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Sales & Business Development Recruitment

Field sales, channel and distributor sales, inside sales, key accounts and regional sales leadership, hired across India and the UAE.

Overview

Does Mars Consultancy recruit for Sales & BD?

Mars Consultancy recruits sales and business development talent across India and the UAE, and has done since 2015. We hire field sales and channel roles, inside sales and demand generation teams, key account and enterprise sales managers, and regional and national sales leadership, for employers in almost every sector we work in.

Sales is a function, not a vertical, and that is the thing most sales hiring gets wrong. A Territory Sales Incharge selling FMCG through a distributor network, an Inside Sales Executive running an outbound calling motion from a Powai floor, and an Enterprise Account Executive closing a ₹40 lakh annual contract over a nine-month cycle are three genuinely different hires. They share a job family and almost nothing else, different cycle length, different buyer, different definition of a good month. We screen on the motion first and the designation last. Sector context still matters, so where a sales role is defined mainly by what it sells we cover it on the sector page instead, banking and insurance sales under BFSI recruitment, store, category and area-management roles under retail and e-commerce, and voice-led calling floors under BPO and customer experience.

Much of our sales hiring has been in Mumbai, the head-office market for most of India's consumer, industrial and B2B sales organisations, where sales talent is deep, well-paid and permanently in play. The hard part is almost never sourcing. It is separating the candidate who genuinely carried a number from the one who supported someone who did, and getting an honest fixed-versus-variable CTC conversation onto the table before the offer, not after it.

Typical turnaround
7–30 days

From requirement briefing to a suitable candidate closing.

Where we've hired
India · UAE

For clients in Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai and other Indian cities, and in the UAE.

Candidate fees
None, ever

We are paid by the companies that hire, never by candidates.

The hard part

What makes sales & bd hiring difficult?

Field, inside and enterprise sales are three different hires

Field sales runs on a beat plan, daily coverage and secondary offtake. Inside sales runs on dial volume, connect rates and a short cycle. Enterprise and SaaS sales runs on multi-stakeholder cycles measured in quarters. A strong performer in one motion routinely fails in another. We take the brief in terms of the motion, the average ticket size and the cycle length, then screen against that rather than against a job title everyone spells differently.

Carrying a number and supporting one look identical on a CV

Sales CVs in India are written in achievement language regardless of what the person actually owned. Someone who ran a territory with an individual quota and someone who did sales coordination, MIS and channel support both describe themselves as driving revenue growth. We ask for the quota, the split between primary and secondary sales, the territory boundary and the reporting line, and we ask early, because the panel discovering it in round two costs everyone a week.

When everyone is at 150% of target, the number stops meaning anything

Achievement claims in sales interviews are effectively unverifiable at face value, and inflated ones are the norm rather than the exception. We probe for the things a real performer can answer without preparing, base versus stretch target, how the incentive was structured, which quarter was bad and why, the two largest accounts by name of category. Incentive letters and appointment letters are checked at BGV, but the screen has to catch most of it first.

Territory fit and language fit decide field sales, not the CV

A field sales hire covering the Marathi-speaking Nashik–Pune belt, one working Gujarati-dominated trade in Bhuleshwar or Masjid Bunder, and one on Hindi-belt upcountry distribution are not interchangeable, however similar their experience reads. Existing distributor and retailer relationships in the assigned territory are often worth more than an extra two years of experience. We screen for the language, the specific belt and the current beat before shortlisting.

The fixed-versus-variable CTC conversation kills offers late

Sales CTC is quoted at total earning potential, so a candidate at ₹12 lakh may be on ₹8 lakh fixed with the rest at risk. Offers collapse at the last stage when a new structure shifts that ratio and nobody said so upfront. We separate fixed, variable, incentive frequency, reimbursements and travel allowance during screening, and put that side by side with your structure before the offer goes out rather than after it has been declined.

Roles

Which sales & bd roles do we recruit for?

Field & channel sales

  • Territory Sales Incharge / Officer
  • Area Sales Manager
  • Sales Officer, General Trade
  • Modern Trade Executive / Manager
  • Distributor Sales Officer
  • Channel Sales Manager
  • Business Development Executive

Inside sales & demand generation

  • Inside Sales Executive
  • Tele-sales Executive
  • Sales Development Representative
  • Lead Generation Executive
  • Inside Sales Team Leader
  • Pre-sales Executive

Key accounts & enterprise sales

  • Key Account Manager
  • Enterprise Account Executive
  • SaaS Account Executive
  • Corporate Sales Manager
  • B2B Sales Manager
  • Institutional Sales Manager
  • Client Relationship Manager

Sales leadership

  • Regional Sales Manager
  • Zonal Sales Manager
  • National Sales Manager
  • Head of Business Development
  • Vice President, Sales
  • Chief Business Officer

Sales support & enablement

  • Sales Coordinator
  • Sales MIS Executive
  • Sales Operations Analyst
  • Sales Trainer
  • Trade Marketing Executive
  • Order Management Executive

Use cases

What does a sales & bd brief usually look like?

Common shapes of requirement in this sector, and how each one is run. These are illustrative patterns rather than accounts of specific engagements.

A consumer goods business adding distributor coverage in a new belt

Leadership Hiring
The brief
Territory Sales Incharges and an Area Sales Manager for newly appointed distributors, needing existing retailer relationships in the assigned beat and working Marathi and Hindi.
How we run it
Mapped candidates already working comparable beats in the same catchment, screened on the current beat plan, the distributor structure and the secondary sales number rather than the designation, and confirmed language and territory fit before shortlisting.

A B2B company standing up an inside sales floor

Volume Hiring
The brief
A large intake of Inside Sales Executives and team leaders to a launch deadline, with the usual volume-hiring drop between offer and joining.
How we run it
Run as a volume drive measured on joinings rather than CV count, pipeline, drive-day coordination and follow-up through the notice period, with the fixed-versus-incentive split spelled out at screening so nobody reached offer stage on a misunderstanding.

A growing enterprise business hiring its first Regional Sales Manager for the West

Leadership Hiring
The brief
A leader who has personally carried a quota and then built a team against one, with exposure to the same ticket size and cycle length rather than to a bigger brand.
How we run it
Assessed against the size and shape of the team actually run, the quota carried at each stage and the split between new business and account growth, with more weight on track record and fit with the existing leadership than on the last employer's name.

A company replacing a national sales head while the incumbent is still in seat

Executive Search
The brief
A senior commercial appointment that cannot be visible in the market, in a sector where the credible shortlist is a handful of people who all know each other.
How we run it
Handled as a mapped, confidential search, candidates identified and approached directly rather than advertised, with a deliberately short shortlist and the client's identity protected until mutual interest was established.

Track record

Where has Mars hired for sales & bd roles?

Across India and in the UAE. Our longest record is in the Mumbai region, and these are the belts where we have hired most for this sector. For most roles below management there, travel time decides whether an offer is accepted, so we screen for it.

Talk to the sector desk

Lower Parel & Worli

Corporate sales and business development head offices for consumer, media and B2B services businesses.

Andheri East & Marol

Corporate sales floors, channel sales offices and B2B account management teams across the MIDC belt.

Powai & Goregaon (Mindspace)

SaaS and technology sales, inside sales pods, SDR teams and enterprise account executives.

Thane & Ghodbunder Road

Regional sales offices covering the Thane belt and upcountry Maharashtra territories.

Vashi, Turbhe & Navi Mumbai

Distribution, industrial and institutional sales teams, plus inside sales floors serving the MMR.

Who we hire for

What kind of sales & bd employers do we work with?

We hire sales and business development teams for consumer goods and FMCG distributors, industrial and engineering manufacturers, B2B services firms, SaaS and technology companies, financial services businesses and retail brands, from start-ups appointing their first sales hire to established groups running multi-state field teams.

Discuss a requirement

FAQs

Sales & BD hiring, answered

Ask a question
Do you recruit sales roles across different industries?

Yes. Sales is a cross-cutting function, so we hire sales and business development talent for employers in BFSI, engineering and manufacturing, IT and SaaS, retail and e-commerce, healthcare and pharma, education and industrial distribution. Where a role is defined mainly by its sector (a banking Relationship Manager, for instance), it is screened by the recruiter who covers that sector.

What is the difference between hiring field sales and inside sales?

They are separate talent pools. Field sales is assessed on beat coverage, distributor and channel handling, primary versus secondary sales, and territory and language fit. Inside sales is assessed on dial and connect volume, cycle length, CRM discipline and communication on a call. A strong field performer often struggles on a calling floor and vice versa, so we ask which motion the role actually is before sourcing starts.

How do you verify a sales candidate's achievement claims?

By probing the structure behind the number rather than the number itself. We ask for the base and stretch target, the quota actually carried, the territory boundary, the primary and secondary split, how the incentive was calculated and which quarter went badly. Documentary confirmation (appointment letters, incentive letters, payslips) happens at background verification, but most inflated claims come apart in a structured screening conversation first.

Which sales territories can you hire for?

Territories across India and in the UAE, screening for the language and the specific belt the role covers, Marathi for the Pune–Nashik–Kolhapur territories, Gujarati for large parts of Mumbai's wholesale trade, Hindi for upcountry distribution.

Can you handle high-volume field sales or inside sales hiring?

Yes, as volume hiring. Field and inside sales intakes are run as volume drives measured on joinings rather than CVs submitted, pipeline building, drive-day coordination and follow-up through the notice period, with screening quality held steady as the numbers climb.

Why do sales offers fall through so often, and what do you do about it?

Usually because of the fixed-versus-variable CTC split and a counter-offer. Sales candidates quote total earning potential, so a restructured offer can look like a cut even when the headline number is higher. We break out fixed, variable, incentive frequency, travel allowance and reimbursements during screening and compare them with your structure before the offer goes out, then stay in contact through the notice period and flag hesitation while there is still time to act.

How do you deal with high attrition in field sales roles?

By screening for the reasons people leave rather than only for the ability to do the job. Commute against the assigned territory, realistic on-ground earnings versus the promised incentive, the number of short stints already on the CV and why each one ended. Churn in field sales is high across the market, but a large share of it is decided at screening and at the offer conversation, not six months in.

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