Checklist
Checklist: before your first sales hire
What a founder should have written down before the offer goes out
A ten-point readiness checklist for founders about to hand founder-led sales to a first account executive. It covers how many customers to close first, which buyers to interview, and what to write down so a new rep can repeat the sale. Use it a few weeks before the offer. Koji can run the buyer interviews behind the list.
Where this appears
What's in this checklist
- 10 to 20 customers closed by you, not only friends
- At least 5 closed from outside your personal network
- Every closed buyer interviewed about why they bought
- 5 lost or silent deals interviewed too
- Buying group named: who signs, who blocks, who uses
- Top 3 objections written down with answers that worked
- Pricing logic written, with the discount you really gave
- Promises made in the sale listed, with delivery status
- Two recorded calls the new rep can listen to
- One customer type you tell the rep not to sell to
Use this image
Free to use in your docs, decks and posts under CC BY 4.0, as long as you credit Koji with a link to this page. To embed it, paste this into your page:
html
<a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/before-first-sales-hire-readiness-checklist"><img src="https://www.koji.so/visuals/before-first-sales-hire-readiness-checklist/before-first-sales-hire-readiness-checklist.png" alt="Checklist of ten things to finish before a founder hires a first salesperson, from buyer interviews to written objections and promises." width="1200" height="653" /></a>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/before-first-sales-hire-readiness-checklist">Checklist: before your first sales hire</a>, Koji</p>
