Sales rep as a service - thoughts?
tldr; thoughts on a platform for B2B startups to use and find freelancing sales reps?
Finding a sales person is hard for early stage B2B startups.
Even then, after finding one, it's a long process of training the sales person, having them shadow you, etc, etc.
The last startup I was working at, we didn't have any sales team.
Even though we needed a sales person, we didn't look for one because:
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We didn't have the time. We were very lean at the time (5-person team), and at the same time were growing at a reasonable rate so we were pretty busy with managing our growth.
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It would've taken time to train a sales person as the product is pretty comprehensive and takes some time to understand.
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We didn't have runway to hire multiple sales reps.
We did actually try to find a sales person early on but we just didn't find that fit our needs.
These are some pain points that come to mind. But either way, my idea is to solve the these pain points for startup founders, not sales reps.
Not sure what the value add for solopreneurs or small businesses would be to have a sales rep v an affiliate. Maybe at that level they're the same thing?
i like the concept. How do you manage compensation? Plans? knoweldge in the industry? how do you compete against external SDRs firms?
I've circled this idea a few times but can never come up with a proper incentive structure for compensation. Paying out a full commission before LTV has been realized with a contractor is tricky.