As a follow-up to a hallway conversation I had at BarCamp Tampa I thought I should start a rant on the perception of marketing and sales roles in a startup. Then I saw this video by @msuster from the Both Sides of the Table blog about how to hire a sales team.
This is a good overview of some of the mistakes even seasoned executives make when hiring, managing and paying the first few sales people.
I agree strongly with Mark’s position on not placing a VP as your first sales hire. So many VCs (and boards) get wrapped up in hiring higher up on the food chain than needed and get all warm and squishy when candidates flaunt their Fortune 500 Roll-o-Dex.
I also take issue with the guest’s representation on what sales people should do in an early stage company. Building relationships and trust is important, but the sales folks are not out there with a blank sheet of paper to help discover new pain and new features. The first sales guy in the door needs to have a pretty tight agenda on what the product does and what the company needs to have validated by the market. The market feedback aspect is critical, but all too often the sales team turns into the product management team setting dev priorities, promising new features and chasing low probability prospects that will never turn into paying customers.
I did like Vince’s answer on choosing the right club (sales guy) for the right market or product, but for most startups it should be the smart guy. Research, analysis and validation are the strengths needed to come back with valuable feedback vs. anecdotal interest. If you hire the pretty sales team, customer interaction becomes a beauty contest not a journey to find the right fit.
I’ll circle back later with some thoughts on the original rant idea “why do people hate marketing?”
