The same title, a different job
"Account Executive" can mean a seller closing a steady run of SMB deals from inbound leads, or an enterprise seller working a handful of large deals a year through procurement. Both are AEs. Very few people are equally good at both.
When a sales hire fails in the first six months, the CV usually looked right. What didn't match was the motion: they had sold to a different buyer, at a different deal size, on a different cycle, or they had always been handed pipeline and were suddenly asked to create their own.
What "the motion" actually means
When we talk about a sales motion, we mean the specific way revenue is won in a seat. We break it down the same way for every candidate and every role:
- Who signs: the job titles of the buyers. On our forms this is labelled the key field, because it predicts more than anything else.
- Segment: SMB, mid-market or enterprise.
- Deal size: the typical ACV, and the biggest.
- Cycle: from first meeting to signature.
- Volume: deals closed per quarter.
- Pipeline source: inbound, outbound or partner-led.
- Growth source: new logos, displacing a competitor, or growing existing accounts.
Methodology (MEDDPICC, SPIN, Challenger), CRM and stack, territory, and direct versus channel sit on top of that. They matter, and a good interview tests them properly rather than taking a claim at face value. But they are easier to learn than a new buyer or a new deal size.
Test for the motion with numbers, not adjectives
Every candidate can describe themselves as a hunter. The useful questions are numerical:
- What quota did you carry? The number, not the title.
- What did you attain in each of the last three years?
- What did you actually earn last year? Not your OTE.
- What was a typical deal, and what was your biggest?
How specific the answers are tells you as much as the answers themselves, so we score that too: evidence quality is a field on every candidate profile. And when we don't know something, we leave it blank. Blank beats guessed.
Where the playbook fits
An earlier version of this article was about hiring for playbook sales, and playbooks still matter. A team with a documented process needs people who will run it consistently. A team without one needs people who can build it. Those are different hires.
So rather than asking whether a candidate is "playbook-ready", ask two questions. Does a playbook exist for this seat, or will this hire build it? And has the candidate followed one, built one, or both? Then ask them to describe a time they found a flaw in a sales process and what they did about it. It separates people who follow a process from people who improve one.
Write the brief before you look at a CV
Most mis-hires start with a vague brief. Before we look at a single candidate, we take a full brief across six areas: the product, the motion, the team and the seat, the money, the filters, and the process. That is 58 fields, 40 of them essential, and until the essential ones are filled we don't match.
Then we weight what matters for this particular role. Every brief gets six weights that add up to 100: motion fit, buyer fit, sector fit, seniority fit, tenure and location. A remote role puts location close to zero. An unusual buyer pushes buyer fit up. A horizontal product lowers sector fit. Every candidate is scored against those weights to give a Match %.
How we hire for the motion
1. The brief. Six areas, 58 fields, weighted for your role.
2. The first call. Every candidate starts with a phone call covering the first-tier questions: enough to match them against live roles and decide whether to go further.
3. The video interview. Always on video and always in depth: ICP, ARR, quota attainment and sales motion, until the full 58-field profile is complete.
4. The Match %. Hard filters first, then a score against your weights and a one-line ideal profile.
5. After the start. We stay in touch at 4, 6 and 12 months, and we track every placement at six months and at a year. Our Ramp Fee is only payable if your hire is still with you at six months, so we have a genuine stake in getting the match right.
Frequently asked questions
What is a sales motion?
The specific way revenue is won in a role: who the buyer is, the segment, the typical deal size, the length of the cycle, how many deals close in a quarter, where pipeline comes from, and whether growth comes from new logos, displacement or existing accounts.
Does a sales playbook still matter?
Yes. A sales playbook documents the repeatable steps from prospecting to close. What matters for hiring is whether your seat has one or needs one, and whether the candidate has run one, built one, or both.
Why do you charge a Ramp Fee?
Our introduction fee is 15% of basic salary. The Ramp Fee is a further 2% of OTE, payable only if your hire is still with you six months after starting. It is how we commit to ramp and to the candidate's success in the role. You can see our full, published pricing on our employers page.
Hiring for a specific motion?
The Emily James Partnership matches SaaS sellers on the complete sales motion, at one published price for every client. Tell us who signs, the deal size and the cycle, and we will tell you who fits. Start a conversation.
With pipeline targets rising, here is why hiring for ramp matters more than ever.