Consider the difference between my dad telling a joke at dinner and a standup comedian doing a 2 hour set to a sold out arena. They both technically are "just telling jokes", but there's a lot more that goes into the latter – pacing, rhythm, crowd control dynamics, an extensive repertoire, so on and so forth.
Similarly, great salespeople have 'advanced interpersonal skills'. They have a great understanding of human motivations, how people think about how to make decisions, and they're great at systematically breaking through worries and concerns and so on. They also typically have great networks and relationships with others, which can be very useful.
But yeah, I wouldn't hire a sales person until much later either.
It's a full time job to do well, and your technical people's time is too valuable to have them half-assing it.
Good points. I always think to myself, "what product are you selling and to whom?" In the case of startups selling technical users, are advanced interpersonal skills required where a demonstration trumps talk. Can the most verbal hacker do the sales ... or are we talking post VC or startup at the 20-30 ppl scale?
but what about an average sales person. He might just have 'normal interpersonal skills', by 'sales pro', I meant an average sales person though. For average salesperson, their difference from normal developer's interpersonal skills might not be that much.
And no way to convince them to work for a small startup? You really think that? Why does anyone good join a small startup then?
This requires some knowledge of the product, but it requires far more knowledge about the customer, their line of business, what people make purchasing decisions etc.
(sarcasm)
Do I deserve an exact answer and not just a reply telling me how much of an idiot I am? Am I hazy on the value of women or am I just an idiot?
The question was demeaning. He deserves to be told how wrong he is. You would be dis-servicing society by not telling him how wrong he is.
- Existing relationships - the old 'who you know'. This can really be a game changer, or at the least speed things up.
- Pricing expertise - sales should be financially savvy and work closely with finance to work out what is the most profitable products they can sell, how they can add/reduce for greater over profit or for leaders how to best stimulate sales teams.
- Product knowledge from the field - The can be a great source of feedback. A good sales person will separate what matters at the core vs why the latest client didn't buy.
- Business knowledge and lateral thinking - so many sales turn up and pitch what expect to sell. Really good sales people get to a business and offer solutions. The need to understand your business fast. When I'm on the customer side I find this most important. You quickly know the people that are trying to sell a product vs those with businesses savvy looking where their solutions can benefit your outcomes. Often they will find new ways to utilise their product to offer benefits.
- Internal fixer/project manager: for many products the person selling hands deliver off to another team. The better ones ensure your happy ongoing and make sure any down the line problems get resolved internally even when they get involved outside of their sales area and have to become temporary project managers etc.
Off the top of my head that's the other value add. Interpersonal is important but is a smaller component than most people give it credit for with the 'fast talking' sale image that is often displayed.
tl;dr don't be a dick.
They leverage their network to connect to the right people for a sale. For example, imagine you are B2B and want to sell your product to Box. Who are the decision makers, and who has money at Box to buy your product? How do you get in the door with those folks and have a conversation? What are the needs of the customer and how can you map existing solutions to these problems? These are hard questions to answer but with a good network you can get in the door, and has less to do with interpersonal skills and more on strategy and execution.
All this talk of "who to hire first" is totally case-sensitive, but if you're dealing with entreprise or high-value things, a great sales person can make your company.
I don't discriminate in hypothetical situations though.