Time to fire the VP Sales? (With Raul Porojan)
When do you know? How do you do it? And much more.
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You’ve probably seen it.
The average sales tenure for VP Sales at startups? It’s ridiculously low.
Most VPs don’t make it in the first 12 months.
But really, there’s only two places to put the blame.
Either it’s the VPs or it’s the startups. Maybe even both..
Anyway, it creates the question: Are we getting firing all wrong?
When do we know if it’s the right time to fire a sales leader?
And how do we do it best without screwing up the pipeline?
Or without the existing team quitting?
This and more we discussed with Raul Porojan in todays episode.
A few takeaways:
With any VP being hired, you want to see an upward movement in performance. ACVs. Winrates. Sales cycle lengths. Well, maybe the last one shouldn’t move up — but it should certainly improve.
Besides hard metrics improving, you also want to look at softer things: Do the AEs actually like working with the person? Are they learning something from her/him?
And if there’s a lot of thumbs down on these, question becomes: Did the VP get enabled? Did you truly give them what they needed to succeed? Whether it’s leads, tools or people — take a second to do some introspection first.
If you can’t find the answers, it’s time to move closer. Join some meetings. Yes it might send some signals, but if the VP is let go, it’s also easier for you to step in and avoid creating a vacuum.
It’ll also help you spot potential talent that was suppressed under a VP, or, someone you just didn’t notice. And more importantly: If you’re working closely with the team, you will start to know what the job is. Like truly. And that’ll helpn you find the right person.
00:00 Introduction
03:50 Firing the VP of Sales: Initial Thoughts
04:49 Challenges in Sales Leadership
05:58 Setting and Achieving Sales Quotas
11:24 Evaluating Sales Leadership Performance
21:09 When to Fire a Sales Leader
24:41 Final Considerations and Team Dynamics
25:45 Identifying the Real Problem
26:35 Deciding to Let Go of the VP
27:00 Handling the Transition
28:06 Founder Involvement in Sales
29:22 Bridging the Leadership Gap
30:34 Dealing with Team Dynamics
33:25 Internal Promotions
39:02 Avoiding Common Hiring Mistakes
40:34 Making the Right Hiring Decision