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20 Sales: How To Build Sales Teams with a Product-Led-Growth GTM, What is a Sales Hiring Scorecard and How To Construct Yours & How To Structure the Onboarding Process for all New Sales Hires with Dannie Herzberg, Partner @ Sequoia Capital

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Feb 2, 2022

Dannie Herzberg, a Partner at Sequoia Capital and former sales leader at Slack and HubSpot, shares her journey from a waitress to a sales powerhouse. She discusses the significance of a solid sales playbook and when to hire key sales roles. Dannie dives into the ideal sales hiring process, identifying red flags and signals of potential rockstars. She emphasizes effective onboarding to ensure sales success and highlights the balance of workplace relationships. Listeners gain valuable insights into innovative sales strategies that drive growth.

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ANECDOTE

HubSpot Hiring

Dannie Herzberg got her first sales job at HubSpot despite lacking formal training.
Brian Halligan hired her due to her high aptitude and six years of waitressing experience.

INSIGHT

HubSpot's Culture and Community

HubSpot's intentional culture and engaged community became Dannie's model for evaluating companies.
Dharmesh Shah's culture code document codified HubSpot's values.

ANECDOTE

Notion's Community

Dannie uses Notion as an example of strong community engagement.
YouTube creators have millions of views explaining Notion, and users include "Notion" in their Twitter handles.

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Dannie Herzberg is a Partner @ Sequoia Capital and one of the great sales leaders of the last decade. Prior to entering the world of venture, Dannie spent 4 years at Slack as their Head of Enterprise Sales, there Dannie built & scaled the self-serve / SMB, mid-market, and enterprise sales orgs across the Americas as Slack grew from $100M - $1B in revenue. Before Slack, Dannie spent over 5 years at Hubspot building sales, opening an SF office, and then joining product to launch CRM & platform.

In Today’s Episode with Dannie Herzberg You Will Learn:

1.) How Dannie got her first job in sales at Hubspot through being a waitress in a Boston Diner? What were her biggest lessons from her 5 years scaling sales at Hubspot? How did Dannie's 4 years at Slack impact her operating and sales mindset today?

2.) The Playbook:

Does the founder need to be the one to create the sales playbook?
When is the right time to bring in the first sales hire? Should they be a sales leader or rep?
When is the right time to bring in a CRO, sales enablement and revenue ops?
What are the single biggest mistakes founders make when hiring their first in sales?

3.) The Hiring Process:

How should founders structure the hiring process for their first sales hires?
What should be achieved or learned in each consecutive interview?
How can founders use sales case studies most effectively?
What are early signs of a 10x sales hire? What are red flags to look out for in the process?

4.) Sales Onboarding:

What does the ideal onboarding process look like for new sales hires?
What tasks and duties should all sales hires perform in the first 60 days?
What are early signs that a new hire is not performing to the right standard?
How does the first few months differ for sales reps when comparing a product-led-growth company to an enterprise company?
How can new sales hires really engage with broader functions within the team in the first 30 days?

Item’s Mentioned In Today’s Episode with Dannie Herzberg

Inbound Marketing, Revised and Updated: Attract, Engage, and Delight Customers Online