The Follow Up
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What CEOs Want in Their Salespeople

What CEOs Want in Their Salespeople

Why experience matters a lot less than you think

August 27, 2024

Good Morning! It’s National “Just Because” Day - which will be our favorite answer to every question today. Why are you calling me… ‘just because’. Why did you send me 50 emails… ‘just because’. It’s the answer that always works.

In today’s Follow Up:

What CEOs want in Salespeople 🤝
Getting 40% reply rates 👀
A cold email quick tip ✍️
A Lenovo sales rep is suing for $1.5M 😬
Sales jobs, LinkedIn & a meme 😂

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What CEOs Look For in Salespeople

Every year, Inc. releases their list of the 5000 fastest growing companies in the US.

To qualify, the companies need to be privately held, for profit, and based in the US. (and also pay to apply for the list).

Companies on the list have shown incredible revenue growth over the past 3 years (2020-2023), and like most fast growing companies, their growth is often fueled by top-notch sales teams made up of killer sales reps.

So, to figure out how these companies think about hiring their sales team, Inc. surveyed their CEOs and asked what they look for in their salespeople.

So, what did they say matters most? Drumroll, please... 🥁

Cultural Fit Trumps All (45%)

By far, the CEOs said the most important factor is finding reps who mesh well with the company culture and can collaborate effectively as part of a team.

As one CEO put it, "do I like this person? Could I see myself hanging out with them and working together for a long time?" Cultural compatibility is key.

Connections Matter (21%)

Having an existing network and relationships in an industry is also highly valued. Leveraging those connections can open doors and accelerate sales cycles when a new sales rep is able to bring existing relationships to a new business.

However, this can contradict the idea that experience doesn’t matter…

How can you make industry connections without experience?

Passion Over Experience (18% vs 6%)

Surprisingly, the CEOs said that raw passion for sales is much more important than years of experience.

These CEOs want reps with the drive and competitive spirit to push through rejection. Experience is a distant afterthought.

Although, this can be heavily dependent on the industry.

The Good News…

The common theme in these high-growth companies is the importance they put on grit, drive, and a team-first mentality, over things like experience or industry knowledge.

They want passionate people with a strong cultural fit and the discipline to persevere through the inevitable challenges and rejection.

A good work ethic, drive, and culture fit can overpower a lack of experience or industry knowledge.

Which do you think makes salespeople the most valuable?

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Sales Tip of The Day 💡

Aim for 4-6 words in your cold email opening line.

An analysis of millions of cold emails found that emails with 4-6 words in the opening line resulted in a 2.5% response rate, followed by 2.1% for 7-12 words and 1.8% for 1-3 words.