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Startups: Your First SaaS SDR Hire
forumvc.com
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“At a small company, things change quickly and it’s all about gaining momentum,” said Laura Rennels, a Customer Success Manager at People Data Labs. “Rather than look for someone with established selling skills, look for someone who is curious, asks questions, and is creative.” “After that process is developed, it’s a waste of your time as the founder to focus on lead generation when you could be focused on interacting with your customers and ideally closing them.” Ideal previous experience for an SDR
It’s tempting to hire a salesperson as the very first hire you make. It intuitively feels “right” to have someone focused on sales in a business. However, this is the wrong mentality at an early-stage SaaS startup. Instead, only hire an SDR when you have a repeatable process for generating leads outside of your team’s network. “Further, you’ve proven with early founder-led sales efforts which outreach methods are most effective at engaging customers.” “At a small company, things change quickly and it’s all about gaining momentum,” said Laura Rennels, a Customer Success Manager at People Data Labs. “Rather than look for someone with established selling skills, look for someone who is curious, asks questions, and is creative.”
Hire an SDR only when you have a repeatable process “Instead, only hire an SDR when you have a repeatable process for generating leads outside of your team’s network.” For example: you know your ICP and where they live online. Further, you’ve proven with early founder-led sales efforts which outreach methods are most effective at engaging customers. With that, a new SDR simply has to come in, learn the process, and follow the well-worn path. If you don’t have a successful, repeatable process, we would not recommend making the investment in an SDR. The point of an SDR is not to build a process, but to execute on it.
“At a small company, things change quickly and it’s all about gaining momentum,” said Laura Rennels, a Customer Success Manager at People Data Labs. “Rather than look for someone with established selling skills, look for someone who is curious, asks questions, and is creative.” “You as the founder should still be running the sales calls and doing most of the ‘closing’ work (the SDR could sit in as a form of professional development, but you are the most equipped as the seller).” Ideal previous experience for an SDR
“At a small company, things change quickly and it’s all about gaining momentum,” said Laura Rennels, a Customer Success Manager at People Data Labs. “Rather than look for someone with established selling skills, look for someone who is curious, asks questions, and is creative.” “You as the founder should still be running the sales calls and doing most of the ‘closing’ work (the SDR could sit in as a form of professional development, but you are the most equipped as the seller).” Ideal previous experience for an SDR
“At a small company, things change quickly and it’s all about gaining momentum,” said Laura Rennels, a Customer Success Manager at People Data Labs. “Rather than look for someone with established selling skills, look for someone who is curious, asks questions, and is creative.” “Once you have a repeatable sales process, hire an SDR as quickly as you can.” Ideal previous experience for an SDR
Raw talent and growth mindset “Technical skills: Check if they are familiar with basic sales technology like CRMs and Linkedin Sales Navigator.” Coachability: You will spend a lot of time giving SDRs feedback on their performance, especially in the early days. Make sure you’re hiring someone who can learn from feedback.