I met with some founders this week to talk building sales teams and they asked me which part of the job I like better: building process or the people.
The question kind of surprised me because I don’t think about it as in the frame of one being better or more important than the other. The reality is it’s hard to do this job without both.
Process is like breathing. If you want to live and be healthy, you have to do it! Having a solid process lets you get more done. But everything that gets done is through people. To be most effective, you have to be good at both. And being “just pretty good” at both is more powerful than being top 10% of just one–at least if you want to grow fast or get things done at scale–because they multiply each other.
Process
I’ve seen many sales managers limit their impact because they won’t build process. Because they want to be involved in every decision, no matter how mundane. And because they feel like they don’t have the time to build it.
You Can’t Do Everything
But to get more done you have to delegate. Focus on the top things that you’re good at and will have huge impact. Give the rest to sharp people. Your top people want more responsibility and impact, so give it to them. It’s really better for both of you, even if they don’t do things exactly as you would. Which they won’t.
For many leaders, that’s exactly the reason they can’t bring themselves to do this: “I can do a better job, so I’ll just do it.” And they’re right. They’ll do a better job hiring candidates because they’ve interviewed a thousand people and the reps that they could delegate this to have interviewed fewer than 50 people between them.
But is it really the best use of the leader’s time to do all the things and make every decision? No way. In every situation I’ve seen, this problem can be solved by creating a powerful process. Design something that your reps can follow and that will get them 90% of the way there. Then live with the difference.
It’s worth giving up that 10% and it’s worth giving up control of every little detail in exchange for multiplying your value somewhere else. Your time is better spent elsewhere.
How to Replicate Yourself
Let’s stick with the recruiting example. You have to take the team from six to ten in 60 days. That’s a lot of interviews. We hire about one in ten people who come on site, and we spend an hour with them. That’s 40 hours, not including phone screens, which you’re likely doing yourself at this stage. If your phone screens are only 15 minutes long, and you “only” need to do four to bring someone in, that’s another 40 hours.
Replicate yourself by building a process others can follow:
- Figure out what characteristics you need in a rep.
- Design questions to uncover those characteristics.
- Teach your reports to understand a good and bad answer.
- Practice with those reps and test them.
- Have them shadow you, then shadow them.
Yes, there’s some up-front investment, but the payback period is fast. And now you have an asset: reps who can interview. They can help you get beyond ten–when you’re pulled in even more directions.
It Works
We’ve had SDRs with six months experience interviewing candidates and independently coming to the same conclusion as hiring managers. Get that enough times and you can cut waaaay down on your time spent here!
Building these processes is fun–and you get to see the impact you have on the org as you step out of some tasks. But the most important reason to do this is that you can’t grow a repeatable org if you insist on doing everything yourself.
People
While building process is fun and helps you scale, the people side ensures you build a more stable organization, create a great place to work, and is fulfilling.
The Great Place to Work Feedback Loop
Often, leaders want to hire the top producer from a similar company and just let them do their thing. They’ll lure the candidate away from their current gig with the “better” pitch: more money, options, or freedom. Doing this seems to make sense–it plugs a hole quickly and helps them hit their short term number, with little risk.
Except there’s a ton of risk in this method. The rep that’s looking for those things is always going to be looking for those things.
My recommendation is that you build a sales org focused on coaching and skill improvement. This is rare enough that you’ll stand out. Making somebody better keeps them from looking for something better.
And since they stay longer, they help you build a great culture. Because they are getting better, they buy in to that culture, own it, and feel like they can tell you when there are problems. Then that great-and-always-improving culture helps you recruit. It’s a closed loop!
Impact Feels Great
Helping someone increase their skill and seeing them succeed beyond what they though was possible? That shit is warms your heart.
Hiring a rep and working with them to go from zero sales skills to $100k a year changes their life. Same for coaching a rep with experience so that their income grows 50%, or even doubles. And watching someone be able to do that, for me, has been more exciting than any sale I’ve ever made.
So… Which Do I Prefer?
I’m not knocking the people who prefer people vs process or vice versa, but I’m most excited because I don’t have to choose. I love both.
