Hiring a sales manager means testing coaching ability, not closing ability. The two are different jobs. Ask candidates to coach a recorded or roleplayed sales call, inspect a messy pipeline and commit to a forecast, then explain how they would ramp a new rep. Strong managers lift the middle of a team; strong closers only lift themselves.
Three seams produce most of them. Senior reps at companies one stage ahead of yours who already run deal reviews or mentor new starters and want the title. Sitting managers at competitors, whose team ranking you verify through references rather than take on trust. And your own floor: promoting the rep other reps already ask for help is lower risk than it looks, provided you accept a real ramp on forecasting and performance conversations. Sales leadership communities and warm introductions from your commercial leaders reach people who are not applying anywhere. Do not source on personal quota history alone, because the top name on a leaderboard is often the weakest candidate for this job. Set out team size, motion and reporting line in the [sales manager job description](/job-descriptions/sales-manager) so people self-select on scope.
Scope first, then the honest state of the team. Candidates worth hiring want to know how many reps report to them, how many of those seats are actually filled, what the team delivered last year, and whether they inherit a working motion or a rebuild. Spell out which levers they own: quota setting, territory design, input into the comp plan, hiring authority. A manager who cannot hire or exit anyone is a senior individual contributor with extra meetings, and experienced people spot that in the first screen. State how forecast accuracy is judged. Admitting the team missed target attracts turnaround operators and repels those who only want a running machine. Post where operators actually read and keep applicant flow inside your [hiring software](/hiring-software) rather than a shared spreadsheet.
Make them coach in the first working session. Send a recorded discovery call, or stage one with a member of your team, then ask the candidate to deliver the feedback they would give that rep. Fifteen minutes of live coaching tells you more than an hour of career narrative. Listen for whether they name specific moments and behaviours instead of traits, whether they ask the rep questions before prescribing, and whether the session ends with an agreed next action the rep owns. Skip personality questionnaires and skip asking how they motivate people. Then hand over a pipeline export full of stale deals, missing next steps and optimistic close dates, and ask what they would strip out and what number they would commit to this quarter.
Four stages is enough. Start with the hiring leader on team size, motion and results. Second, the coaching exercise with a real rep from your floor, who then gets a vote. Third, a forecast and pipeline inspection where the candidate defends a commit number under pressure and describes their weekly inspection cadence. Fourth, a people session: how they write a scorecard, what the first ninety days look like, when they would open a performance plan and when they would move faster than that. Put reps in the loop, because they detect condescension a hiring leader misses. Score every stage against the same rubric and keep the [sales manager interview questions](/interview-questions/sales-manager) consistent so the panel compares signals rather than swapping impressions.
Expect a longer search than for an individual rep. The pool is smaller, and the people you want are usually mid-quarter and reluctant to abandon a team they built. Pay is base plus a component tied to team attainment, so the negotiation turns on whether the aggregate number is achievable, not on the salary line alone. Show the real pipeline, the ramp history of existing reps and the marketing support without varnish. Anyone who has been burned by an impossible number will ask, and vagueness reads as an answer. Move quickly between stages, deliver the offer verbally with the plan attached, and let them talk to the team first. Watch stage-by-stage drop-off in your [recruitment analytics software](/recruitment-analytics-software) to see where senior candidates stall.
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