Startup CEOs Should Sell Deals

Continuing the sales rep theme from yesterday, one of the topics we debated earlier this week at the EO Accelerator group was that of the startup CEO selling to prospects. Startup CEOs wear many hats, and sales should be one of the top priorities. This is particularly applicable in consulting companies where it is more of a partner-type sale requiring extensive domain expertise in addition to building trust and rapport.

One of the sentiments at the meeting was how difficult it is to both sell new deals and continue to manage the day-to-day operations. When the topic of hiring sales people came up, everyone lamented about how they’ve never had success bringing on a business development person. My advice to entrepreneurs in this position is simple: hire an appointment setter and relationship coordinator to enable greater economies of scale with the partner-level selling. Expecting someone to come in and be as effective as the CEO at selling isn’t a reasonable expectation, but setting up processes and people to make the CEO more successful at selling until the business reaches a point where the CEO is no longer needed for that role is a strategy I recommend.