Make Executive Search More Objective — Without Ignoring Your Gut

Make Executive Search More Objective — Without Ignoring Your Gut

Hiring a Chief Commercial Officer or VP of Sales isn’t like hiring anyone else.

These are roles that can 10x your business — or quietly slow it down.

And yet, many hiring decisions still rely solely on instinct, interview chemistry, and the hope that past success will translate.

Gut instinct has its place. But when paired with structure and objectivity, you significantly improve your odds of getting it right.

What Works Instead: Benchmarking Every Candidate

When you benchmark commercial candidates against structured criteria, you’re no longer just guessing — you’re measuring. Not just a strong resume, but a leader who performs in your environment.

It starts by building a Success Profile to define the traits, competencies, and metrics that matter most.

Here’s how to benchmark effectively:

1. Use a Scorecard With Specific Criteria

Set 6–8 clear success factors before the interviews begin.
Examples might include:

• Ability to build a sales infrastructure
• History of hiring and scaling teams
• Cross-functional influence
• Communication with investors
• Strategic/Upstream marketing capability
• Leadership maturity, instinct, and adaptability

Then score every candidate 1–10 in each category. You’ll immediately see how they compare — and where the gaps are.

2. Dig Into Real Metrics

Don’t ask them to “walk through their resume.”

Ask how they performed against plan, how they coached underperformance, and how they adapted when strategy shifted.

What’s their greatest commercial achievement? How did they build and lead the team to exceed budget?

3. Test for Strategic Thinking

Pose real-world scenarios like:

“It’s Q2 and your team is behind on new revenue. Walk me through how you’d assess and turn it around to exceed year-end targets.”

The best candidates will talk about diagnosing pipeline health, engaging cross-functional teams, and managing performance gaps — not just pushing for more activity.

4. Always Reference Down, Not Just Up

Don’t just talk to CEOs and peers. Talk to people who reported to them.

Ask:

• How did they coach? Teach and trust or did they micromanage?
• What did they do when things went wrong?
• Did they create clarity — or confusion?
• Would you work for them again?

What This Looks Like in Practice

At Alder Brooks, we use benchmarking tools and structured scorecards to assess every finalist against what drives success in your business — not someone else’s.

That’s how you avoid great-on-paper mishires and recruit commercial leaders who can scale.

Because the true cost of a commercial mishire is too high to leave to chance.

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