moneytrees

Sales Executive

First time scaling a sales team - advice, reading material, resources needed.

I'm the only one in sales in a startup that just hit a massive fundraiser which is going to put us on a massive treadmill. I am going to be the key to scaling the sales team and need as much advice as I can get.

Edperienced scalers needed for advice.

Help a man win!!

🧠 Advice

💵 Finance

🤘 Personal Growth

24 comments

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CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

@poweredbycaffeine 🚿 them with your greatness boo.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Let me hit them with that steam shower.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Hi there, I have been in your shoes...but with no funding.

I took over sales from the CEO as the 5th employee. Grew it to a team of 3 account executives, 3 CSMs (later hiring a CSM leader), and 1 BDR. I was able to 2X the business by myself before hiring anyone.

Tell me about your professional background. Have you been a manager or team leader in the past? What kind of overachievement have you put up on the board? Do you have a mind that works in systems or are you free-form when approaching problems AND everyday tasks?

moneytrees

Catalyst

Sales Executive

I've led a team but in a very different environment.. I must say, up until now i've been taken way more of a free-form approach to selling but going into a leadership role this won't suffice. Besides for a CRM, what other systems are most important/had most impact for you starting out?

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

You won't survive scaling if you cannot systematize everything you do in the sales motion. That means how you prospect, how you run discovery calls, how you create deals in your CRM, how you close customers, how you transfer them to customer success/account management, etc.

Be prepared to write this all out in great detail. It will serve as an operating manual for everything that you and future employees do.

A CRM is nothing without data control. Start implementing the rules around what can go into your CRM by stating what is required for data points. Name, Email, Company Name, Title, etc. Every company needs to have the Name, Website, Location, etc. When an opportunity is created what info do you need to consider it qualified?

The process is nearly more important at this stage than the act of closing. Be OBSESSIVE over this now and you'll be grateful for the work you did down the road.

Last bit of free advice: find a marketer you like and partner with them. Act as a partner, not a foe, and you will build a great pipeline. Treat them like an enemy and they'll be the bane of your existence due to siloed activity and mismatched expectations.

moneytrees

Catalyst

Sales Executive

Don't get me wrong, we already have incredibly strong sales data and a well put together excel spreadsheet managing to manage the pipeline. But yes I agree, all of the processes that we've currently got living in our heads needs to be outlined for future hires to ensure a smooth onboarding.

Very much agree with your advice regarding a marketer - we have some key hires that we need to make and that will certainly be a priority for me.

Beans

Big Shot

Enterprise Account Executive

What do you sell and who is your ICP?

I'm a massive reader but context would be key.

moneytrees

Catalyst

Sales Executive

@Beans we’re a fintech in the the BNPL space. Our ICP is e-commerce merchants dealing in big ticket items with average basket sizes >$1k. Right now there are a few avenues that we’re exploring. Increasing head count in the sales team seems to be where the Founder is going but I feel that processes need to be clearly defined before going that route.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

So you are a Klarna/Affirm competitor?

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Don't forget sezzle - Minnesota tech for the win!

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Just noticed you changed your avatar. Love the otter.

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Trying to create my own mythology

moneytrees

Catalyst

Sales Executive

We're a South African business - the industry is about 2-3 years old so we're pretty new out the blocks. Do you have any insight into Klarna/Affirm? Would love to know how their sales reps are being remunerated & incentivised.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Seems like a strong opportunity for you/your marketing team to do some competitive research. I am not in the industry, but those two companies are all over North American merchant sites.

moneytrees

Catalyst

Sales Executive

Product wise we've got tons of research but these businesses are generally quiet about the inner workings and processes - hence me coming here. Hopefully someone in the bnpl space sees this and can weigh in.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Don't expect your competitors to tell you how they make things work. That's cannibalizing your IP, which is foolish.

Beans

Big Shot

Enterprise Account Executive

Awesome space to be in, a lot of competition but it's catching on.

I'd read the Lean Startup by Eric Reis - and for your team I'm a huge fan of the Challenger Sale and Challenger Customer.

We've also just brought MEDDPICC on as a company standard for qualifying deals.

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

Rolling 20's all day

Part of the question here is what do you already have written for your processes?
If a new hire walked in today with great skill and eager to sell, what parts of the job do you need to have documented so they can learn your product and amplify your effort?

Know what you want to achieve and then build around it.

moneytrees

Catalyst

Sales Executive

Short answer - nothing. I came in and started cold calling and learned the onboarding process from my founder as and when I brought people on board.

I think the process flow is going to be a massive way to impact off the bat.. this is where really nice reading material might help? use cases from scale-ups.

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

Rolling 20's all day

Haha nice! If only people knew how many companies are held together with duct tape and zipties.
Do you have anyone in your network who is a revops specialist that could help you create your process documentation?

BmajoR

Arsonist

Account Executive

TRUTH matters: read all about it here, brought to you by KWVN Channel 4. https://bravado.co/war-room/posts/loose-cannon

moneytrees

Catalyst

Sales Executive

*BNPL - buy now, pay later

OldSchoolEightiesStyle

Good Citizen

Global Vice President

Start with the end in mind! Build a model of how you believe the sale's organizational structure will look in the end. The structure should mirror your Sales and Distribution Strategies. Split into Enterprise/Corporate (Killer Whales) and Territory Sales groups. It takes a different skill set to manage/close on Enterprise/Corporate sales. It's not rocket science, look at how your competition is structured. All Sales structures are fundamentally the same varying in the number of layers and titles. It starts with hiring great people and ends with acquiring New Customers and servicing Existing.

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moneytrees

First time scaling a sales team - advice, reading material, resources needed.

24 comments

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