The CEO is often compared to a Sports Team Manager… they have to provide strategy for the season ahead, bring out the best in group of people, and of course take ultimately accountability for shareholders or sometimes a nation of fans!
In that analogy, there is all too often the thinking that a star sales “rain maker” can pick up the burden of the company revenue target to make a sales number through some kind of heroic effort.
Even in a team of players a huge talent like Messi, Ronaldo or a Jordan still needs the other members of their team. They must make a pass, they have to have a goalie and a defense.
And behind the scenes of course the manager, owner, coaches and medical staff might be lesser paid, get less credit for wins and generally be out the limelight but they are all needed during a training season, match day and to produce results.
So why in Sales is the mentality too often that it’s all up to these lone players to bring in the numbers? The whole business need to realize they are in the game of Sales, from HR to Finance, Legal, and Product Management in particular.
Think about it, a new hire that can know your culture, products, customers and how you deliver your service, AND they need to start closing those deals soon! Is that reasonable?
What you need to check as soon as possible is how is the REST of the team functioning BESIDES the new sales hire? How are Marketing, Finance, HR, Legal, and most importantly PRODUCT Management? Are they aware of and connected to your customers, what you sell and how you deliver?
I will argue this is Job #1 of the CEO or the team around him, make sure you have a TEAM approach to Sales and Marketing and Customer Success.
This is particularly true if your product or service involves people and most businesses do. Because after Sales have delivered in a hot lead, a good opportunity its really up to the other parts of the business to show the customer who they will be dealing with over their time with you.
For more on the Roles and how you help your team as CEO have a look at the article below which defines a useful Sales Enablement Role Matrix
https://www.b2bs.co.za/web/its-not-them-its-you-why-your-sales-team-need-help/
See below for the free download from Demand Metric which I use to assess Sales and Marketing Maturity in the Clients I work with.
https://www.demandmetric.com/content/sales-enablement-roles-matrix