Vice President of Sales - Wholesale Distribution

Vice President of Sales – Wholesale Distribution

Confidential Executive Search

Location: Chicagoland Preferred | Flexible for Exceptional Candidates

Travel: Approximately 50–70%

Industry: Wholesale Distribution / Building & Technical Products

The Opportunity

Our client is an established national wholesale distributor seeking an accomplished Vice President of Sales to lead and elevate its sales organization through its next phase of profitable growth.

This is a significant leadership opportunity within a successful, established business—not a turnaround or build-from-scratch assignment. The company has a strong customer base, national reach, an experienced sales organization, and substantial market opportunity.

The next VP of Sales will be charged with bringing greater consistency, accountability and commercial discipline to the organization while developing the team, improving sales execution and accelerating profitable growth.

Reporting directly to the Chief Revenue Officer , this executive will lead a multi-region organization encompassing both field and inside sales and will play an important role in shaping the company's broader commercial strategy.

The Mandate

The VP of Sales will translate company growth objectives into clear sales strategies, territory and account plans, measurable performance expectations, and consistent execution throughout the organization.

This leader will be expected to:

• Lead, coach and develop regional sales leadership and inside/outside sales teams.
• Establish a disciplined operating cadence around territory planning, account planning, pipeline management, forecasting and performance.
• Drive new customer acquisition, customer reactivation, account penetration and share-of-wallet growth.
• Strengthen coordination between inside and outside sales to create a unified approach to customers and opportunities.
• Improve conversion of identified opportunities into profitable revenue rather than allowing opportunities to stall within the pipeline.
• Establish clear expectations around sales activity, customer engagement and results—and hold the organization accountable to them.
• Use CRM, sales activity and financial data to identify performance gaps and take timely corrective action.
• Personally engage with strategic customers and significant opportunities when executive involvement can help advance or close business.
• Partner closely with Finance, Pricing, Operations, Purchasing, Product and other functional leaders.
• Balance revenue growth with gross-margin improvement and overall profitability .
• Assess organizational capabilities, develop high performers and make talent upgrades where necessary.
• Build a performance-oriented culture that combines accountability with strong coaching and leadership.

What We're Looking For

We are particularly interested in executives who have built their careers in wholesale distribution and understand the pace, competitiveness and customer dynamics of the distribution environment.

The successful candidate will likely bring:

• Approximately 10+ years of progressive B2B sales leadership experience , with a meaningful portion in wholesale distribution.
• A proven record leading sales managers as well as individual contributors.
• Experience managing both inside and outside/field sales organizations .
• Demonstrated success driving revenue, gross profit, customer growth and sales productivity.
• Strong command of territory management, account planning, pipeline management, forecasting and CRM discipline.
• Experience using sales activity and performance data to coach teams and improve results.
• A track record of addressing underperformance directly while developing and retaining strong performers.
• The ability to operate strategically while remaining close enough to the field to understand customers, opportunities and sales execution.
• Strong executive presence and the ability to work effectively across an experienced senior leadership team.

Relevant Industry Experience

Direct experience within commercial door hardware, access control or security products would be highly relevant, but it is not a requirement.

We are equally interested in accomplished distribution sales leaders from adjacent sectors including:

Electrical distribution | HVAC | Plumbing | Lighting | Fire protection | Building products | Industrial or technical distribution

The priority is finding a proven distribution sales leader , not simply someone with the exact product background.

Leadership Profile

This role calls for a leader who believes that strong sales organizations are built through a combination of clear expectations, coaching, measurement and consistent execution.

The successful executive will be comfortable setting a high performance bar without creating unnecessary bureaucracy. They will know how to establish expectations, inspect execution, coach managers and sellers, use data intelligently, and step directly into important customer situations when needed.

This is not an ideal opportunity for a first-time sales leader or an executive who prefers to manage exclusively through reports and dashboards. The company is looking for someone who enjoys leading the business from both the field and the executive table .

Location & Travel

The Chicagoland area is preferred due to proximity to members of the executive leadership team.

However, the company is willing to consider exceptional candidates outside Chicago when the individual's distribution experience and leadership track record warrant the flexibility.

Candidates should be comfortable with approximately 50–70% travel to engage with sales teams, customers and company locations.

Compensation

Base Salary: $190,000–$225,000

Annual Incentive: 30–40% target, performance-based

Target Cash Compensation: approximately $250,000–$315,000+

The incentive structure will be designed to reward measurable business and sales performance.

Confidentiality

This search is being conducted on a confidential basis . Additional information regarding the company, organization, reporting structure and opportunity will be shared directly with qualified candidates during the recruiting process.

Qualified sales executives interested in exploring the opportunity are encouraged to apply. All inquiries will be handled with appropriate discretion.