Answer: the first 2 sales reps have to be folks you would buy from.
Later, this does not and should not be true. You will need all sorts of reps as you scale from 5 reps to 500 reps. And as you building better training systems and better processes, and as you have sales engineers and customer success managers and sales ops managers to help … you can even hire reps that really don’t understand the nuances of your product. And folks you personally wouldn’t buy from.
But in the beginning, leads are so precious, and there are no processes and managers.
There’s only one type of rep you can give up your precious leads and opportunities to: one you’d buy from.
So experience is OK, lack of experience may be OK too. But when she talks to you and pitches you … don’t get suckered in by the resume, the slick talk, or the acronyms. Just ask yourself — would I buy from her, if I were one of my few very and precious prospects and customers?
If yes … hire her.
Those folks should be your first few reps, until you have a Director/VP of Sales to broaden the pool.
