{"id":982,"date":"2022-12-01T15:49:49","date_gmt":"2022-12-01T15:49:49","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-06-20T10:04:50","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T18:04:50","slug":"hire-sales-reps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/startups\/blog\/hire-sales-reps\/","title":{"rendered":"Three signs it\u2019s time to start hiring sales reps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/steliefti\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Steli Efti<\/a> is the CEO and co-founder of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.close.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Close<\/a>, a CRM with built-in sales automation features for startups and SMBs. He is a Y Combinator alum and an advisor to startups and entrepreneurs.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>This is the first of two posts Steli has written for Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub offering advice about when and how to hire your sales team.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>You can find the second post here: <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/startups\/blog\/first-sales-hire\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Three things to look for in your first sales hire<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What does every startup founder want? More sales, faster!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Growing sales faster than your burn rate is often the only way to keep the lights on and the dream alive. But you can&#8217;t make every sale yourself. You\u2019re busy with other priorities <a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/startups\/blog\/build-relationships-with-investors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">like building relationships with investors<\/a>. Leads are falling through the cracks. The only way to keep growing your business is to bring in additional help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this action guide, we&#8217;ll break down everything your startup needs to have in place before you make your first sales hire. Then I\u2019ll share three telltale signs that you&#8217;re ready to expand your sales team and examine the key qualities to look for in a candidate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Before You Make Your First Sales Hire<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I know you <em>want<\/em> to start hiring sales reps to handle sales for your startup. But, be honest, is your company ready for the next step?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Before you hire your first salesperson, make sure you have these things in place:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A really great product<\/strong>: Notice I didn&#8217;t say an &#8220;okay&#8221; product or even a &#8220;decent&#8221; product. I said, &#8220;great&#8221; product. Don&#8217;t hire a full-time salesperson if your product is buggy, fails often, or hasn\u2019t found its product-market fit. You\u2019ll be wasting your time and money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A clearly defined target audience<\/strong>: Is your product on point? Great, now make sure you know who to sell it to. It doesn&#8217;t matter how talented your new sales rep is; if they try to sell to everyone, they&#8217;ll fail. Lock down your customer profiles\/personas before hiring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A solid lead gen process<\/strong>: You&#8217;re looking to bring on a sales representative, not a wizard. They need solid leads. Develop an effective lead generation process before you hire a sales rep, so your new recruit has something to work with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A proven sales process<\/strong>: Developing a <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.close.com\/how-to-build-a-sales-process-that-gets-results\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">proven sales process<\/a> isn\u2019t the sales rep&#8217;s job. You need to provide a starting point. Set your new rep up for success &nbsp;with a proven process, rather than having them test a bunch of strategies first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Three signs it&#8217;s time to start hiring sales reps<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once your business meets all the criteria listed above, pay attention to these three signs that you need to starting hiring sales reps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Your sales funnel is overflowing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Is your pipeline bursting at the seams? If so, you&#8217;re probably ready to hire for your sales team. If not, consider waiting until your pipeline is consistently full.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most first sales hires are good at closing deals. That&#8217;s why they get the jobs they get. Sadly, a significant portion of first sales hires lack qualified opportunities, which causes them to fail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I suggest waiting to hire a full-time sales rep until you and your co-founders are so inundated with sales calls you can&#8217;t keep up. When that happens, consider bringing another team member on board. Otherwise, work to build up your pipeline first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. You&#8217;ve closed at least 10 deals on your own<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you haven&#8217;t closed 10 deals by yourself, you&#8217;re not ready to hire a full-time salesperson, plain and simple. There are two reasons why this is so important:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It proves <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/theyec\/2022\/07\/08\/determine-your-business-ideas-market-need-with-these-top-strategies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">there is a market<\/a> for the products and\/or services you sell<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It helps you develop and implement a sales process that actually works<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After closing 10 deals, you can look at your track record and confidently say, &#8220;Yeah, people want what we offer.&#8221; This is especially true in B2B, where price points are generally higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You&#8217;ll also have learned which product features, benefits, and talking points prospects connect with. You can use this information to develop a repeatable sales process that leads to higher average deal sizes and revenue targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Your startup is ready to grow<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every early-stage startup wants to grow\u2013but are you actually ready for it? You need a few things in place before your startup becomes the next big success story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For example, you\u2019ll need a killer product and an automatic lead generation process, as we discussed above. The ability to produce the products and\/or deliver the services you sell to customers at a faster clip is a good idea, too. You\u2019ll also want a plan for customer support and the ability to measure sales success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Best case scenario: your startup is already growing. If your pipeline is full and revenue keeps going up, you&#8217;re probably ready to begin hiring sales reps and a full-time sales leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Close is one of several <a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/startups\/blog\/trusted-partner-benefits\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trusted partner benefits<\/a> available to members of Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub. Members can receive the first month free, then 80% discount on any Close subscription plan for 12 months.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>For more resources for building your startup and access to the tools that can help you, <a href=\"https:\/\/foundershub.startups.microsoft.com\/signup\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sign up today for Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You want to hire a sales rep to handle sales for your startup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ms_queue_id":[],"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_classifai_error":"","_classifai_text_to_speech_error":"","_alt_title":"","ms-ems-related-posts":[976,674,984],"footnotes":""},"post_tag":[],"content-type":[201],"job-role":[],"topic":[734],"coauthors":[563],"class_list":["post-982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","content-type-founder-advice","topic-guidance-and-development"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Three signs it\u2019s time to start hiring sales reps - Microsoft for Startups Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Steli Efti, CEO of Close offers three tips on how to know it&#039;s time to start hiring sales reps for your startup.\" 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