Hiring the Right VP of Sales - Industry vs. Sales Experience
Aviation is an industry that has its intricacies and quirks just like any other industry. That means you need industry veterans and experts to help you build great products, provide quality service, create strong marketing, and generate consistent sales.
As CEOs and Founders try and figure out the next steps in their plans for growth, they typically come to the conclusion they need to hire a VP of Sales to drive the acquisition of new customers and revenue. As the search gets kicked off, we typically look for someone that falls into these 4 categories:
A current employee (Really fast ramp time!)
Someone from a Competitor (Pretty fast ramp time!)
Someone within Aviation that currently sells a different product/service (Going to take some time to ramp up)
Someone from outside of Aviation (Going to take a good chunk of time to ramp up)
Note: When we say ramp up time, we are referring to the time it takes to get familiar with the industry, product, services, customers, players, etc.
What is the right experience profile for this position?
Often, we see this position gets filled by the “Industry Vet”. Someone who has been in the industry for a long time. Understands the ins and outs. Knows the key players. Has good relationships with customers in the space. Their ramp up time is usually minimal. Unfortunately, the industry vet may not be the best fit for the position, and we frequently see companies spin their wheels on trying to achieve their goals with the wrong VP of Sales in place.
This isn’t a diss on the industry vet, but there is a big difference between knowing the industry well and being able to hit sales targets. Obviously, there are people that can do both, but companies often struggle in finding a well-rounded candidate. As you approach the interviewing process, we’ve put together 10 questions that may help you determine if your candidate has the right experience to help grow your top line (this isn’t an exhaustive list of every question you should ask, just some questions that will shed light on the experience of the candidate and if they may be a good fit):
10 Questions for an Aviation VP of Sales Candidate
Can you tell us about your past sales teams and how you went about building them?
How do you approach hitting quotas and forecasting for future periods?
What tools have you put in place to help sales reps be more effective in their role?
Walk us through a typical sales process from start to finish in one of your past companies.
What are the top 3 metrics you would look at on a weekly basis to assess the performance of your team?
How would you collaborate with our Marketing team?
What does the typical day of a VP of Sales look like to you?
A rep has a deal that has been stuck in the same stage for 30 days. What do you do?
Tell us about a rep or team member that was having trouble or was difficult to manage. What did you do? What was the outcome?
What would your first week look like in this role? First month? First 6 months?
As a CEO or Founder, you need to make sure you are setting up your new hire for success and there are a few things you need to be asking yourself.
4 Questions Business Aviation CEOs/Founders Should Ask Themselves Before Hiring a VP of Sales:
Are we really looking for a VP of Sales? Or are you looking for an experienced sales rep? Do you want someone who is going to be closing deals on their own or someone who is going to be building and managing a team of individual contributors? Identifying the right title and responsibilities will ultimately streamline the recruiting process and will help increase the chances of long-term success.
Do we have enough time to train the VP of Sales? For smaller aviation companies, there is a ton of knowledge that you as the CEO have. Passing that knowledge to the VP of Sales is a key to success. If you do not have time to dedicate working alongside them, they will often lose direction and become ineffective.
What is the quality and maturity of our Marketing? Sales & Marketing go hand in hand. One of the mistakes companies often make is hiring a VP of Sales before they have figured out their Marketing. If you don’t have a Marketing infrastructure with a library of content already built, it’s like sending soldiers into battle without any weapons. Make sure you have this figured out before you start scaling your sales team.
Are we ready to invest in our Sales Team and Infrastructure? Building a team and scaling up sales often takes some investment. Do you have the right CRM (SalesForce, Hubspot, Pipedrive) in place? Do you have the right prospecting tools (JETNET / Amstat) available? Do you have formal training prepared? The right VP of Sales is going to need support in making changes. Are you ready?
Ultimately, by placing someone in the wrong role, not only will you not achieve your goals as an organization, you may put good people in a bad position in their career and in life. Make sure you carefully match up your goals and job description to your candidate’s experience and career goals! This will save you a lot of time, money, and heartache!
Have a question about scaling your Aviation Sales or Marketing team? Visit our Contact Us page and send us a message. We’d be happy to learn more about your business and see if there is a way we can help!