Many small businesses fail in the first five years due to a lack of sales, if you do not choose a driven salesperson that is capable of consistently bringing in new customers and create a culture & reputation of your company as you want.

1. Startups: How to
hire your first
Salesperson

2. Many small businesses fail in the first five
years due to a lack of sales,
if you do not choose a driven salesperson that is
capable of consistently bringing in new customers
and create a culture & reputation of your company
as you want.

3. When is the time
for first sales
hire??

4. 1. You have
mastered your sales
process

5. Before expanding your sales team it is always
advisable that you should know your product first.

6. - Gain insights into your market.
- Listen to your customer requirements and
issues.
- Try out new tactics and strategies in order to
overcome the objections.

7. 2. You can
afford it

8. This is one factor that sometimes holds you back
from hiring a salesperson for your team.

9. You have to have a right plan of how much you’ll
be paying them, how much amount will be spent on
tools, training, etc.

10. If you are hiring a salesperson then you should
have all what it takes to be in order to make
sales and retain them.

11. 3. Ready to guide

12. No other employee can challenge you more than your
salesperson. They will put up questions on every
step: your product, marketing strategy, pricing
structure, etc.

13. You have to be present there in order to guide
them through the right path.
Since you have already gone through the same in
your initial stages and through your analysis
provide them with satisfactory answers and
complete guidance.

14. 4. Enough marketing
has been done

15. Really! But, why is marketing so important for
sales? Because it is the initial step where the
interested customers are brought in, which we
call lead generation.

16. Sales on the other hand is a process which
converts those interested customers into clients.
If your marketing is not up to the mark then it
will be difficult for your salesperson to sell
your product in a much efficient manner.

17. 5. Well aware of the
Target Group

18. It’s true that you should be aware of your target
audience when you start a company. But when you
start targeting them and get to talk to them you
get even more clear image of who all are exactly
your target group, are they directly or indirectly
related your product.

19. Do your research on your direct and indirect
competitors. Dig deep for solutions so that you
can overcome all the objections and rejections.

20. Quality traits of a
successful salesperson

21. 1. Hyper competitive & highly compassionate:
This type of salesperson maintains a parent
relationship with the prospect where they provide
the prospect with the best possible solution.

22. 2. Goal oriented:
Ask questions about goals and pay more attention
on how fast he/she responds.

23. Sometimes goal achieved track record shown on
paper does not always imply that the person is
goal oriented.
There are might be other factors which could have
been in his favor the whole time.

24. 3. Good listener:
They have to listen to the customer’s pain before
they start pitching your product/service.

25. Great sales people sell solutions to problems
and they do that by understanding and
listening to the customers.

26. 4. Timeliness and Dependability:
Check out candidates social media profiles like
LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. Mostly conversations
start when you post a job requirement on any
social media and interested candidates replies on
your post.

27. While checking out the candidates profile you
may gain a sense of their worthiness in terms
of timeliness and dependability.

28. 5. Ready to get out of the Comfort Zone:
Look out for a salesperson that can stretch
himself/herself to extremes. This is where the
real test begins. During an interview the
candidate will speak out all his / her rehearsed
answers but the real interview will begin when
you will push him out of his comfort zone.

29. Moving beyond the rehearsed answers will help you
in judging the person in a much better way! Keep
pressing the candidate and that will bring out
the “real me”.

30. Sales Hiring Mistakes

31. 1. Hiring someone you know:
This is the most common mistake a startup owner
does. Taking an interview of someone known on a
personal level makes it difficult for you to
accurately gauge their talents, skills and
abilities until you work with them.

32. Even if you hire them it will be difficult for
you to assert authority, clearly define their
responsibilities and evaluate their work in an
unbiased manner.

33. 2. Hiring a senior leader:
Directly hiring a senior leader or sales manager
is a bit risky.
-They are not in a practice of making sales and
closing deals. You need a person who can
immediately hop on to the boat and is ready to
sail.
-As soon as you hire a manager or leader, first
question they will be asking is where is my team
or assistant?

34. They have been working with a team in their
previous company so they are expecting the same
in here too. As you are still in the beginning
level of hiring your first lot, so you have no
team to give it to the leader or manager.

35. 3. Too much pressure on experience:
If you are hiring a salesperson your question
should not emphasize more on their working
experience. It is better to hire a candidate who
has less experience but more capabilities than
hiring a candidate with more experience but fewer
capabilities.

36. A person with more capabilities and different
ideas will be ready to jump into any idea to make
it a successful one.

37. 4. Do not avoid adaptability towards work:
Before hiring any candidate make sure that you
have already completed your homework of go-to
market strategy. It is not important that the
strategies that you used in your previous company
will be applicable as well as successful with
your product too.

38. The candidate that you will be hiring as a
salesperson should have the quality of adapting
to new strategies, environment, etc.

39. 5. Overlook the previous experience:
A person might be good at following the pitch,
blueprint, sales model, target model but might
not be good at creating the same.

40. Always keep an eye on that salesperson who can
work in a less structured environment and can
build a model, pitch, blueprint if asked to.

41. 6. Must have the knowledge of how to handle your
early bird prospects:
sometimes startup owners make a mistake in
choosing a pitcher salesperson over a consultant
salesperson. A consultant salesperson will be
good at consulting and building relationship with
your prospects and will retain that bond too.

42. On the other hand a pitcher salesperson will be
effective at closing deals, but will be terrible
in building and maintaining the relationship.

43. 7. Asking the wrong question:
asking same old questions will not help in
getting you the best salesperson, like
“Tell me about yourself”
“What was your role in your previous company”

44. These are the questions which have been well
rehearsed before coming for the interview. Ask
questions that will push him out of his comfort
zone.

45. 8. Taking candidates for granted:
Words like creative, relentless, resourceful,
etc. will be used to impress you. But it is your
job to separate fact from fiction.
Make sure you are aware of all the traits that
you want in your salesperson.

46. Craft some questions that guide candidates in
demonstrating what you are looking for. This will
help you see whether a candidate can live up to
those fancy words or not.

47. 9. Hiring too quickly:
Do not get impressed with the very first
candidate. At least interview 5 more candidates
so that you can compare and pick the best one
instead of picking up the very first person that
excites you.

48. Remember that early hires will play an important
role in the progress and success of your business
so you cannot afford to be reckless or not give
them the time and effort that they require.

49. Keep these mistakes in mind and remember to check
yourself during the hiring process.
If you feel that you are not close to finding the
right candidate, be sure to take a break from the
process and evaluate your hiring practices.

50. Happy Hiring!!