Startup Sales Hiring: How to View Your First Sales Team

Every successful startup sales leader or founder has faced this point in their growth: you have the product, you have the funding, and now it is time to hire a your first sales team.

The way these initial sales hires get treated is incredibly impactful to your overall growth. Sometimes they are viewed as valuable members of the team, but sometimes, founders simply want someone to go out and sell their product (and keep them at an arm's distance). This is what I call the "Mercenary Model" for sales hiring. Here's why it doesn't work:

If you treat hiring sales professionals like hired mercenaries, you’ll get:

❌ No loyalty - they’ll leave for a perceived better opportunity. Your turnover will begin to rise. 

❌ No buy-in - they’ll do the work but not much more. 

❌ No true top-performers - too performers are discerning and judicious. Often times, they’ve already been in a place they weren’t valued or respected for the production and skill they brought to the table. They can see the warning signs. 

❌ No one you can promote - they’ll be unwilling or unable to serve as a leader in your firm. 

What does this add up to? 

❌ Lower capacity 

❌ More frustration

❌ More lost resources (time, funds, etc)

How to fix this? 

✅ Work with a recruiter who invests time in understanding who you are, the culture of your firm, and the goals to which you are building. 

✅ Build relationships with candidates from the first interaction. 

✅ Be clear and upfront about who you are and what you’re looking for. 

✅ Follow up diligently. 

✅ Empower your sales team in every sense of the word - make them stakeholders in some sense of the word. 

It's as simple as this: Treat candidates and employees as you’d like to be treated. Hire the ones that want to build with you, pass on the ones simply wanting a paycheck.