salesleader123

sales director

Anyone start as first sales person then successfully grow sales team?

Hi warriors! I am looking for advice....not to give it! I joined a smaller company as the first sales hire, did very well, and was promoted to growing and scaling the sales team. I am finding it extremely challenging. (Surprise) Anyone with similar experience up for sharing any tips, advice, things they wish they knew when they started? My biggest issue is reps performing well for periods then crapping out big time.

Some of the things I specifically am struggling with:

Scaling sales team and revenue without dependable and growing lead flow / demand (that shouldn't be all on me, right?)
Making sales training / onboarding more efficient
My sales reps are not seasoned due to hiring budgets

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18 comments

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poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Was 5th employee as head of sales, grew to team of 3 AEs, BDR, and helped stage CS team.

What’s your forecasting cadence, 1:1 cadence, and alignment with leadership on specific and realistic growth goals?

Are your AEs also first time reps, or are they seasoned?

Do you have PMF and a solid sales process that is documented and easy to train on/refer to?

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Are you prepared for Jehovah's return?

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Lmao I am at a loss for this comment.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

My work here is done 🦊

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

Most polite way I've ever seen anyone say you're fuqqed.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Is this like the super fuck you of “bless your heart”?

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

lol - Yeah. I think so.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Only if you grab your pearls.

salesleader123

Fire Starter

sales director

lol ok let me go cry alone under my desk, thanks

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

delegate! Get someone else under your desk!

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

Is your business seasonal? If everyone’s not performing at the same time, there could be some common issues. Did you find that out.

Adding more context will get you better responses

salesleader123

Fire Starter

sales director

Thanks for the tip, added some more!

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

Do you know when a new hire turns ROI? Get the data. Understand it. Then improve it. You have to start with a real benchmark.

If new hires turn ROI at 90 days, you need to be able to answer this.
What, specifically, do I need to do to get it to 30?

Onboarding is going to be most of it. You need a reliable onboard program that has a predictable outcome. If you've got no help in HR or L&D you have some long hours in front of you. Refine the onboarding. Set refresher training for your people so YOU aren't buried with questions all day.

Ask one of your more tenured sellers to build a deck. Let them do it once you've approved content. Write down all of the questions you get all day and answer them in writing. Post the answers in a central place. Give it a name. Build that into a playbook. Get your people used to looking there.

You need a process you can lean on. Hardest part of the gig.

Good luck!

salesleader123

Fire Starter

sales director

This is helpful, thank you!

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

Sure. You gotta claw your way outta that shitstorm to avoid the prolonged stink. It's small company common and a ton of work. You'll be most glad and that much more valuable in your seat once you've done it.

HVACexpert

Politicker

sales engineer

Define “crapping out”? How long specifically are they successful for? What industries do you call on?

salesleader123

Fire Starter

sales director

My first two AEs were 90% or 100%+ to target for 8 to 9 months before starting to miss targets. One left for health reasons. The other one's performance has been on / off Q4 and Q1. We provide marketing services and sell into pretty diverse industries - e-comm, SaaS, health / wellness to name a few

Meetingboy22

Good Citizen

bdr manager

What does your hiring process look like?

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salesleader123

Anyone start as first sales person then successfully grow sales team?

18 comments

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