Secure Cloud and MSP (Birmingham)
Sourcing a Business Development Manager to Open New Markets and Reduce Pressure on the Sales Leader
The Challenge
Our client was a growing secure cloud and managed services provider based in Birmingham, helping SME and mid-market businesses protect and manage their IT environments through cloud services, cyber security, backup, disaster recovery, and connectivity. They needed a Business Development Manager who could open new conversations across the Midlands and the wider UK.
This was not a straightforward sales hire. The right person needed to understand managed services, speak credibly about cloud and cyber security, and build trust with business owners and IT leaders who were making decisions about risk, resilience, and outsourced technology. That combination takes time to find.
The company had spent three months recruiting directly. Job boards, LinkedIn advertising, and their existing network had produced applicants, but not enough people with the right mix of managed services sales experience, technical credibility, and genuine new business discipline. The commercial risk was clear. Without the right hire, the Head of Sales was still carrying too much of the prospecting and qualification work. Growth was being slowed by a hiring problem, not a lack of market opportunity.
The Solution
Xist4 started with a Hiring Campaign Diagnostic before rebuilding the search. The aim was to understand why the direct campaign had stalled before putting more effort into the same channels.
The diagnostic reviewed the role, salary, candidate proposition, sourcing channels, and hiring process. It showed the search was too dependent on active applicants and local advertising. For this role, the strongest candidates were already selling MSP, cloud, cyber security, or infrastructure services elsewhere and were not looking.
Xist4 then ran a targeted search based on what the audit had shown.
- Rebuilt the success profile around revenue impact, target customer groups, and first-year outcomes rather than a list of experience requirements.
- Benchmarked the salary and package against the wider UK managed services and cyber-adjacent sales market.
- Mapped Business Development Managers across Birmingham, the Midlands, and the wider UK, focusing on people already selling into similar environments.
- Targeted candidates with direct experience selling MSP, cloud, cyber security, backup, disaster recovery, or infrastructure services to SME and mid-market businesses.
- Repositioned the role around growth, autonomy, and the chance to build new routes into the right accounts.
- Assessed candidates for outbound discipline, technical sales confidence, stakeholder management, and partner-led selling experience.
- Helped the client reduce the number of interview stages so strong candidates stayed engaged and decisions could be made faster.
The Result
Within six weeks, Xist4 delivered a focused shortlist. The candidates were not just available. They understood how to sell trust, resilience, and technical value into businesses that depend on secure, well-managed IT.
The appointed candidate brought the right blend of new business experience, managed services knowledge, and confidence selling technical solutions. The hire was completed within ten weeks. At the three-month check-in, the client reported more confidence in its new business capability and a clearer picture of where future sales talent could be found. The Head of Sales had more capacity to focus on pipeline rather than carrying the prospecting load alone. That was the point of the hire from the start.