Fractional CRO + GTM Advisor | 12 🦄s | 11 exits | 6x Sales Leader | 5x Founder | 3x Author | Helping founders and revenue leaders win
How do you land a VP Sales role with ~3 years of sales experience? Here’s what most hiring managers/founders would love to see: 1) Solved 1-2 significant challenges in previous roles 2) Can point to demonstrated team-building and unity 3) Obsessed with sales efficiency and how it promotes scale 4) Has strong opinions on the latest topics/big moves in industry 5) Know every emerging sales software e.g. Wiza, Lavender 💜, etc. Bonus: has/building a large network or personal brand, specifically here on LI. What else am I missing here?
You touched on this but for me it's all about building a repeatable process. You're going to step into your first sales leadership role. What are you ultimately going to do? Are you going to hire the best reps you can, help them close deals and fire them if they don't hit quota? Any competent salesperson can do this. A real sales leader, IMHO thinks about the process they need to build to repeatedly open and close deals in their ICP, the skills they need to hire, the onboarding they need to deliver and the machine they will build around this team.
Speaking of emerging tech… have you all not heard of the emerging tech sales demo day on 2/22?! Tisk tisk
*Leads by example *Shares successes and failures with his/her peers *Always ask questions
6) Metrics-driven 7) Great at hiring
I'd add: Passion for customer success. A VP Sales who understands value creation for clients stands out.
-> Experience in leading
1. demo show rate was low so I introduced reminders and took show rate from 30% -> 33%! 2. took team to a baseball game 3. read "never split the difference".. sort of 4. I think AI is here to stay! 5. very familiar with myspace, yahoo, fannie mae, circuit city, and all the "good to great" companies!! I'm ready, coach!! put me in :)
The ability to manage up is an underrated trait.
1-4 are terrific. Tech stacks come and go and many are popular with no value. I highly recommend switching from tech stack to problem solving.
Sales Leader (Fractional) || Your part-time solution to a full-time problem || Sales Coach || SoHK Certified || call or text anytime 289-218-7610
7moAdept at building a sales culture centered around Accountability.