A sales hire through an agency only works if the agency understands how your business sells. Two recruiters can send you CVs for the same job title and produce completely different shortlists, because one has taken the time to learn your customers, your route to market and your sales cycle, and the other has matched keywords.
This guide compares nine UK sales recruitment agencies on what they specialise in, where they work and how they run a search, so you can shortlist the right one for the role in front of you. The details for each agency come from its own website as at October 2026.
The nine agencies at a glance
| Agency | Focus | Main UK offices | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales Recruit UK | Sales roles only, technical, industrial and commercial markets | Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham | Experienced B2B sales hires, field sales to Sales Director |
| Aaron Wallis | Sales and marketing only | Milton Keynes, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds | Profiling and skills testing on every shortlist |
| Coburg Banks | Sales, plus IT, engineering, marketing, finance and social care | Sutton Coldfield | SMEs wanting capped, no placement no fee terms |
| Pareto | Graduate and early-career sales, plus sales training | Wilmslow, London, Leeds, Nottingham | Building junior sales teams and apprenticeships |
| The Sales Experts | B2B sales recruitment and sales training | London | Retained searches with formal sales assessment |
| BMS Performance | Sales, marketing and engineering recruitment | London, Weybridge, Bristol, Coventry, Manchester | Graduate sales hiring with training attached |
| Michael Page | Multi-discipline, with a dedicated sales practice | National network | Several sales hires across sites at once |
| Nigel Wright | Consumer and FMCG, industrial and technology | Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, Teesside, London | FMCG account and category management |
| Hays | Large generalist with a sales division | National network | High-volume sales hiring, permanent, contract and temp |
1. Sales Recruit UK
Sales Recruit UK is a specialist sales recruitment agency, founded in 2009, that recruits only sales roles. Its work is concentrated in technical, industrial and commercial businesses: construction and building products, engineering, energy and renewables, industrial and manufacturing, technology and SaaS, healthcare and medtech, FMCG, and logistics.
The firm operates from Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham and recruits across the UK. Every search is run by a senior consultant from brief to start date, with no account managers or junior researchers between the client and the person doing the work.
What sets the process apart is the brief. Before going to market, the consultant builds the search around how the client actually sells: the customers, the route to market, the sales cycle, the pricing and the buyer the salesperson will sit in front of. Shortlists are deliberately small, usually three or four candidates, and every candidate is scored against six dimensions drawn from that brief. The score, the consultant’s commentary and the candidate’s full career history arrive together in one consistent format, the SRUK CV, so a shortlist can be reviewed in half an hour rather than an afternoon.
- Roles: field sales, key account management, business development, technical sales, sales management and commercial leadership up to Sales Director and Country Lead
- Assessment: SRUK Fit Score on every shortlisted candidate
- Reviews: rated 4.9 on Google, verified by Trustindex
- Website: salesrecruituk.com
2. Aaron Wallis Sales Recruitment
Aaron Wallis recruits sales and marketing staff only, from telesales up to Sales Director, across B2B, FMCG, technical, field and IT sales. It runs offices in Milton Keynes, Birmingham, Bristol and Leeds.
Its main selling point is assessment. Candidates go through sales-specific psychometric profiling and skills testing before reaching the employer. It also offers a 12-month rebate scheme, which its site says applies when invoices are paid within its terms, and it publishes its fee rates online, which few agencies do.
3. Coburg Banks
Coburg Banks has recruited since 2002 and is based in Sutton Coldfield, covering the whole UK. Sales is one of six specialisms alongside IT, engineering, marketing, finance and social care, with roles from entry level to director.
Its terms are built around low risk for the employer: no fee unless a placement is made, a fee agreed and capped up front, and a three-month replacement or rebate guarantee. It states that shortlists usually arrive within 48 hours of the brief.
4. Pareto
Pareto, formerly Pareto Law, was founded in 1995 and is now part of Randstad. It is headquartered in Wilmslow with offices in London, Leeds and Nottingham.
Pareto is best known for graduate and early-career sales recruitment, including SDR and BDR roles and a Level 4 Sales Executive apprenticeship, and it combines recruitment with sales training. It also runs senior sales and executive search, but its strength is building junior teams from the ground up.
5. The Sales Experts
The Sales Experts started in 1989 as a sales training and consulting business and now recruits B2B commercial roles from SDR to Sales Director, including sales engineers and specification sales. It is based in London.
Shortlisted candidates come with its own sales assessment profile, and it works on bespoke retained or part-retained terms with a replacement guarantee. It also runs sales training programmes for employers.
6. BMS Performance
BMS Performance has been recruiting since 1990 and covers sales, marketing and engineering, from graduate and SDR level through to sales director. It has offices in London, Weybridge, Bristol, Coventry and Manchester, plus Dublin and Belfast.
Alongside recruitment it offers graduate sales training and sales training for employers’ existing teams, which suits businesses that want help developing people as well as hiring them.
7. Michael Page
Michael Page is part of a FTSE 250 group with more than 100 offices in 34 countries. Its sales practice recruits from junior roles to the C-suite, covering business development, key and national account management, revenue operations, Sales Director and Chief Revenue Officer, on permanent and interim terms.
Its scale makes it a practical option when you need to fill several sales roles across different locations at the same time.
8. Nigel Wright Group
Nigel Wright was founded in Newcastle in the 1980s and has UK offices in Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, Teesside and London. Its sales recruitment covers account, category and commercial management and business development, from sales executive to Chief Sales Officer.
Its strongest ground is consumer goods and FMCG, and each consultant specialises in one industry and one discipline.
9. Hays
Hays is one of the largest recruitment groups in the world. Its sales division recruits B2B and B2C roles from sales executive to sales director on permanent, contract and temporary terms, and it states that it places more than 1,100 sales professionals a year.
It is a sensible choice for high-volume or multi-site sales hiring, where reach matters more than deep knowledge of one market.
How to choose a sales recruitment agency
The right agency depends on the role, the market and how much of the work you want to do yourself. These are the questions worth asking before you sign terms.
- Do they understand how your market buys? Ask the consultant to describe your sales cycle and your buyer back to you after the first call. If they cannot, the shortlist will show it.
- Who actually runs the search? Some agencies win the brief with a senior consultant and hand the work to a researcher. Ask who will speak to the candidates.
- What comes with each CV? A CV on its own tells you what someone has done. An assessment against your brief tells you whether they can do it for you.
- Specialist or generalist? A specialist sales recruiter will usually have deeper candidate relationships in your sector. A generalist gives you reach and volume.
- What are the terms? Check how the fee is calculated, whether it is contingency or retained, and exactly what the guarantee or rebate covers and what conditions apply.
Hiring a salesperson or sales leader? Tell us how your business sells and we will tell you honestly how quickly we can find the right person.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best sales recruitment agency in the UK?
It depends on the hire. For experienced B2B sales roles in technical, industrial and commercial markets, Sales Recruit UK specialises in exactly that, with every search run by a senior consultant and every candidate scored against your brief. For graduate and junior sales teams, Pareto and BMS Performance combine recruitment with training. For high-volume hiring across many sites, Hays and Michael Page have the scale.
How much do sales recruitment agencies charge?
Most UK sales recruiters charge a percentage of the successful candidate’s first-year salary. The rate usually depends on seniority, how hard the role is to fill and whether you use the agency exclusively. Some work on contingency, where you pay only when someone starts, and some on a retained basis for senior or difficult searches. Always get the fee and the guarantee terms in writing before the search starts.
What is the difference between a specialist sales recruiter and a generalist agency?
A specialist sales recruiter works only or mainly on sales roles, so its consultants know what good looks like in different sales jobs and already know many of the people you want to reach. A generalist covers many functions and offers more reach, but usually less depth in any one of them.
Which sales roles does Sales Recruit UK recruit?
Field sales, key and national account managers, business development managers, technical sales and sales engineers, sales managers, heads of sales and sales directors, across construction, engineering, energy, industrial and manufacturing, technology and SaaS, healthcare, FMCG and logistics.
Does Sales Recruit UK recruit across the whole UK?
Yes. Searches run from offices in Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham and cover Scotland, England and Wales, and the Republic of Ireland when a brief calls for it.
Looking for a recruiter in Scotland specifically? See the best sales recruitment agencies in Scotland for 2026, or our Scotland sales recruitment team.
This guide is published by Sales Recruit UK. Information about other agencies is taken from their own websites in October 2026 and may have changed since. Check directly with each agency before relying on it.