Hiring, training, and motivating winning sales teams is critical for startup success but can be daunting for founders. In this episode, I am delighted to be joined by Lee Anderson, Director of Sales Scotland and Ireland at Microlise. With over 18 years of experience driving growth across diverse sectors and scaling the sales team from 5 to 35 employees as the co-founder and Head of Sales & Partnerships at Coastr, Lee shares his proven playbook for building revenue machines.
You will hear key insights on:
- Most important traits to look for in early sales hires
- Benefits of having a commercial co-founder
- When to hire your first salesperson
- How to effectively onboard and train new sales hires
- Key differences between sales and partnership roles
- Data and metrics to gauge the success of your sales team
- Habits and mindsets that separate top sales performers
Episode Highlights
[01:46] Most important traits to look for in early sales hires - resilience, adaptability, self-motivation
[04:54] Benefits of having a commercial co-founder - passion, deep product knowledge, ability to nail value prop
[06:47] When to bring on your first salesperson if you don't have one as a co-founder
[12:04] Tips for onboarding salespeople - set expectations, define goals/KPIs, provide comprehensive training
[14:00] The art of uncovering objections in the sales process
[25:06] Key differences between sales and partnerships roles in terms of focus and approach
[30:54] Communicating with and coaching new sales hires in the first 6 months
[36:40] Metrics and KPIs to gauge the success of your sales team - revenue, pipeline, velocity, conversion rates
[42:01] Habits and mindsets of top sales performers - goal-oriented, resilient, adaptable, accountable
About Lee Anderson
Lee Anderson is a strategic sales leader with over 18 years of experience driving growth and profitability across diverse sectors in the UK and Middle East/Dubai. Currently, he serves as the Director of Sales for Scotland & Ireland at Microlise. Previously, Lee was the co-founder and Head of Sales & Partnerships at Coastr, where he scaled the sales team from 5 to 35 employees. He also served in the British Army and holds a Higher National Diploma in Mechanical Engineering.
Lee on LinkedIn
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