Dustin Beaudoin’s Post

Does founder-led sales stop when you make your first sales hire? ❌ Nope This hire works with you. They don't replace you. Founders must lead sales at this stage. ✅ Start with 2 account executives This gives you redundancy The ability to A/B test ✅ Document, document, document Yes, things are still fluid But keeping a playbook, even a very flawed one, at this stage is helpful ✅ Do not hire a VP or CRO titled individual Remember you are still the sales leader Hire for flexibility, self-sufficiency, a doer ✅ Have patience and faith This is not easy or quick to figure out But, it is possible Joe Fontana 🐘 thanks for sharing your experience and perspective on founder-led sales. ……………………………………………… 🔔 ring to follow me here: https://bit.ly/3yvY3p7 ♻️ repost if you found this useful 📈 DM me "Founder-Led Sales" for more tips

Hiring salespeople without written sales processes in place, is like flying a plane without instruments. Good chance they won't get off the ground. Here's why ⬇️ Without a clear WRITTEN sales processes, your salespeople won't know that they're following an already-proven success model. Your sales team needs consistency, so you can scale your efforts. Without direction, your team will flail and be all over the place. Founders, here's 3 initial steps to take (and yes, this process needs your fingerprints all over it): 1. Define a written process that aligns your team with YOUR specific goals and experience selling to your customers. Your salespeople will be more effective when they know the steps that lead to sales. 2. Make it crystal clear: A good sales process helps avoid misunderstandings that slow down deals. Start with too much detail then cut where needed. 3. Your sales processes must be there from day one, during onboarding. Your goal is to get salespeople as productive as soon as possible. Guessing what to do next, means every new hire starts from scratch. Put these initial 3 steps in place, and your plane will not only get off the ground, you'll enjoy the flight. What else would you do to help founders get their teams flying in the right direction? ============= Sales not where you want?📉 You're processes not delivering?😒  I know how to get results for both.💰  Book an introductory call, then you be the judge.👩🏼⚖️

I can always tell when someone is hiring sales people for the first time. They typically make 3 rookie mistakes: 1) Hiring a VP as their First Salesperson Good VPs want to build teams, manage them, set strategy, and help with the most important deals. Good VPs DO NOT want to do the dirty out bounding, follow-ups, contract redlines, etc…that come with early stage sales. If you need help building some operations or strategy, then hire a good sales consultant. They’re going to help you avoid some very costly mistakes. And make sure your first hire is a full cycle AE that can prospect and close. 2) Complicated Commission Plans I’ve built dozens of sales compensation plans. I used to worry about every scenario…how do I protect the company? How do I protect the reps? The plans got complex. It cost the company company countless hours of expensive time trying to calculate every detail and manage the one off scenarios with the team. Don’t do this. Instead, keep it simple. - Your first plans should not include escalators, just flat rates For SDRs specifically: - Start with a commission for each meeting held and try to add a commission for each deal closed (if you can) - In the beginning, don’t penalize them for bad meetings set, but monitor it closely. Eventually you can add variable that measures the % of their meetings set that AEs mark as Sales Qualified Opps 3) Missing Obvious Red Flags in the Hiring Process A bad first hire will cost your executives a lot of time and a lot of actual money for the company. At a bare minimum, your first hires should be excellent with the small details around communication — good formatting, proactive, professional. You’re hiring sales because you need to get it off your plate. So while you’re juggling everything else, you don’t have time to train someone on the fundamentals of client communication. How they communicate with you during the interview process is a reflection of how they communicate with customers. Even if the candidate has good logos on their resume, don’t drop your standards on communication. The reason this is top of mind? We've been hiring a bunch of overseas SDRs for our clients and I've been having these exact conversations with founders and early stage managers.

A big slip up I see recruiting companies make that costs Ms in revenue: Poor sales metrics tracking. When I ask a company "how many new calls do you do per week" only 1/7 companies give me a concrete number. Most of the time I hear "We're working on it" which isn't a concrete response you can do anything meaningful with. That's simply telling me your BD is disorganized and inefficient. How are you leading a sales team of over 5 people but don't have any numbers being tracked? How is sales is your biggest focus when you don't know your numbers? The company is missing out on tons of potential revenue simply by not tracking important BD metrics. In an industry where 1 unit of delivery (aka 1 placement) can be worth over $15k, that's a big deal

You're failing your first sales hires. It's just not working. The transfer of knowledge from a founder to the first sales rep is brutal. A few things to consider: 1. Reps don’t sell the way a founder does. Do you have a path to success with the motion you run? 2. Which do you hire first? SDR or AE? More often than not, founders are looking for generalists. The strong up and comer SDR or newly promoted AE is a safer bet but will you’ll have a skill set gap on closing. Consider which gap you can fill more for them, lead generation or closing skills 3. Document as much of the sales motion as you can before they get there. Period. 4. These first hires are now your full time job. Don’t forget that. Cutting em loose and checking in every so often won’t work. 5. If you haven’t run the entire sales motion yourself at least 10-15 times, don’t expect anyone else to. What did I miss? Anyone considering this hire, always happy to talk it through

Your sales team struggles because traditional management failed you. (But fix these 5 things and you'll hit 8-figures) The most valuable insight in scaling won't be sales tactics. It will be systems. Here are 5 things successful companies are actively implementing: 1\. The First Hire Reality Rookies hire sellers first. Pros hire admin support. Let your best people do what they do best. 2\. The "Top Producer" Path Stop bogging down your closers. \*Revenue\* activities are their only focus. Everything else is a distraction. 3\. Referrals Before Leads New companies chase fresh leads. Smart ones build referral systems first. Your best customers sell for you. 4\. Systems Over Size Forget building a bigger team. Build better processes instead. Quality beats quantity every time. 5\. Experience Beats Brand Names Stop competing on recognition. Start winning on service delivery. The market remembers how you made them feel. I had to unlearn a decade of traditional sales management to scale multiple companies. It was uncomfortable. It was necessary. It was worth it. Now, I show companies how to do the same. What outdated belief is holding your company back?

The Hidden Truth About Sales Hiring That's Burning Cash 🚨 Your pipeline isn't ready for that sales hire. Here's why that matters… Your first sales hire will cost you an average of INR 12-18 LPA before they're fully ramped. Are you ready for that investment? Let's break it down: ☑️ Base salary: 6-10 LPA ☑️ Commission (OTE): 4-6 LPA ☑️ Tools & tech stack: 5 LPA ☑️ Training resources: 2-3 LPA But here's what most founders miss: It takes 3-6 months for a new sales rep to reach full productivity. During this time, you're investing/bleeding cash while they learn your product, services, market, and process. So, to ensure that period doesn’t become the reason for shutting down, Answer these questions before you post that job listing 🔑 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐏𝐢𝐩𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤: ● Do you have 3-4x your target quota in a consistent pipeline? ● Is your lead flow predictable and growing? ● Are deals closing only via one way, or have you tried it without heroic founder effort? 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲: ● Do you have 12+ months of runway? ● Is your MRR growing steadily month-over-month? ● Can you forecast next quarter's revenue confidently? 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬: ● Is your sales process documented? ● Do you have clear ICP and buyer personas? ● Can you onboard and train effectively? The Right Time to Hire 🎯 When your MONTHLY pipeline consistently exceeds 2x-3x of your quota, and you're closing 20-30% of opportunities. Until then? You (the founder) are your best sales rep. Pro Tip for founders starting with having the sales team. 𝑹𝒂𝒑𝒊𝒅 𝑺𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑭𝒓𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌: 𝑬𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝑽𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆, 𝑰𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆 ✔ Create micro-experiments with your sales approach. ✔ Treat each "failure" as a data point, not a setback. ✔ Adjust your approach based on real-world insights. By implementing this framework,  💡 You'll reduce ramp-up time.  💡 Create a structured onboarding process.  💡 Develop a repeatable sales methodology that accelerates your new hire's productivity. What's your experience with first sales hires? When did you know it was the right time? #StartupAdvice #SalesStrategy #BusinessGrowth #RevenueSolutions #StartupLife 🔔 Follow me for more practical startup insights and growth strategies that actually work in the real world.

The advice below about “attachment” and the first easy win for a new sales hire is gold 🏅

Your sales team struggles because traditional management failed you. (But fix these 5 things and you'll hit 8-figures) The most valuable insight in scaling won't be sales tactics. It will be systems. Here are 5 things successful companies are actively implementing: 1\. The First Hire Reality Rookies hire sellers first. Pros hire admin support. Let your best people do what they do best. 2\. The "Top Producer" Path Stop bogging down your closers. \*Revenue\* activities are their only focus. Everything else is a distraction. 3\. Referrals Before Leads New companies chase fresh leads. Smart ones build referral systems first. Your best customers sell for you. 4\. Systems Over Size Forget building a bigger team. Build better processes instead. Quality beats quantity every time. 5\. Experience Beats Brand Names Stop competing on recognition. Start winning on service delivery. The market remembers how you made them feel. I had to unlearn a decade of traditional sales management to scale multiple companies. It was uncomfortable. It was necessary. It was worth it. Now, I show companies how to do the same. What outdated belief is holding your company back?