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 321

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Sales 321

OpenView Labs

DECEMBER 16, 2019

So if scaling your sales organization is a priority in 2020, here are the things you need to be aware of to make sure you do so successfully. Marketing and candidate experience will be table stakes. That’s why building your brand within the marketplace will be the key to cutting through the competitiveness.

Sales Recruiting 53

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Trends 53

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 246

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Startup Sales 246

SaaStr

MAY 31, 2021

And age-ism is going to cut out some of the very, very best talent in the market. Still, an overall deep-dive on lessons learned the second and third time around: Not Easier : Recruiting – Not Easier. In the early days, especially as a first-time founder, I thought I could recruit anyone and everyone. Maybe more.

Sales Recruiting 312

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Branding 312

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. Corporate Marketing). You have a micro-brand.

Sales Hiring 363

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting Sales 363

Kellblog

JULY 17, 2022

What does our brand stand for? What promise does our brand make? These are some of the questions that quickly come up when thinking about branding. In general, I think branding is a potential marketing rathole for startups, particularly early-stage ones. Do want to build a brand? Brand promise.

Branding 132

Branding Startup Software Sales Recruiting 132

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. You must employ marketing strategies that work. One such marketing strategy is direct response marketing. What is Direct Response Marketing? Advantages of Direct Response Marketing.

Sales Recruiting 141

Sales Recruiting Marketing Social Media Branding 141

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 219

Scale Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales 219

Buffer Resources

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

The reality is that the best LinkedIn users are marketing machines. 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. What’s the true ROI?

Sales Recruiting 127

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Social Media 127

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 205

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Customer Success 205

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 258

Part-Time VPE Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale 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. Own product marketing. Own customer marketing (hopefully). Support and partner with sales. Own brand & brand positioning. And part of being a good marketer is … well, marketing yourself.

Sales Recruiting 266

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Branding Product Marketing 266

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 228

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Revenue 228

User Pilot

APRIL 19, 2024

Looking for the best way to do market research? From framing your initial question to extracting valuable customer insights, we’ll walk you through the lean market research process step-by-step. Get ready to empower your decisions with real-world market intelligence. Why should you do market research? The outcome?

Market Research 52

Market Research Sales Recruiting Marketing Underperforming Technical Team 52

Mucker Capital

NOVEMBER 8, 2023

In this Mucker Growth session, Rosabel Tao from Fire & Bridge delves into the critical field of startup positioning strategy and its crucial role in shaping enduring brands. Think of it as the rational Spock side of your business brain, defining the concise, fact-based narrative, while branding embodies the emotive Captain Kirk side.

Branding 98

Branding Startup Development Strategy 98

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

Dig deeper on a lot of titles during recruiting. A "VP of Product Marketing" rarely knows anything about demand gen, ABM, etc. 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. But never a sales team. .

Sales Hiring 267

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Growth Hacking Product Marketing 267

Sales Hacker

DECEMBER 5, 2023

Writer is an AI writing tool that helps teams write in the same tone and style so that all of the company’s communications are consistent and representative of the brand. Writer has one of the best marketing teams and has spread like wildfire with customers, including Spotify, HubSpot, L’Oreal, Accenture, and many more.

Sales Recruiting 93

Sales Recruiting Enterprise AI Banking 93

SaaStr

JULY 29, 2021

Someone great at something core you aren’t: Sales, Engineering, Marketing. Great at sales. Great at marketing. 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. Hire a great marketer early. A bit more here. More here.

Sales Hiring 300

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Interviewing Engineering 300

Incredo

MARCH 11, 2020

Associations face a unique challenge in marketing, in that they have to cater to a very specific audience and ensure they’re going to become long term members. And each association has different challenges to begin with, so traditional marketing strategies won’t work very effectively either.

Strategy 257

Strategy Social Media Sales Recruiting Marketing 257

FastSpring

SEPTEMBER 15, 2020

Affiliate marketing can mean different things to different people, but at its core, it refers to paid marketing that is based on trackable performance. When there is a good fit, and affiliate marketing is used effectively, it can provide a healthy boost to sales and marketing activities, but how can you tell if it is right for you?

Sales Recruiting 115

Sales Recruiting Marketing Social Media Software Review 115

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 310

Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting Compensation 310

Neil Patel

SEPTEMBER 3, 2021

Experts believe as much as 80 percent of recruiting will remain virtual for the foreseeable future , and the early stages of the recruitment process are ideal for the online medium. With Paradox, you get a mobile-first recruitment experience that uses AI to put the candidate first. Develop a Marketing Plan. Social Media.

Sales Recruiting 138

Sales Recruiting Social Media Sales Hiring Marketing 138

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 294

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Scaling 294

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 206

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Investment Acquisition 206

Tom Tunguz

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

As you start to go to market, there are two things to prioritize from early customers that matter more than cash. Feedback and marketing rights. Every prospect championing a software purchase will be asked by the opponents of the sale and decision-makers : “Who else is using the software? The second may not be so obvious.

Sales Recruiting 208

Sales Recruiting Banking Branding Software 208

Tom Tunguz

JUNE 11, 2020

Recently, we welcomed Hollie Wegman to SaaS Office Hours to talk about marketing to developers. During our chat, Hollie shared some valuable wisdom from her experience as a marketing leader at Segment, Envoy, Mulesoft, and Salesforce. A recruiter in the audience submitted a question often discussed in startup boardrooms.

Sales Hiring 248

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Product Marketing Acquisition 248

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. You can have the great product and a great team, but the market of small or very niche.

Sales Recruiting 242

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale VP of Engineering 242

User Pilot

NOVEMBER 30, 2023

How do product managers identify market gaps? TL;DR Market gaps are the disparities between what customers need and want , and what the market can deliver. A market gap can be caused by missing functionality or poor user experience. A market gap can be caused by missing functionality or poor user experience.

Underperforming Technical Team 105

Underperforming Technical Team Marketing Market Research Outsourced Development 105

Sales Hacker

AUGUST 7, 2020

Fortunately, more organizers than ever before are consciously seeking out female sales experts for panels, presentations, and podcasts. At Sales Hacker, we’re serious about diversity, and for that reason, we’ve compiled a list of 530+ female sales experts to consider for your next event. Sales Development. Sales Growth.

VP of Engineering 121

VP of Engineering Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Payment Services 121

Tom Tunguz

NOVEMBER 9, 2019

The most frequent mishire in startups is the first head of marketing. Many different disciplines fall under marketing’s purview. The question facing founders recruiting marketers is: which is the most important to prioritize? Each of these kinds of marketers have critical skills for a startup. Why is this?

Scale 216

Scale Startup Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring 216

Andreessen Horowitz

OCTOBER 16, 2023

One of the toughest challenges for founders — and especially technical founders who are used to focusing so much on product features over sales — is striking “product-market fit”. What does this mean for product design and product management? Today’s episode continues our enterprise go-to-market podcast series.

Product Marketing 81

Product Marketing Scale Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting 81

Sales Hacker

NOVEMBER 17, 2022

If you’re looking to move up the ladder into a sales leadership role, your resume is key to getting your foot in the door. Related: 8 High-Paying Sales Jobs (And How to Get Them). In most cases, I prefer having these basic sections: Branding Title. Related: Secrets to Acing the Sales Interview: Tips From a Recruiting Leader.

Leadership 76

Leadership Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Sales 76

Sales Hacker

DECEMBER 8, 2023

Rather, how you go-to-market is a significant determinant of success. Instead, how you launch them into the market is a huge factor in success. Today, we’re diving straight into the details with product marketing leaders. The greatest technology does not always win. Frame solutions, rather than features alone. Show, don’t tell.

Sales Recruiting 99

Sales Recruiting Generative AI AI AWS 99

Neil Patel

OCTOBER 25, 2020

If you are looking to scale up your marketing, you will need talented people that can take charge of and execute your strategy. But should you build your own in-house marketing team or hire an agency partner? The Benefits of Working With a Digital Marketing Agency. The Benefits of Working With a Digital Marketing Agency.

Sales Hiring 145

Sales Hiring Outsourcing Services Underperforming Technical Team Sales Recruiting 145

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 168

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Sales 168

Sales Hacker

MARCH 30, 2023

If you’re new to sales (or don’t have an economics degree), decoding the sales compensation plan on offer can make your head spin. There are 3 key questions you must ask your hiring manager or recruiter when offered a sales role to maximize your earnings and career potential. Variable OTE. Quota attainment.

Compensation 74

Compensation Underperforming Technical Team Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring 74

Buffer Resources

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023

The reality is that the best LinkedIn users are marketing machines. 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. What’s the true ROI?

Sales Recruiting 52

Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Social Media 52