How to Evaluate a Sales Recruitment Agency

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

Top Echelon's 2019 survey of its recruiting-network members also found that 95.9 percent of the recruiters surveyed offered a guarantee of some kind and 4.1 percent 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 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.

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.

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.

Contingency and direct-hire pricing

The most common direct-hire fee is 20 percent of salary, reported by 42 percent of staffing firms, and 20 percent 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 percent for commercial staffing, 18 to 22 percent for professional staffing, and 20 to 25 percent 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. 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 can help you identify 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.

1. What assessment instrument do you run on candidates for selling and sales-leadership roles, and when do you run it?
2. What does your guarantee cover, when does its window start, and what voids it?
3. What share of your placements in the last twelve months were sales and revenue roles?
4. Who will run my search, and who will I speak with week by week?
5. How many candidates do you already know for this role, when were they assessed, and can you describe three before opening a new search?
6. What runs during the first 90 days after the hire starts, and who is accountable for it?
7. How is your fee calculated, when is it earned, and what happens to it if the hire does not last?
8. 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 data reports that 72 percent of the candidates Objective Management Group recommended reached the top half of their sales team within 12 months. The same data reports that 100 percent of candidates OMG advised against, who were hired anyway, landed in the bottom half.

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

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. 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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. References that lasted. Revenue Bench opened in June 2026, so no placement of ours has been in role for twelve months yet. 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