Sales Hacker

NOVEMBER 3, 2023

Nailing the interview process: Here’s one way to nail the interview process once the interview is landed: 1. Have the 1st interview. Interview them just as much as they interview you. Try to find a mutual connection who knows that initial interviewer and get someone to ping them with a note of support.

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Interviewing Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Underperforming Technical Team 87

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 19, 2024

and Lenny asked us to join his podcast to talk about building a sales team — from the perspective of a product-first founder or exec. It was a pretty strong conversation and we took a lot of our learnings over the years and focused on how to learn to do sales right if you come from a product-first background: It’s good.

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Sales Hiring Scale Sales Headcount 227

SaaStr

JANUARY 5, 2024

In the latest episode of CRO Confidential, host Sam Blond, partner at Founders Fund and former CRO at Brex, sits down with Ashley Kelly, VP of Global Sales Development at Rippling. For context – Ashley had previously helped Sam scale Brex’s outbound sales from $2M to over $300M in ARR as Senior Director of SDR.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Outbound Sales Team 227

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 2, 2023

So we’ve spent a ton of time over the years on SaaS talking about hiring a great VP of Sales. Not only because it really matters, but because hiring the wrong VP of Sales can set you back a year — or longer. So many VPs of Sales disagree with me here — at least at first when I make the point. Sales is hard.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales Interviewing 210

Kellblog

FEBRUARY 16, 2022

The other day a founder asked me about interviewing because a candidate had described me as “a great interviewer,” and she wanted to know why. I find interviewing and recruiting difficult, have made plenty of mistakes over the years, and the consequences of those mistakes are invariably painful.

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Sales Recruiting Interviewing Sales Hiring Finance 109

User Pilot

AUGUST 21, 2023

In this ultimate list of product manager interview questions, we have tried to simplify the process of hiring great product managers. Despite not being classed as a C-level position, product managers are often leading multidisciplinary initiatives that start with your developers and end with the sales team so confident leadership is a must.

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Interviewing Underperforming Technical Team Management Sales Hiring 98

SaaStr

AUGUST 29, 2023

So there’s a situation I see happening with many (not most, but many) SaaS companies as they build out the first management team: They hire a VP of Sales that doesn’t think much of the VP of Marketing. Does this always fail, when sales and marketing don’t really talk, and aren’t a team? So what do I do?

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Sales Hiring Marketing Sales Interviewing 191

SaaStr

OCTOBER 25, 2023

For part one of this Ask Me Anything session, Jason covers everything you need to know about hiring your first VP of Sales, what he really thinks about AI, what the future of lead generation in 2024 looks like, and much more. In this interview, David Sacks talks about how 70-80% of investor time is spent looking at AI.

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Scale Sales Hiring AI Sales Recruiting 220

SaaStr

MARCH 3, 2023

At SaaStr APAC 2023, Scott Pugh, VP of Sales at Figma, shared how to scale these two sales teams while building culture. Pugh’s strategy is simple, albeit not always easy: Recruitment — how to hire the best talent to scale your sales organization. A designated partner means lower rejection rates at the very first interview.

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Scale Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scaling 202

Sales Hacker

JANUARY 22, 2020

If you think sales is a simple job, I have a few hundred professional connections who would like a word with you. By mastering your sales interview questions. As a longtime recruiting leader, I’ve worked with countless hiring managers looking to fill sales roles , and I’ve had a firsthand look at their interview process.

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Sales Hiring Interviewing Underperforming Technical Team Sales Recruiting 76

SaaStr

APRIL 21, 2022

Yes, sometimes it’s OK to hire a VP of Sales that everyone loves. At least 9 times out of 10, if everyone on the team loves a VP of Sales, it’s the wrong hire. And this especially matters because I often see CEOs picking between 2 final VP of Sales candidates. Even if they were, how many hired a VP of Sales at your ACV before?

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Sales Hiring Scale Sales Interviewing 302

SaaStr

DECEMBER 1, 2023

Hiring a VP of Sales isn’t new, but the conversations have evolved as the world has. Jason has written about the cheat codes for hiring VPs of Sales since 2012 and realized it was worth a deeper dive. Jason has written about the cheat codes for hiring VPs of Sales since 2012 and realized it was worth a deeper dive.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Sales Interviewing 145

Sales Hacker

APRIL 21, 2020

When I first wrote this article, we were in a very different place, with unemployment at an all-time low and sales hiring a top priority. You’ll be able to download the interview scorecard template that I use with my clients. Can you ever be sure you’re hiring the right salesperson? Man oh man, how the world has changed so quickly!

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Sales Hiring Interviewing Sales Recruiting Underperforming Technical Team 94

SaaStr

JANUARY 12, 2022

When sales teams succeed, the company succeeds. But running a high-performing sales team isn’t an easy task. How can you ensure success within your sales organization in a way that scales with you? Define your ideal account executive profile and use that when interviewing potential reps.

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Scale Leadership Sales Hiring Sales 194

Sales Hacker

JUNE 17, 2020

According to statistics from our sales professional user base here at RepVue , only 46.7% of sales professionals globally are achieving quota. And it’s even fewer in software sales organizations. 6 Key Fit Factors When Hiring for Sales. How does the candidate’s sales methodology align with the vision of sales leadership?

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Sales Hiring Interviewing Sales Recruiting Sales 81

SaaStr

MAY 25, 2019

Inside Sales teams didn’t use to have products like Mixmax or Salesloft or Chorus or Gong. Below is a quick chart of a recent example of bringing in two 15+ year SaaS veterans into a start-up as VP of Sales and VP of Marketing. If nothing else, challenge yourself to interview several decade+ veterans for each open position.

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Interviewing Scale SaaS Construction 190

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 9, 2023

Dear SaaStr: What are some of the “ultimate sins” in marketing and sales and success in SaaS in the early stages? My list of some bad ones: Sales: Hiring any reps you wouldn’t buy from. Later, once you have a strong VP of Sales, it’s fine though. Your sales reps need to eat. A bit more here. Never works out.

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Sales Hiring Scale Startup Marketing 212

OpenView Labs

JULY 20, 2020

Interviewing is hard , and interviewing candidates for sales roles can be doubly so. Sales requires a mix of left- and right-brained qualities, and accurately evaluating a candidate’s skills is a challenge for hiring managers. Why is effective interviewing so important? Better interviewing = better sales teams.

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Interviewing Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Underperforming Technical Team 73

Sales Hacker

FEBRUARY 20, 2020

Success in sales requires the right skills and a competitive, driven, and personable nature. However, scoring a great sales role takes more than just being confident in your own skills and nature. Just as sales is its own animal in the professional ecosystem, the sales interview is its own unique beast.

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Sales Recruiting Interviewing Sales Hiring Sales 76

SaaStr

JULY 7, 2023

But the sale is much more complicated, and different, and to a very, very different buyer. You can interview. Too many sales and marketing and CS execs just think they will pick it up once they start. A sales rep, a marketer, that doesn’t truly get the product today? The problem? It was only about 30% true.

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Marketing Sales Interviewing Enterprise 209

SaaStr

MAY 9, 2021

The toughest hire of all is probably your VP of Sales. What are the right interview questions? What’s fair to expect from a VP of Sales, and what isn’t? The post The Ultimate Guide to Hiring a Great VP of Sales appeared first on SaaStr. What trade-offs should you make? When is too early to make the hire?

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Sales Hiring Sales Interviewing 258

FastSpring

APRIL 4, 2024

As an experienced sales and GTM leader, John Eitel has more than witnessed how product-led growth (PLG) has affected the tech and SaaS space in the last few years — he and his teams have been up close and personal with how PLG increased in popularity as a sales strategy. “I But really excited about this interview. Jump to video.

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Scale Sales Payment Methods Merchant Services 130

SaaStr

OCTOBER 10, 2023

On a sales front, how do you evolve past founder-led sales, or together with it, so that you can scale your organization? Founder-led sales can be an immense strength and rapidly become a limiting factor. PST, Laura Connell, Partner at Atomico, shares how to scale beyond founder-led sales on your path to Series B.

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Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Sales 185

Tom Tunguz

SEPTEMBER 8, 2022

That result alone should encourage rethinking of AE interviewing. It formed the basis for a career at HubSpot predicated on consistent quantitative analysis to scale the go-to-market, which he detailed in the Sales Acceleration Formula in 2015. I think it’s still one of the best books on how to repeatably scale sales teams.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Marketing 326

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 25, 2023

Jameson Yung, SVP of Sales at Gong, and Sam Blond, Partner at Founders Fund and previous CRO at Brex, share five tactical ways to get back to growing and hitting revenue targets. Set and reinforce them early — as early as interviews. Create/ track a leaderboard so i f someone is below average in sales, it’s objective.

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Sales Hiring Underperforming Technical Team Revenue Sales 184

SaaStr

JANUARY 6, 2021

Finding the perfect VP of Sales position can be daunting, especially in the middle of a global pandemic. Candidates need to find opportunities that not only fit their sales experience and stretch goals, but also companies that are coming out of the pandemic with momentum. Who is looking to hire a VP of Sales in January / Q1?

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Sales Hiring Scale Payment Solutions Payments 305

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.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Startup Sales 233

SaaStr

MARCH 22, 2022

This requires effort from your entire organization, and Handshake VP, Employer Partnerships Jessica Peluso outlines some changes that you can make to your brand, and your application, interview, and offer process that will help find the talent you are trying to attract and hire. Below is the transcript of Jessica’s session.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Sales 201

SaaStr

JANUARY 9, 2024

The other day I interviewed yet another other great AE who had recently become a Director of Sales. It’s time to get back to basics: A new VP of Sales has to carry a bag at first — and close customers themselves at first. I interviewed several seasons VPs of CS in the past 12 months that didn’t believe in this.

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Sales Hiring Interviewing Startup Customer Success 224

SaaStr

JUNE 27, 2020

A little while back we put together some of the top sales & marketing mistakes SaaS companies and founders make, especially in the early days. Sales: Hiring any reps you wouldn’t buy from yourself. Later, once you have a strong VP of Sales, it’s fine though. Your sales reps need to eat. Just do it! It will help.

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Sales Hiring Scale Startup Marketing 363

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 11, 2021

In SaaS, #1 most common misfire, with a bullet, is the VP/head of sales. It goes something like “You’ve Got to Get Past the Carcass of Your First VP of Sales” or “It’s The Second VP of Sales When You Really Start Selling” or variants thereof. Because in SaaS start-ups, it seems like the majority of first VP Sales fail.

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Sales Hiring Scale Sales Recruiting Sales 363

SaaStr

OCTOBER 30, 2021

I asked Aasif Osmany to share his learnings as a top-performing SMB VP of Sales, below. I sent cold emails and LinkedIn messages and ended up with nine interviews. From those nine interviews, I received four offers. Going into the interviews, I knew what I wanted out of a job– that part was simple.

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Scale Sales Hiring Sales SMB 243

Kellblog

AUGUST 24, 2021

I recently gave a presentation at SaaSBoomi , an India-based SaaS founder community, which was structured as an interview by Freshworks social media evangelist Jayadevan P K (aka, JPK). In the interview I answer the following questions: How do you look at ARR (Annual Recurring Revenue) and its relation to the valuation of a company?

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Interviewing Metrics Social Media SaaS 129

SaaStr

AUGUST 26, 2020

Founder-led sales generally stops scaling around $1m-$2m ARR. A sign to hire a real sales leader. Over the years at SaaStr we’ve talked a lot about hiring a great VP of Sales, when it works, when it does, and how it moves the needle. To stick with founder-led sales longer than most folks do, i.e. past $1.5m-$2m ARR or so.

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Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Sales 264

Nimble - Sales

FEBRUARY 21, 2019

The main goal of any interview is […]. The post Find the Best Candidate with These Sales Interview Questions appeared first on Nimble Blog. If you want to find the right person amidst a number of experienced applicants for the position you have, you have to know exactly what to look for.

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Interviewing Sales Business 69

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 17, 2020

Director+ of Sales at Slack / Zoom / DropBox / Pick Your Brand Name SaaS Company. Because it’s not ARR growth or even an IPO alone that determines if a VP of Sales him or herself is great. And there were probably 100+ RVPs of Sales at that point. It’s OK if your Director of Sales from BigSaaS Co never made VP at a BigSaaS Co.

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Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Sales Interviewing 283

SaaStr

MARCH 5, 2021

Flock Safety’s Founder and CEO, Garrett Langley, and its VP of Growth, Alex Latraverse, know a bit about sales. Enough to go from 0 to 100 sales reps in about 18 months — and they’re looking to be well beyond 100 by the end of this month. The three things that led to ramping up sales at Flock Safety were: Achieving product-market fit.

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Sales Recruiting Sales Hiring Scale Sales 164