Sneak Preview: SaaStr at Dreamforce; When to Hire (and Fire) Your VP of Sales

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When to Hire (and Fire) Your First VP of Sales Or Why Up to 70% of First VP Sales Don’t Make It 12 Months Jason M. Lemkin, Managing Director, Storm Ventures; Founder/CEO – EchoSign/Adobe @jasonlk SUPER SNEAK PREV IEW

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Come to Dreamforce for the SaaStr session -- Tuesday Nov. 19th at 4pm. Right before Marissa Mayer.

Transcript of Sneak Preview: SaaStr at Dreamforce; When to Hire (and Fire) Your VP of Sales

Page 1: Sneak Preview:  SaaStr at Dreamforce;  When to Hire (and Fire) Your VP of Sales

When to Hire (and Fire) Your First VP of SalesWhen to Hire (and Fire) Your First VP of SalesOr Why Up to 70% of First VP Sales Don’t Make It 12 Months

Jason M. Lemkin, Managing Director, Storm Ventures; Founder/CEO – EchoSign/Adobe

@jasonlk

SUPER SNEAK P

REVIEW

Page 2: Sneak Preview:  SaaStr at Dreamforce;  When to Hire (and Fire) Your VP of Sales

Jason M. LemkinJason M. LemkinJason M. Lemkin,

Managing Director, Storm Ventures; Founder/CEO –

EchoSign/Adobe

@jasonlk

Jason M. Lemkin,

Managing Director, Storm Ventures; Founder/CEO –

EchoSign/Adobe

@jasonlk

Page 3: Sneak Preview:  SaaStr at Dreamforce;  When to Hire (and Fire) Your VP of Sales

The First “VP Sales” Probably Has to Be You

You Have to Sell It Yourself First. And Then Hire 2+ Reps.

You You + 2 Reps Hire VP Sales

Page 4: Sneak Preview:  SaaStr at Dreamforce;  When to Hire (and Fire) Your VP of Sales

Ideally, Have 2 Reps Doing Well Before Hire VPS

Otherwise, You Won’t Know Yourself

Don’t Want VPS Starting From Scratch• Too Expensive, Too Confusing

• You’ll Hire Wrong Type of VPS

A/B Test Will Also Help You Learn

Page 5: Sneak Preview:  SaaStr at Dreamforce;  When to Hire (and Fire) Your VP of Sales

Top 5 Things a SaaS VP of Sales Really Does

Note Which One Comes Last #1 Recruiting the Team

• Your going to need a team, and a good one. Quickly.

• Player-Coach sounds great but at best, will be quickly obsolete as a role.

#2 Backfilling and Helping His/Her Sales Team

#3 Sales Tactics

#4 Sales Strategy

#5 Creating and Selling Deals Him/Herself

Page 6: Sneak Preview:  SaaStr at Dreamforce;  When to Hire (and Fire) Your VP of Sales

The Toughest Hire of All in SaaS When

• Too Early: Manager, Not a Magician

• Too Late: Can Take 20 Months!

Who• Been There, Done That – Almost Impossible

• Too “Heavy” a Hire? Or One Without the

Full Experience?

Why• To Take Things To the Next Level; To Scale

• But Usually NOT to Get Sales Going

Page 7: Sneak Preview:  SaaStr at Dreamforce;  When to Hire (and Fire) Your VP of Sales

The Toughest Hire of All in SaaSHire Wrong, and You’re Set Back a Year

A Bad Hire Can Be Far Worse Than No Hire at All – It’s True

A Bad Hire Isn’t Just Hard Costs – It Involves Huge Soft Costs As Well• A B-level VP Sales Hires a B-/C+ Team Under Him/Her

• Revenue Per Lead can actually go down dramatically under a mediocre VPS

• Wastes Precious Leads, Wastes Time, Loss of Second-Order Revenue

A Bad Hire is Often Made Just as Things Are Taking Off• So Most Costly Time at All to Make a Mistake

Page 8: Sneak Preview:  SaaStr at Dreamforce;  When to Hire (and Fire) Your VP of Sales

For the Rest and the Discussion …Come See The SaaStr Presentation At Dreamforce!!