I am now, have been and will be wrong

Surfing around some of the VC blogs out there, I found this bit on hiring sales folks.

It’s good.

It’s hard to get a good sales person.
I know I’m a lousy sales person.

And I know that some of the best sales people to have, are the ones willing to pick up the phone and call.
Call.
Call.

You have to be fearless, because you will get rejected. If you’re afraid of rejection, don’t be an entrepreneur, don’t be a sales person, don’t be in a client facing environment.

Hide away in a nice little cubicle, with a computer that won’t judge you.

Jack Roseman, my first entrepreneurship professor, and one who’s made the statement that the only real PhD in entrepreneurship is a successful company. Also said that you can’t go around and get 100% buy in from all your sales prospects. 100% success rate means there’s a problem. 0% success rate means there’s a problem.

So if you’re going to be a sales person, and everyone who is in a start-up is a sales person, then you’ll need to be fearless. Everyday.

Make calls, get sales.