Just this week an email landed in my inbox from CoFoundersLab’s trends discussions with an inquiry from a founder titled, 100% Commission vs Base? One respondent provided some great advice on early sales but also made the following statement:
That said, you won’t even attract moderately good salespeople if you don’t figure out your sales process before you hire them. You as the founder are the primary salesperson, no matter what your other duties are, until the day when your sales process doesn’t need any more adjustments. Then you can turn over the management of sales to someone else.
Again I thought this respondent was dead-on with his advice EXCEPT they perpetuated the common myth in the entrepreneurial community that the founder/inventor needs to be the first salesperson. Like many myths surrounding new product launches, it has a basis in what appears to be logical reasoning but is not true (i.e. the world was flat until it was proven not to be … it sure looks flat as you look over the ocean to the horizon). And then, over time, we perpetuate it without examining the underlying reasoning.
Who’s The Right Person for the Market Entry Sales Job?
For the myth of the founder salesperson, the reasoning lies in the repeated failures of hiring an experienced salesperson to launch a new product. This situation is true; most professional salespeople (including sales management) will fail with this task. But this is where the axiom or truism breaks down and makes it a myth. The fault does not live with the sales professional and does not mean the role and task is better performed by the founder. The failure in the reasoning lies in a false deduction between the cause and the effect. Let’s examine the components of the false logic.
The failure in sales (the effect) was caused by the wrong person doing the job (the cause), and therefore the founder needs to be the first salesperson (the conclusion from the cause and effect). The fallacy lies in the determined cause; in this case, the cause of failure is the absence of the required skill set to achieve the task (the early sales) and not the hired salesperson.
Market Entry Sales Skill Set vs. Professional Sales Skill Set
The skill set of early sales or market entry sales is dramatically different from the skill set of professional sales. To be successful, the professional salesperson needs a proven repeatable sales process to execute. By definition, there is no repeatable process at product launch, especially when going to market with disruptive or innovative technology. What is required at this stage of market development is a professional market entry person, not a professional salesperson.
By perpetuating the myth of the founder salesperson, we are saying that the best person for the job is someone who has never performed the task or at best, is not experienced. A novice in sales. A person that will have to learn by trial and error. To me, that is very costly and risky advice.
Don’t get me wrong. The founder typically has skills that are critical to the early market success of a new product launch. A deep understanding of the technology, an unrelenting passion for the product and company, and the will to succeed in the face of unrelenting challenges. However early market success required to build a sustainable business is riddled with minefields and requires a specific and unique skill set earned through experience.
New Product Launch Sales Team: The ViaVerus Pick
I want someone skilled and experienced in market entry sales to lead my early sales effort. Someone who has done it repeatedly, experienced the mistakes, and knows the true path; someone with the scars of failure and the wisdom of success. Someone passionate about the profession of market entry. I would pick this person every day over the founder learning sales on the job. But, in truth, I want the market entry professional matched with a passionate and credible founder. Now that is a team I would back.
ViaVerus educates, coaches, and executes a proven successful, proprietary AME (Agile Marketing Entry) for disruptive products. Contact us to get the AME advantage for your new product launch.
