Three quarters of the time, you are going to bring someone on who won’t be there within 12 months. And this is, arguably, the most important sales hire you will make.
There is a VC saying that you have to go thru the graveyard of your first sales leader in order to get to your second. While an unfortunate statement, it is undeniably accurate. The problem with this statement is it is putting the problem on the sales leader, when in fact most of the time, the issue is with the founder/company.
So, if you are thinking thru bringing on your first sales leaders, here are a few things to ask yourself:
- What am I expecting from this sales leader?
- Am I looking for someone who will help me build thru strategy or do I need someone selling or building pipeline entirely?
- Am I ready for a sales leader?
- Am I (founder) ready to give up control of the day to day of the sales org and ready to utilize someone else to create the strategy?
Most founder/sales leadership unions are bound to fail for one of these three reasons:
- You hire a sales leader but needed an individual contributor (seller or BDR)
- You are hiring a sales leader but are not ready to give up control of the sales org, vision and direction
- You haven't established your product/market fit thru selling
Additionally, to compound the issue, you will often find that most founders hire someone who has only minimal experience as the first sales hire. You are betting your most important sales hire on someone who has never done it before. As a first sales hire (especially as a leader), the most important things you can look for is someone who has been in that role before (a first sales hire) and someone who understands, fully, the state of your business/company.
In the world of sales leadership, the odds are against you when bringing you your first sales leader, but it doesn't have to be a failure. Your best bet is when you ensure that you are ready for a leader, your product/service has market fit, and you (the founder) are up for giving up control of the sales org.
Ready for your first sales hire (leader or non-leader)? Want to nail it? Let's talk.
