I recently had a conversation with a GTM Leader who had just closed a massive round and reached Unicorn status.
He said the VCs were pressuring them to start firing faster and if the data indicates that reps aren’t ramping fast enough, after a couple months it’s time to cut bait.
I said, interesting… I have a question.
He said, oh yeah what’s that?
Have you ever considered what the data is NOT telling you—like the root cause of what’s really going on?
He said, I’m not following you. What do you mean?
I said, what if instead of firing fast, you start hiring slow to make sure you’re hiring THE RIGHT profile people to match your sales motion, company lifecycle stage, and culture?
Instead of putting the focus on these new AEs—what if you shifted the focus to FLMs to make sure that they are doing THEIR JOB…
To make sure FLMs are investing the time/energy in training/coaching these new reps so that they ramp and get on the scoreboard as quickly as possible?
Better yet, have you ever considered the root cause as to WHY these reps are attriting in the first place?
Remember: When you ask a better question, you’ll get a better answer.
TAKEAWAY
“The Great Resignation” is real.
Most high-tech sales org’s are running at attrition rates or 30% – 45% which is insane and unnecessary.
This coupled with the fact that the cost of a fully ramped AE $2M – $3M, quick math will tell you it’s impossible to successful scale a sales org at this rate.
My recommendation:
Think different.
Play the long game.
Don’t fire fast, hire slow.
Invest in people. Invest in systems.
