Building a High Performance Sales Organization

Sales teams today are way too cushy. Everyone wants to have their hand held and told they are doing great. Well, s*** is about to get real. I have interviewed 100 of the best sales leaders over the past 5 years. Chad Peets is the most no BS sales leader I have ever met. 🚀 8 Lessons on Building a $BN Sales Machine: 1. Hire for "Obsessed" Grit You need people who are "a little f**ked in the head"; those who wake up at 3:00AM thinking about work because they are genuinely obsessed with the mission. Chad prioritizes "grit" by asking candidates about the hardest challenges they've faced in life. He looks for military veterans or people who have navigated "serious shit" because startups are essentially life and death. 2. Hire for Today, Not Tomorrow A fatal mistake founders make is hiring a leader for the company they hope to be in 3 years, rather than the one they are today. Someone who managed a $500M business often knows nothing about building from 0 to $50M. If you hire for "tomorrow" before you have a foundation, you will never actually get there. 3. Prioritize Net New Logos At a startup, upselling inherited accounts is of little value. #1 priority must be pipeline generation and landing new accounts. When interviewing, if a candidate cannot detail every specific logo they brought in and exactly how they closed it, the interview is over. 4. Implement High-Accountability Attrition Scaling companies should model for 25% total attrition and intentionally "shoot the bottom 10%" of the sales organization every year. If you don’t hold underperformers accountable, your "A players" will eventually quit because they refuse to be surrounded by mediocrity. 5. Error on the Side of Lower Quotas If you have to choose, it is always better to set quotas slightly too low than too high. Setting impossible quotas leads to your best talent making no money and quitting, which is the most expensive mistake you can make. It is far easier to fix a "happy" sales force that is blowing out their numbers than to replace an entire team. 6. The In-Office Mandate Inside sales is an in-office business. The sales leader needs to be there five days a week, sitting with the reps to maintain intensity and immediate feedback loops. Inside sales efficiency dies in a distributed model. 7. Respect Over Popularity If a sales leader is beloved by everyone, they are likely the wrong person for the job. Winning requires conflict, and a great leader calls people on their shit to make them better. 8. AI will Replace Tasks, Not Sellers SDR and BDR roles will likely be gone within five years as AI drives massive efficiencies in early-stage prospecting. However, high-ticket enterprise sales will remain human. (Links in comments)