Scaling AE team

Hey Sales Savages,


Looking for advice on scaling from 8 AEs to 16 in the course of two years.


Context is - privately held company looking to increase new ARR from 3 million (current) to 6 million (average deal size $10k ARR) in that two year period.


I know this is a blanket advice request but I want your advice on what you learned, what you prioritized, what worked, what didn't ... know that we already know some challenges and are working on sharpening our ramp period, promotion from business development, sales engineer scale, quotas, target market, etc.


Any and all help is appreciated - thanks!

👑 Sales Strategy
☁️ Software Tech
🧢 Sales Management
3
Rallier
Politicker
3
SDR Manager and Consultant
Develop a training plan BEFORE you hire AE's.  I keep seeing managers prioritize hiring and nothing else. AEs then come in, feel like they aren't set up for success and then leave
CuriousFox
WR Officer
0
🦊
Develop and make sure the training plan is actually executed. 
salesVP80
Opinionated
0
VP Sales
Do you see that execution overseen by management, sales enablement, ops or all of the above?
salesVP80
Opinionated
0
VP Sales
In your experience, are certain key areas not part of the training plan or that the training plan is just non-existent?
Salespreuner
Big Shot
0
Regional Sales Director
Training and ramping plan too with clear vision in place for new acquisition
yer_blues
Opinionated
2
Sales Director
1. Invest in technology to make them successful. Gong is great for both feedback as well as a repository of past calls. New hires can immediately listen to all calls of top performers and understand what it takes to be successful. Zoom/Sales Nav helps with prospecting.

2. Create a sales learning and development program with structured onboarding plans before you hire the new reps. 

3. Make sure leadership capacity is a consideration of this hiring blitz. If you overwork managers and they don't have the time to commit to coaching. You'll fail.

4. Make sure inbound lead flow can support the growth.

5. Doubling your salesforce is a big jump. Make sure territory planning and compensation plans are built to encourage high-performance and quota attainment. 
salesVP80
Opinionated
1
VP Sales
Great advice - thank you!  I will ask further questions after digesting your advice against our existing plans!
yer_blues
Opinionated
0
Sales Director
No problem. I’ve done this type of scale
at my biz a handful of times. From 4 to 65 in 4 years. Happy to help 
Salespreuner
Big Shot
0
Regional Sales Director
Splendid advice
Chep
WR Officer
0
Bitcoin Adoption Specialist
Make sure you have the old AEs run shadows for any new AEs. Best way to learn in my opinion
salesVP80
Opinionated
0
VP Sales
When you say run shadows, are you referring to tenured AE's be a wingman on live calls or the newer AEs shadowing tenured reps?
Chep
WR Officer
0
Bitcoin Adoption Specialist
The latter
salesVP80
Opinionated
0
VP Sales
Perfect - do you see this as a "sponging" portion of training or are there any action items required by new AEs after shadowing?  
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