Lars Grønnegaard is the CEO of Dreamdata, a SAAS company that gathers, joins, and cleans revenue-related data to help B2B businesses understand what is driving sales so they can focus on what works. Like most new companies, Dreamdata started with founder-led sales to get their first customers, but within 18 months Lars realized he needed a professional sales team. In this Sales Talk for CEOs episode, Lars offers some invaluable advice!

Lars and I discuss the importance of finding new sales hires with an entrepreneurial spirit. We explore why previous experience does not necessarily translate to a new startup environment. We talk about experimenting (and using data) to find what works and offering fair compensation to your first hires. Finally, we explore the ways in which Lars is still highly involved in the sales process even now that the professional sales team is handling the bulk of the work. If it’s time to hire your first salespeople (or if you’ve been trying to do so—unsuccessfully!), you’ll want to listen to the tips offered in this podcast.

Highlights

1:57 How a problem inspires a solution

5:20 From founder-led sales to a professional sales team in 18 months

9:50 Hiring for entrepreneurial spirit

13:45 Learning from the data to discover what works

17:50 Hiring for the entrepreneurial spirit

29:41 CEO…but still head of sales

36:20 Encouraging more referrals

Quote

“The most fundamental thing we went looking for was an entrepreneurial spirit. You have to love the concept of being part of building something. You’re living in the house while you’re building it and remodeling everything at the same time. So we went looking for people who would like that.”

Connect with Lars Grønnegaard in the links below:

Website: https://dreamdata.io

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/larsgroennegaard/

Article on B2B Attribution

You can learn more about and connect with Alice Heiman in the links below.

Website: https://AliceHeiman.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliceheiman/