C Rogers Consulting

I am inspired by companies that know their "why." They clearly understand what they're offering and who they serve. And they're energized and passionate about making that vision a reality. Where it often goes sideways, however, is in the HOW. Story I hear all the time: Passionate founder (who loves the product and can sell the product) wants to stop selling. Founder hires an experienced sales person for the "first sales hire" expecting this person to take the reigns and sell--while also "being the foundational hire to build the org around." They have a bit of beginner's luck, everyone starts talking about scale immediately, then they hire more sales people. And shortly thereafter...it starts to fall apart. Falling apart looks like: very few pipeline adds, the new customers they just brought on are churning, most reps doing their own thing for sales process so there's zero ability to forecast, plus the extra fun dynamic of paying reps incorrectly so it's draining the company of resources and there's zero new revenue in sight. The "first sales hire" is massively stressed and doesn't know how to fix it. The founder says that they've hired the wrong person, blames the first sales hire, fires that person along with most of the team, then repeats this story. Over and over. If you got uncomfortable reading that because it feels all too familiar, it's okay. You're not alone. And it's fixable. Let's talk.