There comes a time in the growth of your business when you must hire someone to look after Sales. And that’s scary. Likely, you haven’t hired a salesperson before. Even more likely you’ve met or know some salespeople that you would never hire.
But you already know you can’t keep looking after customers and the company alone. There are only 24 hours in a day, and if you are like most founders, you have absolutely no more hours to give. So here we are. You are going to take the plunge and hire someone full-time to sell to your clients.
The first decision you can make is a simple one. Is there someone already on your team who gets on with clients, is passionate about their success, and is comfortable talking to new people? If you have that combination in your team already, sound them out about Sales. Funnily enough, that’s how I got my first sales job, a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (ok, the UK!) I was a project manager looking after software implementation projects for a small tech company. The Head of Sales saw the relationships I built with customers, and how much I cared about them getting the best out of their software and offered me a job on his team (And I absolutely said no at first, but that’s a story for another day!)
Most start-ups won’t necessarily have that person in their team already. So, you are going to have to bring in someone new. At first many try to hire the most experienced and senior person they can in Sales. This is often a mistake. You think you are getting someone who can do it all. Build a pipeline, close a deal, build your Sales process, and strategize for the future. And maybe you did. But what you probably need is someone who is going to focus deeply on getting new customers for you. All the time. However, they can (ethically of course).
Just as you did with Product, you probably built, tested, redesigned, built again, retested, and revised, and eventually came to a sort of process or product that worked. Same with first outreach in Sales. The process comes after trial and error, to begin with. So, you are looking for someone hungry, ethical, and not afraid of making some things up as they go along (again, process-wise, not fact-wise!)
So how do you find that person? There was a great study in 2014 by S. W. Martin that you can find in the Harvard Business Review, “Seven personality traits of top salespeople”. And it listed the following traits I pointed out in my last column.
- Resilience
- Curiosity
- Reliability
- Humility
- Goal Oriented
- Detachment
- Fearlessness.
You can uncover these through personality tests, or simply asking the same interview questions of everybody. Think about asking questions about when the candidate bounced back from a negative experience. Tell me about a time you had to put a customer first. When was the last time you learned something new? When was the last time you said no to someone, and why? Look to uncover the seven traits, and for me, the most important one is curiosity. If you want to learn and understand, you will have great customer conversations.
Now you have to pay this person! There are great tools on the internet to help you research what sales pay looks like in your industry and geography, and I highly recommend using them. If you are hiring a more experienced salesperson, expect there to be questions about compensation. Be prepared to know what more you can offer and consider tying it to performance and tenure goals. It doesn’t just have to be salary either. Bonuses, equity, vacation time, remote work, benefits, and professional development are all areas you can contribute to that will help close the deal. Have an open and transparent conversation about what they could benefit from, so you can make your decisions about agreeing to an offer.
I once rejoined a company where, while I was away, they took an existing employee, gave him a laptop to demo on, and a list of names and phone numbers. And told him to go sell. Don’t be those people. Check in, ask what they need, understand the conversations they are having, and see what you can do to help. Remember, just because Sales does not build a product, they are still on your team and want to work with you to improve and grow the company.
I wish you all great success, especially those hiring their first salesperson.
by Darryll Gillard