Getting the VP Sales Hire Right - Right Now - with Amy Volas

10/08/21 • 34 min

The average tenure of a Vice President of Sales in the B2B Cloud industry is reported to be anywhere between 16 - 20 months, with 18 months being the median.

Why is the tenure so short? Is this really an issue considering the high growth rates of B2B Cloud companies? How can we increase the tenure of the VP Sales?

Amy Volas has a broad array of experiences in B2B Technology including roles as enterprise sales professional, recruiter, and sales leadership, and is well-positioned to opine on this critical topic.

B2B Tech sales experiences a 30%+ attrition every year and this was before the trending topic of the Great Resignation!

Missing the VP Sales hire is a seven-figure mistake, and there are basic steps that can be taken to reduce the probability of a poor fit hire.

It starts first with clearly defining the "job" that needs to be done now, and not hiring for the future state 2-3 years down the road. Identifying the "milestone" that you want the VP Sales to help you attain is a great first step. Being real, by clearly defining the "work" that needs to be done NOW is critical to hiring the candidate who has the experience and skill sets to accomplish that goal, but may not be the right person to lead the efforts to the second or third milestone years down the road. In fact, in Amy's 20 years of experience, she has only seen one (1) VP Sales successfully scale from $1M to $1B+.

Just because a VP Sales has been part of a company that scaled to $100M+, that does not necessarily translate to what is needed when a company is just beginning to scale from $1M to $5M. By clearly defining what is needed in the next 12 months, you can develop the criteria, including specific experiences and skills sets, all captured within an associated scorecard for the VP Sales candidates.

Being honest is a top recommendation that Amy says every CEO needs to bring into the VP Sales recruitment process. At $1M ARR, let the candidate know that you are hiring a VP Sales to get to $10M ARR, and that this person may or may not be the VP Sales when the company is trying to scale from $20M to $50M.

This honesty in the VP Sales recruitment process goes both ways, as a candidate who may be a great fit for scaling a company from $20M to $100M+ may not be a good fit for scaling a business from $1M to $10M. An example, if a candidate wants to be a CRO, responsible for marketing, sales, and customer success for a company with less than $1M ARR, they may be a "poor fit" for this stage of the company.

It is imperative to be very careful and precise in this hyper-competitive market. Stepping back and clearly defining the top goals for the VP Sales candidate over the next 12 months is critical to minimizing the risk of over or under-hiring for this critical role.

A key takeaway from this conversation - with a 18-month average tenure for a VP Sales in the B2B Cloud industry may be ok...as long as both the candidate and the hiring executive is honest and transparent about the role, the goals, and the commitment to providing an environment for growth...though it may not be in the top sales executive role.

Amy also highlights the importance of "self-awareness". No one can be great at every aspect of their role, and being able to admit when you need help and then be confident in asking for help. All too often, assumptions between the CEO and VP Sales lead to a lack of credibility and/or trust. As a sales leader, being able to say this is where I need help, here is the result of me getting assistance and this is who I need help from (type of person/resource) and what it will cost.

If you are hiring or interviewing for a VP Sales role in the B2B Tech industry, this conversation with Amy Volas is a great listen!

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The average tenure of a Vice President of Sales in the B2B Cloud industry is reported to be anywhere between 16 - 20 months, with 18 months being the median.

Why is the tenure so short? Is this really an issue considering the high growth rates of B2B Cloud companies? How can we increase the tenure of the VP Sales?

Amy Volas has a broad array of experiences in B2B Technology including roles as enterprise sales professional, recruiter, and sales leadership, and is well-positioned to opine on this critical topic.

B2B Tech sales experiences a 30%+ attrition every year and this was before the trending topic of the Great Resignation!

Missing the VP Sales hire is a seven-figure mistake, and there are basic steps that can be taken to reduce the probability of a poor fit hire.

If you are hiring or interviewing for a VP Sales role in the B2B Tech industry, this conversation with Amy Volas is a great listen!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Previous Episode

A Story of Opportunity and Persistence in the Cloud - with Megan Bowen, CCO Refine Labs

Megan Bowen, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Customer Officer at Refine Labs is the personification of where opportunity and access meet persistence and personal responsibility.
Megan's story starts with moving from Los Angeles to New York City. Megan applied for a job at a hair salon in Manhattan., and initially did not hear back, even after daily follow-up phone calls for two weeks. Six weeks later, that 2nd interview finally happened. Much to her surprise, the salon owner, Julio said he had "post-it" notes all over from her follow-up calls. Julio took a personal interest in letting Megan know "why" she had not initially received the job and then took a personal interest in mentoring Megan to become the professional that was within her.
Julio went far beyond being her employer and provided Megan the advice, counsel, and even capital to fulfill her potential - a story of where persistence meets opportunity.
Many managers view the employer/employee relationship very transactionally, but many do not show the empathy, concern, and desire to treat each employee as an individual with unique needs and motivations. Megan finds satisfaction in helping others fulfill their promise and shared her framework to accomplish this.
First, it starts with sincere empathy for each employee (and customer) which quickly leads to trust.
Secondly, Megan believes a leader has the responsibility to share a vision and then communicate clear goals and expectations. Once that foundation is created, each employee should be provided the space and opportunity to figure out how best to achieve those goals. This creates a feeling of empowerment and results in creativity and performance that will amaze.
Lastly, Megan highlighted the importance of recognition. Most people thrive on private and public recognition. Moreover, most people also crave advice and mentorship to continue their growth, as a professional and even as a person.
Persistence meets opportunity and access! During our conversation, Megan shared the importance of personal responsibility, persistence, and even self-sacrifice. Another key lesson is that when first starting out, not to allow ambition to get in the way of progress.
Megan had been an account manager for seven years at one company. After hitting a ceiling at the current company, ZocDoc offered her an opportunity to join the company, but with a reduced role and even a reduced salary! Megan truly believed in the vision at ZocDoc and made the decision that taking a step back would lead to two giant steps forward. After 9 months in the reduced role, Megan developed a business concept and presented the value of a "post-sales" function to senior leadership. Initially, the response was not right now, but after a few more months of Megan's persistence, she was offered to build a team from no employees to 25, all because Megan took a proactive, persistent, and self-accountable approach to her own career development!
Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is one of the qualities that Megan identifies as key to leadership success. EQ includes traits such as active listening, empathy, self-awareness, and emotional awareness. The conversation took a turn to discuss the differences between women and men, and if one gender has an advantage in the EQ department. This subject needs to be heard versus read, so take a listen.
Later in the conversation, we discuss the power of NO in building long-lasting credibility and customer relationships. Then we move to Megan's insights on the competencies required for the modern B2B marketer.
Megan is a fantastic listen to any aspiring early career professional and managers early in their journey to becoming leaders.

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Next Episode

Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy in B2B Sales - with Larry Long Jr.

Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy personify Larry Long Jr. In fact, his self-appointed title is "Chief Energy Officer".
Larry has a long career in B2B Sales, following his college baseball career at the University of Maryland. This experience has led to his vision to educate, inspire, motivate, energize and entertain sales organizations and sales professionals.
Mindset is critical to B2B Sales success, and Larry says this requires "MBS", or taking care of your Mind, Body, and Soul. Balancing all aspects of your life is critical to long-term success in sales. Another key factor to success is to answer the question:" do you have a great coach that is challenging you to take it to the next level to be the best you can be"?
Larry suggests doing a self-audit to identify one thing you can do to elevate a single aspect of your personal well-being. Larry suggested using the ABCD's - Action, Belief, Care, and Dream to conduct your self-audit to hold yourself accountable.
Larry highlighted that sales leaders need to increase the amount of time they invest to understand, and then impact the "MBS" of every person in your organization, beyond hitting the number. Today's modern sales professional places as much weight on personal growth, and culture as much as they do on compensation.
Sales leadership is a people business, and by asking yourself, "what are you doing to help someone else" you will be far ahead of the curve on being a leader that people will want to follow.
Larry highlights that his energy delivers a "JOLT" to a sales organization, but is not the primary ingredient to a long-lasting, positive culture. A long-lasting culture requires ongoing focus to ensure each member of your team is being challenged and growing as an individual, as well as a sales professional.
Larry recommends the following EPIC qualities are critical for B2B sales success:
E - Entrepreneurial spirit
P - Practice, Preparation, and Planning
I - Internal Drive and Design
C - Communication, Curiosity, Confidence, Care
Continuous coaching is one of the most important yet most difficult skills for first-time managers to master. Larry does not think we need specialized coaches to supplement first-time managers, but we do need to be careful of promoting the top salesperson to sales manager without the appropriate training, mentoring, and coaching.
If you are looking for a JOLT of energy and entertainment, while also hearing some new ideas and concepts to fuel your sales career or sales organization, Larry Long Jr. is a great listen.

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