Making your first marketing/sales hire in SaaS – The evolution and the recurring themes

This is the start of a hugely exciting journey. You’ve had this industry-changing idea for a couple of years now, you’ve finally taken the plunge, successfully raised the money, and you’re actually doing it.

You’ve got a fantastic product, a superb tech team you know can deliver anything, you have your onboarding function built, you’re generating leads and you know how to convert them. Your first users are blown away by how easy to use your product is, how effective it is, and how they ever survived without it.

Everything’s in place, and you’re ready to move towards those big monthly revenue targets.

You very likely have a growth strategy that has been successful, you know how to market your product and who to market to, but do you have the time to implement? Probably not, and you certainly won’t as your business grows.

It’s time to make the first marketing/sales hire into your SaaS business.

This is a journey I’ve been on with many of my clients. All have different specific requirements, but there are definite running themes when comparing their journeys, and how the ideas of the perfect candidate develop. 

So, here are some common trends you might find useful to know about when making that first hire who is really going to send your leads into the stratosphere…

1.    Choose people who uses data to underpin everything

Talking about using data is such a cliché I’m almost embarrassed to say it, but testing and experimenting with what works is essential for growing your leads. First impressions are hugely important, so straight from the early days you want to establish what messages/content work and what messages/content don’t. Start-ups that do this have a much better chance of winning large accounts quickly, and once you have some great names on your client list, grabbing attention becomes much easier. Choose someone who understands data and experimentation and has the inclination to go that route.

2.    You don’t need anyone super senior yet

I’ve never placed anybody into this role who earns more than ￡40K as a base salary (remember I’m talking about the first sales/marketing hire here, not a Head of Growth/Marketing Director/CMO type role). It’s important to have someone who understands growth and who understands the SaaS marketing/sales process, but they don’t need to be leading a team or rebranding your product. Hiring an ambitious SDR who wants to take more control over strategy and lead a function is what tends to happen in these hires.

3.    Hire someone from sales or marketing – Finding the hybrid isn’t essential

A lot of start-ups give the initial brief for this role as someone who does marketing and sales, someone who’s creating content, managing social media, and making the sales calls. There are a select few doing this, simply because there aren’t many businesses at your exact stage of growth, and SaaS scale-ups often have siloed marketing and sales functions. Finding the hybrid would be fantastic, but there are many marketing executives from impressive SaaS businesses who would be chomping at the bit to get on the phone, and many SDRs who are desperate to get involved in setting the strategy. The people who will be successful in this hire are flexible and keen to learn, so don’t rule candidates out because their current role isn’t a carbon copy of your job spec.

4.    If you’re not using a recruiter, spend some time headhunting on LI

A lot of founders do this for their tech hires, but less so when it comes to the early stage marketing/sales. Look for companies you admire and who’s marketing/growth you want to emulate, look for the SDRs that are pumping out content, or marketers who use the tone of voice you’re looking for, and send them a personalised connection request with a bit of information about your opportunity. This might sound time-consuming at first, but when you’re in the flow of it you’ll find you’ll cover off a lot of great candidates in a short amount of time, and your response rate should be pretty decent if your messages are good.  

5.    Check their vision is in-line with your own, but be open

Most founders have a very clear vision of what they want from this hire, which could be summed up as exponential growth of inbound leads and booking in many new client meetings for you to go out and close. That’s the outcome, and whilst you likely have a clear vision of how to get there, you’re unlikely to find someone who sees things exactly the same way. Almost by definition the people who are successful in these roles have a strategic mindset, they experiment and they need autonomy, so don’t hire someone just to implement your ideas – Hire someone who challenges them, and who might take your marketing/sales function in a completely different direction.

6.    Be ready for this person to be either your future Marketing Director or your future Sales Director

This hire is going to be a sales and marketing hybrid, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a preference to either side, and conversely it doesn’t mean they have to be clear on which avenue they see their career going. Early conversations about progression for this hire should be just that – Conversations. The person you hire might find they enjoy strategy more than anything, or they want to hire someone below them as the business grows and teach and lead that person. Flexibility is really important here, so leave many avenues open for this person’s progression and they’re much more likely to be with you for the long run.

Every business is different and will have different requirements, but there are consistent recurring themes that occur every time, and the evolution of the process I’ve been through with many early-stage SaaS businesses.

If you’ve got any questions or would like to discuss your marketing hires, get in touch!

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