How to build a high-performing B2B SaaS sales team
In a startup, your success or failure depends on your ability to hire and onboard a team of sales professionals. In the beginning, sales are led by the founders – they know the product the most and are best placed to sell it. As the company grows, more sales professionals are hired and, eventually, a Head of Sales is recruited to lead sales.
Ott Niggulis
In this article, we’ll look first at what it takes to hire high-performing full sales cycle BDRs (Business Development Representatives) and then when the time is right, what qualities to look for in a Head of Sales.
This article and the accompanying Business Development Representative and Head of Sales hiring templates are a collaboration between Wisnio and Elor Pruvli.
Elor has 15+ years of experience in sales through running sales organisations in multiple startups and being a sales and growth advisor for many SaaS companies. He is also the founder of ScaleMode.io, a startup offering hands-on sales advisory. He knows what he's talking about.
Hiring a Business Development Representative
Example position requirement for a Head of Sales
A common misconception about salespeople is that they must be outgoing and extroverted with excellent communication skills. While communication in B2B sales is an essential part of the job, there is also a need for an engineer-like mindset – the client has a problem that you have to identify and find a solution for.
Another important aspect is the product price point. When the median annual contract value falls between 5k to 10k, you’re looking for a candidate with a hunger to perform, proactivity, and genuine curiosity. The higher the median contract value, the more important understanding the business side of things becomes.
You are not necessarily looking for previous sales experience but rather for candidates with ambition and personal initiative. Also, the ability to make sales calls, write sales emails, give presentations, and use and update CRM, etc.
This might sound weird, but not everyone can do these things. Writing sales emails and giving presentations are skills.
Looking for the Business Development Representative hiring template? Click here to download the free template!
Transactional vs Consultative sales
When looking at previous experience, pay attention to the type of sales experience the candidate has: transactional or consultative. The skill set needed to succeed in one does not necessarily translate well into being good at the other.
B2B sales are primarily consultative, and the candidates must have a mindset of helping clients solve their problems.
“When hiring people with previous sales experience, it’s imperative to understand their current process and how that fits into your own sales process. You might have a candidate with a strong background in transactional sales, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they’ll thrive in a consultative B2B SaaS environment.”
Elor Pruvli, founder, ScaleMode.io
Ask questions like “What do you like about sales?” or “Can you describe the difference between highly transactional and consultative sales?”
When the candidate's answer concentrates on helping companies, discovering client pain points, helping solve problems, etc., you’re on the right path. If, on the other hand, the mindset is I like to chat with people, or sales is sales, keep looking.
Bringing in a Head of Sales
Example competency for a Head of Sales
In the early days of a startup, the Head of Sales role is fulfilled by the founder(s). It’s their job to figure out the ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) and start selling. As the company and sales grow and more salespeople join, there comes a time to start looking for a Head of Sales.
In Elor’s experience, the right time to hire a Head of Sales depends on two factors:
Do you have a repeatable and scalable sales process?
Are each of your sales representatives bringing in 50k to 100k of new sales revenue per quarter?
In other words, you have a reliable and working process bringing in sales, and you’re looking for someone to scale the system. The main job of a Head of Sales is to scale a working process. There has to be a process that the new hire can start to scale.
As such, a Head of Sales needs to have an analytical mind. They need to be able to analyse, understand, and make changes to the sales process. Ask a candidate about their previous experience working and improving the sales process. A good candidate will give a concrete answer – this was the situation before, this is what we changed, this was the outcome. If the candidate provides a vague answer about doing this and that, be aware.
A good Head of Sales is like a detective. They are naturally curious about where deals are coming from, where they get stuck, and how and why they get closed or lost.
Make sure their experience matches your expectations
A key area to look into is a candidate's previous experience. You're looking for a successful track record in working in a similar environment, which means a successful track record in consultative sales.
Has the candidate worked with SaaS before? Have they been successful in consultative sales? These are all excellent questions to ask during the interview. SaaS experience is not a must, but having experience with consultative sales is.
And then there’s the scaling and coaching aspect of the role. Building up a sales team is not an easy task and having this experience beforehand is paramount.
Does this mean that the candidates need to have previous experience as the Head of Sales in other organisations?
Not necessarily. As long as the candidate checks all the other boxes (successful and relevant track record, analytical mind, team scaling, coaching experience, etc.), it is possible to find an outstanding Head of Sales without prior experience in the role.
But, in general, the bigger the startup gets – especially with an A round looming, the pickier you need to become. The closer a big funding round is, the more you’re looking for someone with experience as a Head of Sales in a fast-growing startup.
Conclusions
Building out a high-performing sales team is not an easy task, but it is critical to the success of a SaaS startup.
Every hire is crucial, and getting these early hires right carries an enormous responsibility. Don’t waste time looking into and interviewing candidates that don’t fit the profile. The candidates you look into have to show results in a high-touch consultative environment and bring an analytical mindset.
For the complete hiring templates for a Business Development Representative and Head of Sales, check out our Templates gallery. All our Hiring Templates include everything you need to interview, evaluate, and choose the right candidate.
