Thinking About Hiring a Sales Team? Read This First
Everybody wants to scale.
More leads. More sales. Less of it depending on you.
And the first instinct? Hire a sales rep. Offload the calls. Get someone else closing.
But here’s the truth no one talks about:
Hiring a sales team too early—or without the right foundation—is one of the fastest ways to waste money and burn out.
Slow Down to Scale Up
Before you bring on a rep, you’ve got to take a hard look at what’s already happening in your business.
I call this the Evaluation Phase, and it’s where smart business owners win long before they ever post a job description.
Here’s what you need to be thinking about if you want a sales team that actually works:
1. What’s your real sales process right now?
If you had to hand off the way you close deals today, could you write it down?
Most people can’t.
You don’t need a perfect system yet, but you do need clarity. What are the key steps someone would follow? Where are the drop-offs? What’s working that you might not even realize?
If your sales process lives in your head, that’s not a process — that’s a liability.
2. Are you closing consistently—yourself?
Here’s a hard truth: if you’re not already converting at a decent clip, it’s not time to scale.
The best sales reps in the world can’t fix a broken offer or a chaotic backend.
Make sure you’ve got something that sells — and that you’ve personally proven it. Then you’re ready to teach it.
3. Do you know your numbers?
What’s your average sale? Lead source? Close rate?
What’s one new client worth, and what does it cost to acquire them?
These aren’t vanity metrics — they’re decision tools. You’ll need them to set comp plans, forecast hiring, and actually lead a team.
4. What’s your capacity to train and manage?
Hiring someone doesn’t mean your sales problem disappears. In fact, it usually means more work in the short term.
Do you have the time, energy, and systems to onboard them? Can you coach effectively? Do you have tools that support their success?
Because the worst thing you can do is bring someone in and leave them guessing.
The Bottom Line
If you’re dreaming of growth, I love that. It means you believe in what you’re building.
But growth doesn’t start with hiring. It starts with honestly evaluating where you are.
Because once you know that?
Then we can build the kind of sales team that doesn’t just “do calls,” but drives real revenue — and frees you to lead at the next level.