The Founder's Guide: Benchmarking Closing Rates for New Sales Reps

In this article, I'm going to walk you through the founder's guide on exactly what KPIs you should be looking for when you hire a new sales rep. We'll cover what kind of closing rates to expect, how many appointments they should be making, how they should be showing up, and how to manage them effectively.

If you are about to make some of your first hires as part of your B2B process, I'll guide you through some basic KPIs that you should be aware of when hiring for the first time. Whether you’re in tech, SaaS, or a B2B service, these are the rules I have followed throughout my career.

Experience Matters

The first step when looking to make a hire is to find someone with at least two years of B2B experience. It's crucial not to hire completely new people, especially if this is your first time building out your sales team. You need someone who doesn’t require training from the ground up.

Tangible Results

When hiring, look for candidates who can demonstrate tangible results. Good reps maintain a history of how they helped companies grow, whether that was through closing deals in a shorter period of time, bringing in new business, or managing a significant amount of deal flow.

Beyond Connections

It's important to note that having connections or a network in your specific business type isn’t the top priority. Your business should be responsible for booking the appointments. Instead, focus on finding someone with at least two years of B2B experience who can show they’ve done impressive, tangible things, and kept case studies to showcase their worth.

Asking the Right Questions

Good sales reps should ask a lot of questions about your pipeline. They need to understand if they can make a substantial income, which for top reps can be in the range of $15k to $20k per month. They should inquire about your pipeline, lead generation, closing timeframes, follow-up systems, and daily expectations.

Setting the Benchmarks

Before making a hire, ensure your company has at least 90 days of consistent new appointments being generated daily, and that you can close at a minimum rate of 30%. This needs to be from a scalable, predictable channel, not referrals or personal networks.

Focus on Sales, Not Prospecting

Your sales reps should spend their time communicating with prospects, not finding their own appointments. While they should do some of their own dials and appointment setting, this should come from an existing pipeline and not from prospecting new business. Marketing should handle new business generation. Aim for 70% of their appointments should come from marketing.

Key Performance Indicator (KPI)

The critical KPI for new hires is that after 30 live demos or strategy sessions with sales-qualified leads, they should be able to close at least 20% of them. If they fail to meet this benchmark, it’s a sign they may not be the right fit.

Onboarding and Training

Automate as much of the hiring process as possible. Use video presentations to evaluate candidates' on-camera presence. Ensure new hires have access to all necessary tools and systems, such as Slack, Google Drive, company email, CRM, and a structured training portal.

Continuous Support and Management

Provide ongoing support and regular check-ins. Sales reps need guidance to stay motivated and on target. Use AI call analysis to review performance and identify areas for improvement. Make data-driven decisions to ensure that your sales processes are effective.

Data-Driven Decisions

Having the right data is crucial. Track how many calls it takes to make an offer and what your offer rates are. Use this data to refine your processes and compensation structures to avoid any unintended consequences, such as reps holding back deals for better commissions.

By following these guidelines, you can ensure that you are making informed decisions when hiring new sales reps and setting them up for success. If you have any questions or think I missed something, please drop a comment below. Remember, stay curious and sell more.

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