HIRING A HEAD OF SALES ON YOUR OWN IS DIFFICULT, TIME-CONSUMING, AND EXPENSIVE
Can you hire a Head of Sales on your own? Yes, it’s possible. But you’ll face multiple challenges:
2–6 months to find a candidate (dozens of hours reviewing CVs, communicating, and interviewing)
3 months of adaptation — with no guarantee the Head will stay
€2,800 – €6,000 via a recruitment agency
€1,500 – €3,500 if you spend 30–60 hours yourself
€900 - €2000+ using a freelance recruiter if you handle the rest
Risk of hiring without validated skills
Most CV don’t match required competencies
Can you assesss the candidate's real skills?
Do they understand your market and sales model?
Can they build business processes?
Can they hire and train a team?
Shortage of strong candidates
Experienced sales heads choose from dozens or hundreds of openings — why would they pick yours?
Can you “sell” your vacancy in the first interview?
- Extremely difficult to find strong managers
- Often you pay for mediocre skills
- High competition – top specialists already work for competitors
- Expensive – you will have to overpay for a good head in the office
Additional costs (€5,660 - €11,490 /year)
Taxes & contributions: +30–50% of salary (€18 000 - €50 000)
Vacation & sick leave: approximately 2 months paid (€7500 – €16 600)
Office space: €2 400–€6,000/year*
*excluding equipment: €1 000 – € 2 500
Losses from unsuccessful hiring
Lost customers and reputation due to incompetent management
Repeated costs for a new search if the Head leaves
Losses during downtime (no management → sales drop)