Recruiting Heads of Sales for Growing B2B Businesses
Kingman Lennox recruits Heads of Sales for UK businesses that need a sales leader to build the team, set the standard and take ownership of the number.
- Fixed fee agreed before the search starts
- Shortlist within two weeks
- 12-month replacement guarantee
We help growing UK businesses appoint Heads of Sales who lead from the front, build the team and take ownership of the number.
For many growing businesses, the Head of Sales is the first dedicated sales leader. The right appointment gives the leadership team a sales function it can rely on, with a pipeline it can see, a forecast it can plan around and a team that improves month by month. The wrong one leaves the important sales decisions where they started.
Every Head of Sales search we run is built on direct headhunting and evidence-led assessment, so the decision rests on what a candidate has actually built and delivered rather than how well they interview.
Why Recruiting a Head of Sales Is So Hard to Get Right
The role asks for two things at once. A Head of Sales usually still sells, joining the important meetings and closing the larger deals, while building the team that will carry the number without them. Plenty of candidates can do one or the other. Fewer have done both, at the same time, in a business of a similar size.
The title does not help. Head of Sales can mean a senior salesperson with one or two colleagues, or a leader running several managers. Without a precise brief, a search attracts candidates from both ends, and interviews tend to favour the most persuasive rather than the best suited.
The strongest candidates are usually performing well where they are. They will consider a move for a role with real scope and the backing to succeed in it, and that case has to be put to them properly and discreetly.
We are typically engaged when:
- The owner or leadership team is still closing most of the important deals
- The business is building its first sales team, or rebuilding one that has stalled
- A strong salesperson was asked to lead the team and the results have not followed
- The right candidate is performing elsewhere and will need to be approached directly
- The appointment needs to be handled confidentially
Helping an owner step back from day-to-day selling
The owner of a B2B services business came to us because he was struggling to get out of the sales role. He had recruited a small team, but still found himself joining most of the important meetings and getting deals over the line. Holidays usually involved a laptop.
He wanted a Head of Sales who could take some of that weight off his shoulders. Our early conversations made it clear that the team needed coaching and clearer direction, and that another strong individual salesperson would only solve part of the problem. We approached people who had built and managed sales teams in businesses of a similar size, and explored how they had developed their people and worked alongside an owner used to being involved in everything.
The person appointed had already been through that transition. They earned the team’s confidence, introduced regular opportunity reviews and gradually took over the decisions that had always come back to the owner. He remained involved with a handful of longstanding customers, but no longer needed to be in every meeting.
How We Recruit a Head of Sales
Every Head of Sales search starts with the brief. We work closely with your leadership team to define what the role has to achieve in its first twelve to eighteen months: the revenue to be delivered, the team to be built, the balance between selling personally and leading others, and the decisions the new leader will own. That becomes the scorecard every candidate is measured against.
We then identify and approach sales leaders directly, including those who are not looking, and assess them in depth. Because our assessment is led by people who have run sales teams and owned a number themselves, candidates are questioned as commercial peers.
Your shortlist is a small number of candidates who have been properly tested, each with a written assessment. We stay involved through the offer, the resignation and the notice period, a stage that needs careful handling at this level. Read more about how we work.
Selling and leading
How they balanced their own deals with leading the team, and how that balance shifted over time
Team building
Who they hired, how those people performed, and who they developed or moved on
Sales disciplines
The pipeline reviews and forecasting routines they introduced, and whether they lasted
Context
The team size, deal size and sales cycle behind their results, and how closely they match yours
Working with leadership
How they have worked alongside an owner or leadership team, and taken decisions off their desk
Head of Sales and Sales Leadership Roles We Recruit
Our sales leadership and sales management recruitment covers every stage of a growing business, from a first Head of Sales to executive search for Chief Revenue Officers.
Building a sales function
The first dedicated sales leader, who leads from the front while the team is built.
- Head of SalesThis page
- First Sales Director
- Sales Manager
Leading an established team
Leaders who own the revenue plan and run managers or a larger team.
- Sales Director
- Regional Sales Director
- National Sales Director
Executive and board level
Senior leaders responsible for revenue across the business.
A Head of Sales appointment often marks a turning point: the moment sales stops depending on the leadership team or a few strong individuals. The right leader turns that moment into a sales function the business can build on.
Recruiting Heads of Sales Across B2B Sectors
Our focus is sales leadership rather than one industry, and we recruit Heads of Sales across the UK’s main B2B sectors, including:
SaaS and technology
Financial services and fintech
Professional services
Industrial and engineering
Energy and sustainability
Healthcare and life sciences
Manufacturing and distribution
FMCG and consumer goods
What matters most is whether a candidate has built and led a team in an environment like yours, with similar deal sizes, sales cycles and buyers. Sector knowledge helps, but a proven leader from a comparable B2B model will often outperform a sector insider who has never built a team.
Why Businesses Engage Kingman Lennox to Recruit a Head of Sales
A Head of Sales appointment shapes how a business sells for years. Our role is to make sure it is made on evidence, with a clear view of what the role needs and who can genuinely deliver it. What defines the way we work:
- Specialist focus on sales roles, and nothing else
- Leadership assessed by people who have run sales teams
- Direct, discreet approaches to sales leaders who are not on the market
- Close partnership with your leadership team from brief to start date
- A 12-month replacement guarantee on every placement
- Over 95% of placements still in role after 12 months
Head of Sales Recruitment: Your Questions Answered
If your question is not answered here, the quickest route is a short, no-obligation discovery call.
How much does Head of Sales recruitment cost?
Many agencies charge a percentage of the successful candidate’s first-year salary, which at Head of Sales level is a significant sum and rises with the salary agreed. Every Kingman Lennox search is on a fixed fee agreed before it starts. A fixed fee removes any incentive to put forward candidates at the top of the salary range, and it lets us commit properly to the search. Every placement is also backed by a 12-month guarantee.
How long does it take to recruit a Head of Sales?
A well-run search typically delivers a strong shortlist within two weeks, and most searches reach an accepted offer within four to six weeks. Searches at this level usually sit at the longer end of that range. Senior candidates often have longer notice periods, so it pays to start the search earlier than you would for other roles.
What should we look for in a Head of Sales?
Look for evidence that they have built a team, not just been part of a successful one. The strongest candidates can show who they hired and how those people performed, how they balanced their own selling with leading others, and what changed in the team’s results while they were in charge. We build a scorecard for every search, so each candidate is judged against what your role actually needs.
What is the difference between a Head of Sales and a Sales Director?
The titles are used differently from one business to the next. As a rule, a Head of Sales leads from the front and may still carry a personal target, while a Sales Director owns the revenue plan, leads managers or a larger team and sits closer to the board. Some businesses appoint a Head of Sales first and a Sales Director as the team grows. We help you define the right role before the search starts.
Do you recruit Heads of Sales across the UK?
Yes. We run Head of Sales searches across the UK, covering London, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Aberdeen. We also help international businesses make their first UK sales hire.
What happens if the Head of Sales you place does not work out?
Every placement is backed by a 12-month guarantee, which is considerably longer than the three months most agencies offer. If the person leaves or is let go within twelve months, we rerun the search at no additional fee. In practice this is rarely needed: over 95% of the candidates we place are still in role after twelve months.
Talk to Us About Your Head of Sales Hire
If you are planning a Head of Sales appointment, we would be glad to talk it through. An initial conversation is confidential and without obligation: you describe the role and what has to go right, and we tell you honestly whether and how we can help.