When it comes to hiring your first salesperson, steer clear of systems thinking. Systems thinking is hard for technical founders to abandon. They know that one-offs become debt. And that can be true in the Sales world as it is in Engineering. But there is hope! It comes in the form of another concept that technical founders can get behind: tradeoffs. It’s not that systems thinking is bad; it’s just less valuable than innate sales skill in the early days. Mark Suster’s post on Journeymen, Mavericks & Superstars is 14 years old and it’s still the clearest articulation I’ve read of these tradeoffs (graphic in this post stolen from his - link in first comment). It’s a short read and is excellent. TL;DR the salespeople who are more process-oriented and thrive in systems (the Journeymen) are typically less successful in small companies because they require management, marketing resources, deal teams, and so on. They’re less self-sufficient than the wheeling-and-dealing Mavericks. Superstars are great, and you want one to lead your team one day. But hiring one as your first salesperson is easier said than done. I had a conversation with a founder recently and asked if his company’s sole salesperson was a Journeyman or a Maverick. He said “Maverick, I think... He’s pretty good at...” I could tell from his tone that this person was not a Maverick. When people talk about Mavericks, they are effusive with praise. Their faces light up. They remember how great their interactions with that person felt. If I asked any given Mode team member who the most Maverick salesperson in Mode history was, I’m confident that nearly everyone would have the same answer, regardless of whether they worked with that particular salesperson or not. That’s how obvious it was. I’m leaving their name out intentionally to prove a point — or, rather, so that a Mode team member can mention them in the comments and prove my point. Which, to be clear, is that if you are not absolutely floored by your first salesperson’s natural ability to sell, then you are probably going to need to set up systems around them in order for them to succeed. The problem is that this just takes too much effort in the early days. Plus, it doesn’t make sense to invest a lot of effort and money into systems and collateral until you have a message that clearly resonates with your audience. Mavericks are the people who will think on their feet. They will sniff out the things that work consistently on their own. They clear the path so that others can follow. Not sure if your salesperson is a Maverick? Do like Jason M. Lemkin says and hire a second one and you’ll learn more about the reps themselves, and about how well your product resonates with the market.
Hunter Havens, right? :)
Derek Steer you need a Maverick or enough Mavericks to not only start your sales team, but also to reignite growth of sales when sales processes have stalled and aren't creating growth.. Sticking with what doesn't work is never a good look :D.
Bailey Douglass right? ;)
CEO & Cofounder, Superframe
1mohttps://bothsidesofthetable.com/journeymen-mavericks-superstars-understanding-salespeople-at-startups-182d9afe991e