{"id":1596,"date":"2015-05-30T17:52:23","date_gmt":"2015-05-30T12:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.comblog\/start-up-sales-hiring-advice-peak-sales-recruiting-2\/"},"modified":"2021-12-10T19:41:16","modified_gmt":"2021-12-10T19:41:16","slug":"start-up-sales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/blog\/start-up-sales\/","title":{"rendered":"Start-Up Sales and Hiring Advice: Don&#8217;t Stop Selling"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-6035 size-large aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/media.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/conference-room-768441_1280-1-1024x682.jpg?strip=all\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/conference-room-768441_1280-1-1024x682.jpg?strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/media.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/conference-room-768441_1280-1-300x200.jpg?strip=all 300w, https:\/\/media.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/conference-room-768441_1280-1-250x167.jpg?strip=all 250w, https:\/\/media.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/conference-room-768441_1280-1.jpg?strip=all 1280w, https:\/\/media.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/conference-room-768441_1280-1-300x200@2x.jpg?strip=all 600w, https:\/\/media.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/conference-room-768441_1280-1-250x167@2x.jpg?strip=all 500w, https:\/\/media.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/conference-room-768441_1280-1.jpg?strip=all&amp;w=128 128w, https:\/\/media.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/conference-room-768441_1280-1.jpg?strip=all&amp;w=384 384w, https:\/\/media.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/conference-room-768441_1280-1.jpg?strip=all&amp;w=768 768w, https:\/\/media.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/conference-room-768441_1280-1.jpg?strip=all&amp;w=896 896w, https:\/\/media.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/conference-room-768441_1280-1.jpg?strip=all&amp;w=1152 1152w, https:\/\/media.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/conference-room-768441_1280-1.jpg?strip=all&amp;w=450 450w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>We are approached by many companies seeking to hire their first sales person. This is an exciting time for young companies and often it is excess demand that seemingly requires the addition of a new sales person.\u00a0In some cases, the founders are unable to effectively sell themselves and hope that hiring a new sales person will allow them to focus their time elsewhere. This is a grave mistake and we advise against hiring in these cases.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hiring The First Rep is Usually a Huge Gamble<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>First and foremost, in most start-up companies, sales is the most important aspect of success. Hiring a new sales person is a huge gamble, so why would a founder want to take this risk and assign this most important aspect of success to someone else?<\/p>\n<p>A fledgling company has no history of success that would dictate that the new sales person will be successful. Furthermore, customers dealing with a start-up, particularly if the offering is new, want to deal with company founders who know the offering intimately and can have meaningful conversations about the product benefits. \u00a0A founder has to accept the reality that a sales person in a start-up is like a boxer fighting with one arm tied behind his back.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So what if the sales person is not successful? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If the founders have effectively resigned from\u00a0the sales effort and placed all the responsibility on the new sales person, and that new sales person fails to sell at the required clip, the founders have no contingency sales efforts to support cash flow requirements. They also don\u2019t have the key customer relationships to pick up things if they are required to react quickly and jump back into the sales effort. Furthermore, the founders will not have been exposed to valuable feedback directly from customers on critical missing features and benefits in the product or service.<\/p>\n<p>Even if the founders do not consider themselves strong sales people, they are usually capable of generating sales and we always recommend that they stay very involved in the sales effort until at least the company has successfully launched.<\/p>\n<p>To your success!<\/p>\n<p>relpost-thumb-wrapper<\/p>\n<div class=\"relpost-thumb-wrapper\"><!-- filter-class --><\/p>\n<div class=\"relpost-thumb-container\">\n<h3>Related posts<\/h3>\n<div style=\"clear: both;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"clear: both;\"><\/div>\n<p><!-- relpost-block-container --><\/p>\n<div class=\"relpost-block-container\">\n<div class=\"relpost-custom-block-single\" style=\"width: 150px; height: 215px;\">\n<div class=\"relpost-block-single-image\" style=\"background: transparent url('https:\/\/g9d6c5a5.rocketcdn.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Motivate-Sales-Team-150x150.jpg') no-repeat scroll 0% 0%; width: 150px; height: 150px;\" role=\"img\" aria-label=\"Motivate Sales Team Checklist\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"relpost-block-single-text\" style=\"font-family: ProximaNova, sans-serif; ;  font-size: 15px; color: #6eba57;\">Motivate Your Sales Team in 2022: The 10 Point Checklist<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"relpost-custom-block-single\" style=\"width: 150px; height: 215px;\">\n<div class=\"relpost-block-single-image\" style=\"background: transparent url('https:\/\/g9d6c5a5.rocketcdn.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/culture-of-success-150x150.jpg') no-repeat scroll 0% 0%; width: 150px; height: 150px;\" role=\"img\" aria-label=\"Sales people cheering.\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"relpost-block-single-text\" style=\"font-family: ProximaNova, sans-serif; ;  font-size: 15px; color: #6eba57;\">8 Steps for Creating a Culture of Success in Sales<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"relpost-custom-block-single\" style=\"width: 150px; height: 215px;\">\n<div class=\"relpost-block-single-image\" style=\"background: transparent url('https:\/\/g9d6c5a5.rocketcdn.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/run-2-150x150.png') no-repeat scroll 0% 0%; width: 150px; height: 150px;\" role=\"img\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"relpost-block-single-text\" style=\"font-family: ProximaNova, sans-serif; ;  font-size: 15px; color: #6eba57;\">21 Ways to Make Your Top Sellers Quit<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- close relpost-block-container --><\/p>\n<div style=\"clear: both;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- close filter class --><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>close relpost-thumb-wrapper<\/p>\n<div class=\"abh_box abh_box_down abh_box_business\">\n<ul class=\"abh_tabs\">\n<li class=\"abh_about abh_active\"><a href=\"#abh_about\">About<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"abh_posts\"><a href=\"#abh_posts\">Latest Posts<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"abh_tab_content\">\n<section class=\"vcard abh_about_tab abh_tab\" style=\"display: block;\">\n<div class=\"abh_image\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"avatar avatar-80 photo\" src=\"https:\/\/media.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1cfb2152f763e6118839d97c16339339s80ampdmmamprg.png?strip=all\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1cfb2152f763e6118839d97c16339339s160ampdmmamprg.png 2x\" alt=\"\" width=\"80\" height=\"80\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"abh_social\">\n<div style=\"clear: both; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; width: 85px; margin: 0 0 2px auto; line-height: 20px;\">Connect:<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"abh_text\">\n<h3 class=\"fn name\"><a class=\"url\" href=\"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/author\/eliotburdett\/\">Eliot Burdett<\/a><\/h3>\n<div class=\"abh_job\"><span class=\"title\">CEO<\/span> at <span class=\"org\">Peak Sales Recruiting<\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"description note abh_description\">Before Peak, Eliot spent more than 20 years building and leading companies, where he took the lead in recruiting and managing high performance sales teams. He co-founded Ventrada Systems (mobile applications) and GlobalX (e-commerce software). He was also Vice President of Sales for PointShot Wireless.Eliot received his B. Comm. from Carleton University and has been honored as a Top 40 Under 40 Award winner.<\/p>\n<p>He co-authored Sales Recruiting 2.0, How to Find Top Performing Sales People, Fast and provides regular insights on sales team management and hiring on the Peak Sales Recruiting Blog.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"abh_posts_tab abh_tab\">\n<div class=\"abh_image\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"avatar avatar-80 photo\" src=\"https:\/\/media.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1cfb2152f763e6118839d97c16339339s80ampdmmamprg.png?strip=all\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/1cfb2152f763e6118839d97c16339339s160ampdmmamprg.png 2x\" alt=\"\" width=\"80\" height=\"80\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"abh_social\">\n<div style=\"clear: both; font-size: 12px; font-weight: normal; width: 85px; margin: 0 0 2px auto; line-height: 20px;\">Connect:<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"abh_text\">\n<h4>Latest posts by Eliot Burdett <span class=\"abh_allposts\">(<a href=\"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/author\/eliotburdett\/\">see all<\/a>)<\/span><\/h4>\n<div class=\"abh_description note\">\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/blog\/books-about-sales-management-and-sales-leadership\/\">20 Of Our Favorite Books About Sales Management and Sales Leadership<\/a> &#8211; October 20, 2023<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/blog\/how-to-make-progress-on-your-sales-goal-without-a-sales-leader\/\">How To Make Progress On Your Sales Goal Without A Sales Leader<\/a> &#8211; September 15, 2021<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/blog\/how-cmos-can-retain-talent-during-the-great-resignation\/\">Augment Your Recruiting Strategy During \u201cThe Great Resignation\u201d<\/a> &#8211; July 26, 2021<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We are approached by many companies seeking to hire their first sales person. This is an exciting time for young companies and often it is excess demand that seemingly requires the addition of a new sales person.\u00a0In some cases, the founders are unable to effectively sell themselves and hope that hiring a new sales person<\/p>\n<div><a class=\"text-primary mt-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/blog\/start-up-sales\/\">&#8230;continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;Start-Up Sales and Hiring Advice: Don&#8217;t Stop Selling&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"limit_modified_date":"1","last_modified_date":"2024-01-25T19:41:16","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sales-management"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-json\/\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1596"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-json\/\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-json\/\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-json\/\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-json\/\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-json\/\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1596\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-json\/\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-json\/\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/wp-json\/\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}