When it comes to a startup’s business health, sales retention rate is an important indicator. A motivated sales team naturally results in more deals closed and a better bottom line. We reached out to three New York startups to learn how they attract sales talent and promote positive cultures so that their teams hit their targets. Here’s what they had to say.
LeagueApps makes a platform for community sports leagues. It handles just about anything a league would need to do — from messaging to scheduling to reporting. We caught up with Cameron Goldberg, vice president of sales, to learn more about how the company sells its product.
What specific tactics does your sales team use to hit its goals?
Sports stay front and center in our pursuit of results. This comes in a couple of flavors at LeagueApps.
We invest directly in the development of our team in terms of unlocking training resources like MLB pitching coach and best-selling author Rick Peterson, who taught us how to better perform under pressure. We discussed the process of building championship teams with Shane Battier (who played for the Miami Heat), and we created the blueprint for a great sports experience with David Robinson (who played for the San Antonio Spurs).
In terms of driving direct results, we tend to shape internal contests around the sports world. In March we held a March Madness tournament of our own and announced a team of winners who were able to drive results for our focus area that month.
Sales at LeagueApps is unique in that we built an incentive program based on the success of the team. In addition to cash bonuses, through our success in Q1 we were able to unlock experiences such as a company-wide Super Bowl party and tickets to the ACC Tournament for our entire Sales team.
How does the sales team culture reflect the company culture at large?
Sales naturally embodies our culture, as we are the closest to the voice of the customer. Therefore, we must embody company culture and be experts at communicating the vision of the business. It is the mission of Sales to empower sports organizers with the technology they need to create great sports experiences. Sales understands that the key to success is living and breathing our SportsD(o)g values and sales maxims.
What qualities do you look for when hiring for sales?
We stay true to the heartbeat of the company, SportsD(o)g, when hiring sales professionals. In order to best position candidates for success before we bring them into our family, we evaluate them against the key values that make up that acronym: (S)portsmanship, (P)assion, (O)penness, (R)esults, (T)eam, (S)tudent of the game, (D)ifference maker, (G)rit. It also never hurts to have a love for the world of sports!
Main Street Hub operates a full-service marketing platform that combines social media, customer reviews, and mobile and email marketing. We spoke with Scott Domareck, VP of sales, about what it’s like to sell the company’s product in its high-energy environment.
What specific tactics does your sales team use to hit its goals?
Main Street Hub’s sales team in NYC is all about embracing positivity. We are lucky to have perks like fun spiffs and contests in the office, which make our employees feel appreciated for their hard work and success. These can range from happy hours to weekend trips to shopping sprees to team-building activities, not to mention our all-inclusive trip for high-performing reps, called President's Club. One of our favorite friendly competitions is the one we have between our sales teams in NYC and Austin. We work hard to win the Hub Victory Cup each month, and whichever team wins gets to have the trophy in their office.
How does the sales team culture reflect the company culture at large?
Our sales team really enjoys celebrating the success of our peers and elevating our teammates. Across the company, we are all working toward the same mission, to help create thriving local economies. And on our sales teams, we believe in the impact that Main Street Hub has for local communities, and we work hard to create meaningful partnerships with local businesses.
What qualities do you look for when hiring for sales?
We are looking for sales representatives who are competitive, driven and ready to challenge themselves. We want individuals to join our team who are passionate about helping small businesses and making a real impact in local communities across the country.
Yotpo is a customer content marketing platform that generates reviews, ratings, questions and answers, and user-generated content for e-commerce websites. Yotpo already has more than 150,000 clients for its platform, so we caught up with Ali Fazal, director of sales development; Sally Bolig, head of talent acquisition; and recruitment manager Stevie Cogan to learn more about the sales team’s culture.
What specific tactics does your sales team use to hit its goals?
Fazal: At Yotpo, our tips and tricks to hitting our goal are aligned with our company’s DNA. No excuses, just hard work. Sure, we do incentive trips to the Dominican Republic or chances to visit our headquarters in Tel Aviv for exceptional salespeople, but ultimately the main tool at our disposal to drive success on the sales team is providing people with clear career ladders (benchmarks associated with career growth) that enable them to achieve their career goals. We can’t always promise a prize or a reward for good performance. What we can promise is that we’ll provide our employees with an environment that fosters learning and growth, and that when they move on to their next roles, they will be equipped with new skills and ideas that they wouldn’t have thought possible at the onset.
How does the sales team culture reflect the company culture at large?
Bolig: We value ourselves on genuinely being invested in one another's growth, and the sales team is a strong representation of that being the case. Salespeople at Yotpo understand that the only true way to become better is to not only listen, ask questions, and apply others' styles to your own, but also to offer guidance and suggestions to others. Not only that, but for any employee to be considered for promotion, she or he is required to have led training sessions and served as a mentor.
What qualities do you look for when hiring for sales?
Cogan: Every quality we look for has been carefully chosen based on traits demonstrated by successful Yotpo employees. As mentioned above, coachability goes a long way. Top performers who ramp fastest tend to proactively seek out ways to improve themselves and their team, while also implementing constructive feedback from those around them. Standouts in this role are self-aware, and understand and acknowledge the challenges of this position, using them as motivation to really stand out.
