Ask HN: Finding sales people?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=728999

by cliffdickerson • 17 years ago

10 10 17 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I'm in the process of trying to start a small managed services company and I am completely lost as to how to find sales people. Any thoughts? I have a tech demo showing off all the great automation, monitoring and alerts to show how "we" can save you time, and keep your systems up. I even have some decent literature and presentation info, I'm just lost as to how to get it in front of people. My ideal target would be an Oracle shop with 4-64 servers. Anything can be managed but I find I know Oracle infrastructure the best.

Thanks.

alain940402• 17 years ago

Ideally, you'd want to hire a salesperson who has experience selling into exactly those accounts. Given the current job market, it's easier than it has been in a long time.

However, be careful of con artists (also known as sales people). It's very difficult to properly interview sales people (read http://blog.fairsoftware.net/2009/03/27/im-a-geek-how-do-i-p... for details).

Bottom line: use references and strong recommendations, use your network, don't hire blind.

cliffdickerson3• 17 years ago

Alain,

Thanks for the link, and good advice. That's the trouble I'm having now is all the sales people I do know I would consider con artists before I'd call them good sales people.

I'm also having a hard time with compensation. Do you pay a flat % for a sale coming from the "setup fee" and then a small % of the recurring monthly fee's or just a flat salary?

brk3• 17 years ago

Do you pay a flat % for a sale

Most are going to want a base+commission sort of plan. You basically determine what the position is worth, we'll say it's worth $100K/yr to use a round number. Now, you determine (part art, part science) what the base vs. variable should be, lots of factors go into this, including how probable it is that the person has a decent shot at being successful. Most skilled sales people will also require an accelerator (if they exceed quota by x%, they get a y% bonus on top of the standard comp).

Then there is also the issue of recoverable vs. non-recoverable draws, if you do any draw at all (I'd try not to).

EDIT: I just realized I left this half-finished...

So if the overall comp is 100K, you might say 75K is base, paid like any regular base, and the 25K is tied to revenue. You'll have a monthly or quarterly goal, with the 25K applied in proportion to the revenue goals. Which means that they might earn ~1K in comp Jan, Feb, Mar, $2.5K in Apr, 3K in May, and so on. You can also divide the 25K by 4, set a quarterly all-or-nothing goal, or a dozen other combinations.

You'll also need to learn more about sales than it sounds like you currently know to prevent yourself from getting steamrolled by someone who knows how to take advantage of the situation.

alain940402• 17 years ago

base + commission. 50% commission is considered aggressive, but offers job security to the sales person. Less base, and it's almost a commissions-only job. Which is acceptable: lots of people work as rep, where the retainer is 0 or very small.

brk3• 17 years ago

Where are you physically located?

I may know of some people in your area.

One option is to start with a sales person/sales consultant type, like this guy: http://www.creatingconfidence.com/ (I have worked with Randy in the past, but have no vested interest in promoting him).

Another option is to use an appointment setting group, where they do what their name implies, screen through leads to setup demos/sales sessions for you. You can (probably) handle the load at first until you get a little more momentum and a feel for the exact needs of the position.

cliffdickerson3• 17 years ago

I'm in Vegas. I'm Willing to look for customers in LA, SF and Phoenix as well as here in the Vegas metro area. In reality the job can be done remotely from anywhere.

Do these appointment setting groups provide leads or are they just a mechanical turk to make the calls and set the appointments? Do I give them an Oracle customer list I purchased?

I'm reading Randy's site now, thank you.

brk3• 17 years ago

You generally have to buy/acquire the leads from somewhere. If your target audience is generic enough, most decent organizations will be able to help you with that aspect as well.

After that, they are mostly mechanical turk. You'll give them a script and some basic info/FAQs/etc. They will generally present themselves as employees of your company.

I don't have any direct contacts in the Vegas area that can help you out though, sorry.

My contact info is in my profile. If you want to hit me up, we might be able to do a phone call and I can lay a lot of this out a little better for you (wish I had the time to type all the points I would like to make out here).

BTW, my role the last 6 or 8 years has been getting sales operations in startups off the ground from the tech perspective. IE: I generally own all the pre/post-sales functions, but as a result of that have been heavily involved in comp plans, lead-gen, etc.

What you're looking for sounds like an "inside sales" role. These are, IME, usually $60-$80K positions depending on the candidate.

zackattack• 17 years ago

Please send me an email with more information when you get the chance.

(zacharyburt@gmail.com)

pmichaud• 17 years ago

In my experience, you get sales people from your network. If you're starting a company you should have a network. If you don't, start building one.

Ask HN: Finding sales people?

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