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I have a $2 million/year dev agency w/ 7 employees (50% gross margin) and am curious - how did you land on the salesperson you have? I have not had a single salesperson yet and am wanting to grow, but am afraid of hiring someone who will just waste time.

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Hiring a sales person is easier than a developer because they will accept commission as part of their pay package. Commission aligns your goals with their goals. The more they sell the more they make. Hire a few because they will compete and be even more productive. Fire if targets are not met.

Your wasting your own time not hiring. Sales targets are the easiest to measure.

But not in the grandparent's business (solo dev). There is a natural cap on the amount of work the solo dev can complete in a year (point of the article) and as such there is a natural cap on the amount of work the sales person can sell and fulfill in a year, which caps their sales bonus. It might not even be that big.

poached from a competitor, they tried to sell the exact same service i provide to my product company, and they did a great job.

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