How to select a VP of Sales and Marketing partner

My name is Tim. I began selling in 1998 - for an intangible product, and within the first year of telemarketing, quoted $4M in new business. Then in 1999, I started selling the service myself and became the company's top salesperson for six consecutive years, outselling the entire team myself, each year through 2006. This equalled approx $16M in new business. I only bring this up to give you some background on my sales experience. I got tired of working for someone else and started my own company about 4 years ago. I was tired of how my clients were being treated and knew I could do a better job for them.

If you have been running your business for more years than you care to admit to...then you must be doing something right. You have to have passion for what you are selling, believe it is far and away the best product/service out there and listen to your customer first. Hear what they have to say - What are their most troubling issues and then demonstrate how your "widget/service" can solve these problems. By solving their biggest issue, and FOLLOWING up during the sales process and even more importantly, after the sale...you will be able to grow your business with a higher profit and add more value to your client base.

Finding salespeople is hard, good salespeople - harder still. To save money, one option is to hire contract salespeople on commission, look to industry associations to find these people. Another option, is to find recently retired salespeople - looking for additional income. They are seasoned, know how to sell and work more effectively and efficiently, plus have a network they can tap into. This allows them to work at their pace, to earn extra retirement dollars, because they don't have a quota to hit and there is no risk to your pocket. No sales - no commission. Your company contracts these individuals - which you will want to make sure become LLCs, to protect yourself from having to pay Social Security and other taxes. However, compensate them well and they will open their networks to you and your product/service. I hope this is helpful.

From I’m a Geek, How Do I Pick a Business Partner I can Trust:

To the untrained eye, all business and sales people look the same. The number one trick to choosing the right business partner is reference checks.

In your case, I would definitely advise against hiring two positions at once. That sounds like a huge risk.

I'd also stop calling that position VP-level. You need a hungry sales guy who will work mostly on commissions. Not a flamboyant VP (not that you'd convince one to join you anyway).

I would recommend you develop a "roadmap" for how to market and sell your product, prior to hiring "rock stars." To develop a roadmap:

1. document your "ideal" customer;
2. postulate what marketing tactics will reach these customers;
3. postulate what process your customer will go through leading up to the purchase;
4. interview existing or potential customers to validate your hypotheses and tweak as necessary;
5. test your hypotheses in the market;
6. iterate on your marketing and sales assumptions, until a proven "roadmap" is developed;
7. hire an appropriate level person to execute on the roadmap and reward performance generously.

Take a look at this recent post over at OnStartups on this very topic.

There is also a question on this site here

Consider:

Hypothetical: I'm an 'old sales pro', the sales rockstar in any company I work with. I have the ability to sit down at a desk (or my kitchen table) pick up a phone, and earn $1000.00 in 3 days of not very hard effort. More, I can hire and teach that ability to at least 50% of my own capacity inside of a week. Hmmmm, do I want to work (I mean actually work?) for a guy who begrudges me 'typical VP Pay'?

I'd suggest you go back to your business plan, determine the 'value' and try to define some kind of offer that will attract the help you need. You might be able to outsource the 'process'; but you'll lose control. You might find the 'opportunist' who will work on 'spec'. More 'disadvantages'.

It might prove valuable to define your sales process, compensation plans, sales environment, motivation factors, detraction factors, etc. before you try to hire an agency or outsource.

Good Luck!