Sales and marketing recruitment inBusiness Services
Recruitment for commercial roles across outsourcing, facilities, logistics, workplace services, professional support, managed operations and B2B service providers.
Recent result
Hired after 4 months. The appointee later became a part-owner.
£169.5bn
UK Administrative & Support Services aGVA, 2024
166.1k
Ireland Administrative & Support Services employees, Jul 2026
In Business Services, the sale becomes operational almost immediately.
A contract can look excellent at signature and still become poor business if the staffing assumptions were wrong, the scope was misunderstood, mobilisation was rushed or the price left no room to deliver the service properly.
That makes operational judgement unusually important in Sales.
Strong Business Development people understand how the service will actually work before they promise it. They become more alert to what sits behind the price, what has to happen between contract award and go-live and whether the business genuinely has the people, systems and capacity to deliver.
Marketing has to make something quite intangible credible before the buyer experiences it. Case studies, service evidence, operational expertise, client stories and proof of reliability often do more than broad claims about quality or partnership.
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A polished B2B seller may not be the right hire if they do not understand how the service is costed and delivered.
Consideration
Service-Delivery Understanding
Strong professionals understand how the service is actually delivered, including staffing, systems, locations, response times and operational dependencies. This helps them make credible promises and connect commercial activity to what the business can sustain.
Take these into your next interview. A free hiring checklist for Business Services.
Get the checklistRoles we recruit in Business Services
Sales
Sales that secure lasting contracts
Sales Director
Leads growth across service lines, sectors and routes to market, aligning new business with delivery capacity, margin and contract quality.
Business Development Director
Builds strategic opportunities involving outsourcing, managed services, logistics, facilities or professional support through consultative selling.
Key Account Director
Develops major contracts through governance, relationship mapping, service reviews, renewal planning and identification of additional value.
Bid Director
Leads complex tenders and proposals, coordinating solution design, pricing, operational evidence and executive input.
Account Manager
Maintains and grows client relationships by understanding operational needs, resolving issues and identifying commercially viable extensions.
What employers look for in sales
Employers may be looking for someone who can:
• Understand the delivery model. Staffing, technology, geography, service levels, mobilisation and operational capacity all affect what can sensibly be sold.
• Price with the real service in mind. A large contract value can hide poor margin if workforce, supervision, travel, equipment or service requirements have been underestimated.
• Qualify operational fit. Not every attractive tender is a contract the business should actually want.
• Navigate procurement properly. Frameworks, formal tenders and multi-stage processes can require considerable time and internal resource.
• Work closely with Operations. Strong sellers bring operational people into an opportunity early enough to challenge assumptions before they become contractual commitments.
• Think beyond new logos. Retention, additional sites, cross-sell and expanded service lines can become a substantial part of long-term growth.
Mobilisation is where much of this judgement becomes visible.
The period between contract award and service commencement can involve recruitment or staff transfer, systems, equipment, training, site access, risk assessments and agreement over what the client has actually bought. A weak handover can put the relationship under pressure before normal service has even begun.
Experienced commercial people therefore become wary of winning work that looks impressive but cannot be mobilised, staffed or delivered profitably.
Marketing
Marketing that creates credible demand
Marketing Director
Sets positioning and demand strategy across service lines and target markets, helping the business stand out in crowded B2B categories.
B2B Demand Generation Manager
Creates qualified opportunities through targeted campaigns, digital channels, events and account-based activity aligned with sales.
Proposition Marketing Manager
Defines how services solve specific operational problems and develops messaging, evidence and materials for priority buyers.
Content Marketing Manager
Produces case studies, insight, reports and campaigns that demonstrate expertise, outcomes and commercial relevance.
ABM Manager
Builds tailored marketing programmes for priority accounts using research, stakeholder insight, personalised content and coordinated sales activity.
What employers look for in marketing
The stronger Business Services marketers tend to:
• Make delivery capability visible. Buyers need evidence that the company can actually provide the service being described.
• Turn operational work into commercial proof. Case studies can show mobilisation, problem solving, service improvement and measurable results rather than simply listing capabilities.
• Understand the buying group. Procurement, Operations, Property, HR, Finance and senior leadership may approach the same service from different perspectives.
• Support long tender cycles. Marketing can build familiarity and confidence before a formal procurement process begins.
• Help differentiate apparently similar services. Reliability, reporting, workforce quality, responsiveness, technology and operational expertise can all create meaningful differences.
• Support existing accounts as well as acquisition. Client communications and evidence of improvement can strengthen renewal and expansion.
This is particularly important in markets where many providers can appear similar on paper.
Marketing can make it easier for a buyer to understand not simply what the company does, but why it may be safer, easier or more effective to work with. Relevant case studies, mobilisation examples, service-improvement evidence and credible operational expertise can help a provider become a serious option before the tender appears.
Same CV. Different Capability.
Business Services titles can hide considerable differences in commercial responsibility.
<p class="font_8">Two Business Development Managers may both list large contracts, tenders and new-business wins. One may convert relatively standard enquiries using established solutions and pricing; another may develop multi-site opportunities, influence requirements before tender, build the solution with Operations and understand the staffing, mobilisation and margin assumptions underneath the contract. The headline win can look similar while the work required to create it is very different.</p>
Professional A
Business Development Manager
- Works with established solutions and pricing
- Manages comparatively straightforward contracts
- Delivers growth through a repeatable sales process
Professional B
Business Development Manager
- Develops large multi-site opportunities
- Influences requirements before formal tender
- Understands staffing, mobilisation and margin assumptions
- Builds solutions alongside Operations
We find out which one you need. Brief a role
Case study
Seasonal facilities business needed a Head of Sales to build new routes to market.
We targeted sales leaders able to combine direct selling with strategic partnership development across commercial and public-sector customers. The search prioritised people capable of creating sustainable growth rather than simply inheriting existing accounts.
Hired after 4 months. The appointee later became a part-owner.
The Business Services Economy
+1.8%
Ireland Administrative & Support Services employment growth, year-on-year Jul 2026
THE UK PICTURE
In the UK, Administrative & Support Service Activities generated approximately £169.5 billion in aGVA in 2024, an increase of 8.6% from the previous year and the largest absolute increase of any service division in the Annual Business Survey. (Office for National Statistics)
THE IRISH PICTURE
In Ireland, Administrative & Support Service Activities generated approximately €35.4 billion in current-price GVA in 2025, up from €31.9 billion in 2024. (Central Statistics Office)
Within this economy, a national facilities contract, outsourced staffing agreement, logistics service and specialist workplace solution can all involve very different margins, mobilisation requirements, procurement processes and commercial risks.
Building your Sales & Marketing career in Business Services
Progression often means becoming responsible for more of what happens after the opportunity is won.
SALES & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Sales careers can begin in Business Development, sector sales, tender-led opportunities or individual accounts before progressing into strategic Business Development, major accounts, Commercial leadership or Sales leadership.
With more experience, people tend to become more involved in pricing, bid/no-bid decisions, solution design, margin, contractual risk and mobilisation.
The judgement involved becomes broader too.
A junior salesperson may see a £5 million tender as an exciting opportunity.
A more experienced commercial leader is likely to ask what staffing assumptions sit underneath it, whether the mobilisation timetable is realistic, how much internal resource the bid will consume, what contractual risk the company is taking and whether winning it would actually improve the business.
Account experience can create another route.
Managing an existing contract can develop into responsibility for renewal, additional sites, cross-selling new service lines and broader strategic relationships. Account expansion can be an important source of growth rather than treating Business Services purely as a new-business environment.
MARKETING
Business Services Marketing careers can develop through digital, content, campaigns, communications, bids or sector marketing into broader responsibility for positioning, account-based marketing and commercial strategy.
As marketers become more senior, knowing the business operationally becomes increasingly useful.
They can build stronger propositions when they understand how the service is delivered, where clients experience problems and which parts of the organisation genuinely create an advantage.
That often means working closely with Sales, Operations and Account Management.
The strongest evidence frequently comes from existing contracts: how a difficult mobilisation was handled, how service performance improved, what changed for the customer or how an account developed over several years.
Senior Marketing therefore becomes less about describing the service and more about making the organisation's actual ability to deliver it visible to the market.
For employers
For employers, we look beyond the obvious CV match and spend time understanding the services, contract models, clients, procurement environments and operational responsibility behind someone's experience.
Discuss a Sales or Marketing HireFor professionals
For professionals, we help make sense of the experience you have built, what you are genuinely good at and where that might take you next.
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