Who Should Your 1st Salesforce Hire Be: Skill Sets to Consider

Making the right hiring decisions for your Go-to-Market (GTM) Systems team is critical. It's not only about who you hire, but when. Let's take a look into the experiences of 18 market leaders and how they navigated the process of building their GTM Systems teams, specifically focusing on their Salesforce FTE hiring decisions.

All 18 companies shared a common thread—they had Salesforce in place, implemented and managed by the Sales Operations team at the time of these hires. The decision to hire the right talent was the next step in optimizing their Salesforce utilization and setting the stage for effective GTM strategies.

Before bringing in the first Salesforce FTE, companies typically found themselves in one of two categories: either underutilizing the tool or, at worst, having already dug themselves into a corner. The key takeaway here is that timing and strategy are paramount in building a successful GTM Systems team.

Decoding the Hiring Choices

When it came to the timing of their hires, the 18 companies fell into different funding stages:

• Seed: 1 company 👏

• Series A: 2 companies

• Series B: 6 companies

• Series C: 3 companies

• Series D: 3 companies

• Series E: 3 companies

Honestly, most of these seem to be pretty late to the party. Granted, this particular dataset is from different time, back when "Rev Ops" wasn't what it is today - most of these hires were back in 2016-2018 based on the dataset; but it's still interesting to see it took so long to get a dedicated Salesforce hire.

Next, let's explore what positions these companies prioritized.

Hiring Choices and Strategies:

1. Salesforce Admin as the First FTE (55%): For the majority, hiring a Salesforce Admin was the default choice—reasonable and a safe bet to kickstart Salesforce optimization.2. Salesforce Architect / Product Owner as First FTE (27%): A strategic move! Opting for a more visionary role with a focus on architecture and product ownership provided a solid foundation for growth.3. Salesforce Developer as First FTE (11%): With only 2 companies taking this route, hiring a Salesforce Developer at the outset was deemed the least favorable decision. The blog author expresses concerns about the skill set and its potential cascading effects on the team's dynamics.4. Dual Threat: Director of GTM Systems and Salesforce Engineer (6%): One company took a unique approach, pairing a Director of GTM Systems with a Salesforce Engineer. We love seeing this early combination of strategy and execution, although in 2024, I would still vote against an Engineer this early. But this was 2018. Pre-flows. If they were doing complex work, an Engineer is a great 2nd.

Conclusion:

The journey of these 18 market leaders in hiring for their GTM Systems teams reveals valuable insights for businesses at various stages of growth. As the landscape continues to evolve, the need for a balanced and strategic approach to hiring remains paramount. Choosing the right candidate at the right time can make all the difference in optimizing Salesforce and driving successful GTM strategies.