💸 5 Things You Should Consider Before Hiring Your First Salesperson

I work with a lot of startups.

These are 5 of the most important things to consider when you are about to hire your first sales rep.

1. Hiring is expensive and finding the right sales profile can be difficult.

   
   Ask yourself, do you really need a full-time sales rep?
   
   Sometimes it can be a good idea to start with a fractional solution 2-3 days per week.
   
   If things go well, then increase the time as you go.

   
   Build lean.
   

2. Hire for the right phase of your startup.
   
   If you’re an early-stage startup, avoid hiring someone who has experience of working at big companies.
   
   I see it over and over again, startup founders who are flattered and find it exciting to hire the ex-Salesforce, ex-Google or ex-Microsoft candidates.
   
   It’s often very hard for salespeople with experience of working in a big company to go work in a startup environment.

   
   They are used to a lot of support functions.
   
   Startups are messy. And scrappy.
   
   So, hire for the right phase of your startup.

   
   Go for the hungry doers who enjoy the scrappiness of the early days.

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3. “Here’s your laptop, good luck 👋”
   
   This approach is too common these days when onboarding a sales rep.
   
   Let them hit the ground running instead and prepare before they start.
   
   A light onboarding is well invested time for all parties.
   

4. Setting the right expectations
   
   To be able to set the right expectations, here’s a few questions to ask yourself:
   
   Where do leads come from today?

   
   How long is the sales cycle?
   
   How much time will the rep spend on outbound vs inbound?
   
   Do you have a defined sales process?
   
   Do you have traction to be able to rely on data to decide on a quota?
   
   Do you have product market fit?
   
   Is it predictable?
   
   Adjust the fixed salary and variable part of the salary accordingly.
   

5. Decide on how you are going to train them
   
   When a new employee starts we want to set them up for success.
   
   Do you have documentation of processes and learnings in the business?

   
   What works?
   
   What have you tried that doesn’t work?
   
   Who do you sell to?
   
   Who’s your ideal customer profile? Buyer persona?
   
   How will you transfer your knowledge in the most effective way?
   
   I always recommend founders to document as much as possible and then work side by side to help the sales rep get ramped as quickly as possible.

If you have any questions on the above or need help with finding a fractional sales rep, don’t hesitate to reach out 👋

Before we go…

a meme. So accurate and so spot on!

Time’s up for this week!

See you next Friday 👋

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