s t e l l a t o

The specific things you’re looking for are: intelligence, ability to think creatively, ability to work with customers on vaguely defined problems, ability to assemble an ROI business case (with a template already created by marketing) and above all else the ability to listen, summarize and follow-through. Early stage selling is way more “evangelical” than process driven. That means you’re more often than not trying to get customers to realize they actually have a problem versus their already having budget assigned for a system in your category. It is a consultative sale. Don’t confuse that with hiring “consultants” who make terrible sales people. But a consultative sale means you need somebody comfortable working with a lack of defined structure, process or product. If you hire that person straight from a sales academy they will be hugely frustrated that you don’t have pricing sheets, high quality sales collateral, a well-oiled sales process integrated into Salesforce.com and a clear sense of why customers should buy your product.