Page 47 - The Sales Acceleration Formula: Using Data, Technology, and Inbound Selling to go from $0 to $100 Million - PDFDrive.com

like her.

Here are the pros of the sales manager:

Willingness to roll up her sleeves. Unlike the SVP of sales, she was recently
selling on the front line and should not have a problem getting her hands
dirty again.

Leadership experience. Unlike the #1 salesperson, she has some leadership
experience as a relatively new manager. She likely can build out your sales
methodology, hire successfully, implement the CRM tools, and evolve into a
coach of an eight-plus person team. You should give her the opportunity to
prove herself and grow into a sales director or VP. In doing so, you are
providing her with a unique opportunity to fast-track her career. Her
motivation and dedication to the job will be off the charts.

Proven track record. Her recent promotion was likely driven by her great
success as an individual contributor and her potential for strong leadership.

Here are the cons of the sales manager:

Industry knowledge. She has not sold to your buyer. As I mentioned in the
assessment for the SVP of sales, I am far less worried about this attribute
than most people are. However, unlike the SVP of sales and the #1
salesperson, she will experience a learning curve.

Entrepreneurial instinct. This attribute was also a weakness of the first two
candidates, but I want to highlight it here. Entrepreneurial instinct is what
really differentiates the entrepreneur from the sales manager. The sales
manager will likely ask you, the CEO, about your vision for the company
value proposition and the types of buyers you are targeting. She may engage
a bunch of these buyers, pitch your vision, and fail to get traction. Since you
might not have product/market fit figured out yet, she will be left scratching
her head. She needs to learn your target customer's biggest challenges
without you having to tell her. She needs to understand how your target
customer is thinking about solving these challenges. She needs to take the
pulse of your target customer's honest response to your value proposition.
After running these calls, she needs the innovative ability to see the patterns,
iterate on the target customer, iterate on the value proposition, and accelerate
the company toward product/market fit.

“The most critical value from your first sales hire comes not from the first