Hiring a sales VP and expecting them to also serve as an account manager is like hiring a restaurant manager and expecting them to also be the chef, or hiring an F1 team principal and expecting them to race the car. If you're limited in budget, hire the chef and manage the restaurant yourself, or hire the F1 driver and manage the team yourself; asking them to do both is setting them up for failure.
How so? When I think of organizational expectations for a tech company, I use the following guidelines, visualized in the graphic:
Individual contributors: they focus on completing their tasks using their skills & experience. They might or might not deal with customers and generally don’t get public/media exposure. They tend to work on daily or weekly horizons.
Managers: they lead ICs, define tasks, manage conflict, are closest to the field, and know what good IC work looks like; they will often deal with customers, but might not get to communicate with the public/media. Their work’s time horizon is weeks/months.
Directors: they lead managers, define high level deliverables, help execute strategy, and know what good teams look like. They tend to interact with senior stakeholders at customers and will often communicate with the media. Their time horizon is months/quarters
Vice Presidents: they lead directors, define strategy at their level, and are involved in corporate planning; they know what good execution looks like. They will typically interact with customer VPs or CxOs., and their media presence tends to be authoritative and influences the company’s public perception. Their time outlook is quarters/years
In short, a sales VP is not a super salesperson, she has a distinct role: you can’t have her meet a CIO in the morning then respond to an RFP in the evening. The wise investment is to fractionally or contractually build the sales strategy, and prioritize hiring the IC. What are your thoughts? How do you think about and prioritize roles?
