Profile and Process for Hiring a Sales Leader

Key Insight

When hiring a sales leader, the primary objective is to install someone who can manage a handful of existing Account Executives (AEs) and Sales Development Representatives (SDRs), stabilize the team, and then facilitate its doubling, potentially multiple times. The ideal candidate is a 'hands-on tactical sales leader' who is currently managing a single sales team, such as 6 AEs, or a director overseeing a few teams, for example, an 8 person SMB AE team, a 4 person Mid-Market AE team, and a 6 person SDR team.

This tactical sales leader should ideally come from a 'scaled startup' operating in the same or a tangential space, demonstrating a similar sales motion and Average Selling Price. This means targeting companies that have scaled to dozens or low hundreds of sellers, rather than very large, established corporations. For instance, a new Business Intelligence company should seek leaders from companies like Looker, Mode, or Domo, rather than Tableau, SAP, or Oracle. Similarly, a new recruiting solution would benefit more from hiring a leader from Greenhouse, Lever, or Workable, as opposed to Oracle, Taleo, SAP, or SuccessFactors.

This is an 'extremely critical hire,' necessitating extensive 'reference and back channel reference' checks for all candidates reaching the final stages. Once the new sales leader is onboarded, the founder's role evolves from Sales Manager to 'Manager of the Sales Manager.' The founder's responsibility shifts to assisting the new leader in quickly assimilating the now well-documented sales process and effectively managing the team, ensuring their rapid success.