1. Role Clarity
Does the person understand what is expected and what success looks like?
THE 120-DAY SALES HIRE SUCCESS FRAMEWORK
The first 120 days should prove the hiring decision.
An interview tells you what somebody might do.
The first 120 days show you what they actually do.
Your Wavelength uses six structured checkpoints to turn the promises, predictions and evidence collected during recruitment into observable workplace performance.
The objective is simple:
help the salesperson succeed — or make a clear, confident decision when the evidence says they won't.
3 minutes. Immediate clarity. No obligation.
WHERE MOST RECRUITMENT STOPS
Most recruitment processes stop at exactly the wrong moment.
The candidate accepts.
The recruiter celebrates.
The salesperson starts.
And responsibility moves almost entirely back to the employer.
But the most important evidence has only just started to appear.
Can they turn what they said at interview into action?
Do they understand what success actually requires?
Are the right behaviours becoming visible?
Is pipeline beginning to form?
Are they learning quickly enough?
Is the manager creating the environment they need to perform?
These questions cannot be answered properly from a CV or an interview.
They have to be observed in the job.
That is why Your Wavelength stays involved through the first 120 days.
Recruitment creates the prediction.
The first 120 days test it.
THE FRAMEWORK
Six checkpoints. One commercial decision.
The framework creates a structured review rhythm across the first four months.
Each checkpoint has a different purpose because the evidence you should expect in Week 1 is not the evidence you should expect in Week 12.
01 — WEEK 1CLARITY
02 — WEEK 2FRICTION
03 — WEEK 4BEHAVIOUR
04 — WEEK 8MOMENTUM
05 — WEEK 12ROI
06 — WEEK 16DECISION
01 — WEEK 1
Clarity
Does everybody agree what success actually looks like?
The first checkpoint establishes whether the salesperson and manager are working from the same definition of success.
We look at:
- role outcomes
- target customers
- commercial priorities
- expected activity
- early performance expectations
- manager expectations
- what the salesperson needs in order to succeed
Outcome
A clear written definition of success and agreed expectations for activity, priorities and support.
Clarity is not the same as comfort.
The question isn't simply whether the salesperson feels good.
It's whether they understand the commercial job they have been hired to do.
02 — WEEK 2
Friction
What is already getting in the way?
By Week 2, reality has started replacing induction.
Systems have been used.
Customers have been encountered.
Internal relationships are forming.
The salesperson has started discovering what is easy — and what isn't.
We explore:
- what has been harder than expected
- where momentum is slowing
- internal barriers
- external barriers
- knowledge gaps
- process problems
- management support
- whether expectations remain aligned
Outcome
A clear list of blockers, owners and actions.
An early problem is information.
An ignored early problem becomes risk.
03 — WEEK 4
Behaviour
Are the professional habits required for success becoming visible?
Commercial outcomes can take time.
Behaviour appears much earlier.
By Week 4, we should be able to see whether the salesperson is beginning to operate in the way the role requires.
We review:
- activity levels
- consistency
- time management
- preparation
- follow-up discipline
- prospecting behaviour
- commercial conversations
- early pipeline development
- responsiveness to coaching
- ownership
Outcome
Defined behavioural expectations and an intervention plan where required.
Revenue is a lagging indicator.
Behaviour gives you evidence earlier.
04 — WEEK 8
Momentum
Is activity turning into credible commercial progress?
By Week 8, effort alone is no longer enough.
The question becomes whether the right behaviours are creating momentum.
We evaluate:
- pipeline quality
- pipeline progression
- quality of opportunities
- conversion indicators
- commercial conversations
- sales capability
- learning and adaptation
- manager coaching
- whether the original hiring predictions are appearing in practice
Outcome
A clear view of trajectory and any capability gaps requiring intervention.
Busy is not the same as progressing.
We are looking for trajectory.
05 — WEEK 12
ROI
Is the business beginning to see a commercial return?
By Week 12, the evidence should be becoming materially more commercial.
Depending on the role, deal cycle and market, that may not mean closed revenue yet.
But there should be credible evidence that the investment is moving in the right direction.
We assess:
- pipeline against expectations
- revenue generated or forecast
- quality of opportunities
- progress in sales capability
- behavioural consistency
- commercial contribution
- management dependency
- remaining risks
The purpose is not to force every salesperson into an identical revenue timetable.
It is to determine whether there is enough evidence to justify continued confidence.
Outcome
A clear view of commercial return, trajectory and remaining risk.
06 — WEEK 16
Decision
Retain or replace — based on evidence, not hope.
At approximately 120 days, enough evidence should exist to make a meaningful commercial decision.
We review performance across the full framework.
The question is no longer:
“Do we like them?”
or:
“Should we give them a little longer?”
The question is:
Does the evidence justify continued investment?
We review:
- performance against the original definition of success
- behaviour and activity
- sales capability
- pipeline health
- commercial contribution
- manager enablement
- learning trajectory
- remaining risk
Outcome
A clear decision to retain, intervene or replace, with agreed next steps.
The purpose is not to make harsh decisions quickly.
It is to make fair decisions earlier, with better evidence.
WHAT WE MEASURE
Five areas tell us where the problem actually sits.
The checkpoint changes over time.
The underlying areas of performance remain consistent.
2. Behaviour & Activity
Are the behaviours and working rhythms required by the role actually appearing?
3. Sales Capability
Is the person developing the knowledge, skills and judgement required to sell effectively?
4. Pipeline Health
Is commercial activity creating credible opportunities and forward movement?
5. Manager Enablement
Is the business giving the salesperson the clarity, access, coaching and support required to perform?
These areas stop the review becoming:
“Do we like them?”
or:
“Have they hit the number yet?”
Both are too simplistic.
This matters because a struggling salesperson is not always simply a bad salesperson.
The problem may be:
- unclear expectations
- poor activity
- weak capability
- an unhealthy pipeline
- insufficient coaching
- internal blockers
- or several things at once
A structured review helps separate those problems instead of collapsing everything into:
“They're not performing.”
A SHARED LANGUAGE
Progress matters more than a single score.
Each pillar is assessed using a simple five-point scale.
The scoring does not pretend to be scientific.
Its purpose is to create consistency, transparency and better conversations.
4–5ON TRACK
3MONITOR
1–2INTERVENTION REQUIRED
The number matters less than the evidence behind it.
A Week 1 score of three may be entirely appropriate.
What matters is whether the pattern improves as clarity, experience and commercial opportunity increase.
The framework creates a visible performance trail instead of relying on retrospective memory.
WHAT THE FRAMEWORK REVEALS
The meeting isn't the value. The evidence is.
The value of the framework is not having another meeting in the diary.
It is what becomes visible because the right questions are being asked at the right time.
The framework can expose:
- clarity that wasn't actually shared
- activity that sounded stronger than it was
- good behaviour before revenue arrives
- capability gaps that can be coached
- management barriers slowing progress
- commercial momentum worth backing
- risk that should not be ignored
Clarity turns a vague start into an observable plan.
In one early review, a new salesperson and their manager moved from a general discussion about “making calls” into a much clearer commercial rhythm.
The conversation established:
- who the salesperson should target
- what problems those prospects were experiencing
- what information needed to be collected
- what meaningful activity should look like
- how meetings would be generated
- what the manager needed to support
- what the salesperson would own
The important part was not the activity target itself.
It was that salesperson, manager and advisor left with the same picture of what success required.
If expectations only exist in the manager's head, they cannot be managed fairly.
Early performance becomes visible before revenue fully arrives.
In another engagement, the salesperson had only been in the business for a short period, but the review already showed meaningful progress.
Role clarity had strengthened.
New opportunities were beginning to form.
A commercial strategy had been developed.
Systems were being improved.
The salesperson and manager could identify what had progressed and what still needed work.
That is the point of the framework.
It does not wait for a missed quarterly target to start asking questions.
It looks for the behaviours and commercial signals that appear first.
THE OTHER HALF OF PERFORMANCE
The salesperson isn't the only person being assessed.
Sales hires often fail because all accountability is placed on the new employee.
That is commercially incomplete.
The manager has responsibilities too.
We assess whether the manager is:
- providing clear direction
- coaching consistently
- removing blockers
- sharing commercial knowledge
- creating appropriate accountability
- giving the salesperson access to the people, tools and information they need
This is why Manager Enablement is one of the five pillars.
If a capable salesperson is being asked to succeed inside an environment that prevents success, the framework should expose that too.
A fair performance system tests the hire and the environment around them.
DIAGNOSE BEFORE YOU JUDGE
Not every difficult first month means you've made a bad hire.
One of the most commercially useful outcomes of structured onboarding is being able to distinguish between different kinds of problems.
NORMAL RAMP-UP
They are learning.
The behaviour is right.
Progress is visible.
They need time and continued support.
COACHABLE FRICTION
A gap exists.
It is identifiable.
The salesperson or manager can act on it.
Progress should be monitored.
STRUCTURAL FAILURE
The required behaviour is repeatedly absent.
Commitments are not being met.
Evidence is not improving despite appropriate support.
The commercial case for continuing is weakening.
Without structure, all three can feel the same.
With evidence, they lead to very different decisions.
BY DAY 120
What should good look like?
The exact commercial outcomes depend on the role, market and sales cycle.
But a successful hire should normally demonstrate increasing evidence across five areas:
- clear ownership of their role and priorities
- consistent professional sales behaviour
- credible commercial conversations
- a developing or increasingly predictable pipeline
- effective engagement with their manager
By this point, the business should not be relying primarily on the confidence it felt at interview.
It should have workplace evidence.
THREE OWNERS
Success has three owners.
The framework works because responsibility is explicit.
THE SALESPERSON
- Take ownership of activity and learning.
- Engage honestly in reviews.
- Act on feedback.
- Raise blockers early.
- Own agreed commitments.
THE HIRING MANAGER
- Provide clear direction.
- Set realistic expectations.
- Coach consistently.
- Remove blockers.
- Share context and commercial knowledge.
- Hold the salesperson accountable.
YOUR WAVELENGTH
- Facilitate structured reviews.
- Provide independent assessment.
- Challenge assumptions.
- Track patterns over time.
- Support honest conversations.
- Help both parties make evidence-led decisions.
STRUCTURE WITHOUT DEPENDENCY
Accountability without micromanagement.
The objective is not to create another layer of management.
It is to create enough structure that the salesperson can operate with greater independence.
Clear expectations reduce the need for constant supervision.
Regular checkpoints reduce reactive management.
Visible evidence reduces subjective arguments.
The founder or manager remains responsible for leading their employee.
Your Wavelength provides the structure, independent challenge and commercial perspective that make those conversations more useful.
The objective is accountability — not surveillance.
PREDICTION → REALITY
The 120 days begin before the person starts.
A useful onboarding framework cannot be invented after somebody accepts the job.
The measures have to come from the commercial definition of success established before recruitment begins.
During the hiring process we identify:
- why the role exists
- the outcomes the business needs
- the behaviours worth investigating
- the evidence the candidate has provided
- the risks still requiring validation
- the areas likely to need support
Those become part of the onboarding hypothesis.
If we said during recruitment that somebody demonstrated strong ownership, we should expect ownership to appear in the role.
If we identified a learning gap, we should be able to see whether it is closing.
If opportunity creation mattered to the appointment, we should eventually see opportunity creation.
WHAT WE PREDICTED
WHAT WE OBSERVED
WHAT WE SHOULD DO NEXT
THE POINT OF THE PROCESS
You don't need perfect certainty. You need enough evidence to decide.
No onboarding process can guarantee that a salesperson will succeed.
And it should not pretend to.
The commercial objective is simpler:
reduce ambiguity.
By Day 120, the business should understand:
- what is working
- what is not
- whether the salesperson is improving
- whether the manager is enabling performance
- whether pipeline and commercial contribution justify continued confidence
- whether remaining problems are coachable
- whether continued investment is rational
That is a much stronger position than reaching six or nine months and saying:
“We had a feeling something wasn't right.”
ONE CONNECTED SYSTEM
The framework is the PROVE stage of the hiring decision.
Your Wavelength's wider hiring methodology follows three stages:
DECIDE
Decide what the business actually needs.
Decide what the business actually needs.
DEFINE
Define what success requires before assessing candidates.
Define what success requires before assessing candidates.
PROVE
Keep collecting evidence after the appointment.
Keep collecting evidence after the appointment.
The 120-Day Framework is how the final stage becomes real.
The hiring decision does not disappear when the contract is signed.
It is validated in the environment where the salesperson actually has to perform.
See the full DECIDE → DEFINE → PROVE process →See who we work with →
BEFORE THE NEXT HIRE
Would your next sales hire have a fair way to prove they're working?
The Sales Hiring Risk Assessment helps identify whether your current approach gives a new salesperson enough clarity, support and accountability to succeed — and whether you would spot risk early enough to act.
3 minutes. Immediate clarity. No obligation.