Sales Leadership Hiring
for SaaS and Tech Companies
Hire VP of Sales, CRO, and Sales Leadership Who Can Actually Scale Revenue
Your sales leadership hire is the most critical decision
you'll make for your revenue organization
The right VP of Sales or CRO can transform your team, accelerate growth, and position your company for scale. The wrong one can set you back 12-18 months - or worse. 70% of first-time VP of Sales hires don't make it past 12 months. That's not just an expensive mistake - it's a strategic setback that impacts team morale, investor confidence, and your ability to hit revenue targets. Frank People specializes in placing sales leaders who build, not just manage. We're former sales operators who understand the difference between someone who interviews well and someone who can actually scale a revenue organization.
“70% of first-time VPs of Sales don’t make it 1 year”
Industry Benchmarks for Sales Leadership Hiring
Executive-level sales hires take significantly longer than individual contributor roles
Specialized Executive Recruiter
6-10 Weeks
Specialized executive recruiters maintain active networks of top sales leaders and can quickly identify candidates who match your stage and sales motion. They move fastest because they're tapping into pre-vetted talent pools rather than starting from scratch. The investment is slightly higher, but the speed and quality often justify the cost when a bad hire sets you back 12-18 months.
Generalist Executive Recruiter
10-16 Weeks
Generalist recruiters bring strong search processes and broad networks across multiple functions, but they lack deep sales expertise to evaluate leadership capability. They rely heavily on resume screening rather than assessing whether a candidate can actually build (not just manage) a sales organization. Timelines are longer because they're building candidate pools from scratch instead of leveraging existing relationships.
Internal Hiring Process
12-20 Weeks
Managing the search internally gives you complete control, but timelines stretch because the best sales leaders are passive candidates who require targeted outreach and relationship building. Many sales leaders have a tough time evaluating whether candidates have truly built success versus inherited it. The hidden cost is your attention being diverted from strategic priorities during a critical growth phase.
Let’s Talk
If you’re building or scaling a sales team and want a hiring partner who understands sales at an operator level, Frank People is built for that conversation.