
Ask HN: Where to find great Enterprise salespeople for startups? - shafqat
We're looking to hire a top-notch sales guy for Enterprise Sales. We've tried Craiglist with limited success. Any other tips on where to find good sales guys/girls? Is there a HN-friendly job board that isn't only for techies? Thanks!
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lucaf
Back in 2000 I did a startup with a B2B web-based app for an enterprise
vertical (large homebuilders). We tried both hiring an enterprise sales guy
and schlepping it ourselves, and here are my take-aways from that experience.

"Successful enterprise salesperson happy to join a cash strapped startup" is
an oxymoron in more than one way. Other posters explained it: these
salespeople expect big support, big budgets, ads to generate leads, junior
staffers to screen the leads, etc. They also expect a lot of cash
compensation: virtually all such people I have ever met usually like flashy
and expensive lifestyles, because in what they do the appearance of success is
one of the factors that breeds success. I remember one guy who seemed very
enthusiastic about joining us, but then the deal fell apart because in his
contract he absolutely would not budge from first class air travel and Jaguar-
class rental cars.

Then we decided to do it ourselves (the founders). We networked the hell out
of any friend we had, and our intro to prospects was "Look, we are not sales
guys, we are entrepreneurs. We think we have a kick-ass product and we'd love
to show it to you, and since we are still small the price to you will be
super-cheap compared to the competition if you help us improve it to fit your
needs." That way we eliminated a lot of issues and we tried to compete on a
different playing field.

The result: we got clients to work with us, and the sales guy we hired never
managed to go past a first meeting.

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DenisM
You should write a book: "b2b sales for amateurs". Or at least an article -
I'm sure someone like HBR will pick it up and generate publicity for you.
That, and my eternal gratitude. :)

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mixmax
A small note of caution.

I did a startup some time ago where we were four founders. One of them was an
excellent enterprise sales guy. In his previous job he had managed sales in
excess of $100 million on a yearly basis. His job was, of course, to push the
product. It didn't work out because he was used to a big organization that
took care of everything from planning his meetings to serving him coffee. He
simply didn't get the startup culture where you have to save every penny
you've got, and do everything yourself with noone to delegate to.

We ended up buying his shares and he went back to big-corp where he was more
at home.

I'm not saying that all enterprise sales people are like this, just that it's
something to be aware of.

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shafqat
This is really great feedback - thanks. We have do everything ourselves. We've
met sales guys that don't even want to do lead-generation. They think they are
only "closers." Anyway, finding someone great who fits into the
entrepreneurial atmosphere and needs of a startup is another challenge.

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jsares
You don't want your outside sales person doing lead generation.

Buy quality lists and then have an inside sales person qualify them and setup
the appointments for the outside sales rep.

The good inside sales reps have different skills than the outside ones.

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ScottWhigham
In my experience, enterprise salespeople desperately want to be found. They
put themselves out there in all kinds of ways - they join associations, they
network in their communities, they network within the startup community, etc.
Generally speaking, the investors know who the best enterprise salespeople
are. If you have investors, that is a great place to start.

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shafqat
Thanks - have reached out to our investors. Unfortunately most of their
contacts are seasoned enterprise salespeople who are outside our current
budget - we're trying to remain capital efficient, but still willing to spend
if the match is great.

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rms
I would ask that question on LinkedIn: friend a bunch of people in your local
area first. I think you have to pay to actually be able to broadcast a job on
LinkedIn, but it can have pretty wide reach via your friends and your friends'
friends. If you ask generically enough you may not need to pay.

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webwright
This is a really common problem (we have it, too, FWIW).

Question: Which outstanding salesperson would join a startup that had a low
base salary, no draw for salepeople, no proven sales model, minimal marketing
material, a moving target for a product, inexperienced management, no sales
peers, no leadgen team, no client base to sell into and reference from, an
unproven compensation scheme, etc...

From a sales point of view (selling the job to someone good), you have a
pretty terrible product. :-) The only way to get around this is to pile on
tons of equity, find a sales guy who is passionate about your product, or find
one who is bored and thinks startups would be fun. Even then, it's a
tremendous leap of faith and your startup has to feel like a likely home run.
Salesfolks are financially motivated (usually) and you have an uphill battle
here.

The other alternative is to find a "diamond in the rough" - but obviously
that's hard to do. I honestly think that's the only alternative if you can't
afford the real deal-- because the best guys will run away screaming or
laughing. A startup is a terrible financial bet for a salesperson.

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mahmud
Define "enterprise".

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shafqat
B2B sales - selling a content solution to web publishers of all sizes. Looking
for someone with experience selling to media companies.

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newacc
try craigslist - you'll be surprised - i've seen VP (sales) posting their
resumes there ...

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shafqat
Yes, we tried that. I was surprised that Craigslist is used to extensively for
Sales/BizDev. Wondering about other channels...

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newacc
try all social media locations: myspace, twitter, facebook, orkut etc.

