What is the best way to do sales in a startup?

You are your own best salesperson.

In fact, not having sales experience can be a good thing. It means you'll be cautious about how the other person is feeling, genuinely helpful instead of pushy, and you're more knowledgeable than any salesperson you could hire.

Sure there are useful sales techniques, like asking if you can call them in a week (instead of not asking at all and not calling), or writing nice follow-up emails, but you can pick that up. If it comes natural and feels right, it's probably good.

BTW I tried on two separate occasions to hire salespeople at my company. Both were complete failures because of these points (pushy, not knowledgeable, and hunting "the number" instead of doing the right thing).

It might, however, depend on your industry. What industry are you in?

Why can't you do it alone? Having it take longer seems like an excuse to avoid something you don't really enjoy. But really, especially if it is hard for you, you should take the extra time as you will learn a lot from the experience. What's the rush anyway?

I agree with Jason, and I'd like to add another point. Don't worry so much about the time it takes you to expand your business. Once you've made a few sales, you'll have considerably more insight into how best to sell your product.

When I interviewed a Silicon Valley VC he commented that the main reason behind the "dot.bombs" of the late 1990s was that they did not understand their market, citing pets.com as a perfect example. The 'market' was there. The ability to turn that market into paying customers was not.

To be successful in business, you need to understand your market and be able to sell into it. Rumor has it that Bill Gates would occasionally "ghost" in sales, talking to customers anonymously to keep in touch with what Microsoft's customers.

So at first, it makes sense to stay involved and actually do your selling. To get ready for the next stage in business, be analytical and figure out what works and what doesn't, so that you can pass this knowledge onto others. Document! Then as the company grows you will be in an extremely strong position to bring in new people quickly and efficiently.

You are not ready to hire a salesperson yet.

With no sales experience, how do you expect to hire a good sales guy?

This is not a trivial task. Most people hire the guy who seems like a salesman: heeey slick, howyadoing attitude, big shiney smile, fancy suit, slicked-back hair, fast-talker, etc. Why? Because that's what good salesguys are like, right?

Ah, no. But, if you're confident that you can sell your product, then you probably can.

And you know what would help you sell your product better? A sales coach. Jason said it well:

If it comes natural and feels right, it's probably good.

The corollary of that is that there are many "feels natural" things that are very, very wrong: buyers are liars, tellin' ain't sellin, etc. Sales training and a coach will help you understand the sales process help you increase your probability of closing sales.

It'll also equip you with the necessary experience to hire your first sales guy.

You are more valuable at your desk to be reachable for meetings, conferences and interviews with the media, big clients and potential employees.

Navigate Webex, Slideshare, tools like this and have virtual meetings, but please be present and available, because it could possibly leave a bad impression potential high-end clients if you're always on the road, and you should be there to supervise and collaborate with your office staff to build a strong administrative hub of money-making activities.

You'll just have to find that key trustworthy, skilled individual, train them thoroughly, and delegate the work to them so they can travel and represent your product and your company.

You have to get a daily report of their activites via a web interface and proactively farm and support them in the sales cycle. You have to see to it that your admin staff is being proactive in this role, as well. They may need more brochures or something like that, and somebody has to jump and send it order them.

In situations like this it seems one thing that is missed is the consideration for your corporate culture. From what I’ve read you already begun to establish what your culture will be and that should be a consideration for hiring in any capacity.

Bad past experiences in this thread have labeled salespeople as pushy, not knowledgeable, and hunting "the number". This is a failure on the hiring manager as much as it is the person who was hired. Your first line of defense is during the interview process. To simplify, from resume, phone screen to face to face, you have opportunities to determine if the person you are considering hiring is the right fit (culture) for your business. If you don’t want pushy, then why hire pushy? After you hire, if the salesperson is not knowledgeable then change your training program. It’s up to you to give them the tools they need. If they are “hunting the number” and it does not fit with how you want them to operate then re-evaluate your commission structure, goals and targets for the employee and determine how you can change it. In other words, you have the control from start to finish. It’s up to you how to execute and measure it.

I am not answering your question directly, but I hope I have given you some insight into other factors for consideration during your hiring process.

Sure you should be the first sales person but at the end of the day, you have the rest of the business to run and you need help.

What type of sales?

Ad sales? Outsource to commission only or an ad platform

Products or services (sold online)? Let the site and SEO do the work. Upgrade to arbitrage (performance based search marketing)

Business Development? Hire someone (contract and heavily commission based)

Local product/service sales? Feet on the street or tele-sales is easily outsourced

Hire someone to handle the initial phase of the sale and qualify leads. You can then leverage your time to be the closer and technical expert.