How to Ensure Your First 2 Sales Reps Actually Work Out
Spoiler: Don’t Hire the Green Ones
Sales reps, or sales representatives, are usually the first two employees a company brings on board. It’s essential that they have the right mindset and personality to sell their products and services.
With the right mindset and personality, they can be effective. Without the right mindset and personality, they can be a complete waste of time and money. Especially for startups, your first two sales reps play an important part in the “make or break” of your business.
Unfortunately, a lot of new entrepreneurs focus solely on getting their products and services off the ground instead of focusing on finding sales reps who will sell those products and services for them.
In my experience, if you find a good sales rep, the sales will come. That’s why, it is important to make sure that your first two sales reps manage to have a positive impact on your business. Here’s what you should pay attention to:
The Experience of Your Sales Reps
If you have sales reps who have been selling on their own for a while, it’s likely that they already have a lot of experience. If they’ve been selling for a while, they know what they’re doing.
On the other hand, if you have sales reps who are new to the industry, it is more likely that they will be learning as they go. In other words, it’s more likely that your first two sales reps will struggle and make mistakes as they learn the ropes. This is why you should focus on getting reps with experience over fresh faces when it comes to finding your first two sales reps.
The Personality of Your Sales Reps
Your sales reps need to be friendly and engaging with customers. They need to be personable and willing to talk to customers about the products and services.
You should also look for sales reps who are good at communication and speaking in front of groups of people (e.g., speaking at conferences). If you don’t find sales reps who fit these requirements in your market or industry, I recommend hiring someone from another company that sells similar products or services. This will help you get a better idea of how to position your product or service and how to be successful in this industry.
The Success of Your Sales Reps
Experienced sales reps tend to be more successful than new sales reps. The reason for this is that experienced sales reps know what they’re doing. They are more likely to be able to sell their products and services. That’s why you should focus on finding sales reps who have been successful in the past.
The term “successful” here means that they managed to fulfil the quota and meet their targets. If you find sales reps who have been unsuccessful in the past, it is more likely that they will fail again as they learn the ropes of selling your products and services.
One final thing to keep in mind:
In my experience, it is better to hire experienced sales reps than new ones. Experienced sales reps have more experience and know what they’re doing. They also tend to be more successful at selling. On the other hand, new sales reps are still learning the ropes of selling your products and services. This means that they may struggle as they learn the ropes of selling your products and services. You should also focus on finding sales reps who are friendly and engaging with customers.
About the Author
I am the Founder of Cudy Technologies (www.cudy.co), a full-stack EdTech startup helping teachers and students learn better. I am also a mentor and angel investor in other Startups of my other interests (Proptech, Fintech, HRtech, Ride-hailing, C2C marketplaces, and SaaS). You can also find me on Cudy for early-stage Startup Founder mentorship and advice.
You can connect with me on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderlhk) and let me know that you are a reader of my Medium posts in your invitation message.
