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20 Sales: When To Hire Your Head of Sales/ First Reps, What To Look for in 10x Sales Candidates, How To Structure The Hiring Process, How To Onboard New Reps Efficiently, How To Set First Quotas and more with Kyle Parrish, Figma's VP Sales

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Dec 8, 2021

Kyle Parrish, VP of Sales at Figma and former Head of Sales at Dropbox, shares his journey from a standout sales rep to leading sales teams. He discusses the critical timing and strategy behind hiring a Head of Sales versus sales reps. Kyle reveals the unique traits to look for in top sales candidates and highlights effective onboarding practices. He also stresses the importance of collaboration between founders and sales leaders, aiming for continuous improvement and solid customer engagement in thriving sales environments.

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ANECDOTE

Career Shift

Kyle Parrish's finance career plans were disrupted by the 2008 financial crisis.
He transitioned to sales at ADP, excelling despite a mismatched corporate culture.

ADVICE

Founder's Sales Role

CEOs should be involved in early sales to understand customer pain points and narratives.
However, building a fully codified sales playbook is best left to sales professionals.

ADVICE

Head of Sales vs. Reps

Hire a Head of Sales early if you have product-market fit and can support a small sales team.
This allows founders to focus on strategic aspects while leveraging sales expertise.

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Kyle Parrish is VP Sales @ Figma, the company that connects everyone in the design process so teams can deliver better products, faster. At Figma, Kyle built the sales engine from scratch to today, with over 100 incredible people in sales. Before Figma, Kyle spent over 5 years at Dropbox in numerous different roles including Head of Sales, where he scaled the Austin, Texas office from 3 to over 80 people to Global Partnerships lead, where he was responsible for growing Dropbox’s partner ecosystem.

In Today’s Episode with Kyle Parrish You Will Learn:

1.) How Kyle first made his way into the world of sales and came to be one of the 3 performing sales reps in a 300+ sales team? How that led to his joining the hypergrowth journey of Dropbox? What led Kyle to make the move from Dropbox to the rocketship that is Figma?

2.) When and Who: Does the founder need to be the person to create the sales playbook? How can a founder know whether it is right to hire sales reps or a Head of Sales first? In terms of ARR, is there a time when you have to have a Head of Sales? Does Kyle agree with Jason Lemkin in terms of bringing in reps, two at a time? Where do founders make the biggest mistakes when it comes to the timing of these hires?

3.) How To Know and Test: What non-obvious characteristics do 10x sales hires have? What questions or case studies does Kyle find to be most revealing in identifying these non-obvious traits? How should founders structure the process for new reps and a Head of Sales? Meeting by meeting, what should we look to achieve?

4.) Setting Up for Success: What does the ideal onboarding process look like for new sales reps? What tasks and processes would Kyle expect new reps to complete within the first month or two on the job? What are the clearest signs of a new rep hire not working out? How should founders approach 1-1 and 360 reviews with their new reps?

5.) Working Together: What is the ideal relationship between the founder and the new Head of Sales? How often should they meet? What should the founder expect from the new Head of Sales? How should the Head of Sales work with the Head of Marketing most efficiently?

Item’s Mentioned In Today’s Episode with Kyle Parrish

Kyle's Favourite Sales Blog Post: The Sales Learning Curve