As most SaaS startups seek to hire a unicorn seller to accelerate their go-to-market (GTM) strategy and scale revenue growth, successfully sourcing candidates for this role requires knowing what the right fit looks like. Like the name suggests, this position is unique to the point where the requirements will be different for most companies. In this blog, we will show you how to define the persona that aligns with what your organization needs, empowering your hiring managers to zero in on your ideal match.
When Old School Sales Models Don’t Cut It
The tech space has changed significantly in recent years and startups have had to adapt to new realities that altered the GTM landscape for SaaS. Traditional approaches to sales hiring are one of the biggest casualties of this shift, spurred on by a growing need for more experienced and knowledgeable candidates. The problem runs deeper than inefficiencies in recruiting, however, and is a reflection of how the market has evolved beyond the pandemic and the emergence of new technologies.
The SaaS and various cloud services industries have reached a new point of maturity, and when coupled with external factors like the uncertainty in the economy and the arrival of AI, this has created new demands for specialization, expertise and more specific skill sets geared towards the complex challenges software buyers face today. Unicorn sellers address a gap that a generic job description for a typical Account Executive (AE) can’t even begin to explore, making it even harder for talent acquisition teams and hiring managers in tech to successfully source the perfect fit candidate.
Aligning Hiring with Your Sales Motion
Your sales motion – everything that determines how you sell – is an integral part of what makes your unicorn seller requirements unique. Every tech startup has their own way of reaching success and scaling revenue, and the foundation of what makes sales unicorns is their inherent familiarity and alignment with your existing motion and culture. This is also unfortunately what makes recruitment a challenge, as the specific experience and skill sets that match with your org are not going to be evenly distributed across the talent pool, on top of having to define and quantify the nuances behind what you need for this role.
How to Find Your Unicorn Seller
Finding your unicorn seller begins with a systematic approach to defining exactly what success looks like in your organization. This process requires looking inward before looking outward at the talent market, starting with these steps:
Start with Your Top Performers in Sales
The most effective way to build your unicorn seller persona is to take a look at your top performers in sales and analyze what defined their success. Even if you are still in Seed stage, you can uncover the patterns behind what helped scale your sales motion and what the key characteristics are your sellers display that empowered them to close those deals. Identify both what you want to replicate and what complementary skills would strengthen your approach, such as:
- What specific actions make them successful in your environment
- Which skills they brought to the role initially
- What capabilities they have developed since joining
- Which approaches have proven most effective with your customer base
Define What Makes Your Sales Motion Unique
Your sales motion encompasses everything about how your organization engages prospects and closes deals. To build an effective persona, you need to articulate what makes your sales process distinctive:
- Is your sales cycle particularly long or short?
- Do you sell primarily to technically-focused buyers, business-focused buyers, or both?
- What level of consultation or customization do your deals typically require?
- How complex is your pricing structure?
- What level of post-sale involvement do your sellers typically have?
Identify Critical Industry Experience
As the market places increasing importance on specialization, consider how much experience with the industries you sell into is required for your unicorn seller. Not everyone will have the specific vertical knowledge your organization needs to close deals successfully, so ensure your persona includes what a star candidate should bring to the table to engage with your client base:
- Which specific industries your ideal candidate must have sold into previously
- What types of products or solutions they should have experience with
- The depth of regulatory knowledge required for your specific market
- Relevant experience that directly translates to your customer’s challenges
Assess Technical Knowledge Requirements
Technical competency is increasingly a major differentiator for tech sales in the post-pandemic world, often becoming a key driver for modern account-based selling. If your prospects need to hear what makes your solution tick before they even engage in a conversation about buying, then your unicorn seller should be someone who understands the underlying technology behind your product. This means that your persona should clearly define:
- The level of product understanding required
- Familiarity with complementary or competitive technologies
- Understanding of your customers’ technical environment
- Ability to engage with technical stakeholders effectively
- Knowledge of relevant technical trends and challenges
Be realistic about what can be taught versus what needs to be brought to the role. Deep technical knowledge often takes years to develop, but will be essential for credibility with certain buyers.
Adjust Persona According to Your Funding Stage
Your growth stage will significantly impact the type of seller who will succeed best in your current sales environment. Unicorns for Series A startups will look very different from the skills needed for a Series D company scaling towards an IPO. Carefully consider what your right fit requires according to your size and funding round:
Pre-Seed to Series A
- Focus on versatility
- Emphasize self-starting capabilities
- Look for experience in similar-stage companies
At these stages, you need sellers who can operate with limited resources, wear multiple hats and help establish early sales processes. They should be comfortable with ambiguity and able to provide valuable market feedback to product teams.
Series B to Series C
- Prioritize scalability experience
- Value process development skills
- Seek change management capabilities
As you scale, your unicorn sellers need to be able to help build and refine repeatable processes while maintaining high performance. They should have experience managing larger territories or accounts and be able to adapt to rapidly evolving internal systems.
Series D to IPO
- Emphasize systematic approaches
- Focus on consistency
- Value enterprise-level experience
At later stages, your unicorn sellers need to excel within more structured environments while still delivering innovation where needed. They should have experience with complex approval processes, cross-functional collaboration and enterprise-level relationship management.
Partner with Betts to Find Your Unique Unicorn Seller
Building a detailed unicorn seller profile is essential, but finding that perfect fit requires deep expertise in tech sales recruiting. At Betts, we understand that each organization’s unicorn seller is unique. Let our experienced team help you identify and secure the sales talent that matches your specific needs.
Contact Betts here to get started on your search for your unique unicorn seller and ensure your org is able to scale successfully to your next round of funding.