Note to Founders: if you treat your sales team like 2nd class employees, you will attract 2nd class employees...
This article is a LinkedIn post that went (somewhat) viral in a Sales Community Group - giving strong social proof that the sales community agrees.
How not to hire a Salesperson - hope you enjoy!
How not to hire a Salesperson
Sadly, there seems to be a global toxic culture that goes with hiring and managing sales teams.
We expect 150% results, and offer 0% support - this will never attract the right people.
🤔You would never be caught dead putting phrases like this on a PD for a Developer, a Product Manager, a Data Analyst, A Finance Manager - so why is it acceptable for salespeople?
Having been on both sides of this hiring process and seen this play out many times - the 2 phrases in this image are painfully common in PDs.
A word of warning to those hiring - when any decent sales person see's statements like these, they think a couple things:
⚠️ This company doesn't know what they are doing, and I'll have to come figure it out for them (and by 'it' we mean the company's success... no thanks).
⚠️ I will not be supported in this role as I am apparently a "hunter"
⚠️ There are no existing processes in place (and previous success was probably luck), so I'll need to pull money out of thin air... and lots of it... 🙄
💡A strong word of advice - when the priority for 99.99% of #startups is 'more growth/revenue', and you find someone who says they can come on board and create this from scratch, they will either:
(a) Expect far more than a standard salary
(i.e. if they have what 99.99% of companies want, they won't come cheap) or,
(b) Be lying.
(and it will take 6-12 months of wasted time to find out).
🔴Important note: People who are able to independently generate scalable revenue, don't like to work for others. ❗Why do all the work for 10% compensation, when I can do it themselves for 100%❗
Most long term successful sales people tend to eventually open their own companies.
So in saying all this, my advice when hiring / building a sales team would be to:
➡️ Treat it like hiring any other role - with respect and as part of the team.
➡️ Stop leading with expectations and demands - attract good talent and invest in them, as they will invest in you.
➡️ Finding junior sales staff who want to eventually own their own company one day is a 🟩green flag - give them a training ground and you will see results.
➡️ Make sure you can sell your product first - it will give you something to measure their performance against, in a realistic/respectable manner.