$300K base, equity, a recruiter fee... and nobody could tell me who the VP of Sales would be selling to.
The CEO was pissed when I told him not to make the hire.
I understood why he wanted to. The company had missed three quarters in a row. The board wanted a name before the end of the quarter, and hiring a VP of Sales felt like action.
The problem was that nobody could explain what that person would be walking into.
THREE QUESTIONS BEFORE THE SEARCH
As part of the GTM Growth Plan™, I asked the CEO three questions:
Who do we actually sell to?
Why do our best customers buy?
Where does a new rep's pipeline come from in month one?
He gave me four segments for the first question. He and the head of marketing gave me different answers to the second. The third got silence.
That was enough to stop the search.
The company did not have a leadership vacancy yet. It had a diagnosis problem.
THE HIRE WOULD HAVE INHERITED THE DIAGNOSIS
A VP of Sales walking into that system would spend the first six months figuring out which segment mattered, why customers bought, whether the pipeline was real, and which CRM fields could be trusted.
I know because I have been that VP more than once.
The board would still expect a forecast. The CEO would still expect growth. The new leader would be trying to build the map while being judged for how quickly the team reached the destination.
That is how companies turn a missing GTM foundation into an executive performance problem.
WHAT THE DATA SAID
We spent 30 days on the GTM Growth Plan™ and early-win fixes instead.
Among other things, we found:
One segment closed at twice the rate of the others.
The demo was a product tour instead of a conversation about the prospect's pain.
Nobody owned the CRM.
Another executive title would not fix any of those conditions. It would put a $300K base salary on top of them and start the clock.
WHAT I WOULD DO BEFORE OPENING THE SEARCH
Start with the evidence the new leader will need on day one.
Pull the last 90 days of opportunities and compare win rate, sales cycle, and pipeline creation by segment. Watch five recent demos and document whether the conversation starts with buyer pain or product features. Give one person ownership of CRM definitions, required fields, and inspection.
Then decide whether the company needs a VP of Sales, a different operator, or more foundational work first.
We are moving this company from Stabilization into Foundation before opening the search. When the system is ready, the person who takes the job will inherit a defined buyer, a sales motion with evidence behind it, and a job description built from the work instead of a board member's suggestion at dinner.
Hiring a sales leader into a system you have not diagnosed gives the problem a title. You will probably be searching for that person's replacement within the year.
Know a CEO who is about to make this hire? Forward this to them. They can join GTM Uncensored here.
ON THE AIR
This week, Dale and I sat down with Stacie Sussman, Founder and CRO of RevUp Advisory, to talk about what happens when marketing hits every reported number while revenue still misses the quarter. Her point about sales, marketing, finance, and the board using different definitions for the same metric is the same operating failure from another angle: leadership is funding a fix before the team agrees on what is real.
START WITH THE DIAGNOSIS
Most GTM problems get treated before anyone proves what is broken. The GTM Growth Plan™ uses your data to name the real gap, show whether what you think you need is what you actually need, and give you the options for what to do next.
Adam and Dale