--- title: Chicken or the Egg...and Sales description: What comes first? The hiring of the first salesperson or the hiring of the Sales Manager image: https://www.derbymanagement.com/hs-fs/file-665692789-png/images/twitter_logo-resized-600.png?t=1432041003056&width=38&height=30 --- [![Derby Management](https://www.derbymanagement.com/hs-fs/file-2618089236-png/derbymanagement/derbylogo.png) ](https://www.derbymanagement.com/)                                                  [![Social media-LI logo](https://www.derbymanagement.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Social%20media-LI%20logo.jpeg?width=26&name=Social%20media-LI%20logo.jpeg) ](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackderby/)[![Social Media-Twitter ](https://www.derbymanagement.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Social%20Media-Twitter%20.jpeg?width=25&name=Social%20Media-Twitter%20.jpeg) ](https://twitter.com/derbymanagement)[![Social Media-Facebook logo](https://www.derbymanagement.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Social%20Media-Facebook%20logo.jpeg?width=27&name=Social%20Media-Facebook%20logo.jpeg)](https://www.facebook.com/derbymanagement/) **Working with you to create success in 2026!!!  ** # Derby Management's "Competitive Edge" Blog # Chicken or the Egg...and Sales Posted by [Jack Derby, Head Coach](https://www.derbymanagement.com/blog/author/jack-derby-head-coach) on Thu, May 21, 2015 Find me on: [Facebook ](https://www.facebook.com/managementcoach) [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackderby/) [Twitter ](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackderby/) - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) ### **In this blog, I'm looking to you for a bit of guidance and a few ideas...** ![chicken_or_egg](https://www.derbymanagement.com/hubfs/chicken_or_egg.png)   I think that my age-old approach to solving the** ["Chicken or Egg Question"](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_or_the_egg)** is correct, but I thought that it would be a great question to pose to you this morning and get your advice. Last week, I found myself doing a Whiteboarding Exercise with a new customer in NYC.  For our customers and for us, these half day Whiteboarding Sessions provide a perfect means to map out current sales and marketing processes and literally to work side-by-side with management whiteboarding potential changes and figuring out in real time the potential improvements in sales and marketing productivity.     In this case, the company is a recently-funded startup - A very early stage company - Mature, heavily experienced founding team-great guys - Established market with a dynamic need to change - Seed round, venture-funded - No one yet on board with deep sales or sales management experience  ### As the co-founders and I talked about building the structure for both a short and longer term Sales organization, the classic "Chicken or Egg Question" for a young company came up:  **Should we hire a salesperson or a sales manager first?**  Driving to answer this question very definitively, we then used most of the whiteboard outlining the positives and the negatives for both sides of the equation **Hire the Sales Manager First-The Positives** - The Sales organization gets built around the person who is going to manage it - The manager becomes an immediate member of the senior team strategizing on direction **Hire the Sales Manager First-The Negatives** - Will not be spending 100% of their time with prospects - Division of time between "playing the game" and managing it - Having been a manager, is the individual still willing to get their fingers dirty? **Hire the Salesperson First-The Positives** - A single focus to put points on the board - Wakes up every morning, asking "What can I sell today?"  - Gets up to ramp speed in the sales cycle more quickly - Provides more immediate feedback to management on the viability and pricing of new products and services  - May not join the company since they do not know who their boss will be **Hire the Salespeople First-The Negatives** - May hire a person that the sales manager, when that person is hired, would not have hired - The salesperson will be working directly with the founding team and may feel "demoted" when their new boss comes on board I probably left out a number of other bullet points, which I'm sure you can comment on, but I'm already moving on to my own recommendations. ### **My Answer to "Chicken or Egg"...** My answer has always been to quickly proceed full speed down two parallel tracks at the same time. - Create a detailed "Position Profile" for both the salesperson and the manager - Position Profiles clearly define the "Must Have" Skills, Experience and Attributes that the candidate absolutely must possess. - Separately, detail the Job Descriptions for both positions with very specific requirements - Make sure that the Manager is defined as a "Player/Coach", and not just someone who has been a sales manager  - Launch two formal networking and Linked In campaigns in parallel  - Measure how you do, and if you are not getting the results that you need, turn to a recruiter specializing in Sales - **Hire whomever you find first to be the most highly qualified athlete** ![player_coach](https://www.derbymanagement.com/hubfs/player_coach.png) In a startup, it's all about putting points on the board while working through the go-to-market and revenue models.  To have the perfect go-to-market model, but no sales doesn't help company management or its investors.   Since time is the critical medium during the initial one or two years of a startup, I'm always going to opt to bring in a heavily experienced salesperson first...unless I can identify that heavily experienced Player-Coach.   **So, this is where I'd like to hear from you by noting your comments and ideas below...**   ***Have a great long weekend...and relax just a bit.   *** **In the meantime...  ****GOOD SELLING!   ****Have specific sales questions that you want to bounce off me or any of our other Coachs, just email me, and we'll set up a time to talk?**** **    ![Jack Derby](https://www.derbymanagement.com/hs-fs/file-13639936-jpg/images/signature0003-resized-600.jpg?t=1432041003056&width=79&height=58&name=signature0003-resized-600.jpg)    ****[Head Coach ](https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=56984&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile)**  [Derby Management](https://www.derbymanagement.com/about-us-Senior-Management-Coaching/)***...for 25 years*** **-Sales & Marketing Productivity Experts** **-Business & Strategy Planning Specialists -Senior Management Coaching -PE and Venture Fundraising**** **Box 171322, Boston, MA 02117 617-292-7101 Jack's Cell: 617-504-4222 ** ** [![describe the image](https://www.derbymanagement.com/hs-fs/file-665692789-png/images/twitter_logo-resized-600.png?t=1432041003056&width=38&height=30&name=twitter_logo-resized-600.png)](https://twitter.com/derbymanagement) [![describe the image](https://www.derbymanagement.com/hs-fs/file-674656770-jpg/images/facebook_logo-resized-600.jpg?t=1432041003056&width=32&height=32&name=facebook_logo-resized-600.jpg)](https://www.facebook.com/managementcoach?ref=br_rs&fref=browse_search)  [![linked in ](https://www.derbymanagement.com/hs-fs/file-13638968-jpg/images/linkedin_logo-resized-600.jpg?t=1432041003056)](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackderby)**   [![](https://www.brainshark.com/brainshark/brainshark.net/apppresentation/splash.aspx?pi=539806052&r=927092493)](http://www.brainshark.com/derbymanagement/vu?pi=zEAzcyC9XzFFz0) [http://www.brainshark.com/derbymanagement/vu?pi=zEAzcyC9XzFFz0](http://www.brainshark.com/derbymanagement/vu?pi=zEAzcyC9XzFFz0)       Tags: [best sales practices;](https://www.derbymanagement.com/blog/topic/best-sales-practices) ### Subscribe Here! 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