The Most Important Interview Question
The Business of Food
by Jennifer Barney
The Most Important Interview Question
SALES FUNCTION PART II
2-min read
You’ve found a good sales candidate. Yay! But before you begin negotiating comp, did you ask the most important question?
I can’t tell you how many startups bring on sales people without knowledge of their sales analytics and reporting abilities.
Remember those KPIs? How will you know you’re meeting them? You can’t measure what you don’t track.
Sales Analytics
Sales analytics is not the job of finance or accounting. Accounting does not know what deals were made. So in addition to being personable, energetic, and good out in the field – the sales person also has to be good with excel. Pulling reports from distributor and retailer portals, reconciling deductions, and creating dashboards that distill what is happening into meaningful metrics is critical – and must be kept up with on a regular basis.
Remember, sales owns the P&L per account, which means they’re responsible for telling you if you’re making money and how they are tracking against the set KPIs.
So before you write up that offer letter, ask the question, “What analytics will you provide?” and ask them to show you example reports they plan to deliver.
Tell me more – what else should I ask?
You should also ask, “How often do you plan to be out in the field?”
Sales Execution
Everyone says they’re a roll-up-the-sleeves kind of person – but what does that really mean? It means being highly involved in in-store execution. Actually. Visiting. Stores. Remember it’s not the job of the retailer to sell your products (see post ). And although distributors and retailers should maintain schematic integrity, it doesn’t always happen – and if you’re a new brand and no one is coming around to check, you may have lost facings, tags, or not even be on the shelf at all. More on this topic here
Last week’s post posited that sales is the hardest role. This is true because selling is a minor part of the role. Sales execution and analytics demand more time and attention than selling. It can make or break your business. With that in mind, how should you think about compensation?
More on this next week.
All my best,
Jennifer
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I'd love to hear from you - get in touch at jennifer@3rdandbroadway.com