Every business owner dreams of growing their business to the next level. When it comes to a startup, this often means finding and hiring sales reps to help you reach new heights. Finding the right salesperson to join your startup team can be daunting.
However, your startup must achieve sustainable growth and stay on the best path forward. With the right hire, you can expect a positive return on investment in increased sales and customer satisfaction. Before hiring a salesperson for your startup, consider the qualities and skills necessary for success.
While there’s never any guarantee, there are best practices for how to hire a salesperson for a startup company. If you’re a startup in Chicago and sales are becoming more than you can juggle alongside your other responsibilities, consider hiring your first salesperson. But when should you hire a good salesperson?
When is the Right Time to Hire a Sales Team?
Running a startup with limited resources and a tight budget is challenging. Knowing when to hire a sales team is crucial and can significantly impact the success of your startup. According to reports, approximately 40% of new businesses fail due to cash flow problems.
As a startup founder, cutting non-essential expenses is crucial, especially when your business is new. You must handle various tasks and responsibilities, from initial outreach to lead generation and closing deals. You might have to execute sales processes instead of hiring a new salesperson immediately.
This hard dose of reality shouldn’t discourage you — a successful startup requires dedication and intelligent decision-making. You don’t want to be in a situation where you’ve committed too much too soon.
You Know Your Buyer Personas
Do you know your business’s buyer personas? Are you well-informed about them? Buyer personas are made-up people that represent your potential customers based on actual research and data. Personas help you concentrate on potential leads, shape product and service development according to customers’ requirements, and synchronize organizational activities from marketing to your sales approach.
Buyer personas are critical for a successful business in any phase, especially in a startup where every decision counts. Your knowledge about buyer personas can accurately indicate whether your startup is ready to hire a salesperson. There’s a time in place for innovative techniques, but there’s no need to reinvent the wheel here.
You can find out your buyer personas by:
- Researching your competition
- Doing social listening
- Doing surveys and customer interviews
Knowing customers’ needs can help you decide which sales strategies to prioritize. Buyer personas are also crucial for determining who your sales force shouldn’t sell to, or what’s called a “negative buyer persona.” Buyer personas also help with lead generation.
Identify the Best leads for your startup
Lead generation is a crucial step in any sales process since it’s the first point of contact between the customer and your business. You identify the best leads for your startup through networking, social media campaigns, email campaigns, or SEO optimization. Without first knowing your buyer personas and having a good lead generation strategy, you can’t maximize the sales potential of a new hire.
Do you Have an MVP or Service?
No matter what you offer, you need a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) or service before adding a salesperson to your team. An MVP will give the sales rep something tangible to discuss and use to demonstrate how it solves customer pain points. It also helps the sales rep focus on selling instead of trying to explain the features and benefits of your product or service. Better sales increase customer satisfaction and the overall success of the sales team.
You’ve Established Standard Operating Procedures
A well-defined sales process is essential for successful sales teams; this includes your lead qualification process, sales pipelines, customer segmentation strategy, service delivery methods, and customer retention strategies. Established Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) can streamline the sales cycle and ensure a consistent customer experience. SOPs provide structure so sales reps know their roles and focus on closing deals instead of wasting time on administrative tasks.
Your Startup is Generating Revenue
Starting your business is undoubtedly exciting, but your business must generate revenue to achieve long-term success. Generally, a company can consider having early traction if it generates $10,000 of income per month per founder. At this stage, the founders can leave their regular jobs to focus entirely on the startup, which is crucial for the company’s success in the future.
However, hiring your first sales reps will require access to capital, and having a proven revenue stream will make it easier for you to secure funding; this also provides evidence that your startup is ready for growth. If you’re a startup in Chicago with entry sales jobs, consider compensation ranges for relevant sales positions for your area.
You Have Developed Training Materials for the Sales Process
Hiring a salesperson for a startup is not easy, but it’s unavoidable if you want to drive growth. However, ensure the person has the skills to succeed in any sales role. Training materials will help your new hire understand the sales process and develop sales skills like customer segmentation, product positioning, lead qualification, and negotiation techniques.
While training materials should have the above characteristics, these are the minimum requirements as they don’t address the unique needs of your sales strategy. Customize the training based on your company values, customer segmentation strategy, and sales roles. For better team management, provide clear instructions and recommended strategies to assist them in making their initial sales, particularly for the initial few hires.
Here’s What to Do Before Hiring Salespeople
After identifying the key indicators of when to hire a salesperson for your startup, you can focus on establishing a solid foundation before you bring them on board. Let’s discuss your startup’s current situational milestones and how to prioritize business development.
Have You Covered Enough Ground in Founder-Driven Sales?
Elon Musk says, “Every person in your company is a vector. Your progress is determined by the sum of all vectors.” So, you – the founder – should be your startup’s first vector of sales and other business development. By selling your product or service, you can test new customer acquisition channels, identify growth opportunities for the startup, and develop sales strategies.
Acknowledge how sales work in your industry
Understanding your startup’s sales process is necessary, but acknowledging how sales work in your industry is an even more critical aspect. If you’re selling products or services in a niche, understand the needs of your customers and competitors. Researching the different tactics used by your industry peers will give you an insight into how they have achieved success.
Developing a solid understanding of the dynamics within your industry will help you make better decisions when hiring sales reps. You can also use this understanding to create a structured process that works for both you and your ideal candidate.
Sell it Yourself: Understand the Selling Process
Founders don’t always want to be salespeople; however, they need the sales experience to genuinely appreciate solid customer acquisition and development strategies. To effectively hire salespeople, learn how to be a good salesperson. Your previous experience will help you identify issues your sales team might encounter; the experience can be valuable in improving your offerings.
Use the customers’ suggestions directly to develop better offers in the future. Once your startup has grown, consider hiring a team of professional salespeople. However, don’t rely solely on them to sell your products. By mastering the art of selling, you’ll be better positioned to support your employees in successfully sealing deals.
Recognize that Founder-driven sales have limits
As a sole founder, you have been involved in the sales process or delegated it to another founder. Although you may have acquired ten existing customers, relying solely on founder-led sales efforts will hinder growth. If you don’t enjoy sales, it can feel demotivating to work on increasing sales.
Sure, the beginning can be intellectually challenging, but you need someone genuinely excited by sales who can do the leg work for you. The reality is it’s a full-time job to go out and find customers. Hiring professional salespeople with the proper skill set can benefit your startup.
However, recognize that this will be a costly investment and requires rigorous sales recruiting efforts from your end.
Establish Work Arrangements
Establishing your startup’s work expectations will set the tone for the whole team, from recruitment to development. Discuss key aspects of your approach in the job ad, such as work hours, vacation policies, and performance expectations, with the sales team.
Can you clarify if the sales team will work on-site or remotely? How involved will you be in the sales process, and will there be a sales manager? When you are in the early stages of hiring a sales rep for your startup, you must have an orderly plan.
Determine Your Sales Goals
Your company’s sales goals aren’t a “decide-as-you-go” type scenario. To ensure clarity, you need to comprehend the responsibilities of a new sales employee in the company. Have you set revenue targets? Is the products’ selling strategy finalized? How much prospecting work is necessary? Once you have identified your goals, you can determine how many people you need to hire.
What’s Your Compensation Structure
Good sales representatives enjoy their jobs, but they enjoy being rewarded for their hard work more; your compensation structure should reflect this. Consider the following questions: What kind of bonuses or incentives should you offer? Are commission rates fair?
Answering these questions will help create attractive and sustainable compensation for your sales team. Typically, the best sales companies will use these strategies for hiring the right candidates:
- Hiring a full-time sales representative
- Finding a sales co-founder if it’s early enough
- Hiring commission-only sales reps
- Outsourcing to a sales and marketing firm
Now that you’ve covered all the foundational pieces start searching for the characteristics you need in a sales rep. Successful startups find salespeople with a solid, proven track record, someone passionate about what they are selling, and someone with exceptional communication skills. These basic qualifications make sense, but there’s more to it than that.
Ultimately, the person you choose should fit well with your expanding company culture and be able to learn and adapt to business processes quickly.
5 Tips for Hiring Your First Sales Reps for Your Startup
There’s an argument to be made for a founder-led sales structure, but if you can’t execute a growth strategy due to your daily operations, it indicates a warning sign. During the first few years of your business, you should experience a significant increase in growth. If you can’t anticipate substantial growth, take a break and discover what’s behind the lack of progress.
Would things change by hiring a new employee? To grow your company, you can’t habitually turn away clients; you need to market to potential revenue sources and promptly address customer complaints. Otherwise, it becomes a domino effect halting your company’s growth.
You can prevent all of this with the help of a new hire. Here are five tips to help you hire the right individual for your startup:
Establish Your Requirements for Hiring Sales Reps
While finding the right candidates and applying for jobs are two different parts of the same journey, employers and job-seekers know they will deal with many applications. Therefore, narrowing the search by understanding the attributes needed for the position is essential.
Knowing how many vacancies you need to fill and what qualifications your inside sales team needs won’t hurt either. To filter out unsuitable applicants, establish minimum and preferred qualifications for the position you are looking to fill. You need someone who is a self-starter, knows how to hit targets, and has a positive attitude toward the customer.
No matter your industry niche, your startup needs candidates with the following:
- Unique critical thinking about problem-solving
- Some humility and the ability to make mistakes gracefully
- A passionate sales representative that believes in the company
- Again, a cultural fit is important
Find a Sales rep that wants growth opportunities
If a job candidate prefers to always clock out at 5 PM or only wants to do tasks stated in their job description, they aren’t interested in professional growth, and a startup job won’t suit them. Early-stage companies seek individuals who are driven to innovate and willing to contribute to the company’s progress. They value proactive people who are always ready to lend a hand wherever needed.
One of the most valuable qualities that startup founders look for in an employee is the willingness to learn new skills to help the company. With that in mind, look for candidates open to learning new business practices and strategies. Yet, your ideal startup salesperson needs foundational sales expertise, right?
Does sales experience matter?
Is having industry-specific experience a necessity for your first sales hire? Some hiring managers prioritize that factor over other significant attributes and experiences. Just because a sales candidate has sold digital marketing software before doesn’t mean they can effectively market your digital marketing software.
Think of it this way: there’s a difference between selling a lead generation product and software to optimize business marketing operations. Give your sales talent bonus points if they understand the difference between selling a lead generation product to small business owners and enterprise clients.
Turn the Interview Process into a Sales Opportunity
Asking your potential sales reps to tell you their sales story during the interview process is a great way to understand how they work. Be bold and ask them to explain a complex sales situation they had to deal with and how they overcame it. The best way to see how they will perform on the job is by observing them in real life.
A skilled salesperson should be capable of articulating the methodology behind their actions and the reasons for their decisions. Ask your candidates to do a sales pitch for you and evaluate how they respond to customer questions. Take notes and observe their body language during the presentation.
Provide ample opportunity for them to ask you questions; their eagerness to learn more about the company is a significant deciding factor. Since your product is new and lacks brand recognition, the sales tactics used for well-known companies wouldn’t be effective. Your newly hired salespeople will have to experiment repeatedly; this is only possible if they clearly understand the concept.
Create a Repeatable Sales Hiring Process
Like a sales process, you must create a hiring process when bringing in new talent. A stable operation will give all candidates an equal opportunity, but your business must always adhere to your recruiting standards. Write down your hiring process and steps, from the job listing to onboarding new hires.
Create a comprehensive job description, and use this as the basis for your interview questions. Go beyond standard questions and explore each candidate’s sales vision. Evaluating them will identify whether their values align with your company’s, as this is an essential factor for any long-term, successful hire.
Sales Manager or Sales Candidate?
When creating a sales team, focus on finding individuals who will spend the majority of their time having sales conversations. At the initial stage, having sales managers is unnecessary. If someone has previous management experience on their resume, you could set their CV aside for now.
To make the sales department of your startup successful, you should target customers inclined to purchase your product while utilizing effective sales techniques to persuade them. Naturally, when recruiting sales reps, they should follow similar strategies. A startup company creates the perfect opportunity for salespeople who want to make an impact and aren’t necessarily only motivated by financial reward.
These salespeople usually want less invasive bureaucracy, more creative freedom, and the capability to think outside the box. While they may be less experienced, their enthusiasm for a company may be the key to unlocking success. Ultimately, focus on building an effective sales team.
Recruit Resourceful Sales Leaders
To expand a business, you require salespeople who can seal the deal. It may seem evident, but the best sales professionals have specific characteristics. Selling for a company like Dell, sales reps already have the resources to succeed. When it comes to a startup, a salesperson needs to show initiative and be able to work independently.
Yet, A-players will always match the business needs and have the desire to excel in their role. Internal motivation drives the best sales employees; they operate with integrity and develop customer relationships. Resourceful salespeople don’t blame others for their failure; they own their success and get it themselves. They work out how to make it happen because they know your job isn’t always to be their hypeman.
Where to Find Sales Professionals for Your Business
Hiring your first sales team may be overwhelming. However, once you have identified the characteristics you want in your ideal candidate, draft a job posting that will attract such individuals. Sales organizations rely heavily on hiring the right people, as the average salesperson turnover rate is 27%. That’s a percentage your startup can’t afford.
Hiring a successful sales professional is crucial to your company’s success. Finding your game-changing salesperson by:
- Using LinkedIn
- Hosting or going to networking events
- Niche job boards
- Use social media platforms
- Sales-specific recruiters and staffing agencies
You should work with a recruiter or staffing agency to assist you in screening and evaluating potential sales representatives.
Follow Up With a Promising Sales Hire Quickly
Whether you’re an employer or a job candidate, no one enjoys dealing with digital silence for long. If you’ve decided to hire a salesperson, inform promising candidates quickly. If a candidate performs well in an interview, notify them immediately. Communicate with them consistently to maintain their enthusiasm and interest in the company and the position.
Acknowledge that they made a good impression and provide details on what happens next. Let them know if that process includes more interviews or meetings and give a timeline. Also, mention that their feedback is vital to the recruitment process.
How Many Sales Reps Should You Hire for Your Startup?
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Each startup will have different needs and therefore require a unique approach when they hire salespeople. When recruiting salespeople for your startup, hiring the two best candidates reduces your business risk. Your chances of success go up substantially with two people.
Here’s why:
- Having two sales reps encourages friendly competition and can drive better results.
- Two reps offer a better chance of pipeline coverage, meaning more leads and opportunities for your business.
- Two team members can help each other by offering additional support and experience.
Ultimately, the most successful sales teams are those with the right mix of team members who share the same values. Startups focusing on developing a sales team with such qualities are more likely to achieve sustainable growth. With two great sales reps around, your startup is more likely to hit your sales budget, even if they are underperforming.
Wrapping It Up
Selling in a startup is challenging and requires focus on the right areas. It’s a decision that may present you with some sleepless nights, but the reward is worth it. Improving the hiring process will help attract excellent candidates to scale your startup and keep the momentum going. Although, keep in mind that the partnership decision is not solely your decision.
As a startup, you need top-quality, out-of-the-box recruiting strategies to hire the best sales reps to help you succeed. At Sales Recruiters Chicago, we understand that developing a shortlist of candidates for your startup can be time-consuming. As an experienced recruiting firm, we have the resources to find you top sales performers for your sales organization so you can focus on your core operations.
Our sales headhunting agency has access to an extensive network of sales professionals and resources in the Chicago area. We know what it takes to hire sales reps for startups and look forward to helping you with the process. Contact us today to learn how we can help you recruit a successful sales team.
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