How do you make your first sales hire work?

A first sales hire works best when they inherit a process, not a guess. When a first hire struggles, it isn't always the person. Often, everything they need to know is still in the founder's head.

Before you hire, try a simple test. Could someone new, with no history in the business, run your sales from what's written down? Not from shadowing you for a month. From what's actually on paper.

Start with who you sell to. Write down the kind of company, the person inside it who buys, and the problem that makes them act. Make it specific enough that someone new could look at a prospect and say yes or no.

Next, write down how you decide a deal is worth chasing. What does the buyer need to have told you? Who needs to be involved? What does a real next step look like? If that isn't written down, your new hire will have to make it up.

Then set out the stages a deal moves through, each tied to something the buyer has done. Add a short, plain explanation of what you sell and why it matters to the buyer. Those two things keep the conversation consistent when it isn't you having it.

When the hire starts, don't hand over a list and step away. Sit in on real calls, talk through live deals each week, and update what's written down as you both learn. The process should get better with them, not just be handed to them.

A first hire is worth making. Give them something they can run, and they can build on it.