Executive Sales Recruiters that deliver the precise sales leadership talent you seek.
We are a top nationwide executive sales recruiting firm led by a former executive sales leader. Our sales executive search agency expertly focuses on recruiting top sales leadership talent, leveraging our experience as veteran sales leaders.
Contact us to see how we can deliver your ideal sales leader hire quicker than typical executive sales recruiters.
Contact Executive Sales Recruiters
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Sales Leadership Recruiters Delivering Top Sales Leadership Talent
As top sales executive recruiters and veteran sales leaders, we have the sales leadership and sales-focused recruiting experience to help you hire the best sales leaders possible.
- VETERAN SALES LEADERS: All our sales executive recruiters are former sales leaders who know how to vet top sales leadership talent. We ensure you never have to talk to an unqualified candidate when working with us.
- EXHAUSTIVE SEARCH TO FIND THE BEST: We never run job postings to find candidates. Our clients already run job postings and hire us because their postings don’t get quality applicants. We conduct an exhaustive executive search for passive candidates to find the best.
- ELITE SALES TALENT…FAST: With our sales executive search firm, your job is not one of dozens of roles like other sales executive recruiters. We find candidates faster than most firms because we limit our sales leadership recruiters to three simultaneous roles.
Sales Leadership Positions We Place
Meet Our Sales Executive Recruiters
Mike Basso is a 20-plus-year veteran sales leader and Founder and CEO of SalesTalent.com. Before founding his sales executive recruiting firm, as a six-time executive sales leader, Mike built or scaled six large sales organizations. Mike has recruited over a thousand salespeople and sales leaders in his career. Mike says he primarily owed his success as a sales leader to his ability to recruit high-performing passive sales talent.
Role Specialization:
Mike specializes in recruiting Chief Revenue Officer - CRO, Chrief Sales Officer- CSO, EVP of Sales, SVP of Sales, VP of Sales, Head of Sales, and VP of Inside Sales roles.
Jamie began her sales career with Saia, where she was promoted nine times in ten years, from entry-level sales to sales leadership. Jamie went on to lead several other sales organizations before joining Sales Talent.com as the executive sales recruitment firm's first sales executive recruiter. As a sales leadership recruiter, Jamie has earned rave reviews and high praise through her high-level sales executive placements.
Role Specialization:
Jamie specializes in CRO, CSO, VP of Sales, VP of Inside of Sales, Director of Inside Sales, VP of Sales Dev, Sales Manager, Sales Operations, and Sales Engineering Leaders.
Before Howard begin his executive sales search career, he was an executive sales leader for Levi Strauss for 16 years. After his success at Levi's he helped scale a marketing firm from zero to $70 million as the EVP of Sales. Howard joined SalesTalent.com in 2022 and quickly became a top sales leadership recruiter by helping companies fill sales leadership roles that had gone unfilled for long periods.
Role Specialization:
Howard's specializes in recruiting Chief Revenue Officer, Chief Sales Officer, EVP of Sales, SVP of Sales, VP of Sales, Head of Sales, VP of Channel Sales, Director of Sales, and Customer Success Leaders.Our Recruiting Process
Intake Meeting
Learn requirements, along with culture, goals, and other critical factors for long-term success. Understand key metrics and job responsibilities.
Search Framework & Custom Candidate Scorecard
Build a custom search strategy. Decide on companies and industries to target. Determine passive candidate titles and positions to target. Develop customized candidate scorecard.
Passive Candidate Targeting
Submit an ideal candidate profile for review. Provide specific marketplace intelligence. Make needed adjustments to the proposed target.
Campaign Calibration
Build a specific candidate target list from the master database and other sources. Fine-tune multi-channel outreach messaging strategies.
Candidate Outreach
Conduct multi-channel outreach to candidate target list. Present opportunity to candidate and access candidates fit against ideal profile.
Candidate Evaluation
Further evaluate interested and selected candidates through interviews, assessments, and other criteria. Present selected pool of vetted candidates to the hiring manager.
Background & Offer
Work with client on conducting thorough background, reference checks, and extending offers. Assist with candidate transition from old to the new position. Implement post hire follow-up plan.
Year One Retention
93.61%
93% of our placements are still thriving a year later — far above industry norms for sales roles.
Interviews Per Hire
4.26
We source candidates who match your ideal hire profile and vet them using a custom scorecard.
Passive Candidate Rate
97.23%
97% of the candidates we submit are passive (not job seekers), ensuring high-performing talent.
Sales Executive Search FAQs
What sets you apart from other executive sales recruiters?
The main difference between salestalent.com and other sales executive recruitment firms is that all our sales executive recruiters are former sales leaders who are experts at recruiting and vetting top passive sales leadership talent. Our process ensures we only introduce top sales leadership candidates with a history of success who match your ideal candidate profile.
What is your pricing structure or fee model?
We work on a contingent or retained model, depending on the type of role and other search criteria. We generally present you with 3 to 4 options with varying fees so that you can select the best option for your needs and budget. NOTE: We only provide permanent placement sales management recruiting services. We do not offer fractional sales executive recruitment services.
Can you help us with market benchmarking for compensation packages?
Yes. We include compensation consulting and benchmarking, including market-based salary data and variable compensation planning, at no extra cost in all searches.
How long after search kickoff can I have qualified executive sales candidates to review?
We generally send you 3 to 5 vetted and interested candidates per position that match your ideal candidate profile and match custom scorecard requirements within two weeks and many times sooner.
What is passive candidate sourcing and how is it superior to other recruiting methods ?
Unlike posting job ads, which we never do, passive candidate sourcing uses high-touch multi-channel outreach through phone, email, LinkedIn, and other platforms to reach candidates who are generally successfully employed. By using salestalent.com to target only top-level candidates who match your ideal candidate profile, you avoid limiting yourself to poor, unfiltered candidates who usually come from the job postings.
How long does it typically take to fill a position?
Within approximately two weeks of starting a search, we submit vetted and interested candidates to you. Most hires happen within 30 to 60 days of the search kickoff, but the total time depends on each client’s interview process.
Do you offer any guarantees or replacement policies?
All of our search packages have a replacement guarantee. The terms of the guarantee depend on which option you choose.
How specific can you get when targeting candidates?
We can get as specific as you need. Using cutting-edge technology and our experience, we routinely deliver passive candidates who very precisely match ideal candidate profiles that specify vertical experience, deal size, sales cycle, target buyer and company persona experience, and more.
How do your insure candidates you submit are a good fit?
When working with us, we ensure that you never talk to an unqualified candidate by learning your ideal candidate profile and then developing a customized submission scorecard for your search.
Can you help with confidential roles?
Yes, we can handle confidential roles. Your role will remain confidential because we never post roles publicly and don’t disclose company details in our outbound messaging.
Executive Sales Recruiting Verticals
Here are the main verticals our sales executive headhunters specialize in.
Software (SaaS)
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- Healthcare
- Finance
- Sales & Marketing
- Government, Risk & Compliance
- E-commerce
- Security & Privacy
- HR Tech
- Cloud & IT Management
- Collaboration & Productivity
- Learning & Training
- Supply Chain
- Office
- Retail
- Customer Service
- Development
- Digital Advertising
Technology
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- Hardware
- Iot
- IT Infrastructure
- AR/VR
- Hosting
- GreenTech
- VARs
Industrial
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- Aerospace
- Biotech
- Energy
- Industrial
- Logistics
- Manufacturing
- Supply Chain
- Wholesale
Medical
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- Medical Device
- Pharmaceutical
- Bio-Tech
- Medical Equipment
Ad Sales
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- Digital Advertising
- Print Media Ad Sales
- Broadcast Sales
- Ad Agency Sales
- OOH Advertising Sales
Uniquely Positioned to Recruit Sales Leaders
1. Veteran Sales Leaders as Recruiters
Salestalent.com is different from other sales executive search firms in that we are operated solely by veteran sales leaders-from our founder, himself a six-time executive sales leader, to the rest of our recruiting team. Based on the idea that only a former sales leader intuitively knows what makes one good at the art of leading top sales teams, experience equips us to judge and find top sales leadership talent.
The approach ensures that clients get to interact with our executive sales recruiters who excel in sales and understand the fine points of recruiting top sales leaders. Being insiders, we have an edge in finding and attracting high performers who are not currently in the job market.
2. Passive Candidate Search
We know high-performing sales leaders are seldom looking for jobs, and this is the inefficiency of job postings alone. Our sales executive search firm does not rely on job boards; instead, we identify and engage passive candidates, those who are employed and doing well in their field. These, we know, constitute a highly valued talent pool since they tend to be high performers who are not on the active job market.
Our sales management recruiters employ a high-touch, multi-channel approach, including personalized emails, calls, and LinkedIn outreach, to establish direct contact with ‘passive candidates.’ This targeted approach enables their operations to reach out to candidates from the very top who are not necessarily actively pursuing opportunities.
3. Network strength and relevance within the target market
Our sales executive headhunters use a careful process of elimination, which ensures that the clients receive from us just a few highly qualified candidates who possess the requisite skills and experience but also would fit with the culture of the client company and its long-term goals.
4. Speedy yet Effective Recruitment Process
At SalesTalent.com we know very well that there is no time to waste in filling executive sales leadership positions. It is for this reason that our firm :
- Limits the job requisitions each recruiter handles at any one time. This approach allows for a very active and thorough search, netting faster results versus firms with recruiters handling multiple searches simultaneously.
- Has a colossal network of sales leadership talent and an internal database that has taken many years to build. Having this talent pool at their fingertips, identification and filtering are much quicker processes.
- The aim is to present our clients with 3 to 5 highly qualified candidates within two weeks of the start of the search-many times even sooner. This commitment to rapid turnaround time ensures that clients can fill critical sales leadership positions quickly, thereby minimizing any potential disruption in their sales operations.
5. Solely Focused on Sales Talent
Salestalent.com recruits exclusively for sales and sales leadership, meaning our sales search firm develops deep niche expertise in the sales domain. That allows a particular approach to provide much deeper insight into the subtlety associated with recruiting for sales, extending from compensation structures through market trends to the changing skill set required for success.
Handling complex issues in sales allows us to conceptualize market trends, compensation structures, and objectively place candidates with opportunities that better suit their needs.
6. The Complete Package.
Equipped with this immense knowledge in sales, SalesTalent.com becomes a trusted advisor and partner for businesses looking to build and scale high-performing sales teams. With a deep understanding of the sales industry, our commitment to client success has enabled us to be a valuable resource for companies seeking to hire leadership for sales executive positions.
Top Three Sales Leadership Traits by Position
Hiring a great sales leader is more than just industry knowledge; it is about finding candidates with the intangible trait that separates the good from the great. Here are the top three traits we see most often in great candidates listed by specific position.
Chief Revenue Officer
1. Visionary and strategic thinker
2. Inspires cross-functional alignment
3. Growth-oriented leadership style
Chief Sales Officer
1. High-performance team builder
2. Metrics-driven decision maker
3. Strong coach and mentor
EVP of Sales
1. Clearly lays out goals and metrics
2. Master of cross-region collaboration
3. Inspires accountability and ownership
SVP of Sales
1. Excels at scaling teams & processes
2. Strategic relationship builder
3. Results-oriented leadership style
VP of Sales
1. In the trenches leadership style
2. Proven team motivator
3. Consistent tactical execution
Head of Sales
1. Strong results oriented execution
2. Develops emerging leaders
3. Adaptable and resilient
VP of Inside Sales
1. Expert at leading virtual teams
2. Deep understanding of sales tech
3. High energy and motivational leader
VP of Sales Development
1. Pipeline builder mindset
2. Creative outbound innovator
3. Leads with positivity and drive
VP of Channel Sales
1. Master collaborator with partners
2. Trusted relationship builder
3. Results-focused leadership style
Director of Sales
1. Effective team motivator
2. Data-driven coach
3. Highly accountable leader
SDR / BDR Manager
1. Can teach effective cold calling
2. Motivates SDRs to hit targets
3. Great coach, mentor, and teacher
Director of Inside Sales
1. Strong virtual leadership
2. High emotional intelligence
3. Systems thinker and optimizer
Sales Manager
1. Inspirational day-to-day leader
2. Strong coaching mentality
3. Proactive problem solver
Sales Engineering Leader
1. Technically proficient communicator
2. Strong solution selling mindset
3. Collaborates cross-functionally
Customer Success Leader
1. Empathy-driven leadership
2. Proactive relationship manager
3. Upsells through customer value
Sales Operations Leader
1. Detail-oriented and precise
2. Analytical thinker
3. Collaborative problem solver
Top Mistakes to Avoid When Hiring Your First VP of Sales
by SalesTalent.com CEO Mike Basso, Sales Talent Expert
Hiring your first VP of Sales is a significant turning point. It signals to the market and your investors that you’re serious about scaling. But here’s the reality: most founders blow it on this hire. Especially in SaaS, but frankly, this happens across industries. I’ve seen it more times than I can count. You plan to set up your rocket ship for a spectacular blast off with plenty of escape velocity, but instead, you fizzle out, wondering 12 months later what went wrong. Here is my breakdown of the most common and deadly mistakes I see when hiring your first VP of Sales.
Mistake #1: Hiring The Shinny Logo
One of the fastest ways to set yourself up for failure is to chase candidates from “big name logos.” Founders love hiring someone from a unicorn company or a well-known brand with a massive title. But here’s the problem—those people usually don’t know how to build from scratch without a big support structure. They’re used to managing managers, not creating sales processes from a blank slate. If you don’t already have a dialed-in sales playbook, that enterprise CRO is not going to be the person writing it for you.
Mistake #2: Over-Indexing on Industry Familiarity
Sure, industry knowledge helps. But too many founders treat it like the end-all, be-all. The truth? Your VP of Sales needs to be a sales leader first and a product expert second. Can they hire A-players? Can they coach? Can they build a pipeline without depending on inbound leads? Always hire for the skills and traits that actually move the revenue needle before industry experience. That industry expert who can’t lead and coach a top sales team won’t get you to the next level.
Mistake #3: Getting the Timing Wrong
Hiring your first VP of Sales before you achieve product-market fit is a mistake. Product market fit usually occurs around $500k to $1 million in recurring revenue. A good indication that you have achieved product fit is when you have two account executives regularly winning and closing deals outside of your network. Hiring too late can also be a mistake. If you wait too long to hire your first sales leader, you will be constantly playing catch-up and digging a hole that will be hard to recover from.
Mistake #4: Not Aligning on Role Expectations
Do you need someone closing deals with you? Or do you need someone to build the team? Those are two very different things. Too often, I see founders hire their first VP of Sales, thinking they’re getting both, only to be frustrated when the VP focuses on hiring instead of closing (or vice versa). Be brutally honest about what you need right now, not what looks good on your pitch deck.
Bottom line: The VP of Sales is the most critical early-stage hire you will make. If you get it wrong, your rocket ship will fail to attain escape velocity and fall back to Earth.
About the Author: Mike Basso is a 20-plus-year veteran sales leader and Founder and CEO of SalesTalent.com. Before founding his sales executive recruitment agency, as a six-time executive sales leader, Mike built or scaled six large sales organizations. Mike has recruited over a thousand salespeople and sales leaders in his career. Mike says he primarily owed his success as a sales leader to his ability to recruit high-performing passive sales talent.
Mike’s expert advice on executive sales recruiting is regularly quoted in media outlets such as Newsweek, Business Insider, MSN, AOL, Nasdaq, Yahoo Finance, Monster.com, HubSpot’s Sales Blog, Jobscan, Jobvite, JazzHR, and many more. You can learn more about Mike Basso by visiting linkedin.com/in/salestalent/
What Others Say About Us
The salestalent.com team are FANTASTIC partners, not only in the pursuits of identifying and recruiting top-tier commercial talent, but also true partners helping to solve complex hiring decisions as firms look to upgrade talent. I cannot provide a strong enough recommendation for salestalent.com and would welcome the opportunity to discuss more in detail, should the need arise. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Read on Google
I have been working with Mike and Howard at Sales Talent, filling multiple positions on our sales team. Howard was assigned to support our growth and has been nothing short of amazing to work with. Super communicative and always asking the right questions to help us hire the best candidate. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Read on Google
salestalent.com was an absolute pleasure to work with. They are efficient, knowledgeable, and get things done. Loved working with them. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Read on Google
SalesTalent is not your average recruiters- they are true partners who took the time to understand more than just the position, but also our niche market and employee value proposition. They support us to find and hire highly skilled sales talent that aligns with our culture - our recent new hires absolutely raved about their experience with SalesTalent.
After years of struggling with other recruitment agencies (long timelines to hire, poor candidate experience), it's a relief to have found a true extension of our recruitment team in SalesTalent. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Read on Google
Contact our Executive Sales Recruiters
If you want to hire top sales leadership talent, leverage our specialized experience and exhaustive search process to find the best talent possible. Contact us today to learn how our executive sales recruiters can help you find the top sales leadership talent you need to succeed.
As sales recruiters, our mission is to learn about your ideal hire, then find and recruit them.
A NATIONAL SALES RECRUITMENT AGENCY
If you seek top sales recruiters to hire high-performing sales talent, our sales recruiting agency has experienced sales headhunters to get the specific sales professionals you seek.
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