Sales executive Jennifer Lawrence explains the optimal ARR milestone for hiring a top-tier VP of Sales.
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Lawrence: Sales organizations should target 50% to 70% quota attainment
“Culture of success is when lots of reps are hitting their number. I've got a number in my head, you know, we want to have between 50 to 70% of reps hitting their number.”
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Lawrence: Walk away from top candidates who play coy at offer stage
“And even if you get up until the very end, where you have an A player, and they've just done great, and you're so excited, and you're at the offer stage, and they start playing coy, just walk away. Like, it just isn't worth it.”
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Lawrence: Backchannel references are the only executive interviews that truly matter
“And then obviously, you go through all these interviews, the only one that really matters is the back channel.”
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Lawrence: Startups should hire sales reps before hiring a VP of Sales
“I mean, no. I would have reps first to show that your stuff works, that customers are interested, that prospects are interested. You're gonna find a couple amazing reps, and you're a startup, and you're gonna hire for aptitude at first. So, I would start with …”
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Lawrence: Startups should hire sales reps before creating playbooks
“I mean, I don't think it's important. I'm a big fan of being a doer, like, action. I'm not a big fan of, like, lots of meetings and plannings and PowerPoints and playbooks, because by the time you put all that together, like, your business has changed, right? …”
Insight
Lawrence: Startups must hire sales leaders who build playbooks, not just execute them
“When you're in startup mode, startup going to growth, and even growth mode going to scale, you want to find someone who knows how to actually figure things out. Not execute on a playbook that's been given to them.”