Making a GREAT Vice President of Sales – The 3 Ingredient Success Recipe

When looking to hire a Vice President of Sales, there are three ingredients needed to ensure you’ve found the right one. Learn those three in this episode of the Sales Management Minute.

The time has come to hire a Vice President of Sales, but what should you look for in candidates? There are three ingredients that you must have in your Vice President of Sales success recipe.

1. Manager – The Manager ingredient is the one that creates processes, metrics, and compensation plans. The manager develops the hiring systems and onboarding programs. Simply put, the Manager creates the framework for the sales team. It is that framework that ensures the team is scalable and results are consistently produced.

2. Coach – The Coach ingredient is the one that teaches the salespeople how to execute the defined processes so the metrics are achieved, and compensation is earned. This is the people-development responsibility and teaches the salespeople how to apply their skills in the role. When a Vice President of Sales cannot coach their salespeople, results are poor and turnover is high.

3. Leader – The Leader ingredient is the one that inspires the salespeople to follow the defined processes. While a sales role can be financially lucrative, it is a tough job. The leader keeps the team fired-up and on track to achieve the defined goals. However, this is also where the people-accountability part of the job kicks-in. Without motivation and accountability, the process is nothing more than a pretty flow chart.

When looking for the three ingredients in your Vice President of Sales success recipe, develop a candidate evaluation program that gives you the ability to skillfully assess these areas.

See you next time on the Sales Management Minute.