Hiring Criteria for High Sales Achievers in the SaaS Industry

As a sales manager that may regularly recruit account executives (Inside, Key or Strategic), you will probably have encountered delays and problems within a never-ending #recruitment process. Though many reasons could explain it, a lack of preparation is often to blame. In this post, I would like to dive into this topic.

In my opinion, the “Let’s see what type of applicants we can get” approach is not an appropriate solution to help every sales manager and company reach their growth goals. I suggest we start with two simple questions.

1)   What do I want this sales executive to achieve in their first year?

One million euros of new bookings, 30% upselling on their portfolio, gain the first three enterprise accounts in Germany so they can build on this the following year, be a brand ambassador, share their expertise? 

2)   Why do I want it?

Your answer must meet your goals, your Annual Recurring Revenue, your (new) Bookings, but also the goals of the company (CAC, CLV) and culture. This part is particularly key, and you also want to be aligned with your own manager.

Being specific and focused on your desired factors will help you define the right hiring criteria for your position.

Achievements and Knowledge

Step back. Consider precisely why they need to have achieved to be successful in your role and team. Ask yourself the questions for everything you want to get from your new hire.

• Why do they need to have closed six-plus figure multi-year at large global accounts?
• Does carrying a 300K or 500K quota really make a difference considering the price differences in SaaS licences?
• Will 8-10 years of experience in #SaaS sales really matter if they have four years’ experience of up- and cross-selling enterprise accounts and targeting C level decision-makers, which may be just as relevant?"

Oh, “they also need to have a great network”. Well, I have seen that a network can open some doors, but this is really only a short-term gain that can lead to one or two new accounts; I wouldn’t advise you to rely on these criteria when selecting candidates. Most claims are not even worth the paper they are written on and insisting on the network may show an excess of confidence.

Moreover, a new sales rep would mostly be selling a different product to different people when starting a new role, and using the same old network may have negative side effects. For example, a KAM who sold a customer experience product to CMOs and built a great network started to sell another customer experience product to the same marketing directors for another year. How would it look if he repeatedly targets the same people? 

Things may remain different for senior #sales reps and strategic selling where a champion can help you identify and address roadblocks.

What is more interesting though is to consider:

• how quickly they will build their network
• how will they strategize the hunt (what will be their strategy to penetrate new accounts in terms of prospecting actions without any contact)

“It will be nice if this person also speaks Spanish as we may expand into Spain in the future.” OK, that’s great but, again, it’s only going to matter in the medium term. According to an AlleyWatch survey in 2017, Sales Executives in the tech space stay in their job for an average of two years and four months. Factor in the onboarding, the ramp-up and the sales cycle length…

“We need someone who is experienced with SaaS integration or with competitive product knowledge”. Is it a Sales Engineer role? Will a Solution Consultant work with your account executive? Can the technical aspects be taught? 

Next, CRM. Were you trained or born with the knowledge of using salesforce? Let’s not reject great salespeople because they have used a different CRM in the past.

Similarly, we want someone who has previously demonstrated value. How? What does it mean? Why do they need it to sell your SaaS solution?

And finally, the eternal master’s degree from a highly ranked business school. What is the evidence that someone with a master’s degree from a highly ranked business school is going to be better at sales in your organisation than someone from a different educational path? Similarly, if you work with the Challenger Sales Model, is it highly desirable that your future Sales Executive has been trained on it? Compared to their track record, does it really matter? It may! 

Get evidence for your assumptions. Prior success is not a 100% guarantee, but people are predictable and this is a condition for a senior sales hire. But be certain to separate the “Must Have” from the “Nice to Have” and go in even deeper by ranking your “Must Have”. Narrowing your hiring criteria does not mean being less demanding. On the contrary, it means being more demanding with what really matters.

Skills and Behaviours

In my opinion, this is where you are going to find your top talent. Why? Because you have been specific about the knowledge and achievements you want. So, what skills and behaviours should you be looking for in a salesperson? Obviously, it is going to depend on the existing team dynamics, your products and your clients. But over the years, I have recruited Sales in the IT space, and have found that the following core skills and traits seem to go a long way in defining successful salespeople.

Core Skills

1. The ability to actively listen, to put themselves in the other person’s shoes and build relationships. It sounds a bit cliché, but do they get your message? Are they able to trigger emotions and maybe even influence you during a conversation?
2. Coachability: How flexible is their mindset? How do they react to feedback when you assess their presentation or interview performance?
3. Audacious: This one can be a bit tricky to evaluate, but have they done something above and beyond to get this interview or their previous job? Have they tried something out of the blue to get to their goals in the past?
4. Preparation: For every meeting, a great sales executive will have done his research and asked quality questions.
5. Emotional Intelligence: The ability to demonstrate value is more important than ever. How do they actually perform when presenting to you? Other than value, what emotions did they trigger? Are they likeable?

Job Skills

While most of them can be trained, depending on how senior is your role, you may want to evaluate their:

1. Level of strategic and critical thinking – good hires will constantly rethink their priorities to focus on those sales opportunities that can deliver the highest revenue impact, will engage in long-term product challenges/development with the product teams they interface with in order to make sure the right products are built for the market.
2. Ability to create a pipeline (go to market).
3. Ability to close.
4. Ability to ask the right questions, deal with objections and pursue a sales cycle.

Evaluating their sales skills through a presentation makes sense as long as it is relevant to their mission: is it prospecting? selling against the competition, closing, penetrating a new vertical?

You may have a very different opinion than me on this and, depending on your situation, the following skills may be relevant to evaluate:

• Solutions-oriented
• Client-oriented
• Leadership
• Self-management
• Creativity
• Passionate

My advice: Stick to six skills and evaluate them carefully with a scorecard. Subjectivity and biases often lead to bad decisions, so undertaking your evaluation by grading will help you make the right decision. Go deep during the interviews to probe, ask questions about past situations and get the answers you want.

Behaviours

Values and Motivations

Values and beliefs are deeply rooted within us and they will be difficult to determine in a conversation. Actually, most of us have never actually taken the time to ask about someone’s values.

For salespeople, the best equation seems to be along the lines of the following:

Now, why do they get up every morning? That’s a big one strongly linked to their values.

Hence, selling a cool or innovative product and being coached by an understanding manager is important; the main driver of sales reps is being successful and getting the money and recognition they deserve.

But, essentially, I think they are driven by the feeling of fulfilment: the satisfaction of closing and winning deals, the joy of overcoming challenges, the inner need and will to convince someone of something and make them do it.

When you get this, you can answer the next big question. Can they succeed in our organisation?

Benchmark

At this stage, you should have a clear picture of the profile you are looking for. Now stop and benchmark. Ideally, you are going to align yourself with:

• Your manager (if not done earlier): Are they aligned with your criteria? Should she/he be the CEO, they may have different views than yours and you may have to justify your choices.
• Your team: It can be a bit tricky to do so, but transparency with your team and getting their thoughts will prove beneficial in the long run and help build better team spirit.
• Finance and HR: What can you offer? (base salary, commissions, bonus, travel expenses, career plan)
• The market: How does my opportunity stand out in the market? What is our reputation in the market? How competitive is our offer?

Separate again the “Must Have” from your “Nice to Have”. Would any criteria also disqualify the candidates? Review, adjust and experiment. Then, repeat.

Recruiting the right person who will help you achieve your goals is so important that you do not want to get it wrong. Building your sales strategy takes time, preparing your future recruitment does too.

Let us also remember that it is a learning process, a great way to network and expand your knowledge about your marketplace. I am not going to contradict Mark Roberge who states that “World-class sales #hiring is the biggest lever of sales success” and it starts with a clear picture of your hiring criteria.