Last updated: April 2026
Most of the bad sales hires I've seen in nine years of recruiting in Australian building products, lighting and A&D weren't bad candidates. They were good candidates dropped into roles that weren't defined, in businesses that weren't ready.
The fix is simpler than most hiring managers think. Before you post a role, score yourself on two dimensions.
Role Clarity. Do you actually know what you need? Hunter or farmer or specifier, what the primary KPI is, what seniority, what territory, what product complexity.
Hiring Readiness. Is the business set up to win with the person you hire? Package signed off, written brief, decision process locked, realistic timeline, onboarding plan.
Plot yourself honestly on that 2x2. Most SMEs I speak to land in the bottom-left, low clarity, low readiness, and that's the quadrant where 40 to 50 per cent of sales hires fail or underperform in the first year.
Top-performing building products companies operate in the top-right. They treat hiring as a revenue project, not an HR task.
Here are the ten questions to work through before you spend a cent on recruitment.
What's the primary route to market for this role?
The answer shapes everything else. Architects and specifiers is a different job to builders and contractors, which is a different job to merchants and distributors, which is a different job to direct end-user accounts. "A bit of everything" is the answer I hear most often. It's also the answer that produces the worst hires.
In most BD calls I take, hiring managers struggle to articulate the primary focus of the role in one sentence. If you can't name the channel, you can't write the brief, and you definitely can't judge a candidate's fit.
Is the full package signed off?
Base, super, car or allowance, commission structure. Signed off with a clear range.
"We'll work it out once we meet the right person" is the single fastest way to lose a good candidate mid-process. The best people in the market have options. They move toward clarity and away from hiring managers who can't commit. A rough number that still needs CFO sign-off is fine if you're honest about it. An undefined package is not.
What's the single most important KPI this role will own?
New business pipeline. Specification wins. Account retention and growth. Team performance. One primary number, documented, agreed internally.
Most hiring managers I speak to don't have documented KPIs before they start the search. They know what they want the person to do, but it lives in their head. The problem with that is every interviewer asks different questions, and the person you hire joins with no clear target for the first 90 days.
Do you have a written job brief?
Written, signed off, agreed across all stakeholders.
"It's in my head, I know what I want" is a red flag. In building products sales hiring, the person who owns the final decision is usually not the only person the candidate will meet. If the brief lives only in the hiring manager's head, the interview process contradicts itself. Candidates notice. The good ones walk.
What seniority level fits the scope of work?
BDM, Account Manager, Specification Manager, State or National Sales Manager. These are different jobs and they attract different people. The difference between a Specification Manager and a BDM in building products is the difference between a hire that works and a $200k mistake.
"Not sure, we'll see who applies" is the wrong answer. You'll waste everyone's time, including yours.
Who makes the final hiring decision?
One person, clearly defined, available to interview. Or two or three decision-makers aligned on the brief.
A panel with competing priorities is a slow process and a bad candidate experience. "We'll work it out as we go" is how good candidates end up accepting counter-offers from their current employer because your process took six weeks and theirs took four days.
What's the territory scope?
Metro only, state-wide with regional travel, multi-state, or national. Defined before you advertise.
Territory is one of the top reasons salespeople leave building products companies. If you can't describe the territory clearly at interview stage, candidates will assume it's going to be dumped on them later. The ones with options walk.
What's your realistic timeline to have someone start?
In seat within eight weeks is the answer the best candidates want to hear. Within this quarter is fine. "Exploring, no firm deadline" is fine too, as long as you're honest about it.
Time-to-fill for quality field sales roles in Australian building products typically runs eight to ten weeks. Specification-heavy roles often run longer. Plan accordingly.
How technical is the product sale?
Highly technical with a long spec-led cycle, moderately technical, relationship-led with moderate complexity, or commodity-style driven by price and service.
The answer determines ramp time, who you should interview, and what a realistic first-deal timeline looks like. Technical spec-led sales in building products takes three to six months to first meaningful wins, and 12 to 18 months to full ramp. Distributor and transactional sales is often quicker, 9 to 12 months to full ramp is realistic. If you budget for the wrong timeline, you'll fire a good hire who was on track.
Have you hired for a role like this before?
Multiple times with a proven process, once before with lessons learned, first time for this role, or first time running a sales search at all.
The honest answer changes the approach. If it's the first time, the cost of a bad hire runs $150,000 to $300,000 for a $120,000 to $140,000 BDM once you factor in recruiting fees, salary during ramp, lost revenue, team morale and the cost of re-hiring. Worth pressure-testing the brief before you start.
How the scoring works
Each answer scores 1 to 4. Five questions sit under Role Clarity (route to market, KPI, seniority, territory, product complexity). Five questions sit under Hiring Readiness (package, brief, decision-maker, timeline, prior experience).
Maximum score per dimension is 20. Anything at 14 or above is HIGH. Anything below 14 is LOW. That gives you four possible quadrants.
You're ready to run (High Clarity, High Readiness)
You know what you need and the business is set up to win with them. The risk here is speed. Every week the role sits open costs you pipeline, territory momentum, and the best people in the market, most of whom aren't actively looking.
Clear on the role, not ready to run (High Clarity, Low Readiness)
You know what you want. The process isn't locked. Running a search without a signed-off package, a written brief and a clear decision process is how good candidates walk halfway through the cycle. Tighten the foundations first.
Ready to hire, risk of mis-hire (Low Clarity, High Readiness)
This is the quadrant that costs the most money. You've got sign-off, you're ready to move, and the gap is role definition. The wrong profile in the right package fails for 12 months before anyone realises. In building products, the difference between a Spec Manager and a BDM is not just a job title, it's a different person, a different channel and a different outcome. Worth a 20-minute call before you brief anyone.
Too early to start a search (Low Clarity, Low Readiness)
Nothing wrong with where you are. Most hiring fails happen because people move too fast, not too slow. Define the role, lock the package, agree the process internally before you engage anyone external.
What to do with your score
The scoring is not the point. The quadrant is.
Take the interactive version of this scorecard. It walks through the ten questions, scores them automatically, and gives you a specific set of next steps based on where you land.
If you score in the "ready to hire, risk of mis-hire" quadrant, that's the expensive one. Worth a conversation before you start.
The hidden cost of the wrong quadrant
A bad sales hire in Australian building products runs 30 to 150 per cent of first-year salary once you factor in all the real costs. For a BDM on $120,000 to $140,000 base, that's $150,000 to $300,000.
The hidden cost in this sector is higher than the headline number. One missed specifier relationship can stall a territory for quarters. One unhappy distributor partnership can damage a brand for years. The cost of a bad hire isn't just the wasted salary, it's the revenue that didn't happen.
I've built a Cost of a Bad Hire Calculator that runs the numbers on your specific seat. Most hiring managers guess low.
For the full breakdown of how bad hires compound in building products specifically, read the full article on the true cost of a bad sales hire.
The market context
The 2026 Australian building products hiring environment matters here. Building approvals finished 2025 at 195,730 dwellings, with February 2026 approvals up 29.7 per cent month-on-month. Construction pipeline is robust. Demand for experienced field sales talent is strong, particularly in specification and technical sales.
Small and medium building products companies fill roughly 52 per cent of their vacancies, against 65 per cent for large firms. SMEs compete with multinationals that can offer bigger brands and more resources. The ones that win do it by being sharper on role definition and faster on decision-making, not by trying to match the package.
Around 47 per cent of SMEs are delaying hires because of wage costs. Understandable. Worth weighing against the cost of a vacant seat in a growing market.
Final thought
Hiring your next sales rep in building products, lighting or A&D isn't about finding the perfect CV. It's about ensuring the role is defined clearly enough for the right person to recognise it, and the business is ready enough to set them up to win.
Score yourself on the ten questions. If you're in the danger zone, fix the foundations first. You'll save $150,000 to $300,000, shorten ramp, and build a sales team that actually sticks.
Take the interactive scorecard →
If you'd rather talk through your specific situation, the contact details are on the site.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if I'm ready to hire a BDM?
You're ready if you can answer all ten questions in this article without hedging. Package signed off, written brief, one clear decision-maker, realistic timeline, defined territory, clear KPI. If more than a couple of answers are vague, tighten those first. A good BDM in a half-ready business still leaves within 12 months.
What should a job description for a building products sales rep include?
One-sentence summary of the primary focus. Named channel (A&D, builders, merchants, direct). Documented primary KPI with a number attached. Territory scope and expected travel. Full package including base, super, car or allowance, and commission structure. Interview process with named decision-makers. Anything vaguer than this will attract vague candidates.
BDM, Account Manager, or Specification Manager, which do I need?
BDM if the primary work is new business development, field prospecting and winning logos your company doesn't have. Account Manager if the primary work is retention, upsell and relationship depth on accounts you already own. Specification Manager if the primary work is technical influence with architects, designers and consultants to get your products specified before the tender lands. If the honest answer is "a bit of all three," the role isn't defined yet and the hire will fail.
How much does a bad sales hire cost in Australia?
Research puts the cost of a bad B2B sales hire at 30 to 150 per cent of first-year salary. For a $120,000 to $140,000 BDM in building products, that's $150,000 to $300,000 once you factor in recruitment fees, salary during ramp, lost revenue and opportunity cost, team morale and the cost of re-hiring. In building products specifically, the hidden cost is often higher because of damaged specifier and distributor relationships. Run the numbers on your specific role at /resources/cost-of-a-bad-hire.
How long does it take to hire a good BDM in building products?
Eight to ten weeks end-to-end for quality field sales roles in Australian building products, lighting and A&D. Specification-heavy roles often run longer. This assumes a signed-off package, a written brief and a clear decision process from day one. Without those, the search runs 12 weeks or more and the best candidates drop out halfway through.