Below $5M in revenue, the founder is almost always the company’s best salesperson. Buyers want to talk to the founder, the founder knows the product best, and the founder’s network produced most of the early customers. The hard question is when to build a sales function around that, and whether the founder should learn to do it or hire someone who has.
The running example
A technical founder runs a $1.5M B2B software company. Nine of the last ten customers came from the founder’s calls. There is one account executive, hired six months ago, who has closed two small deals. The founder spends three days a week selling, with no written process and a CRM nobody updates. Investors want to see a sales motion that works without the founder before the next round.
When to get coached
Get coached when the founder should stay the primary seller for another year and needs to sell better and more consistently. Founder sales coaching teaches discovery calls, qualification, running a pipeline, writing down what works so it can be taught, and managing the first rep. Sales coaching programs listed here commonly run from a few hundred dollars to about $1,000 a month for regular sessions, with longer coaching programs for owners running several months.
For our founder, coaching is a reasonable first step. The immediate gap is documenting how the founder sells so the account executive can copy it, and coaching can produce that in a quarter for a fraction of a retainer.
When to hire a fractional CRO
Hire when the company needs a sales system and a leader to run it, and the founder should step back. The signs: you plan to hire two or more reps in the next six months; the forecast matters to a lender or investor; the founder’s selling time is blocking product or fundraising work; or the first rep is failing and nobody can say why. A fractional CRO at this size usually costs $6,000 to $10,000 a month.
For our founder, the trigger is the investor request. A credible sales motion before the next round requires a process, a hiring plan and a forecast with some history, and a fractional CRO can build those in two to three quarters.
When to do both
Coaching and a fractional CRO combine well in two ways. A fractional CRO can coach the founder through the handover, which is the hardest part: founders who keep jumping into deals undermine the reps. Ask for founder coaching in the scope. The other combination is coaching for the reps. A fractional CRO designs the process and runs the forecast, and a sales coach or trainer works with the reps on skills. Some fractional sales firms offer both under one contract.
A simple test
Look at the next 12 months of revenue. If you expect most of it to come from deals you close personally, get coached. If you need most of it to come from someone else, hire a fractional CRO. If you are somewhere in between, which is common at $2M to $4M, start with coaching and set a date to revisit the decision.
Fractional CROs and sales coaching programs are listed side by side on this site.