Herzberg: Slack initially harbored internal cynicism toward sales
Dannie Herzberg · 20 Sales: How To Build Sales Teams with a Product-Led-Growth GTM, What is a Sales Hiring Scorecard and How To Construct Yours & How To Structure the Onboarding Process for all New Sales Hires with Dannie Herzberg, Partner @ Sequoia Capital · Feb 2, 2022 · at 10:16
Dannie Herzberg, Partner at Sequoia Capital and former Slack sales executive, reflects on overcoming cultural skepticism toward sales during Slack's growth.
0:00 / 0:05exact quote · 5.4s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“To be honest, there was a bit of cynicism around sales in the beginning at Slack, and I totally got that.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Dannie Herzberg
Herzberg: Founders must sell the product themselves before hiring sales staff
“So the founder needs to sell the product before anyone else can. So day one, founder equals head of sales.”
Herzberg: Behavioral interview questions yield scripted answers for sales candidates
“If you ask hypothetical and behavioral questions, like what's your 30, 60, 90 plan, you are going to get really articulate, well-scripted answers that do not help you vet the candidate in earnest.”
Herzberg: Testing sales candidates in their comfort zone yields better evaluations
“I want to see what it looks like when they are in their absolute Comfort zone. And I want to see them rock it in their comfort zone. So I would say, pitch me your product, or let's do a discovery call, because I think that's more telling than a pitch.”
Herzberg: Trust hiring intuition over isolated negative reference checks
“Your intuition matters. References are critical, but they aren't everything. And if your intuition is saying, I had a good connection with this person, I've heard plenty of good things around them, and sure, they may have frustrated one person or been a really…”