Sales & Customer Success SMB (51-200 employees)

VP of Sales at SMB

Leads the sales organization at scale, defines go-to-market strategy, and owns company revenue.

In LATAM SMBs, the Sales Manager reports directly to the owner or CEO

Regional economic cycles directly affect deal closings

Network within the vertical industry has tangible value

Generic profile Startup (1-50 employees) Enterprise (201-1000 employees) Global (1001+ employees)

Ideal OCEAN+ Profile

Openness 79 Conscientiousness 77 Extraversion 85 Agreeableness 57 Emotional Stability 86 Structure & Rhythm 55
Ideal range
Openness
70 87

At SMBs (51-200 employees), openness to trying new channels and sales strategies

Conscientiousness
69 85

At SMBs (51-200 employees), discipline in pipeline management and follow-up

Extraversion
77 93

At SMBs (51-200 employees), the energy to build relationships and close deals

Agreeableness
49 65

At SMBs (51-200 employees), the balance between assertive persuasion and active listening

Emotional Stability
78 93

At SMBs (51-200 employees), resilience in the face of constant rejection and long sales cycles

Structure & Rhythm
45 65

At SMBs (51-200 employees), building long-term relationships with clients

Strengths and Red Flags

Strengths

  • Defines commercial strategy and go-to-market model
  • Recruits and develops high-performing sales leaders
  • Managing long-term relationships where personal trust matters more than the formal contract
  • Generating expansion revenue from existing accounts without a dedicated customer success team

Red Flags

  • Micromanages managers instead of leading through them
  • Systematically optimistic forecasting disconnected from reality
  • Doesn't document pipeline or activities in a CRM; everything lives in their head
  • Avoids conflict with problematic clients instead of renegotiating terms

Interview Questions

Describe how you built or restructured a sales organization. What criteria did you use to define territory segmentation and roles?

Evaluates: Strategic thinking and Conscientiousness

How do you handle a quarter where the team is going to miss target? What do you communicate to the board and what actions do you take internally?

Evaluates: Emotional Stability and leadership under pressure

How do you balance attention to existing accounts with opening new ones?

Evaluates: Time management and pipeline prioritization

Tell me about an account at risk of churn. What did you do?

Evaluates: Emotional intelligence applied to retention

More about VP of Sales

Career path, personality archetypes and similar roles in the full profile.

Career Path Archetypes Similar Roles Case Study

This Role in Other Contexts

Generic profile

VP of Sales — base profile with no company context

View profile → Startup (1-50 employees)

In LATAM startups, the Sales Manager is often also the first AE

View profile → Enterprise (201-1000 employees)

In LATAM enterprise, personal relationships remain decisive

View profile → Global (1001+ employees)

Must be able to sell upward to HQ in addition to managing local markets

View profile →
View all profiles for SMB →
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