SaaStr

AUGUST 28, 2020

I know we’ve hit a number of these points individually before on SaaStr, but after getting asked about the top mistakes hiring your first sales team so many times over the years, I thought it would be worthwhile to assemble a Top 10 List. Yes, you may be terrible at sales. It’s sales, after all. Here’s my Top 10 list: #1.

Sales Hiring 323

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Sales 323

SaaStr

MAY 29, 2022

So we’ve talked so much over the years on SaaStr on how to hire a great VP of Sales, the difference they’ll make, and how the level-up comes quickly. And VPs of Sales do, too. Don’t hire a VP of Sales that isn’t truly comfortable selling to your buyer persona, especially in B2D and fintech. Be careful.

Sales Hiring 258

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Startup Sales 258

SaaStr

APRIL 16, 2021

Just make sure at least 50% of their energy goes into promoting the company, and not just their personal brand. Support and partner with sales. Own brand & brand positioning. Having a CMO that is present, that is visible, is great for recruiting and much more. CMO is a tough job. The half-life is short.

Sales Recruiting 278

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Branding Product Marketing 278

SaaStr

MAY 31, 2021

Still, an overall deep-dive on lessons learned the second and third time around: Not Easier : Recruiting – Not Easier. You might think after (goodness) the best part of 20 years of working in tech, 18 as an executive or CEO, and 13 as a founder … I’d be pretty good at recruiting at this point. Brand, Brand, Brand.

Sales Recruiting 325

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Branding 325

Buffer Resources

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

This is your street credibility and personal brand all rolled into one. Thanks to that hard work and consistency, I've established a personal brand grounded in credibility and respect, and grown my follower count to 45,000. The reality is that the best LinkedIn users are marketing machines. The ROI is insane.

Sales Recruiting 127

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Social Media 127

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 25, 2021

Ah the VP of Sales. The first post is What a Great VP of Sales Actually Does. The second post is a script for you to use (and modify as you see fit) – 10 Great Questions to Ask a VP Sales Candidate. Just so you know, there are 48 Different Types of VP Sales. You have a micro-brand. The toughest hire.

Sales Hiring 363

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting Sales 363

SaaStr

MARCH 7, 2021

I thought it would be worth drilling down deeper into each of them, and sharing the learnings and mistakes: 1/ Spending less time fixing things, more time recruiting senior folks to own them. No one spends enough time recruiting as it is, after $1m ARR or so. Yes, you can manage the sales team yourself. You can do this.

Part-Time VPE 268

Part-Time VPE Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale 268

SaaStr

MARCH 25, 2023

So one recent survey we did really brought out a healthy debate: does your VP of Sales really need to be a product expert? Many of the comments said it was more important a VP of Sales understand process and leadership more than the product itself. They often melt. I say, you just gotta know the product. Not just with buzzwords.

Scale 231

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales 231

SaaStr

JUNE 24, 2022

Your best sales reps can close so much more than your average rep. Move the bottom 10% out and give the best leads to your top performer, and watch sales go up 20%. The best VPs of Sales design comp plans so the team never wants to leave. You should be striving for zero voluntary attrition on your sales team.

Sales Recruiting 217

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Customer Success 217

SaaStr

MAY 6, 2021

A CRO owns and directs the strategy over a company’s revenue cycle, but there’s not a set standard for operational or management decisions: in addition to sales and sales development, they might be responsible for customer success, lead generation and pipelines, and even marketing and brand development.

Sales Hiring 241

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Revenue 241

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

Dig deeper on a lot of titles during recruiting. A "VP of Revenue" often knows nothing about inside sales or building a sales team. A "CRO" often doesn't want to do sales anymore. Corporate Marketers know how to expand your brand. A “VP of Revenue” for a VP of Sales job.

Sales Hiring 280

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Growth Hacking Product Marketing 280

SaaStr

JULY 29, 2021

Someone great at something core you aren’t: Sales, Engineering, Marketing. Great at sales. If you hire someone to do the first sales, you’ll never understand it yourself. When you go to hire your first sales rep, hire 2. 50% of the job for a VP is recruiting. At least, not until you have a brand. More here.

Sales Hiring 300

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Engineering 300

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 5, 2020

The companies that create the SVPs you’ll need, especially in Sales and Marketing, are still mostly based in the SF Bay Area. Just in the past few weeks, 3 top, brand-name CMOs I know joined $10m+ ARR start-ups HQ’d in Berlin, in Atlanta, and in Colorado. With SMBs, you can hack it a bit more. are all here.

Sales Hiring 307

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Scaling 307

SaaStr

AUGUST 7, 2020

A few factors that contribute to high-performing sales teams: High quota attainment. The best startups invest in their sales teams and work hard so most of the reps hit and exceed quota. Turning over a sales team is very hard on the organization. A great VP of Sales is worth her weight in gold. They have low attrition.

Sales Hiring 323

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting Compensation 323

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

They have a good incentive to recruit almost as hard as you do, and network a lot to help you. A true brand name VC on your board or cap table can help attract top VPs and other candidates. Everyone is attracted to brands. They get better at this the longer they work with you. A Few Good Hires / Potential Hires. That can help.

Sales Hiring 216

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Investment Acquisition 216

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 25, 2020

379: From how many reps to hire, to compensation models, here are the top 10 mistakes founders make when hiring their first sales teams and how to avoid them. Announcer: In today’s SaaStr Insider, SaaStr CEO and founder, Jason Lemkin, shared the top 10 mistakes founders make when hiring their first sales team.

Sales Hiring 178

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Sales 178

Buffer Resources

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

This is your street credibility and personal brand all rolled into one. Thanks to that hard work and consistency, I've established a personal brand grounded in credibility and respect, and grown my follower count to 45,000. The reality is that the best LinkedIn users are marketing machines. The ROI is insane.

Sales Recruiting 52

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Social Media 52

SaaStr

JULY 25, 2021

They talked about product adoption, sales alignment, freemium models and lessons they have learned throughout their successful SaaS careers. As two CEO who love the art of sales and scaling, this one really was special. Recruiting is easier, but the things that don’t change are customers don’t care.

Sales Recruiting 249

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale VP of Engineering 249

Totango

MARCH 15, 2022

Your human resources practices, your project management procedures and your technology strategy all need to come together in order for you to scale up without overextending yourself. In this blog, we’ll show you how to scale customer success team pursuits without slipping into some of the most common pitfalls.

Sales Recruiting 95

Sales Recruiting Customer Success Sales Hiring Scaling 95

Neil Patel

FEBRUARY 17, 2021

With the competition for customers becoming stiffer by the day, brands have to be savvy about the way they do their marketing. The required action can be anything from reading a blog post to downloading a resource or making a purchase. Make sure they align with your brand. You must employ marketing strategies that work.

Sales Recruiting 141

Sales Recruiting Marketing Social Media Branding 141

Buffer Resources

JANUARY 18, 2024

" Here’s everything you need to know about using LinkedIn Premium to build your personal brand , increase engagement, and grow your following.  The more expensive plans are targeted at salespeople and recruiters.    This screenshot from my upgrade section in LinkedIn breaks it down really well.   Yes!

Technical Review 103

Technical Review Systems Review Sales Recruiting AI Search 103

FastSpring

SEPTEMBER 15, 2020

This differs from traditional marketing in that instead of pre-paying for ad space or content, advertisers and individuals promote your products in exchange for commissions on sales they drive or other trackable activities like lead generation or trial downloads. Stay on Target. Building a Healthy Affiliate Program.

Sales Recruiting 123

Sales Recruiting Marketing Social Media Software Review 123

Totango

MARCH 19, 2021

The traditional customer journey infographic envisioned the customer’s experience from a sales and marketing standpoint, visualizing a funnel marking the steps from a lead acquisition through a sale, also known as the buyer’s journey. A prospect may also encounter your brand through word-of-mouth or a customer referral.

Sales Recruiting 124

Sales Recruiting Onboarding Branding Retention 124

Incredo

MARCH 11, 2020

Having a CMS for your website is useful because once it’s setup, even tech novices can use it to update website content, post blogs, add images and so on. Of course, consult with your staff before choosing a CMS. HOW TO ALIGN SALES AND MARKETING TEAMS TO ACHIEVE TOTAL BUYER ENGAGEMENT. DOWNLOAD YOUR E-BOOK.

Strategy 257

Strategy Social Media Sales Recruiting Marketing 257

Incredo

NOVEMBER 21, 2019

Affiliate partners write and distribute copies, create videos or blog posts, introduce the software, direct users to software company’s landing page. If sounds like this topic can help you generate more SaaS sales with less risk, we are starting! We provide sales copy, banners, keywords, etc. 5) Everyone minds his own business.

SaaS Payments 139

SaaS Payments Payment Methods Merchant Services Sales Recruiting 139

ChurnZero

NOVEMBER 29, 2022

At the time, I was a sales engineer, and my job was to close deals and move on to the next prospect. However, I found there were two flaws in our customer management process. After getting slapped on the wrist a few times for my after-sales support, I knew things had to change. We had presales, and we had post-sales.

Customer Success 98

Customer Success Sales Recruiting Technical Review Compensation 98

SaaStr

JUNE 4, 2019

I actually worked in sales for five and a half years and that’s probably why I have tended to gravitate to B2B marketing. Worked as an AE and then a sales manager. Decided to go to business school, did that for a little bit and then came out in management consulting, a company. So, they’re a B2B piece.

Sales Recruiting 171

Sales Recruiting Scale Underperforming Technical Team Pricing 171

Buffer Resources

JANUARY 18, 2024

" Here’s everything you need to know about using LinkedIn Premium to build your personal brand , increase engagement, and grow your following.  The more expensive plans are targeted at salespeople and recruiters.    Here's a look at the biggest differences between the plans.   Yes!

Technical Review 62

Technical Review Systems Review Sales Recruiting AI Search 62

Totango

OCTOBER 20, 2022

In some companies, customer success managers may play an active role in the sales process, helping sales representatives elicit customer goals and persuade buyers of product benefits. At other companies, CS managers may be assigned to follow up on sales during the customer onboarding phase. Persuasion Skills.

Sales Hiring 90

Sales Hiring Customer Success Sales Recruiting Technical Review 90

OpenView Labs

APRIL 14, 2021

In this blog post, Steve shares how to widen your talent pool, identify sneaky red flags founders commonly overlook, and foster a more diverse C-suite. For every qualified candidate, there are myriad recruiters trying to snatch them up. Recruiters are fighting for a coveted slice of your time.

Sales Hiring 55

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Technical Review Technical Advisors 55

SaaStr

JULY 9, 2019

Giraffe is a mobile job matching platform that helps medium skilled workers get access to opportunities and helps businesses to recruit staff faster, and easier, and more affordably than any other way. Well, you have to build a direct sales force. We said, “How important is Giraffe to you in your recruitment process?”

Scale 162

Scale Sales Recruiting Scaling SaaS Payments 162

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 27, 2019

As for Ryan, prior to G2 he was Senior Director of Global Marketing at Hubspot where among many other achievements, he scaled HubSpot’s marketing-generated sales revenue by 330% year-over-year. What type of CMO would Ryan bucket himself as; demand gen or brand? How does Ryan think about the relationship between the two?

Sales Hiring 131

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Software Review 131

Neil Patel

DECEMBER 23, 2020

NLP software helps by analyzing social posts, reviews, and user-generated content related to your brand. Sentiment analysis tools are powered by one of the following three types of algorithms: Rule-based: These use a set of manually determined rules to automatically predict the sentiment of a given social mention, review, blog post, etc.

Artificial Intelligence 145

Artificial Intelligence AI Search Scale Marketing 145

Chart Mogul

FEBRUARY 25, 2021

Thanks to our community of early adopters, they write in a blog post. But creating a genuine community can be orders of magnitude more valuable than other growth channels: people getting value from each other, and coming back every day because they want to, rather than being retargeted, creates a priceless brand association.

Sales Recruiting 80

Sales Recruiting Scale SaaS Branding 80

Intercom, Inc.

SEPTEMBER 7, 2018

Volume and capacity are always top of mind for sales, support and marketing teams. For sales and support, the volume of prospects and customers they handle, and their capacity to scale up that volume, is the reason they are so focused on efficiency and output. Accelerated sales cycles. Performance-enhancing apps.

Scale 123

Scale Sales Recruiting Business Branding 123

SaaStr

JULY 12, 2022

One of the first what How to Hire a Great VP of Sales at the New York Enterprise Tech Meet-Up (thank you to John Lehr and Work-Bench for setting this up). The Number One Thing You Can Do to Accelerate Your Business Post-Initial Traction is Hiring a Great VP of Sales. I don’t know anything about sales. More power to you.

Sales Hiring 261

Sales Hiring Part-Time VPE VP of Engineering Sales Recruiting 261

User Pilot

JULY 9, 2023

User experience covers all customer interactions with the brand and focuses on aspects like customer satisfaction, enjoyment, and perception of the product value. User experience, on the other hand, is a wider term describing the emotional aspect users feel during all interactions with the brand. Modal recruiting test participants.

User Experience 90

User Experience Sales Recruiting Scale Interviewing 90