INDEED, TOP 5 THINGS A GREAT VP OF SALES SHOULD DO
Did you think that a VP of Sales should be the first hire of a sales team, even before the salespersons? Think again! Some new companies hire a VP of Sales when there are just two people in the company—the CEO and Head of Sales. But that’s far from the right move a founder can do.
If you aren’t sure about when you need to hire a VP of Sales, read on to find out. In this blog, we’ll take a look at what a great VP of Sales should actually do and why hiring a Sales VP when there are no salespeople, isn’t right.
On a side note, if you are hiring VPs of Sales at the right time, equip them with the best sales tool they can ever have - the FaceValue Application. From conducting market research to tracking the lead gen process, this tool comes in handy for everything a sales team does!
What are the 5 main responsibilities of a VP of Sales?
1. Recruiting
One place where first-time founders go wrong with the responsibilities of a Sales VP is recruiting rather than selling. While a Sales VP should focus on sales, the prime responsibility to recruit, train and coach new salespeople. Recruiting great sales reps and helping them succeed should be #1 priority.
2. Backfilling and helping the sales team
The Sales VP should help his/her team to close deals, get hands-on when there’s a big deal at stake, find out issues and fix the issues before they blow up, and take advantage of opportunities at the right time.
3. Sales tactics
Apart from recruiting and training new salespeople, a good Sales VP should know to handle quotes and comp, guide the sales team to pitch scripts and coordinate FUD(Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt), segment customers, and build and analyze reports.
A Sales VP should go a step ahead and ensure that everyone on the team knows how to get the relevant data they need from the CRM or a sales system. You can try out FaceValue Application to create and store all the information of leads, customers and sales figures and make it easy for the salespeople to access data on-the-go.
4. Sales strategy
A Sales VP should strategize about finding new markets, main bottlenecks and monitor the key metrics that indicate the team’s performance as well as the company’s growth.
5. Creating and selling deals themselves
Sometimes, when there is a huge deal on the table, the VP of Sales should close the deals by themselves rather than the team.
Now that you know what a VP of Sales should do..
Reflect on what a VP can do when there are no salespersons to work with! When we observe most of the responsibilities, it deals with managing, training or recruiting the salespeople. When there is no salesperson in the company, there is very less a VP of Sales has to do at that stage.
So hiring a VP Sales who doesn’t know this themselves may not be the right choice for a long-term VP. They can be great individuals and a useful contributor, yes, but sometimes, they can also be a flawed or desperate candidate.
If you are looking for a good sales system for your team, the FaceValue Application is the best choice! With 20 Points of Purchase to target leads, automated brand communications and the multichannel operations, you can realize new levels of accuracy in conversions. Click here to try the FaceValue App now!
This blog is excerpted from: 'From Impossible to Inevitable: how hyper-growth companies create predictable revenue' co-authored by Aaron Ross and Jason Lemkin.
Break your revenue records. Silicon Valley's 'Growth Bible' makes it very clear how to get to hyper-growth and the work needed to get there.
Try FaceValue now and get for FREE the bestseller 'From Impossible to Inevitable: How Hyper-Growth Companies Create Predictable Revenue'. Try It Now.
