Hey friends,
I have sat across from a lot of founders in the past few years.
Worked with 150+, talked deeply about sales with probably 250/300.
After enough of these calls, you start to notice something you did not go looking for.
Founders fall into patterns when it comes to sales.
Usually 3 patterns, 3 categories.
I did not choose these categories, if you are wondering.
They chose themselves, showing up again and again.
The first type loves sales from day one.
Usually a commercial background or similar, sometimes a CRO type before the company even has a CRO. This founder learns how to run a great discovery at 10 am and then run the perfect discovery at 11.
They close deals fast.
They enjoy the calls, the follow-up, even asking for the contract.
They do not need me to convince them that sales matters; they already know it.
My job with this founder is small. Just sharpen what is already there.
Give them structure sometimes, the right tools and tips.
They were born to be CRO; they just didn't know it.
The second type is harder to spot at first, because they tell you the opposite of the truth.
“I am not a salesperson” - they keep saying.
I hear this line often from technical founders, and often from women in particular, though I have seen it from men too.
Then I watch them run a call.
Good timing. Good listening.
They pick up a script and make it sound natural. Like they always knew.
That is impostor syndrome talking, not reality.
The talent was there.
They just never tested it.
My job here is a bit of process and a bit of confidence.
The third type is the one I think about the most. Not technical. Not naturally commercial.
Comes from product, from operations, from somewhere that is not engineering and not sales. I don’t know why.
They want to sell, and it does not click the way it does for the other two.
This is where it gets serious, because below 1 million ARR, sales is not something a founder gets to delegate.
So with this founder, I stop asking them to find their instinct, and I give them structure instead.
I work with them on scripts, questions, and clear objection handling.
It is slower, and it takes more calls to get the same result the other two get in half the time.
It just takes more time to get a bit of redemption.
Sales is not a personality trait you either have or you do not.
It is a skill, and you build a skill the way you build strength in a gym.
The founder who applies themselves to the script every day, the same way they would apply themselves to learning any other new skill, gets there.
It just takes longer.
If you recognise yourself in that third type, you are not stuck forever.
You are just the slower build.
And I know most of you don't like sales; you never wanted to be in sales.
You tell me every day.
But do not worry - doing sales is only temporary - it lasts until your company has real traction and a real sales team behind it.
Once that happens, you go back to the work you were always better at, and someone else carries the sales team forward.
But that day only comes if you put in the work now.
And selling at this early stage is something we've got to learn anyway.
Thanks for reading this far. See you all next week!
