You’re looking for a sales manager to give your sales team a new dynamic. The performance of your sales team depends on the management of the Sales Manager who will lead your company to success. We can help you find the ideal candidate with strategic vision and sales expertise. That’s why Archetype, our Belgium-based recruitment agency, takes charge of finding the best profiles to meet the specific needs of each organization.

The importance of the Sales Manager’s role

A Sales Manager’s main tasks are to define the company’s sales strategy, manage and lead a sales team and ensure its performance. In this way, they contribute directly to the organization’s growth and competitiveness in the marketplace. His/her responsibilities include:

• Definition of sales and margin targets
• Drawing up and implementing the annual sales plan
• Analysis of team performance and identification of areas for improvement
• Ongoing training of sales staff in products, services and sales techniques
• Recruitment and coaching of new sales team members
• Managing the sales development budget

Certain functions may also be related to the company’s business sector, such as proposing new products or services, managing partnerships or promoting the existing portfolio to specific targets.

Essential skills for a Sales Manager

To ensure effective recruitment tailored to the needs of each company, Archetype carefully examines the skills expected of a Sales Manager.

• Leadership: the ability to unite and energize a team around common objectives.
• Commercial expertise, based on experience in sales and negotiation, and knowledge of the company’s products and services and those of its competitors.
• Strategy, which requires a keen sense of analysis to develop, monitor and adapt sales strategy in line with market trends.
• Communication, which means excellent interpersonal skills, both internally and externally, and mastery of modern communication tools
• And organization, which comes from effective management of priorities and emergencies, the ability to manage several projects simultaneously, and rigorous monitoring of team activities.

At Archetype, we can easily identify profiles that combine technical and interpersonal skills.

Indeed, the success of a Sales Manager, just like that of a country manager, account manager or sales engineer, also depends on certain human qualities:

• Adaptability in the face of change or obstacles
• Empathy and active listening, to understand the needs of your team and customers
• Resilience and perseverance, to motivate the team to excel in sometimes difficult situations
• Emotional intelligence, to manage and express emotions effectively

Archetype’s recruitment process

To guarantee quality recruitment, at Archetype we follow a rigorous, multi-stage process:

• Identifying the need and defining the position and profile required with the client company.
• Search and selection of candidates based on precise criteria (skills, experience, personality, etc.)
• An in-depth interview to assess the candidate’s motivation, ambition, personality and skills.
• Case studies that reveal tactical motivations in everyday situations.
• A personality test that measures personality, sales approach and management skills.
• Specific sales or management tests are administered depending on the position.
• Role-playing exercises.

Convinced that the integration of a new employee contributes to his or her success and that of the company, at Archetype we provide a post-recruitment follow-up to check that this period is running smoothly and, if necessary, offer advice to the client and/or candidate. We support both the candidate and the employer during the first 6 months. This support includes :

• Regular meetings with the Sales Manager to discuss first impressions, difficulties or successes.
• Evaluation of the new employee’s integration into the team
• An assessment of the match between the objectives set and the results obtained by the Sales Manager.