Vice President, Direct Sales - Commercial Position Profile
About Our Client
Our client is a leading industrial products supplier to a diverse group of public and private sector customers. With over 20,000 employees and over forty million orders received per year, this company provides over 1.5 million products to most markets including government, education, food and beverage, hospitality, public safety, property management, retail, and many other sectors. This publicly traded company has a long tradition of quality products, services and distribution through product expertise, consultative selling, expedited order management and a cutting-edge digital platform.
Our client has invested heavily in recent years in digitalization and technology “build their own” solutions. This has transformed order creation, management of orders, delivery, and inventory management to create a world class user experience. Their expertise is borne of a profound understanding of their customers, their needs, and how their product and services create value for those customers. Our client is continuously innovating, charting courses for unparalleled enterprise systems and applications.
Position Overview
The Vice President, Direct Sales – Commercial is responsible for leading and executing the organization’s direct commercial sales strategy to drive revenue growth, expand market share, and strengthen client relationships. This role oversees the development and performance of high-performing sales teams focused on acquiring new business and growing existing commercial accounts. The Vice President will establish sales objectives, implement strategic initiatives, and ensure alignment between sales execution and the organization’s broader business goals.
The Vice President, Direct Sales – Commercial serves as the leader of all activities related to commercial direct sales performance, including pipeline development, revenue forecasting, territory management, and client engagement strategies. A key element of this role is collaborating with executive leadership, marketing, and product teams to identify growth opportunities, optimize go-to-market strategies, and ensure that the sales organization is equipped to effectively meet evolving customer needs. They must possess a deep understanding of the commercial market landscape and ensure that sales processes, tools, and performance metrics support sustainable and scalable growth. Additionally, this leader will act as a strategic advisor to senior leadership on market trends, competitive dynamics, and sales performance insights.
The Vice President, Direct Sales – Commercial will partner closely with cross-functional leaders across marketing, operations, finance, and customer success to deliver a seamless customer experience and maximize revenue outcomes. This position will be located in the Chicago metro area.
The commercial direct sales organization includes multiple regional leaders and sales professionals responsible for business development, account management, client retention, strategic partnerships, and revenue operations. The team focuses on delivering tailored solutions to commercial clients while driving consistent sales performance, operational excellence, and long-term customer value.
If you are ready to make a direct impact at this organization, we want to speak to you!
Role & Responsibilities
- Develop and execute the overall commercial direct sales strategy to achieve revenue growth, market expansion, and profitability targets.
- Lead, mentor, and scale a high-performing direct sales organization, including regional sales leaders, account executives, and business development professionals.
- Establish clear sales objectives, performance metrics, and accountability standards to drive consistent attainment of revenue goals.
- Build and maintain a strong pipeline of new business opportunities while expanding relationships within existing commercial accounts.
- Oversee territory planning, account segmentation, and resource allocation to maximize sales productivity and market coverage.
- Partner with marketing to align demand generation initiatives with sales priorities and improve lead quality and conversion rates.
- Collaborate with product, operations, and customer success teams to ensure solutions meet market needs and deliver a strong customer experience.
- Analyze sales performance data, market trends, and competitive intelligence to inform strategic decisions and improve sales effectiveness.
- Develop and manage accurate revenue forecasts, sales reporting, and pipeline visibility for executive leadership.
- Establish best practices for sales processes, tools, and methodologies to improve efficiency and scalability of the sales organization.
- Drive strategic account planning for key commercial clients to increase revenue opportunities and long-term partnerships.
- Represent the organization in high-level client meetings, negotiations, and industry engagements.
- Identify and implement opportunities for sales enablement, training, and professional development across the direct sales team.
- Work closely with finance and executive leadership on budgeting, incentive structures, and performance management programs.
- Ensure compliance with company policies, contractual obligations, and regulatory requirements related to commercial sales activities.
Experience Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Sales, Finance, or a related field required; Master’s degree (MBA or related discipline) preferred.
- 12+ years of progressive experience in sales leadership, with a strong emphasis on direct sales within a commercial or enterprise market environment.
- Proven track record of leading high-performing sales teams and consistently achieving or exceeding revenue targets.
- Demonstrated experience developing and executing successful go-to-market and sales growth strategies.
- Strong background in managing complex sales cycles, enterprise-level accounts, and strategic client relationships.
- Experience building, scaling, and optimizing sales organizations, including territory design, pipeline management, and performance metrics.
- Demonstrated ability to collaborate cross-functionally with marketing, product, finance, and operations to drive business outcomes.
- Experience with CRM platforms and sales analytics tools (e.g., Salesforce or similar systems) to manage pipeline visibility and forecasting.
- Strong leadership, coaching, and talent development experience with the ability to build and retain high-performing teams.
- Exceptional communication, negotiation, and executive presence with the ability to influence senior leadership and key clients.
- Experience operating in a fast-paced, growth-oriented environment with the ability to manage multiple priorities and strategic initiatives simultaneously.
Critical Competencies for Success
Exceptional Leader
One who builds, inspires, and coaches teams with a passion for the business, while forging close working relationships with others throughout the organization. This individual will work to foster a culture of trust, accountability, and results while elevating capabilities. This role requires a hands-on, team-oriented executive who has broad-based credibility and is capable of consistently motivating people to act. A true mature leader that facilitates change through others.
Results Oriented
Performance-driven and able to provide measurable results. The successful candidate will be resourceful, action-oriented, as well as a flexible and decisive leader who establishes clarity during distractions to produce results in a timely fashion. They will provide clear direction and establish aggressive and achievable goals and will actively lead cross-functional teams to ensure their success. The ability to be resilient in the face of challenges and deliver to higher standards while upholding company values which commands respect from others.
Critical Thinker
Combines analytical and creative horsepower to simplify and break down complex situations into core issues with easy-to-understand action items. This individual must be intellectually sharp and use critical thinking to make or influence decisions while demonstrating outstanding business judgement. They will be comfortable creating the new and the different and have a ravenous appetite to learn more and experiment in a disciplined way.
Strategic Agility
This individual must be intellectually sharp and clearly capable of thinking on their feet while demonstrating outstanding business judgment. The Vice President, Direct Sales – Commercial will possess the analytical skills to improve overall productivity and elevate the organization's e-commerce efforts to a point of differentiation in the marketplace. This person must not only embrace change but embrace change and draw on resilience to alter their road map along the way based on marketplace and feedback.
Global/External Mindset
This individual will provide a worldly perspective of macro and industry influences to assist in guiding the organization in new directions. They will provide perspective coming in from outside the organization to aid in the collective leadership team’s understanding and acceptance of trends, insights, changing business perspective and management strategies. This keen perspective should be presented with patience and guidance rather than authoritative. Values diversity and works well with different interpersonal styles.
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