You believe there’s a sales talent shortage? You may have a sales leadership gap
Every quarter, I hear the same complaints from CEOs and founders across Europe, LATAM and beyond:
“We just can’t find good salespeople.”
“Our team isn’t hungry enough.”
“No one is hitting quota — I think we need to hire better.”
The assumption? There’s a shortage of sales talent.
But after years of building and restructuring commercial teams across markets, I can tell you with certainty: it’s rarely a talent problem, it’s almost always a leadership one.
The myth of the sales rep problem
When companies struggle to grow, they often point the finger at their frontline sales reps. But here’s the reality I see time and time again:
Reps are selling without a clear ICP or messaging hierarchy
Compensation plans are misaligned with strategic priorities
There's no real sales process — just hope and hustle
Founders or GMs are still acting as the de facto heads of sales, well past the point of scale
Then, leadership brings in more reps, expecting different results. More often than not, they simply accelerate the chaos.
Leadership before headcount
Hiring another sales rep isn’t going to solve a strategic gap. What SMBs and scaleups actually need — especially in complex or cross-border markets — is a sales leader who can architect a system:
Map and prioritize territories or verticals
Design a repeatable, data-driven sales process
Coach and develop existing talent
Align sales activities with broader GTM strategy
Bring discipline to forecasting, pipeline management and performance reviews
This doesn’t always mean hiring a full-time VP of Sales. In many cases, what you need is a fractional commercial leader who can embed quickly, stabilise the function, and lay the foundations for scale.
What to do if you’re seeing the signs
If any of this sounds familiar — missed targets, high turnover, inconsistent results — you’re not alone. These are signals, not failures. Before you burn more budget on hiring or tools, ask yourself:
Is there a clear sales strategy in place?
Is someone truly owning and leading the commercial function?
Do we have a system — or just a few good performers?
If the answers are fuzzy, it's time to consider bringing in experienced leadership. Not permanently. Not reactively. But strategically and fractionally — to design the engine your business needs to grow.
The companies that win in today’s B2B environment don’t just hire salespeople. They build sales systems, with the right leadership behind them.
Because sales isn’t broken. Leadership is just missing.
