Great Company, but No Sales Leadership? YET?

To keep this brief, I had an 1st call interview with an internal recruiter at a Series B (very recent) Company that offers phenomenal benefits, empowering internal culture, and super strong compensation.

They are less than 3 years old and have a great niche, product-lead company.


I'll be honest, I am very excited at the prospect of working here but I am REALLY trying to not get ahead of myself even though the call could not have gone better. I'll have the 2nd call scheduled this week.


But the only thing I am curious to get your take on, is that up till now all sales has been headed up by the CEO. The small AE team has been reporting to him, and have strong attainment and POCs. They are in the process of hiring a CRO and a head of sales but don't have anyone placed for it yet.


From my own experience, working directly under a CEO can be a crapshoot but it's not a deal breaker. Let me know what are the best questions you would ask regarding this as I go forward besides:

-Who will I ultimately be reporting to? (CEO to start and then Sales Director once hired)

-What qualifications are you looking to hire sales leadership down the road so I can best position my efforts to be helpful?

-How has the sales process been run up to this point?




🧢 Sales Management
🗣 Interviewing
3
poweredbycaffeine
WR Lieutenant
5
☕️
The second question makes you sound like someone hunting for either the sales leadership role today, or an easy promotion. I'd either rephrase and drop the "So I can best position my efforts to be helpful", or skip it.

The last question is open-ended, which is good but lacks specificity. "What are the major challenges that the sales process has presented up to this point?" OR "What are some of the benefits of the sales process reporting up to you?"

Go deep into the challenges and triumphs so that you can position your skillset to alleviate or bolster.
DungeonsNDemos
Big Shot
1
Rolling 20's all day
I appreciate your feedback. I agree, my 2nd question is not phrased well. 
Any thoughts on how I can gauge if the CEO's overbearing? Outside of me clarifying their sales process, the only thing I can think of is just asking for feedback from the current reps. 
braintank
Politicker
3
Enterprise Account Executive
CEOs are always overbearing, that's why they're CEOs ;)
poweredbycaffeine
WR Lieutenant
4
☕️
Ha! As @braintank put it: CEOs that are leading sales are going to be overbearing as they are treating the sales process as their baby. Ask them if they jump on as many calls as possible, or if they provide reps with autonomy in the process.
MCP
Valued Contributor
1
Sales Director
It’s normal to have founder led sales for a while. Then when there’s enough of a sales team and / or when they can’t handle it anymore, they hire dedicated sales leadership.
TennisandSales
Politicker
1
Head Of Sales
I look at this as a huge opportunity! If you do well the CEO will see it, when the company grows you Would be in a great spot for advancement. But then again I’m an optimist haha
DungeonsNDemos
Big Shot
0
Rolling 20's all day
No, that's a very valid point
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