Contract to Hire Sales Recruiting

Activated Scale connects companies with vetted and experienced US-based Sales Talent. Hire AE's, SDR's or BDR's and Sales Leadership on an initial contract to test for skills and then hire them as your employees!

What is Contract to Hire?

Contract to Hire or Temp to Perm Sales recruiting is the practice of hiring an experienced salesperson on a contract for a pre-determined time period (usually 3 months) with clearly defined goals and the intention of hiring the salesperson as an employee after an initial test.

Hiring a salesperson on an initial contract gives both the employer and a future potential sales employee the benefit of working with each other prior to making a long term employment commitment.

In these 3 months, the employer is testing a future potential sales employee for sales skills in their environment and is also testing for cultural fit.

Here are additional benefits of Contract to Hire:

Wrong Sales Hire Cost

Reduced Cost to Hire

Reduced Risk

Skills and Cultural Fit assessment prior to an employment commitment

Talk to Sales Now
Account Executive in an office with a client | Activated Scale

According to the Department of Labor the cost of a wrong hire is atleast 30% of their first year earnings! That is a $30,000 loss on a $100,000 base salary. Making a mistake for a sales hire can be even more costly as this role directly impacts the bottom line.

Here are some of the costs an employer will incur if they make a wrong sales hire over just 3 months on a $100,000 base salary:

  • 3 months salary: $25,000
  • Benefits cost: $7,500 (30% of annual base salary)
  • Sales tools cost: $1,250 ($5000 per year)
  • Onboarding and Training cost: $2,000 (2% on annual base salary)
  • Total cost: $35,750

Add $20,000 more if the employer uses a staffing agency!

Here is a wrong sales hire cost calculator.

During the contract, a salesperson will only get paid their base salary and any commissions earned during the contract. When hiring through Activated Scale the salesperson will be on our payroll. Due to this the employer does not incur any costs associated with:

  • Cost of W2
  • Benefits Costs
  • Staffing agency fees if using one

When hiring through Activated Scale, an employer pays us a conversion fee only if they hire the salesperson as their employee after an initial contract. This helps an employer to reduce their cost to hire a salesperson.

When hiring a salesperson on an initial contract an employer’s commitment to the salesperson is only till the end of the predetermined contract period. The employer is obligated to hire the contractor as per the predetermined agreement when the salesperson meets their metrics and KPI’s.

This reduced contractual commitment further reduces the risk of hiring the wrong salesperson. A wrong salesperson can cost an employer $35,750 on an annual $100,000 base salary and revenue losses of over $300,000 on a $1M quota.

Here is a wrong sales hire calculator.

A typical 3 month contract is a good enough time to assess if the salesperson is a good cultural fit for the employer. 3 months is also enough time for most employers depending on their sales process to assess if the salesperson can sell their product or service.

This limited time also ensures that the employer cuts a potential employee when they should as opposed to keeping the underperforming salesperson for a longer time period than necessary. A contract to hire helps an employer to assess skills and cultural fit prior to hiring a salesperson as an employee.

Trusted by Fast-Growing B2B Businesses

Don’t just take our word for it, hear it from them.

Talk to Sales Now

'They dug through their personal network to find Roboflow's first sales hires. They're incredibly thoughtful with candidates which creates a strong candidate experience. Working with Activated Scale was quick, easy and painless!'

Joseph Nelson
Co-Founder
Roboflow

‘We didn't have a repeatable and scalable outbound sales strategy. We hired a fractional sales person who implemented sales tools and customer focused messaging that resulted in a 5X increase in meetings with qualified prospects!'

Abhisek Kirti
Co-Founder and COO
dresma.ai

'Activated Scale got us access to a PLG-focused sales expert that helped us set a strategy and foundation for growth. The ease and speed with which we got started was awesome. And it was a great fit. Would highly recommend other founders give this a try.'

Dan Giovacchini
Co-Founder
Tango

‘Like Toptal for Sales pros, Activated Scale's try-before-you-buy model makes building a sales team affordable and low risk. Exercising the FTE option is quick, easy and affordable. We've benefitted enormously with Activated Scale. It's exactly what we needed at our stage!'

Quimby Melton
Co-Founder
Confection

'They dug through their personal network to find Roboflow's first sales hires. They're incredibly thoughtful with candidates which creates a strong candidate experience. Working with Activated Scale was quick, easy and painless!'

Joseph Nelson
Co-Founder
Roboflow

‘We didn't have a repeatable and scalable outbound sales strategy. We hired a fractional sales person who implemented sales tools and customer focused messaging that resulted in a 5X increase in meetings with qualified prospects!'

Abhisek Kirti
Co-Founder and COO
dresma.ai

'Activated Scale got us access to a PLG-focused sales expert that helped us set a strategy and foundation for growth. The ease and speed with which we got started was awesome. And it was a great fit. Would highly recommend other founders give this a try.'

Dan Giovacchini
Co-Founder
Tango

‘Like Toptal for Sales pros, Activated Scale's try-before-you-buy model makes building a sales team affordable and low risk. Exercising the FTE option is quick, easy and affordable. We've benefitted enormously with Activated Scale. It's exactly what we needed at our stage!'

Quimby Melton
Co-Founder
Confection

'They dug through their personal network to find Roboflow's first sales hires. They're incredibly thoughtful with candidates which creates a strong candidate experience. Working with Activated Scale was quick, easy and painless!'

Joseph Nelson
Co-Founder
Roboflow

Frequently asked questions.

Why should I go contract to hire?

Ready to De-Risk Sales Hiring?

De-Risk Now
7+

days to connect and hire a salesperson, sometimes on the same day

20+

hours of founding team time saved per salesperson on interviewing

80%

use Activated Scale sales talent for 5+ months