Vertriebler einstellen beim Eintritt in neue Märkte

0:00Unternehmer/Gast I sell student housing software to universities or at least I try. >> [laughter] >> Um my small part of our business did 1.6 million last year or a little bit less. Uh trying to get to 2.7 this year. Amazing. Uh so I've got a very specific challenge which is a recruitment challenge of a salesperson where my gut and my head is fighting uh with each other every day. Your what to your head is fighting? >> My gut. Oh, your gut to your head are fighting.

0:26>> from Got it. >> England. Um >> [laughter] >> You don't say. Yeah, right. Um any questions about that, I'll tell you later. Um So what it need So we're entering a new geography, right? Eight months ago there were no universities in the United States buying student housing software from us at all. All right. Um and so to disrupt this marketplace that has an incumbent that's kind of got it sewn up for the sake of argument um I need sales people. Uh-huh.

0:57>> Uh and for me every fiber of my being believes I need a proper new business hunter. Someone's going to get out, bang down doors, ask questions, not make statements, fire in the belly, hunter. And I've just recruited one of those. Okay. >> I've got another guy in front of me that's an opportunity for me. And I'm wondering if I don't give him the job, if I'm getting in the way of what is actually the right decision for the business. Uh-huh. So this guy's been in the industry that we're in for 25 years.

1:23>> All right. Uh a huge gap in our business in North America is we don't understand the US marketplace. Um we just having we're having a go and he does. Um and he's got a demonstrable track record of selling student housing software in the US. Um but he's not a hunter, he's a farmer. He's probably not going to go out and bang down doors. He's He's got a strong work work ethic, I've no doubt of that. But it it the opportunities will need to come to him. He's also a teller and not a seller which makes me die inside. Um so my question is what's best for the business? Do I get a raw salesperson and I still have a huge gaping hole in our knowledge and understanding of our marketplace?

2:02>> Uh-huh. Or do I get this [snorts] person that can sell? >> And you only have the money to hire one? No, I've already got one and this will be the second, so we've budgeted for two. So do I bring this guy on um or do I you know go with my gut, get a hunter, but then still have that gap of knowledge that we this is a >> like desperately need this guy? Uh desperately need this guy or need a salesperson. This guy. Um I I don't >> the pain of filling This is literally the example I was just giving like pain of I really need a salesperson versus I have to have this guy.

2:34No, I don't feel like I desperately need the guy. No. Okay. I do need the knowledge and understanding that's in the business which is quite a unique thing to acquire in our own >> unimpressive though. It Well, by by what I believe a new business hunter to be, I'm not impressed, but he has got the data of where he's been successful in our marketplace before. Um So yes, it's tough Well, I mean there's also there's there's different ways you can structure this. Like you could just say, "Hey, would you like to consult for us?"

3:07That's an option. >> Currently works for a competitor. Okay. So is he going to bring over some of those accounts? Um So he has a black book. I don't really care though. Okay. Isn't that like the major advantage of him? Um I mean that genuinely. No, no, that that arguably is an advantage to him. There's a number of reasons for that. The software he sells is probably 10% of well, 20% of what we sell our software for. Um so slightly different segment of the audience. I think that's a short-termist mindset. Um it's to bring someone for that particular reason. And I've got a team of A players to protect and I think one of the reasons A players leave businesses cuz they have to put up with the C player. So is he a C player?

3:50And I back the team >> he's a C player? You're like >> not saying I'm not saying that he is, that's what I'm trying to determine in my mind is is that >> if you're not even thinking he's an A player, I'm already like kind of >> He's not what I deem as a new business hunter, but does that matter? >> that his job? Um his job is to make sales, yeah. New sales? New business sales. >> [laughter] >> Yeah. >> Right. So I mean like So this this is actually this is interesting cuz sometimes you'll you'll find somebody you're like, "Man, this person's great, but that's not really the opening I have right now."

4:21Um and then you have to make the call of like, "Do I want to basically just bring someone on because I think they're great and they'll like we'll be able to find a way for them to provide value? Or do I have them like do I try and find somebody who fits the role?" >> I think he'll make sales. I just think to create the opportunity in the first place >> He'll make sales, will you lose money on him? No. Okay, will he cost you in culture? Maybe. Okay, well then no.

4:46Like we could have just started with that one. Well, like sales team culture is what manages performance. Mhm. Like it is the spoken and unspoken rules that govern behavior. Like that's what I define culture as. And so if somebody comes in and has is allowed to do many things that I don't want any of my existing people to do, I then reset the culture to say that this not like this guy's older and experienced, he is what success looks like and now all of you, everything that you've been doing that I want you to do, you should stop doing that because I clearly don't care. Yeah.

5:16So yeah, sometimes like the thing is is you had me at like I don't really want him. Like then just find another one. [clears throat] Yeah, that's my gut, but Well, then trust your gut. Okay. Like the thing is is that like it's a it's a rush issue. It's like if you wait it's kind of like a like realtors wait longer to sell their homes on average and sell them for like 10% more than, you know, people who when realtors represent themselves, right? They sell for a little bit more, they wait a little bit longer when they put their house on the market. And so it's kind of reverse for us when it when talent comes in which is that like we're in this immediate pain, we talk to three people and then we marry one of them which is also how the vast majority of people date. And so

5:55>> [laughter] >> Anyways. Uh Like there's a huge advantage to to having to to to to go on more dates, right? It's like how many people did you interview for this extra salesperson? Um I've probably seen for this particular role maybe 20 so far. Yeah, you probably just need to talk to more people. And you talk to them like to give you context like for us we will it'll probably for if we want to fill one role that's solid we'll work from like between 500 and 1,000 resumes to get one. Yeah, oh resumes tons more than that.

6:28>> Right, no, I'm just get So just in terms of like, "Okay, 500 to 1,000 resumes then translate into call it I mean Frank will be able to give you the metrics better than I can. Um but a lot of conversations that then lead to like three qualified candidates and then we'll pick one. And the idea like the objective for the recruiting team is I want I tell them I need you to give me a very hard decision. I was like if it's an obvious decision, it means that you didn't bring enough good talent. Yeah. So yeah, I mean I we're just get the right fit. Yeah, like you're going to keep ping-ponging this, you just need to decide.

6:58Yep. And I think that you will decide really easily if you just keep dating. All right. >> Cuz as soon as you find that other person you're like, "Oh my god, thank god I went with this guy." I'll tell my wife I need to keep dating. Thanks very much. >> [laughter] >> That's all He's from the UK, you guys have questions? >> Thank you. You're welcome. If you're a business owner and you are not growing as fast as you'd like, I'd like to give you a free gift. So my team and I put together the $100 scaling roadmap which is basically 200 hours of us looking over all the portfolio companies we've had and what stages of growth they went through and more importantly where they got stuck and how they got past it. And so we broke it into these 10 stages and we made this little kind of quiz thing where if you put in your business information, it'll tell you where you're at and the most important part for you, what to do for each of the functions of the business across product, marketing, sales, customer success, recruiting, IT, human resources, and finance. And so no matter what you're struggling with, someone else has already struggled with it and solved it. And so I'd like to give you this thing absolutely free. You can go to acquisition.com/roadmap, plug in your business information, and if you want us to actually help you deconstruct the business and you're trying to scale, we'd love to help you out. On the thank you page you can book a call with my team and we will look at your business, see if we can help, and if we can, we'll invite you out to Vegas and we'll do this in person live.