Name the commercial change you need
A sales leader can be hired to establish a new market, improve an existing sales process, build a management team or develop larger customer relationships. These are related but different mandates. Before searching, identify the change the business needs most and the resources available to support it. A general request for a strong revenue leader does not give the assessment enough direction.
Describe the customer, buying process, typical decision makers and current source of opportunities. Explain the relationship with marketing, product and delivery. A candidate who has led a mature organisation may have valuable experience, but the interview must establish whether that experience transfers to your commercial environment. Avoid assuming that a larger previous revenue number automatically represents a better fit.
Examine the mechanism behind past results
When a candidate describes growth, ask what changed in the commercial system. Did they improve qualification, develop managers, change account coverage or introduce a more useful forecasting discipline? Explore the starting position and the resources they inherited. The goal is to understand their contribution, including decisions that were difficult or did not produce the intended outcome.
Ask how the candidate knew whether an improvement was repeatable. A large deal can matter without proving that the team has a dependable way to generate and convert demand. Look for evidence about coaching, pipeline quality and customer understanding alongside outcomes. Let the candidate explain context rather than forcing a comparison between numbers from very different businesses.
Use a commercial scenario with explicit constraints
Offer a short fictional brief: a few customer segments, a limited team and an uneven pipeline. Ask the candidate to identify the next questions and choose where to focus attention. Good discussion should make assumptions visible and explain what the leader would stop doing as well as what they would start. Do not request a usable sales strategy for your own accounts as unpaid interview work.
Test how the candidate handles a promising opportunity that would create a difficult delivery commitment. This reveals how they work with colleagues and protect the quality of customer promises. Assess whether the person can disagree constructively and maintain a credible commercial position. Treat willingness to promise anything as a risk to explore, rather than as uncomplicated ambition.
Align the close with authority and resources
Explain which decisions the incoming leader can make about team structure, account allocation, pricing and commercial process. Identify the approval boundaries and the executive support available when priorities conflict. Compensation conversations should sit alongside this operating context. A target has little meaning if the candidate cannot understand the assumptions or the influence they will have over delivery.
Agree an initial review that separates learning, organisational changes and commercial outcomes. Confirm what information will be available and which customer or internal relationships should be established first. The appointment should begin with a shared account of the growth model, not two different interpretations of what the new leader has promised to achieve.
Frequently asked questions
Is industry experience essential for a sales leader?
It can be important where customer relationships, buying processes or product knowledge are central to immediate effectiveness. State the reason explicitly and distinguish that requirement from a preference for a familiar background.
How should references support a commercial appointment?
Ask about the person's contribution to team capability, forecast discussions and customer commitments. Seek examples that test the operating behaviours described in interviews, with the candidate's knowledge and appropriate consent.