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Jason ✨BeKind✨ Lemkin ⚫️

@jasonlk

6 Dec

Is that new sales rep going to make it? It can be so hard to tell for sure during an interview process

In the early days, until you have a great VP of Sales, it's your job to figure that out

Here are 8 Signs of a Sales Rep That Isn't Going to Make It: 8⃣⬇️⬇️

1/ Immediate, massive discounting

Mediocre and failing sales reps do this because they have no other idea how to close a deal or create urgency.

Discounts don't create urgency, they create agency. They get the deal from the red zone to the end zone.

2/ Don't truly understand the product.

Way too many AEs don’t even really understand, let alone use, the product they are selling.

They don't know how to tweak it, configure it, sell to different personas, and more.

Early reps have to be product gurus. And evangelists.

Read 10 tweets

Jason ✨BeKind✨ Lemkin ⚫️

@jasonlk

30 Nov

1/ Lots of talk from folks about "Down Rounds" in venture but the reality is these are pretty uncommon

Bridge rounds and No Round at All are more common than Down Rounds

But what is pretty common and less discussed "Weak Rounds"

2/ "Weak Rounds" are rounds at < 2x the price per share of the last round

They get done all the time and much more easily, but the VCs rarely hit the IRR goals from the last round with a raise like this

And they are often very dilutive on top of it

3/ A Weak Round or even two, and VCs can end up making half of what they expected, even with the nominal valuation going up

This isn't the end of the world, but bear in mind VCs are looking for the next round to be at least 2x-3x the price per share of the last round

Read 4 tweets

Jason ✨BeKind✨ Lemkin ⚫️

@jasonlk

28 Nov

If you've hired your first 10+ sales reps, you're now seeing how different their playbooks are

Probably 2 of them close 2x-5x more than the rest, and a few struggle to close much at all

Here are the 9 Qualities of a Great Sales Rep: 9⃣⬇️⬇️

#1. The Best Reps Really Listen.

Mediocre sales reps just start diving immediately into their script, and try not to deviate from it. Great salespeople learn their prospects’ needs, issues, and pain.

#2. The Best Reps Adjust the Pitch and Story to Suit the Prospect.

Every prospect is a bit different, and sometimes, a lot different. The best reps tailor the pitch, the demo, the functionality shares, the case studies, etc. to suit the needs of the prospect.

Read 11 tweets

Jason ✨BeKind✨ Lemkin ⚫️

@jasonlk

16 Nov

5 Simple Tips to Improve Sales Rep Performance in the early-ish days

These always work: 🔽🔽🔽🔽🔽

#1. Concentrate leads in those who can close

If you have a rep or two that just can’t close, that doesn’t work in early days. Leads are too precious. Let them go. Not to save money, but to concentrate leads you do have in those that can close them

The best reps close 2x-9x more

#2. Be more involved as the CEO with sales. Prospects and customers love to talk to CEO. They love it

If you get more involved, at least in bigger deals, you will close more

Top mistake I see CEOs make is to scale back time they spend in sales once they hire few reps.

Read 7 tweets

Jason ✨BeKind✨ Lemkin ⚫️

@jasonlk

15 Nov

The key to a good financial plan for 2022 IMHO:

1/ Start with a base plan, one you have about 60% confidence in.

This literally can just be based on your average growth and burn for the past 4 months

Just roll that forward. It's usually pretty predictive.

2/ Then build your stretch plan. One you have 10%-20% confidence in. That will be hard, but can be done. I call this a C-10 plan.

Usually it about 20% higher in revenue than the C-60 / Base plan

3/ Finally, build your It's Harder Than We Thought Plan -- the one you are 90% sure you'll hit.

This is 20% less revenue than the base plan -- but with the same burn.

Your zero cash date will shrink. This is just for worser case planning.

Read 5 tweets

Jason ✨BeKind✨ Lemkin ⚫️

@jasonlk

15 Nov

Usually if you have > 2 and < 10 sales reps,

Just moving on from the lowest performer (or two) gives you a 10%+ boost right then and there

Leads are precious for quite a while

Once you hire a strong VP of Sales, this problem will solve itself. She’ll make the calls, and backfill her team, and cover all the leads one way or another.

But if you’re still running sales yourself after 2 reps or so, you’ll usually hire a few reps that simply can’t repeat the quirky playbook of the 2 you hired that can close

That’s your fault, not theirs. But it happens in almost every startup I’ve worked with.

Read 4 tweets

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