Harry Stebbings@HarryStebbings1d ago

Podcasts frustrate me because they are fluffy and high-level. This is the most in-depth discussion on the framework that @tryramp have used to hire, monitor, and scale their sales team. - Why you should overpay reps - Why you should cancel forecasting calls - Why bankers make the best reps - Why comp plans are BS and you should not have one to start @max11free, SVP of Sales is truly epic here and my notes from the discussion below. -- 1. Why You Should Overpay Your Sales Reps The early bet was to pay SDRs well above market rate and expect output well above market in return. Reps earn 2X a standard SDR but book 40, 50 or 60 meetings, four to six times the usual target, so the unit economics still work. 2. You Have to Treat Hiring a Sales Team Like Moneyball: How to Find Hidden Talent Go-to-market recruiting should follow Billy Beane, targeting top sellers at companies that grew revenue past nine figures despite a low NPS score. Those reps had to create their own demand, work complex cycles with weak third-party reviews and sell at a premium to cheaper rivals. The number one or two seller there can thrive in a system like Ramp. Single biggest advice on finding hidden gem talent @rabois? 3. Why Bankers Make Great Sales Reps Bankers are programmed to work, and a nine-to-five is foreign to them. Before the company had brand recognition, a cold call to a CFO from someone who had just left Goldman TMT IB carried weight. Early sales teams lack time to teach cold call and email basics, so bankers kept the team in pure execution mode. Find this also @PeetsChad 4. Why I Advise Not to Have a Comp Plan Founders are advised to pay 100% OTE for at least the first two quarters instead of setting a comp plan. A quota set too low can be blown out in six months, leaving the company owing a seller multiple six figures. A target picked arbitrarily can also prove unattainable and stall momentum. Haha, interested to hear your thoughts on this one @Carles_Reina 5. Never Hire Sales Reps One at a Time Hiring one seller or SDR at a time leaves no way to benchmark performance, and comparing them against the founder is not reasonable. Onboarding is laborious and expensive, so hiring in pairs is better, bringing competition and collaboration and keeping reps from being lonely. 6. Why the Most Annoying Sales Reps Tend to Be the Most Successful Sellers who constantly ask about account strategy, pipeline and product during onboarding show a direct correlation with being incredible. Quiet reps, or those asking questions an AI or Notion bot could answer, usually give a weak signal, though the inverse is not always true. 7. What Should Sales Talent Focus on When Deciding Which Company to Join? Sellers joining an early-stage company should not index on equity, cash and comp, but on the market, the talent density of the business and the founders. Taking a VP title and lots of equity at a mediocre business growing 20 to 30% a year is the wrong trade. Biggest advice to talent on choosing which company to join @breeves08