"hiring that great (first) vp of sales" at saastr annual 2016
TRANSCRIPT
BRENDON CASSIDYVPS HACKERRANK, TALKESK, ECHOSIGN, LINKEDIN
SAM BLONDVPS ZENEFITS
EMMANUELLE SKALAVPS INFLUITIVE
HOW TO HIRE A GREAT (FIRST) VP OF SALES
THE FIRST “VP SALES” PROBABLY HAS TO BE YOUYou Have to Sell It Yourself First. And Then Hire 2+ Reps.
The First “VP Sales” Probably Has to Be YouYou Have to Sell It Yourself First. And Then Hire 2+ Reps.
You You + 2 Reps Hire VP Sales
Hire ASAP Once you Have a Repeatable Process
• Before a repeatable process = exercise in frustration
• But just as importantly – if you wait even one month afteryou have Initial Traction – you are wasting time
• Wasted time = wasted leads & lost 2nd order revenue,delay in getting to Scale
TOO LATE IS—ALMOST—AS BAD AS TOO EARLY
Note Which One Comes Last
TOP 5 THINGS A SAAS VP OF SALES REALLY DOES
• #1 Recruiting the Team • You’re going to need a team,
and a good one. Quickly.
• Player-Coach sounds great — but at best, will be quickly obsolete as a role.
• #2 Backfilling and Helping His/Her Sales Team
• #3 Sales Tactics
• #4 Sales Strategy
• #5 Creating and Selling Deals Him/Herself
Source: Boston Search Group 2011 http://bit.ly/v2Sbgi
• A mediocre VPS is a cost center. Feels very expensive.
• But a Great VPS is Accretive
• Key: Great VPS Raises Revenue Per Lead
CHANGE YOUR THINKING: A GREAT VPS IS ACCRETIVE
WAYS YOUR VPS WILL INCREASE REVENUE PER LEAD
• Ask.
• Close.
• Hire.
• Sale.
• Position.
• Go Upmarket.
• Better.
• Fun.
For the Most $$$ Per Lead.
Closing is an Art – and a Science.
Better / Different Than You.
More Reps, More Quickly.
Give Prospects Right Context.
Drive to Highest Practical Deal Size
Great VPS Makes Your Product Better.
Great VPS Makes Your Product Better.
Hint: You Don’t Need New Prospects or Customers.
• Upgrade the Team to Proven Closers. ASAP.
• Get the Most Out of the Inherited Team – And Get Rid of the Ones That Aren’t Working.
• Get Outbound Going.
• Close Faster & Better.
• Know How to Compete and Win.
PLAYBOOK TO MATERIALLY INCREASE SALES IN 60-90 DAYS
• You Should Know Subjectively In Just a Few Months—Just 50% of The Way Through Your Average Sales Cycle
• Numbers Should Increase in 1 Sales Cycle—with Keen Focus on Revenue Per Lead
• First Few Hires Should be Clear Upgrades—and made quickly + seemingly effortlessly
HOW TO KNOW IF YOU’VE MADE A MISTAKE
The Costs of a Bad Hire▪ Leads Doubled in Year of Hell
▪ Yes, We Grew. But, Revenue Per Lead Declined.
▪ Whose Fault?
• Leads Doubled in Year of Hell
• Yes, We Grew. But, Revenue Per Lead Declined.
• Whose Fault?
THE COSTS OF A BAD HIRE
Hire Wrong, and You’re Set Back a Year
• A Bad Hire Can Be Far Worse Than No Hire at All—It’s True
• A Bad Hire Isn’t Just Hard Costs—It Involves Huge Soft Costs As Well
• A B-level VP Sales Hires a B-/C+ Team Under Him/Her
• Revenue Per Lead can actually go down dramatically
• Wastes Precious Leads, Wastes Time, Loss of Second-Order Revenue
• You’ll Lose a Year – At the Worst Possible Time • A Bad Hire is Often Made Just
as Things AreTaking Off
THE TOUGHEST HIRE OF ALL IN SAAS
YOUR VPS IS ALSO FEEDING SECOND-ORDER REVENUE
Wrong Hire = No Second Order Revenue, Not Just Suboptimal Sales That Year
• Hard to Get Stage Perfectly Right in Early Days
• Few Truly Scale Across > 1.5 Stages. Hence, Most SaaS Cos. End Up with Multiple VPS
DIFFERENT STAGES OF VPS. OFTEN, A DIFFERENT HIRE.
Hire ASAP Once you Have a Repeatable Process
• Sold at Next Year’s Target ACV – Controls for a Lot of Variables
• Sold at Next Revenue Stage (ARR)
• Similar Competitive Selling Background
• Outbound vs. Inbound Ratio
• First 3 People You’d Bring With You
• Less Important: Domain Expertise
KEY SCREENINGS FOR VPS
• It May Be Tempting to Hire a Placeholder VPS – especially if You Haven’t Done It Before
• But You’ll End Up With a Crummy Team, and Lost Opportunities.
• Start Early. Start Now.
SO, AS HARD AS IT IS—YOU CAN’T SETTLE
• Great Sales Teams Have Low Turnover—They Want to Stay Together
• Great Sales Teams Feed on Themselves
• Great Sales Teams Energize the Rest of the Company
• You Just Need a Great VPS to Bring it All Together
WHEN IT’S GOOD—IT’S REALLY GOOD