me how you would coach this call.”
- Tests: The core skill of the job, observed rather than discussed.
- “How do you decide a deal should move stage?”
- Tests: Evidence-based inspection versus seller optimism.
- “Tell me about a performance issue you handled badly.”
- Tests: Self-awareness and learning.
- “How much of your week should be spent selling yourself?”
- Tests: Whether they understand the role you are actually hiring.
Common hiring mistakes
- Promoting the top seller with no support, and losing a strong individual contributor in the process.
- Hiring a manager when the real constraint is pipeline.
- Calling the role player-coach and then setting a full personal quota alongside a full team.
- Interviewing on selling ability and never watching them coach.
- Leaving the split of authority with the Head of Sales undefined.
What strong candidates will expect from you
These are the questions we hear candidates ask in screening. Having answers ready shortens your process.
- Clarity on team size, quotas and the current performance picture.
- An honest account of any known performance problems they are inheriting.
- Definition of what they decide alone versus what needs sign-off.
- Whether a personal quota is part of the role, stated in writing.
- Evidence that coaching time will be protected rather than absorbed by deals.
How this maps to the Adroit Five Stage Screening Process
In our five stages, frontline management mandates are assessed on coaching evidence rather than personal attainment: the practical exercise is a live coaching session, and referencing always includes a former direct report where the candidate can provide one. You receive the coaching notes and scorecards with the shortlist.
Sales Manager or Head of Sales?
The two roles are often advertised interchangeably and then judged against different expectations.
| Row label | Sales Manager | Head of Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Making individual sellers effective | Making the commercial motion work |
| Owns | Coaching, inspection, team forecast | Strategy, structure, the number, hiring plan |
| Right when | There are sellers who need developing | The motion, process and plan need owning |
| Failure mode | Given strategy work with no authority | Pulled into deal-level detail all week |
The promotion decision
Promoting internally works when the person already coaches informally, is respected for judgement rather than only results, and will be given external support in their first six months. It fails when it is used as a retention tool for a seller you did not want to lose.
Common questions
- Should a Sales Manager carry a personal quota?
- Only in a small team, and only if the quota is set low enough that coaching time survives. If you want both at full weight you are describing two jobs.
- How many sellers can one manager support properly?
- Enough to coach each of them on a genuine weekly cadence. Once one-to-ones and call reviews start being cancelled, the span is too wide.
- Can a first-time manager work?
- Yes, with a defined coaching framework, a leader who reviews their work, and an honest agreement that the first quarter is about people, not personal deals.
Sources and review
- Written by
- Adroit Staffing
- Reviewed by
- Adroit Staffing editorial review
- First published
- Last reviewed
This page is practice guidance from our own Sales and GTM recruitment work. It makes no claims about current market data, so it cites no external figures.