How To Succeed As a First Time VP of Sales -- Updated

15 Things Not to Do as a First-Time VP of Sales:

Pretending you know how to do something you don’t. Too many first-time VPs of Sales pretend they’ve done it all. Do not do this. If you came up in a 100% in-bound environment, don’t pretend you know how to build an outbound team. If you were the #1 field rep in your last gig, don’t pretend you understand everything about high velocity, small ACV deals. It’s OK as a first-time VP of Sales — and a 10th-timer — to be honest about what you are good at, and what you are still learning to be good at. In fact, it will save your job.

Not hiring people better than you. One of the biggest differences between first-time managers and experienced managers is first timers hire their friends. And then after that, they hire people that won’t challenge them. Look — you have your shot. You are finally VP of Sales at a hot, or pre-hot, or at least interesting SaaS company. Don’t blow it by hiring yes men and yes women. Don’t blow it by hiring reps you’ve worked with before, but can’t sell in your current environment. You need to bring in a few ringers. But after that, you want to hire folks that were better AEs and SDRs than you ever were.

Signing up for an impossible plan. The best VPs of Sales sign up for an aggressive plan — and insist on being paid when they crush it. But no great VP of Sales will sign up for a truly impossible plan. Don’t agree to a plan you mathematically can’t hit. This never ends well. You’ll be blamed. You’ll be fired.

Hoping headcount (alone) will drive revenue. At some point, every SaaS company gets big enough where headcount does drive revenue. But this is almost never the case before $8m-$10m in ARR or so. Before then, leads drive revenue. Too many first-time VPs of Sales hire way too many AEs to hit the plan. Instead, you should have enough AEs to hit the plan, but also, enough SDRs, enough BDRs, and enough MQLs.