Don't hire salespeople until a mediocre rep can follow your playbook and close deals
Hiring talented salespeople before you have a documented, repeatable sales process wastes money and teaches you nothing about product-market fit. A great salesperson closing deals proves their skill, not that your product or sales process works. The right time to hire is when you have such a clear playbook that a mediocre (average skill level) sales rep can follow the documented steps and close deals. This proves the process is repeatable and not dependent on individual talent. Until then, founders should be closing deals themselves and documenting every step: how many calls it takes, who the stakeholders are at each level, what objections come up, how to handle them. Only hire sales when the process is paint-by-numbers simple.
When to use
When you're considering hiring your first salesperson or building a sales team. After you've closed a few deals yourself but before you have a documented process. When talented salespeople you hired aren't closing and you don't know why. For complex enterprise products where the sales cycle involves many stakeholders and steps. Before assuming 'we just need a great sales hire to unlock growth.'
Don't do this
Hiring a 'rockstar' salesperson early and expecting them to figure out how to sell your product. Using great sales talent as a substitute for understanding your sales process. Hiring salespeople before you (the founder) have closed deals and know what works. Expecting hired sales reps to build the playbook for you. Blaming the salesperson when they can't close instead of examining whether a repeatable process exists.
1 Founder Who Did This
Hired talented salespeople twice before having documented playbook—both times they couldn't close despite being 'incredible' and having experience. Yosef says: 'Don't hire until you have a repeatable process, until you're able to make a playbook where anyone coming afterwards will be able to easily repeat that process. Don't hire until you can bring a mediocre sales rep. Once you can bring a mediocre—you don't need a great sales rep. You need a mediocre sales rep that can make a sale. Because if you have a great salesperson, it doesn't mean you have a great product. It just means that you can bring someone to make a sale.'