Three traits hiring managers look for in senior sales leaders

Senior sales leaders must be experts in account management and the art of selling, but it’s also critical they come prepared with general management skills and data experience to lead their teams to success.

In this article, we describe the top three traits hiring authorities look for in senior sales leaders:

1. Sales strategy development
2. Hands-on sales experience
3. Data proficiency

But first, what is the primary responsibility of a sales leader?

Executives in manager, director or vice president-level positions often oversee their entire sales function, train salespeople and ensure the organization meets designated sales goals.

The C-suite is responsible for setting these goals, and sales leaders deliver this information to their team and ensure everything is on track to accomplish them.

Managing a sales function can look different depending on the company, but these leaders generally perform data analysis, set KPIs and conduct market mapping to ensure targets are achievable in a specific timeframe.

So, what traits should candidates bring to the table when applying for senior sales roles?

Sales strategy development:

Sales leaders are responsible for developing sales strategies aligned with the overall business goals and objectives. This involves analyzing market trends, identifying growth opportunities and defining sales targets.

As the key liaison between the leadership and sales teams, it’s important that these individuals can clearly communicate KPIs and the state of the marketplace when contributing to the vision.

Hands-on experience in lower-level sales roles:

The most qualified leaders will have direct experience in the roles they are managing, which often means they have “climbed the ladder” and are able to serve as a manager, director or vice president because they have been successful in prior roles.

Some organizations, especially smaller or private equity-backed companies, will also lean on their senior-most salespeople to serve as individual contributors or play an active role in the department they lead, even at the highest level.

Just because your title encompasses more than day-to-day sales work does not always mean you’re out of the weeds as a senior executive.

Data proficiency:

The sales landscape is ever evolving, and senior leaders are expected to evolve with it. Increasingly, this means planning and forecasting as well as interpreting more sophisticated datasets into the overall sales strategy.

For example, we’ve led sales searches for B2B industrial products companies whose success relies on thin margins selling wholesale to their network of distributors. This scenario meant qualified sales leaders needed to be able to review financial statements, manage inventory, balance account information and lead sales initiatives to head a successful function.

These skills were also expected to be coupled with the management acumen required to train and lead a sales team, and this seems to be the new normal for sales executives overall.

Today more than ever, senior sales leaders are expected to have equal parts technical data management abilities and people skills.

The takeaway:

As the sales landscape continues to evolve, candidates in senior sales roles must leverage a blend of technical data management skills, strong interpersonal abilities and interdepartmental collaboration to succeed in driving customer engagement and meeting sales targets.

The intersection of experience, data acumen and strategic insight is where true success is forged.

To learn more about our recruiting capabilities in sales and marketing, visit charlesaris.com/sales-and-marketing.