SaaSy Talk S01.E01: Building a Successful Sales Team, Key Tips for Founders
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09/01/23 • 37 min
About The Guest: Matt has led sales and operations for multiple hyper-growth, venture backed tech companies. In these roles, he oversaw personnel management, strategic planning and sales leadership in multiple markets across the U.S. He now helps run Sales Assembly, an organization trusted by the GTM teams of hundreds of B2B SaaS companies.
He's also a pretty good husband, an even better father, an international travel enthusiast, and if there's a Simpson's quoting competition he would undoubtedly place in the top 3 (provided the focus was on seasons 1 through 11). ------------------------------------------------------------ Episode Summary: Matt Green, co-founder of Sales Assembly, shares his insights on building successful sales teams and developing a strong sales playbook. He emphasizes the importance of finding the right people for your team, rather than relying on big logos or established organizations. Matt also discusses the challenges of transitioning from a founder-led sale to a true go-to-market motion and the need for consistency in training and development. He highlights the shift in Sales Assembly's focus from training for job titles to training for skills, and the impact it will have on their organization. ------------------------------------------------------------ Chapters: (00:00) Mistake of founders thinking big logos guarantee success in hires (01:09) Accidental entry into sales after studying criminal justice (03:40) Sales Assembly started as a solution to common sales complaints (06:46) Importance of finding the right people when building a team (08:45) Sales playbook should be written by the first sales hire (10:28) Critical elements of a sales playbook: process, methodology, language (14:25) Onboarding new sales teams can be challenging without consistency (20:57) Hiring slower and firing quicker improves team quality (22:07) Focusing on hiring A players only is crucial for success (26:44) Revenue being seen as a team sport, but sales getting blamed in tough times (31:36) Excelling in sales as an introvert (33:06) Excitement for training for skills rather than job titles (35:31) Quick-Fire Round ------------------------------------------------------------ Key Takeaways: - Finding the right people is crucial when building a sales team, rather than relying on big logos or established organizations. - Transitioning from a founder-led sale to a true go-to-market motion requires careful planning and consideration. - Consistency and alignment towards a mission are essential for building a strong sales team and company culture. - Building a sales playbook should focus on defining the sales process, methodology, and language used in communication with prospects. - Hiring slower and firing quicker can lead to better long-term success in building a sales team. ------------------------------------------------------------ Quotes: - "A mistake that we see a lot of founders make when they start making their first hires on the go-to-market team is they think that working at big logos or established organizations like Salesforce is going to automatically translate to success." - Matt Green - "If it's not a fuck yes, it's a fuck no. We're A players only over here." - Matt Green - "Consistency and alignment towards a mission are crucial for building a strong sales team and company culture." - Matt Green ------------------------------------------------------------
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Visit our Website: SaaSy Talk Unfiltered (transistor.fm)
Follow Ricky Sevta on Linkedin: Ricky Sevta | LinkedIn
Follow Sean Diljore on Linkedin: Sean Diljore | LinkedIn
Follow Matt Green on Linkedin: Matt Green | LinkedIn
About The Guest: Matt has led sales and operations for multiple hyper-growth, venture backed tech companies. In these roles, he oversaw personnel management, strategic planning and sales leadership in multiple markets across the U.S. He now helps run Sales Assembly, an organization trusted by the GTM teams of hundreds of B2B SaaS companies.
He's also a pretty good husband, an even better father, an international travel enthusiast, and if there's a Simpson's quoting competition he would undoubtedly place in the top 3 (provided the focus was on seasons 1 through 11). ------------------------------------------------------------ Episode Summary: Matt Green, co-founder of Sales Assembly, shares his insights on building successful sales teams and developing a strong sales playbook. He emphasizes the importance of finding the right people for your team, rather than relying on big logos or established organizations. Matt also discusses the challenges of transitioning from a founder-led sale to a true go-to-market motion and the need for consistency in training and development. He highlights the shift in Sales Assembly's focus from training for job titles to training for skills, and the impact it will have on their organization. ------------------------------------------------------------ Chapters: (00:00) Mistake of founders thinking big logos guarantee success in hires (01:09) Accidental entry into sales after studying criminal justice (03:40) Sales Assembly started as a solution to common sales complaints (06:46) Importance of finding the right people when building a team (08:45) Sales playbook should be written by the first sales hire (10:28) Critical elements of a sales playbook: process, methodology, language (14:25) Onboarding new sales teams can be challenging without consistency (20:57) Hiring slower and firing quicker improves team quality (22:07) Focusing on hiring A players only is crucial for success (26:44) Revenue being seen as a team sport, but sales getting blamed in tough times (31:36) Excelling in sales as an introvert (33:06) Excitement for training for skills rather than job titles (35:31) Quick-Fire Round ------------------------------------------------------------ Key Takeaways: - Finding the right people is crucial when building a sales team, rather than relying on big logos or established organizations. - Transitioning from a founder-led sale to a true go-to-market motion requires careful planning and consideration. - Consistency and alignment towards a mission are essential for building a strong sales team and company culture. - Building a sales playbook should focus on defining the sales process, methodology, and language used in communication with prospects. - Hiring slower and firing quicker can lead to better long-term success in building a sales team. ------------------------------------------------------------ Quotes: - "A mistake that we see a lot of founders make when they start making their first hires on the go-to-market team is they think that working at big logos or established organizations like Salesforce is going to automatically translate to success." - Matt Green - "If it's not a fuck yes, it's a fuck no. We're A players only over here." - Matt Green - "Consistency and alignment towards a mission are crucial for building a strong sales team and company culture." - Matt Green ------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe on Spotify: SaaSy Talk Unfiltered | Podcast on Spotify
Subscribe on YouTube: SAASY TALK UNFILTERED - YouTube
Subscribe on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/saasy-talk-unfiltered
Subscribe to our Newsletter: SaaSyTalkUnfiltered | Substack
Visit our Website: SaaSy Talk Unfiltered (transistor.fm)
Follow Ricky Sevta on Linkedin: Ricky Sevta | LinkedIn
Follow Sean Diljore on Linkedin: Sean Diljore | LinkedIn
Follow Matt Green on Linkedin: Matt Green | LinkedIn
Next Episode
SaaSy Talk S01.E02: Journey from being the first sales hire at the company to expanding Internationally
About The Guest:
Roi is the CRO of Uptick, a company that provides asset maintenance software for Fire & security companies. Founded in 2014, Uptick now employs 80+ full time staff, and its customers maintain 800k+ buildings and 10+ million assets across both the UK and ANZ. Roi was the first commercial hire in the company straight out of university.
Episode Summary:
Roi Abraham, CRO of Uptick, shares his journey from being the first sales hire at the company to leading the expansion into the UK market. He emphasizes the importance of being hands-on and doing the work, as well as the value of hiring the right people and building a strong team. Roi also discusses the significance of consistency, failure, and learning by doing in sales. He highlights the importance of focusing on the right customers and providing excellent customer service. Roi also shares his thoughts on multi-year contracts and the need to prioritize the customer's best interests. He emphasizes the importance of simplicity in compensation structures and aligning incentives with the company's goals. Roi also discusses the role of marketing in sales and the importance of a unified approach. He shares his favorite sports team, music genre, movie, and travel destination.
Chapters:
(0:00:00) Lack of marketing department and importance of doing the work
(0:00:43) Luck led to joining Uptick as first commercial hire
(0:02:00) Started in sales as an SDR, facilitating founder's sales
(0:03:55) No playbook, just pick up the phone and be relentless
(0:15:00) Choosing to expand Uptick to the UK market.
(0:17:19) Building a model and making key hires for UK expansion.
(0:26:26) Customer profiling and targeting innovative iguanas for success
(0:34:47) BDRs and SDRs are the marketing team
(0:37:18) Quick-Fire Round
Key Takeaways:
Being hands-on and doing the work is important, even as a leader.
Hiring the right people and building a strong team is crucial for success.
Consistency and learning from failure are key to growth in sales.
Focusing on the right customers and providing excellent customer service is essential.
Multi-year contracts may not always serve the customer's best interests.
Simplicity in compensation structures and aligning incentives with company goals is important.
Marketing and sales should work together as one team.
Quotes:
"I think it's super important that you're still doing the doing in some way or form, and your team will love you and appreciate you."
"If you're good, trust me, I'll do anything to retain you and I'll find a role for you."
"Consistency, like all things in all businesses, is the key."
"If you can be consistent at something and you can keep doing those things and if you understand the base metrics of what you need to achieve and you do it, you figure it out, success follows."
"Let them go and leave a good taste in their mouth and yours."
"Your customers, if they're super happy with the terms, they will stay."
"The health of my sales guys and girls, how packed their calendar is, is the health of the company."
"If you're fishing in the right place with the right tools, with the right rod, you will catch fish."
"Keep it simple. It incentivizes them more if it's complicated."
"We're one slack channel. We're all working together towards a common goal."
"Your BDRs and SDRs are literally the marketing team out there."
"Your marketing team is in Asylum on the side, it's a complete waste."
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