How do you evaluate a sales recruitment agency?

Evaluate the firm with the same eight questions you use for every other option, then score each answer from zero to two. Require evidence for assessment method, guarantee terms, specialization, search ownership, candidate bench, onboarding, fee structure, and lasting references. Ask the questions in one meeting, record the scores during the call, and total them that day.

What should you ask a sales recruiter before signing an agreement?

Ask what assessment instrument they use, what the guarantee covers, how much recent work involved sales roles, who will run the search, which candidates they already know, what happens after the hire starts, how the fee is earned, and whether they can introduce a client whose placement remains in role. Request the supporting artifact for every answer.

What does a sales recruiting agency need to show you in writing?

The firm should show an identity-removed assessment report, the guarantee clause, placement counts by role, the named search owner, a dated bench record, the onboarding plan, the fee and invoice clauses, and a client introduction with the placement's start date. Written evidence earns two points. A sound spoken answer earns one point until the document arrives.

How long should a sales recruiting guarantee last?

The most common window was 90 days, at 44.9% in Top Echelon's 2019 survey of its recruiting-network members. The agreement also needs to state when the clock starts, which remedy applies, and what voids coverage. A longer window can carry narrow coverage, so read the start date and conditions beside the number of days.

How are sales recruitment fees structured?

Fees use contingency, container or engaged, and retained models. Contingency is due when a hire starts. Container search places a fixed fee up front and the balance on placement. Retained search is billed in stages regardless of outcome. Read the earning trigger, invoice schedule, calculation base, and guarantee together because those clauses determine who carries the search risk.

Can a new recruiting firm be evaluated on the same criteria as an established one?

Yes. Apply the same document tests and record the age of the evidence. Revenue Bench opened in June 2026 and cannot yet score full marks for a reference to a placement that has remained in role for twelve months. We can offer a client introduction with the placement's start date. Use that same tenure test for every firm, including Revenue Bench.

How do you evaluate a sales recruitment agency for SDR, AE, or sales engineer roles?

Evaluate the agency twice: first on the eight process criteria, then on the four-question fit test. For the fit test, request recent placement counts at the role band, examples involving a buyer like yours, evidence of work in the market where the candidate pool sits, and a written reason for the proposed search mechanism. Read the two scores separately. A documented process does not establish fit for an SDR, AE, or sales engineer search.

Does a sales recruitment agency need experience in my industry or my city?

Experience in the relevant industry or city matters when it changes access to the buyer, candidate pool, or search plan. Score the claim with a written count of recent placements, each described by role, buyer, what the candidate sold, and the market where the pool sat. National reach and roots in one market are different claims, and either can fit. The evidence should connect the claimed experience to the specific search rather than a broad label.

How to Evaluate a Sales Recruitment Agency for the Role You Are Filling

The eight-criterion scorecard

Ask all eight questions in one meeting. Write each score down during the call, then total the scores on the same day while the answers and documents remain easy to connect.

Every row scores the same way. Two points if they show you the document. One point if the answer is right and nothing is in writing. Zero if the answer is vague or the firm offers nothing to inspect. Score two only when every element named in the proof column is present. A document missing one of the elements it names scores one. That rule holds every row to the same standard. A document can be an assessment report, a contractual clause, a placement count, an engagement letter, a dated bench record, an onboarding plan, an invoice schedule, or a client introduction. The format changes with the criterion. The proof still has to exist outside the conversation.

The criterion	Ask this	What proves the answer
Assessment method	What assessment instrument do you run on candidates for selling and sales-leadership roles, and when do you run it?	The name of the assessment and a sample report from a completed candidate assessment with the candidate's identity removed. The report should show that the instrument produces findings you can inspect.
Guarantee terms	What does your guarantee cover, when does its window start, and what voids it?	The guarantee clause from the agreement. It should state the remedy, the number of days, the date that starts the window, the number of re-runs, and every event that voids coverage.
Sales specialization	What share of your placements in the last twelve months were sales and revenue roles?	A count of placements from the last twelve months, separated by role type. The count should let you identify how much of the firm's completed work involved sales and revenue positions.
Who does the work	Who will run my search, and who will I speak with week by week?	The engagement letter naming the person who owns sourcing, screening, shortlisting, and the weekly client conversation. A team description without the person's name leaves this row incomplete.
Bench or cold start	How many candidates do you already know for this role, when were they assessed, and can you describe three before opening a new search?	A written, dated summary of how many candidates fit the role and when each was assessed, with three described by role, selling motion, and fit, identities withheld. Candidate records themselves stay with the firm.
What runs after the hire starts	What runs during the first 90 days after the hire starts, and who is accountable for it?	The onboarding plan and the named owner, carried into the agreement. The document should state what the hire receives, what the hiring manager receives, and who reports progress.
Fee structure	How is your fee calculated, when is it earned, and what happens to it if the hire does not last?	The fee clause with its calculation base, earning trigger, invoice schedule, and connection to the guarantee remedy. The trigger should identify the event that makes each invoice due.
References that lasted	Will you introduce me to a client whose placement is still in the role and provide the placement's start date?	The client introduction and the placement's start date. Two points require a start date twelve months old or more. One point where the introduction comes with a shorter-tenured placement. Zero where you are offered testimonials in place of an introduction.

Scoring more than one firm

Score each firm during the same meeting week, using the same eight questions, then compare the totals instead of relying on the impressions left by separate conversations.

Criterion	Firm A	Firm B	Firm C
Assessment method
Guarantee terms
Sales specialization
Who does the work
Bench or cold start
What runs after the hire starts
Fee structure
References that lasted
Total out of 16

A spread of two points or fewer between two firms carries no decision weight, so the reference conversation decides. Print this page to score a meeting on paper.

The total, and how to read it

13 to 16: the firm can evidence its process. Read the two disqualifying answers below before you sign on the terms.
9 to 12: the process is probably sound and the paperwork is behind it. Ask for the missing documents while you are still deciding.
8 or below: you are buying a relationship and a hope. That can still be the right call, and you should know that is the call you are making.

A band reads correctly only when no row scores zero. Read any zero on the guarantee, the search owner, or the fee separately from the total, because a strong score elsewhere does not compensate for a term you cannot see.

Two disqualifying answers

A strong total cannot rescue either answer below. A firm can show you every document, score sixteen, and still fail the first test, because that test reads what the clause says rather than whether you were shown it. Each one leaves a central part of the engagement under the firm's control after you sign.

The guarantee voids on a change the employer controls. If a change to the role, the compensation, or the reporting manager cancels the guarantee, the coverage is written to be cancellable by ordinary events inside a growing company.

Nobody will name the person who runs the search in the engagement letter. A firm that will not write the name down is reserving the right to change it.

The answers that sound right and score zero

A polished answer can carry nothing you are able to check. The follow-up question tells you whether a polished sentence is backed by something you can inspect.

The criterion	What a non-answer sounds like	What to say next
Assessment method	"We have a rigorous multi-step evaluation process."	What is the assessment called, when do you run it, and can you show an identity-removed report from a completed candidate assessment?
Guarantee terms	"We stand behind every placement."	Can you open the agreement to the guarantee clause and show me the remedy, start date, window, re-run count, and full void list?
Sales specialization	"Sales is a core vertical for us."	How many placements did you complete in the last twelve months, and how many were sales and revenue roles?
Who does the work	"You will have a dedicated team on this."	Who owns the search day to day, who joins the weekly call, and where will that person's name appear in the engagement letter?
Bench or cold start	"We have a deep network in your space."	How many people on that bench fit this role, when were they assessed, and can you describe three before opening a new search?
What runs after the hire starts	"We stay close through the onboarding."	What happens during the first 90 days, who owns each step, and where does the agreement state those commitments?
Fee structure	"Our pricing is competitive and transparent."	What base determines the fee, which event earns it, when are the invoices due, and what happens to the fee if the hire leaves?
References that lasted	"Our clients love us, and we can share testimonials."	Will you introduce me to a client whose placement remains in the role and provide the placement's start date before the call?

The four-question fit test for a specific search

A firm can score 16 out of 16 on the process scorecard and still be wrong for the search in front of you. Documents establish what the firm does and what it has committed to deliver, while fit depends on whether its recent work and proposed mechanism match this role.

Score each fit row by the same document rule. Two points if they show you the document. One point if the answer is right and nothing is in writing. Zero if the answer is vague or the firm offers nothing to inspect.

Read the two instruments separately and never add their totals together. The two totals measure different things, and combining them hides which one failed. The specialization row and the role-band row can be answered from the same placement record, read once for the share that was sales and again for the count at your band.

The fit question	Ask this	What proves the answer
Role band	How many of your placements in the last twelve months were at the band I am filling?	A written count of placements completed in the last twelve months, separated by band, with role titles and completion dates. The count for the band you are filling must be visible.
Buyer and vertical	Which of your recent placements sold into a buyer like mine, and what did they sell?	A written recent-placement record naming the role, buyer type, what the candidate sold, and the placement completion date. Client identities may remain private.
Market and pool	Where does the candidate pool for this role sit, and what recent work have you done in that market?	A written market map locating the target pool, plus a count of recent placements in that market with the role, sourcing channel, and completion date.
Mechanism	Which search mechanism will you run for this role, and why that one?	The engagement letter naming contingency, container or engaged, or retained search; why the mechanism fits the role; whether the search is exclusive; and the event that earns the fee.

The fit total, out of 8

7 to 8: the firm has documented fit across all four fit questions. Resolve any missing artifact before treating the fit as established.
4 to 6: part of the fit is evidenced and part remains a spoken answer. Identify which unresolved dimension could change the sourcing plan or candidate pool.
0 to 3: the specific fit has little written support. A general record in sales cannot supply the missing evidence for this role, buyer, market, and mechanism.

The firm will not separate its record by band, buyer, or market. The same general answer to all four questions leaves you unable to check where its relevant placements sit, which buyers they served, where the pool was found, or why the proposed mechanism fits this search.

Why role band belongs in the test

Clockwork Recruiting's Executive Search Performance Benchmark Report, published in October 2018, covered 23,970 anonymized search projects run January 2015 to August 2018 and filtered to retained projects only. The data came from Clockwork's own customer base, search firms using its applicant tracking system, rather than a random industry sample.

For the January 2015 to August 2018 projects, the average placement rate was 71%, with outcomes of 71% placed, 22% canceled, and 6% internal hire. Average days to placement was 123. The placement rate was 60% at the least senior band against 78% for C-level searches. Among the public industry data used here, this is the only dataset with a stated sample, period, and inclusion criteria that shows outcome rates differing by seniority band. The report publishes no sales-specific figure, so no sales placement rate can be drawn from it.

The fit test assumes that the band being hired is already the right one for the business. Carlos Garrido's Scaling Revenue Model maps which sales roles a company needs at each stage of its growth, moving from founders selling, to a first repeatable team, to managers, to a leadership layer. Which band to fill follows from where the company sits, and a vacancy is a weaker signal than the stage is, because the constraint on growth is who leads and which systems exist rather than the number of sellers.

What each sales role band requires

Role titles do not create interchangeable candidate pools. Each band changes where candidates come from, which evidence belongs in selection, which search mechanism fits, and what a specialization claim must document.

At every band, a sales-specific assessment contributes structured, comparable findings tied to sales work. That comparison is between candidates the assessment recommended and candidates it advised against, so it describes how selection was made rather than a measured effect on any hire.

The band	Where the candidates come from	What the sales assessment settles, and what it leaves open	The search mechanism that usually fits	Required evidence of sales specialization
SDR and BDR	Applicants arrive in volume at this band, alongside referrals and candidates reachable by outbound sourcing, most of them early in a selling career. Sourcing must screen volume for evidence of prospecting interest, learning pace, and comfort with repetition.	For an SDR or BDR search, the assessment covers the candidate's fit for outbound prospecting. Product learning, response to coaching, and willingness to sustain the required activity cadence remain for structured interviews and references.	Contingency usually fits a defined individual-contributor search with a broad pool. Container or engaged search fits when the employer wants one firm to screen that volume against a tighter profile.	A twelve-month placement count separated into SDR and BDR roles, with every entry labeled inbound, outbound, or mixed and dated by completion.
Account executive, mid-market	Most credible candidates are currently employed and matched on deal size, sales cycle, channel, and buyer experience. Sourcing starts from adjacent companies and verified selling motions rather than the title alone.	For a mid-market account executive, the assessment covers qualifying, consultative selling, and comfort discussing money. Quota history, ownership of prior deals, and command of the target buyer remain for structured interviews, a work sample, and references.	Contingency can fit an accessible pool and a standard brief. Container or engaged search fits when the assignment requires exclusive market mapping and a calibrated shortlist.	A written ledger separating mid-market account executive placements from other sellers, with the buyer, typical deal range, sales motion, and completion date recorded for each.
Enterprise seller and sales engineer	Supply narrows sharply here, and candidates are identified individually and approached through accounts with comparable product complexity, technical buyers, and long sales cycles. Enterprise sellers and sales engineers require different maps because their commercial and technical responsibilities differ.	In an enterprise seller or sales engineer search, the assessment covers the selling side only. Technical depth, architecture judgment, and seller-engineer collaboration remain for a technical work sample, panel interview, and references.	The engaged model buys the market mapping this band needs, because the shortlist has to be built rather than filtered. A retainer is worth it when the search must also stay confidential.	A placement record that separates enterprise sellers from sales engineers and records the buyer, product complexity, selling motion, sourcing origin, and completion date for each relevant placement.
Sales manager	Both current managers and individual contributors ready for management belong in scope, and neither title establishes fit. Sourcing must match management span, selling motion, company stage, and whether the role is a player-coach or a full-time leader.	For a management candidate, the assessment reads the leadership profile rather than giving credit for title or individual production. The quality of prior coaching, forecast judgment, hiring decisions, and seller development remains for management cases and references.	Paying for calibration is the point at this band, since the first shortlist is where the employer learns what the role needs to be. A retainer follows when the incumbent is still in the role.	A placement count separated into sales-manager roles, with the management span, player-coach status, team mandate, selling motion, and completion date attached to every entry.
VP of Sales and CRO	Few credible candidates exist for a given company stage and mandate, most of them currently employed and reachable only one at a time. Sourcing requires confidential mapping across leaders who have operated at a comparable company stage, revenue mandate, and executive scope.	At VP of Sales and CRO level, the assessment reads the leadership profile and nothing above it. Board alignment, the operating plan, capital judgment, and performance through organizational change remain for executive cases and direct references.	Retained search usually fits because the pool is narrow, the work is senior, and confidentiality or succession risk may shape the outreach.	A recent executive-placement record separating VP of Sales from CRO searches, with company stage, mandate, buyer, selling motion, completion date, and a reference introduction recorded for each.

This table is Revenue Bench's own operating description rather than a validated instrument or an industry study. The only external figures associated with it are the figures named in the methodology section.

Vertical, buyer, and market

Score a vertical claim, a buyer claim, and a city claim with the same kind of artifact used for a band claim: a written count of recent placements, with each record described by role, what the candidate sold, the buyer served, the market where the candidate pool sat, and the completion date. A broad category label does not identify which part of the claimed experience matches the search.

National reach is a claim about where the firm can recruit. Having relationships and market knowledge in one market is a separate claim, and a search can need either. The fit question asks where this candidate pool sits and what recent work supports the firm's answer in that market.

How Revenue Bench answers the four fit questions

The four rows test fit for a specific search, so no firm's website, including Revenue Bench's, can award a score on any of them.

Role band. Revenue Bench fills sales and revenue roles only: sellers, sales leaders, revenue operations, and enablement. For a specific search, it will provide a written placement count separated by band, with role titles and completion dates. The firm opened in June 2026, so that count cannot yet cover twelve months.
Buyer and vertical. Revenue Bench publishes that it fills sales and revenue roles only, which does not establish experience with any buyer or vertical. For the search, it will provide a written record identifying any relevant placement by role, buyer type, what the candidate sold, and completion date, or state that no such record exists.
Market and pool. Revenue Bench recruits across the United States, is based in South Florida, works nationally rather than regionally, and maintains a bench of assessed sellers. For the search, it will provide a written market map locating the target pool and a written count of any recent placements in that market, with role, sourcing channel, and completion date. National reach and an assessed bench do not establish recent work in the market where a particular pool sits.
Mechanism. Revenue Bench runs senior and confidential assignments as engaged, retained-style searches, while individual-contributor roles can run on contingency. The founders do the sourcing and screening, and the founder running the search is named in the engagement letter. For the specific search, that letter will name the selected mechanism, explain why it fits the role, state whether the search is exclusive, identify the event that earns the fee, and name the founder responsible. Until the letter records those terms for the role, the published operating choices do not establish search-specific fit.

Why the scorecard goes in front of the decision

Carlos Garrido, the author of this page and a sales trainer, teaches sales teams: "The sale is forged in emotion. But it then has to survive the intellectual rigors of their buying process."

He also teaches: "Post-rationalization is the path all buyers follow." That line describes the employer choosing among recruiting firms after several good conversations. It describes the Revenue Bench sale with equal force.

The scorecard moves scrutiny ahead of the signature. Your favorable impression stays part of the decision, and the documents fix what the firm has committed to deliver.

What to ask about assessment method

Start with the name of the instrument. The phrase assessment process can cover a resume review, an interview sequence, a reference call, or a scored diagnostic. The first row asks the firm to identify the instrument used for selling and sales-leadership roles and the stage at which it runs.

Timing matters because an assessment used after the shortlist has little power to shape that shortlist. Ask whether the instrument runs before the candidate is presented. The answer tells you whether assessment informs selection or becomes supporting material after the firm has formed its opinion.

The sample report turns the method into evidence. You should be able to see what the report contains, how its findings are organized, and whether its output gives the recruiter and employer something specific to discuss. The candidate's identity can be removed. The report itself should remain complete enough to show how the method operates.

Ask who interprets the report and how the interpretation reaches you. An instrument can produce a detailed document while the search team uses only a summary label. The useful answer connects the report to screening, candidate presentation, and the questions used in your interview process.

An interview rewards the skills selling rewards, rapport, storytelling, and handling objections, so a candidate who presents well can read as a candidate who sells well. A sales-specific instrument measures the selling behaviors separately. The report also gives you a comparison point across firms. One firm may show a named sales-specific instrument with a completed report. Another may describe an internal interview rubric in writing. Score each against the same rule. The document earns two points. A conversation with nothing behind it earns one.

Revenue Bench uses an Objective Management Group assessment on candidates for selling and sales-leadership roles before presentation, and that assessment work runs through co-founder Steve Swanston's OMG Certified Partner firm, Swanston Growth Advisors. Every candidate also receives an operator screen. The evidence section below separates OMG's published outcome figures from Revenue Bench's description of how it uses the instrument.

The guarantee, and the four terms that decide coverage

The number of days is one part of the guarantee. Coverage also depends on the date that starts the clock, the remedy available when a claim opens, and the conditions that can void it. Read all four in the agreement before assigning the score.

The term	What the market does	Revenue Bench's published answer	How to check it
The window	The most common window is 90 days, at 44.9% of firms in Top Echelon's 2019 survey of its recruiting-network members. 30 days is 20.3% and 60 days is 20.0%.	90 days.	Take the number of days from the agreement rather than the marketing page.
When the window starts	This term was not measured in any public survey. The clock can start at the signed offer or on the hire's first day, and those dates can sit weeks apart.	The hire's first day.	Ask which date starts the clock and have that date written into the agreement.
The remedy	Replacement with no money back is the majority at 61.4% in Top Echelon's 2019 survey of its recruiting-network members. A prorated refund is 17.6%, a full refund is 8.4%, and other remedies account for 10.9%.	A replacement search, run again at no additional fee, with one free re-run.	Confirm whether you are buying a replacement, a prorated refund, or a full refund, since the word guarantee covers all three.
What voids coverage	This term was not measured in any public survey. An agreement can name a change to the role or compensation, a change of manager, skipped onboarding steps, an unpaid invoice, or a missed notification window.	No conditions. Whether the hire is working is the client's call, and Revenue Bench asks for no evidence to open the claim.	Ask for the full void list in writing before you sign rather than after a claim.

Top Echelon's 2019 survey of its recruiting-network members also found that 95.9% of the recruiters surveyed offered a guarantee of some kind and 4.1% offered none. The remedy distribution gives the word guarantee its commercial meaning.

A buyer who hears that money will be returned is being offered the least common of the three named remedies. Pin down whether refund means a prorated refund or a full refund before signing, then check whether the agreement attaches conditions to it.

Top Echelon's survey was published in March 2019, its respondents were members of Top Echelon's own recruiting network with an average tenure of about 15 years, and corporate recruiters were excluded. Top Echelon does not publish how many recruiters responded, and the survey does not separate retained search from contingency search.

Under the standard agreement as of July 2026, Revenue Bench provides a 90-day replacement guarantee on every placement, running from the hire's first day; one free re-run of the search; no conditions; whether the hire is working is the client's call and Revenue Bench asks for no evidence to open the claim; every placement also includes a 90-day onboarding coach who meets the hire weekly and the hiring manager weekly and reports to the hiring manager.

The sibling guide covers all seven placement guarantee terms and follows a claim through the free re-run. It also answers which search firms offer a 90-day placement guarantee.

The fee, and who carries the search risk

The fee model determines when cash moves and which party funds the search before a placement occurs. The agreement then states when the fee becomes earned. Read the model, earning trigger, invoice schedule, and guarantee as one commercial arrangement. On a commissioned sales role the calculation base can double the fee at the same percentage, which the fee-basis table works through on one seller.

Model	How and when you pay	Who carries the search risk	What it fits
Contingency	A percentage of first-year compensation, due only when a hire starts. There is no cost if no hire is made.	The recruiter carries the risk entirely until a placement is made. The employer risks time and a rushed shortlist instead of cash.	High-volume or individual-contributor roles where the market is deep and speed decides.
Container or engaged	A fixed engagement fee is paid up front, with the balance due on placement. The search is usually exclusive for a set period.	The risk is shared. The employer funds part of the search and the recruiter carries the rest.	Director and VP roles, or any search where a committed partner matters.
Retained	The fee is billed in stages regardless of outcome, commonly in thirds across kickoff, shortlist, and placement.	The employer carries the risk up front in exchange for depth and exclusivity.	Senior, confidential, or scarce roles such as CRO and VP of Sales.

Contingency and direct-hire pricing

The most common direct-hire fee is 20% of salary, reported by 42% of staffing firms, and 20% is also the median across all segments, according to Staffing Industry Analysts, from its North America Staffing Company Survey 2021. The survey year is 2021.

The same Staffing Industry Analysts North America Staffing Company Survey 2021 reports segment midranges of 15% to 20% for commercial staffing, 18% to 22% for professional staffing, and 20% to 25% for direct-hire firms. These figures give you a market reference for the percentage while the agreement supplies the base against which that percentage is applied.

Ask whether salary means base salary, cash compensation, or another defined amount. The percentage can match the market reference while the calculation base produces a different fee. The clause should name the base and the date on which the fee becomes earned.

Container or engaged search

The container mechanism places a fixed fee up front and the balance on placement, usually with exclusivity for a set period. The initial payment funds part of the work and confirms that one firm has the assignment for the stated period.

No independent research organization publishes a benchmark for container or engaged search pricing. Published percentages come from firms that sell the model, so this page gives no percentage benchmark for it. Compare the initial fee, placement balance, exclusivity period, earning trigger, and guarantee clause in the agreement.

Retained and executive search

The retained standard is approximately one third of the estimated first-year compensation for the position being filled, plus a percentage for engagement expenses. Korn Ferry's annual report for the fiscal year ended April 2025 and Heidrick and Struggles' annual report for the year ended December 2024 both describe this as the standard structure.

Those are executive search figures. That one-third description is limited to executive search and cannot be applied as the going rate for a mid-market account-executive search. The role level, confidentiality, and search mechanism establish the relevant comparison.

How the guarantee determines what the fee buys

The model tells you who carries the search risk. The clause that decides what the fee is worth states what happens to the fee if the hire does not last. That clause is the guarantee, which is why the guarantee row and the fee row are scored together in practice.

The percentage shows where a firm sits against the market. The guarantee clause determines whether the fee buys another search, a prorated refund, a full refund, or no remedy after the covered window or conditions are applied.

Revenue Bench charges a single percentage of the hire's first-year compensation, earned on a start date, standing behind the 90-day replacement guarantee; senior and confidential searches run as an engaged, retained-style search; individual-contributor roles can run on contingency. The percentage itself is not published on the site.

The full sibling guide compares the models and their risk allocation in more depth: sales recruiter fees.

Specialization, who does the work, and the bench

These three criteria describe the operating team behind the proposal. Together they tell you what the firm has done, who will make candidate judgments, and how much candidate knowledge exists when the engagement begins.

Sales specialization

Ask for the count of placements completed during the last twelve months, separated by role type. A percentage without the underlying count gives you less information than the document test requires, and the same reading applies to any candidate retention rate a firm quotes. The count should let you identify the sales and revenue roles among the firm's completed placements.

Role labels deserve attention. Sales and revenue roles can include sellers, sales leaders, revenue operations, and enablement. Ask the firm to use its own placement records and group the roles in a way you can follow. The score depends on a written count rather than a broad description of sectors served.

Specialization tells you where the firm's recent repetition sits. Your specific search still requires a separate discussion about market knowledge, role level, sales motion, and location. The scorecard's limits section keeps those questions outside the arithmetic.

Who does the work

The person named in the engagement letter should own the search and appear in the weekly client conversation. Ask which parts of sourcing, screening, and shortlisting that person performs, then ask who can change the assignment.

A team structure can support the named search owner. The document test still needs one accountable person. Titles and organizational charts provide context. The engagement letter is what makes the commitment scoreable.

Read the engagement letter beside the meeting roster. If the person whose judgment informed your decision will run the search, the name should be easy to add. If staffing may change, the agreement can state how a replacement search owner will be approved.

Bench or cold start

A bench claim needs a date. Ask how many candidates fit the role, when the firm last assessed them, and whether the firm can describe three before new sourcing starts. The description should address the role under discussion rather than a broad network category.

The bench record should distinguish a known candidate from a name in a database. The assessment date gives you one indication of how current the knowledge is. A written note about role fit gives you material to test during kickoff.

A cold start can still serve a search. Score it according to the answer and the artifact instead of treating a bench as a universal requirement. The value of this row is how much the firm knows before the engagement starts.

What runs after the hire starts

Criterion 6 asks for the plan that begins on the hire's first day. The plan should identify the work, its cadence, the person accountable for it, and the way the hiring manager receives progress.

Place the onboarding plan in the agreement instead of relying on the proposal. A proposal describes the intended service before terms are settled. The agreement records the commitment you can enforce after the hire begins.

Ask what the hire receives during the first 90 days. Then ask what the hiring manager receives and who reports to that manager. A coaching program with no named accountability leaves the employer to infer whether meetings occurred or whether problems reached the person who could address them.

The guarantee and onboarding plan should also be read together. The guarantee states the remedy if the placement ends within the covered window. The onboarding plan states what the firm will run during that window. The guarantee handles the claim after an exit. The onboarding plan is what runs while the hire is settling in.

Revenue Bench includes a two-day skills program for sellers or a leadership refresher for sales leaders, followed by a 90-day onboarding coach. The coach meets weekly with the hire, meets weekly with the hiring manager, and reports to the hiring manager. The agreement is the document that should carry those commitments.

The references worth asking for

Ask for an introduction to a client whose placement remains in the role. Request the placement's start date before the call so you can see how long the result has run.

The date changes the value of the conversation. A client can describe the search process soon after a placement starts. A longer-running placement allows the client to discuss how the candidate performed after onboarding and whether the original role definition remained accurate.

Use the reference to check the same process the firm described to you. Ask who ran the search, how the shortlist matched the role, what assessment material the client received, what happened after the start date, and how the firm responded when the client raised a concern.

The introduction itself is the artifact for the scorecard. A testimonial points you to a client worth speaking with, but it gives you no opportunity to ask follow-up questions. The start date lets you place the client's account in time.

A strong paper score still needs this conversation. Documents show what the firm commits to do and how it records its process. The client tells you how the engagement felt when decisions, delays, and candidate judgments moved through that process.

Who published this guide

Every buyer's guide to choosing a recruiting firm has an author with a commercial interest, so check who published it and what they sell before weighing the advice. Revenue Bench is a sales recruitment firm, and this page is published by a firm you might hire. The scorecard is built to be run on us. Apply the same question to any ranked list and ask what the ranking was measured on.

The eight questions, in one list

Copy these questions into the agenda for every agency meeting.

What assessment instrument do you run on candidates for selling and sales-leadership roles, and when do you run it?
What does your guarantee cover, when does its window start, and what voids it?
What share of your placements in the last twelve months were sales and revenue roles?
Who will run my search, and who will I speak with week by week?
How many candidates do you already know for this role, when were they assessed, and can you describe three before opening a new search?
What runs during the first 90 days after the hire starts, and who is accountable for it?
How is your fee calculated, when is it earned, and what happens to it if the hire does not last?
Will you introduce me to a client whose placement is still in the role and provide the placement's start date?

What the evidence says about method

OMG's own 2024 validation survey reports that 72% of the candidates Objective Management Group recommended reached the top half of their sales force within 12 months. The same data reports that 100% of candidates OMG advised against, who were hired anyway, landed in the bottom half.

OMG's own 2024 validation survey also reports first-year turnover of 9% for recommended hires against 33% for not-recommended hires. These are OMG's published outcomes and should be read with that source ownership in view.

72%

of candidates OMG recommended reached the top half of their sales force within 12 months, according to OMG's own 2024 validation survey.

9% / 33%

first-year turnover for OMG-recommended hires against not-recommended hires, according to OMG's own 2024 validation survey.

The figures support asking for an assessment method and its output. They do not determine whether a given candidate will succeed in your company. Your role definition, management environment, compensation plan, sales motion, and interview evidence still belong in the hiring decision.

Objective Management Group has assessed sales talent since 1990. Revenue Bench uses the assessment as one part of selection for selling and sales-leadership roles, with an operator screen on every candidate before presentation.

When Revenue Bench is not the fit

A high-volume contingency firm can serve you better when you need many similar seats filled on a compressed schedule and speed carries more weight than selectivity. Our process is selective by design.

Revenue Bench fills sales and revenue roles. A search for finance, engineering, or operations belongs with a firm that specializes in those functions.

An employer seeking a stack of resumes to screen internally is also looking for a different service, the sales recruiter versus in-house search decision. We screen every candidate with an operator before presentation and run a sales-specific assessment on candidates for selling and sales-leadership roles.

The additional screen takes work before a candidate reaches you. Buyers who want that selection layer fit our process. Buyers who prefer to receive a broad set of resumes are better served by a firm built around that. We would rather say so now than take a search that is not ours to win.

How Revenue Bench scores on its own scorecard

The document rule applies to Revenue Bench. Below is our answer to every row and the artifact we hand you for it. Score us the way you score anyone else, which means awarding nothing until the named document reaches you.

Assessment method. We run an Objective Management Group assessment on candidates for selling and sales-leadership roles before the candidate is presented, and every candidate receives an operator screen. That assessment work runs through co-founder Steve Swanston's OMG Certified Partner firm, Swanston Growth Advisors. Ask for an identity-removed sample report before you award anything.
Guarantee terms. Our standard agreement carries a 90-day replacement guarantee on every placement, running from the hire's first day. It provides one free re-run of the search at no additional fee, carries no conditions, and leaves the decision about whether the hire is working with the client. We ask for no evidence to open the claim. Ask us to open the agreement to that clause.
Sales specialization. We fill sales and revenue roles only. We opened in June 2026, so our written count by role type covers the months we have been operating rather than a full twelve. Ask for it and read it against the twelve-month counts you get from older firms.
Who does the work. The founders do the sourcing and screening, and we write the name of the founder who runs your search into the engagement letter. Withhold the points until you have read the name.
Bench or cold start. Revenue Bench maintains a bench of assessed sellers. Ask us how many fit your role, when they were assessed, and whether we can describe three before we open new sourcing. We give you that as a written, dated summary with identities withheld.
What runs after the hire starts. Every placement includes a two-day skills program for sellers or a leadership refresher for sales leaders, then a 90-day onboarding coach. The coach meets weekly with the hire, meets weekly with the hiring manager, and reports to the hiring manager. Ask to see those commitments in the agreement.
Fee structure. We charge a single percentage of the hire's first-year compensation, earned on a start date, standing behind the 90-day replacement guarantee. Senior and confidential searches run as an engaged, retained-style search. Individual-contributor roles can run on contingency. The percentage is not published on this site, so the agreement supplies it with the earning trigger and the invoice schedule.
References that lasted. Revenue Bench opened in June 2026, so no placement of ours has been in role for twelve months yet, and our track record publishes that limit alongside every result we do claim. Under this row that is a one rather than a two, and it stays a one until a placement reaches twelve months. We will introduce you to a client and give you the placement's start date so you can see how long it has run. Apply the same tenure test to every firm you are evaluating, including us.

Revenue Bench itself holds no listing as an OMG Certified Partner. The OMG assessment work runs through co-founder Steve Swanston's OMG Certified Partner firm, Swanston Growth Advisors.

No total appears here. Record each row only after the named evidence reaches you, then do the arithmetic on the same sheet you use for every other firm.

What this scorecard does not decide

The scorecard tests whether a firm can evidence its process, while knowledge of your market sits outside the score. A firm can score well and still be wrong for a specific search. The bands and disqualifiers are a decision aid published by Revenue Bench rather than a validated instrument. A strong paper score leaves the reference conversation necessary. Your final decision should also account for the role, market, and people involved in the engagement.

Methodology and sources

How to read these figures

The score bands and the two disqualifiers are a decision aid published by Revenue Bench rather than a validated instrument. They organize a buying decision around documents and commitments. No outcome study established the cutoffs or tested the score against placement performance.

The assessment figures are OMG's own data, from its 2024 validation survey. Objective Management Group reports that 72% of recommended candidates reached the top half of their sales force within 12 months, 100% of candidates advised against who were hired anyway reached the bottom half, and first-year turnover was 9% for recommended hires against 33% for not-recommended hires. The figures are source-owned validation results.

The guarantee distribution comes from Top Echelon's 2019 survey of its recruiting-network members. The survey reports 90 days at 44.9%, 30 days at 20.3%, and 60 days at 20.0%. It reports replacement with no money back at 61.4%, a prorated refund at 17.6%, a full refund at 8.4%, and other remedies at 10.9%. It also reports that 95.9% offered a guarantee of some kind and 4.1% offered none.

Top Echelon published the survey in March 2019. Its respondents were members of its recruiting network with an average tenure of about 15 years, and corporate recruiters were excluded. Top Echelon does not publish how many recruiters responded, so the distribution carries no sample size, and the survey does not separate retained search from contingency search, so it cannot be read as a description of retained executive search practice. We have found no survey of recruitment guarantee lengths or terms published since that one, so it is the only public distribution we can point to, and it is seven years old.

The direct-hire fee figures come from Staffing Industry Analysts, from its North America Staffing Company Survey 2021. The most common fee was 20% of salary, reported by 42% of staffing firms, and 20% was the median across all segments. Reported segment midranges were 15% to 20% for commercial staffing, 18% to 22% for professional staffing, and 20% to 25% for direct-hire firms.

The retained executive-search description comes from Korn Ferry's annual report for the fiscal year ended April 2025 and Heidrick and Struggles' annual report for the year ended December 2024. Both describe the standard structure as approximately one third of estimated first-year compensation plus a percentage for engagement expenses. The figure applies to executive search and cannot serve as a rate for a mid-market account-executive search.

Clockwork Recruiting's Executive Search Performance Benchmark Report, published in October 2018, covers 23,970 anonymized search projects run January 2015 to August 2018 and filtered to retained projects only. Across that period, outcomes were 71% placed, 22% canceled, and 6% internal hire; the average placement rate was 71%, average days to placement was 123, and the placement rate was 60% at the least senior band against 78% for C-level searches. The data comes from Clockwork's own customer base, search firms using its applicant tracking system, rather than a random industry sample. The report supplies no sales-specific figure, so it cannot support a sales placement rate.

No independent research organization publishes a pricing benchmark for container or engaged search. The page therefore describes the mechanism and gives no percentage for that model. Every source cited above appears with its producer, sample and period in the provenance index.

Revenue Bench's guarantee, fee, and onboarding terms apply under the standard agreement as of July 2026. The OMG assessment work for Revenue Bench placements runs through co-founder Steve Swanston's OMG Certified Partner firm, Swanston Growth Advisors. Revenue Bench itself holds no listing as an OMG Certified Partner.

Carlos Garrido

Co-Founder, Revenue Bench. An investment banker and growth advisor for more than 30 years. His work has supported $3B+ in client revenue and $6B+ in client exits. Founder of Performance Edge, owner of Sandler Miami, a Vistage Chair.