Jason M. LemkinCEO, SaaStr · Co-Founder of SaaStr AI, SaaStr Fund, Adobe Sign

A New VP of Sales Has to Close Deals Themselves to Start. And Not Just Be a Manager.

1 Nov 2023 · 1 min

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Jason M. Lemkin advises that a newly hired VP of Sales should not be purely a manager; they must carry a quota and personally close meaningful revenue initially (ideally within a quarter). If the VP already knows the product or has sold it before they may managerially transition sooner, but generally 80–90% of VPs should be expected to close deals and then hire two reps to scale. Lemkin recommends they hold a full or half quota for a short period, close several deals, then build out the team.

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You have 11 million revenue, so you can hire the VP of Sales. You don't need to hire a kid first, right? They've got to carry a bag and they've got to close a significant amount of revenue themselves and then hire two. They have to hire two. How much revenue and how long? Hopefully not much more than a quarter because you're running out of time if it's more than a quarter. Right. I wrote a long time ago that in some senses, like too many founders get cheap in the early days and they want a VP of sales to not only be the VP of sales, but hold a full quota, right? So they can pay for themselves. If you can't afford it, you can't afford it. What I have learned is if they already know the product, if they're already a customer, if they've already sold it, sure, like they could just be a manager. But I think 80% of VPs of sales today should close. When they start 80 to 90, they got to close. But I would, I would either ask them to hold a full quota or half a quota for a quarter, close 2, 3, 4 deals, and then bring in Jack, Jane, Jill, Joe and Julia to fill it out.