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Hiring the Right VP for the Four Different Stages of Your Company’s Growth

Your organization needs the right type of VP of Sales based on the stage of growth of your company. There are four basic types of VP of Sales based on the four stages of Accounting Rate of Return (ARR) that can enhance – or hinder – your company’s growth. (The accounting rate of return (ARR) is a simple estimate of a project’s or investment’s profitability that subtracts money invested from returns without regard to interest accrual or applicable taxes.)

Without the right combination, your company may very well waste valuable time and money attempting to meet your sales goals.

Just because someone is charismatic and can close numerous deals does not mean he or she is capable of building a sales team that will meet the goals at the current growth stage of your organization.

How can you be certain you are hiring the best person for this position?

Here are my criteria based on talking to hundreds of C level Executives.

Producer VP: This person captures your immediate attention and is able to sell based primarily on his ability to talk to everyone he meets. His creativity and charisma makes him quite likeable. The problem is, while he can sell, he lacks the ability to build and scale a strong sales team. Over 85% of the time, this will have been a mis-hire and cost your company considerable time and resources. I am working a Stealth Reverse Search for a VP of Sales right now who’s specialty is scaling businesses of any size up to over a billion dollars. He is not the one you want to go close deals like the Producer If this sounds familiar, you may need to make this person your VP of Business Development and hire a different person as VP of Sales once you hit $1-$2M in ARR.

Repeater VP: If you have a few customers, a few leads, a micro brand, and a handful of reps – but you are stuck without knowing where to go from there – this person will know what to do. He knows how to close, hire, and recruit and has done this before. I have worked with this style of VP many times. He has figured out the formula for replication of the process and gets a rush from this process and watching the results grow from $1M to $2M…to $10M+. This person can’t hide behind presentations, data, or other people’s work – so finding a person who has done this can actually be quite difficult. If you do find this person, definitely keep him.

Make-it-Big: Over 90% of these people won’t be capable of doing what the Repeater can do. Because he may be coming into the company with $10-$20M in ARR, this person will understand the process of hiring the right people, making field sales work, creating an out-bound insides sales team and, and working with the VP of Marketing to ensure solid lead generation. You will be best to find someone who has already gone through this phase with another organization. Finding this person can be tricky and you will benefit by using our Reverse Engineering Technique to find this cat.

Manager of Managers: This is a unique individual. You won’t hire him to get to $2M, $10M, or $20M. He just doesn’t flourish in that arena. This guy looks impressive in a suit, he wows your board with presentation after presentation, and he can meet with managers all day long. He is constantly plagued with questions about dashboards, resources, budgets, hiring, firing, and eliminating the bottom 20%. However, unless this person has experience getting to the $20M mark, you are most likely wasting your time by hiring him to help you get there.

This is kind of like cutting wood without making a mistake. Measure twice and cut once. It is critical to consult with someone that has worked and understands the different stages of growth and the different styles so that you do not create a misfire when procuring a VP of Sales.

https://theoxfordgroup.youcanbook.me/ to discuss your challenges and several ways we can assist you to solve them.

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Hiring the wrong executive costs a company an average of $3,500,000.

Research shows that companies adept at recruiting enjoyed 3.5 times the revenue growth, and 2.1 times the profit margin, of their less- capable peers.* But does your internal leadership team have the time, capacity, proven IP, or expertise needed for a truly successful executive search?

When hiring an executive, it is important to uncover his or her methods and management style to see if they will integrate into your organization. For purposes of this article, we will be concentrating on questions directed toward a VP of Sales. They could be revised to be directed toward other types of executives.

The questions are not unique. They will get the dialog moving in a direction that will assist you in discovering the real talents of the candidate and whether they can actually move your organization forward. One of the biggest factors is uncovering whether the accomplishments are his or his predecessor’s. These aren’t magical questions.

This approach will give you a starting point for a SaaS business, but it will basically work for all SaaS companies from $10,000,000 to $200,000,000.

How big a team do you think we need right now, given what you know? (If they can’t answer — right or wrong — pass.)
What is the range of your deals in dollar volume? (If it’s not a similar fit to you, pass. If they can’t answer fluidly, pass.)
What is your approach to dealing with fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) in the marketplace? (If they does not give a concise answer, his ability to compete in the marketplace will be limited.)
What is the role of sales at this phase? What is the role of marketing? How should they work together at this phase? (It is important that they understand the process of a lead funnel. Most management candidates do not understand this unless they have been a VP of Sales before.)
What sales tools have you used? Which ones have you tried? What has/ hasn’t worked well? (If they don’t understand sales tools, they aren’t a real VP of Sales).
How did you build your sales teams? What was the process? What challenges did you face? (If they can’t describe how they built a team — pass).
Explain the customer life cycle and how sales and client success/management implementation and follow-up should work. (If they have no concept of this, this person has not managed implementation and life cycle management of a customer.)
Tell me about your approach to working with sales engineers and sales support. When you have limited resources or capital, what is their role? (This will determine if they can operate efficiently at an early stage SaaS start-up successfully and if they know how to scale.)
Which individuals that have worked with you in the past would join you if you came to work for us? What are their backgrounds? Quotas that they carried? (All VP of sales should have at least a few key guys. Keep in mind that recruiters make their living supplying talent and many firms will bill you for candidates that you hire that came directly from a candidate they referred if you pump them for names in the interview.)
Who are the top three competitors in your last position? What were three deals you lost to the competitor? Why? What is going to separate us from these companies you lost to in the past? (If they don’t understand how to answer this question, this person will not be right for your organization.)
What will be my company revenues after one quarter? 2 quarters? 3 quarters? 4 quarters? (There is no correct answer; however it will give you a glimpse of where this candidate’s goals would be. It will also reveal many wrong answers.

You should pass if the candidate’s answers to the questions do not make sense or if they are terrible. You want to hire somebody that knows more about the questions than you do. The VP of Sales should be smarter than you in building a sales team, the sales process and, yes, the actual sale itself. If he is not, you will want to pass on the candidate.

Are your sales reps giving up too soon?

Statistics show that nearly half of all sales reps fail to follow through with a prospect.

Over 75% of sales occurs after the fourth contact.

If your sales reps are giving up after two or three contacts, statistics show that they are giving up much too soon. Because the majority of sales results from more than four contacts, a salesperson that stops reaching out after the third contact could be giving away millions of dollars in business each year.

“Tenacity…it’s far more important than the degree of talent you have. You can learn anything, accomplish anything, if you’re tenacious enough, if you’re willing to hang in there long enough, willing to do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes.”
~Tom Hopkins

Evaluate your prospect lists. Are they targeted toward strong prospects?

Ensure that your reps are contacting prospects 5-20 times. How many contacts do your salespeople think is enough?
Approach from multiple angles. Are your reps relying simply on email, or are they getting their making multiple contacts in a creative manner to develop solid rapport?
Follow strategies used by leaders in the field. Are your reps learning from the best?
Be sure your reps are applying your sales strategies. If your reps are attending sales training, are they given an opportunity to see tenacity in action, and furthermore, are they able to visualize using these skills?
Evaluate performance. If your sales reps aren’t producing the desired results, are you monitoring them to determine which approaches they need to work on?
Know your salespeople. If a rep isn’t meeting the organization’s sales goals, are you able to help this person explore ways to improve his or her skills?

Personnel are critical to every company. The Oxford Group can assist you in hiring seasoned sales reps as well as your next VP of Sales. Oxford has created a lifetime warranty strategy on candidates that are hired to assist companies with their growth and budget challenges.

Why You Aren’t Hiring Top Cloud Salesmen and What To Do About it

6 Critical Skills of Top Performers

I have interviewed 1000s of sales people over the past 20 years. Hiring good guys for Cloud Computing, Big Data and the other areas is even more difficult. I’ve condensed the critical factors for in to six vital skills:

1) Fully understand the products / services – I cannot believe how many salespeople truly do not know their product or service offerings and have to rely way too much on the pre-sales engineers to do the selling for them.

2) Study and be knowledgeable about your customer’s industry – Many of the sales people that were in the top 10% of their industry really knew everything about their client’s industry including where all the skeletons were buried. When interviewing you need to probe their true knowledge base. I ask many hard-hitting questions including what clients they are calling on, size of their C-level database, nature of past deals closed, and who else was on the team that closed the deals. So many times I discovered that the names they gave me were the real guys that closed the deal. There are many other unique probing questions our firm asks to uncover who was the actual culprit that closed the deal. The Oxford Group is very adept at procuring these types of salespeople for clients utilizing our Reverse Engineering Approach.

3) Evaluate existing accounts for new opportunities – So many salespeople do not expand their reach into an existing client because they feel that they are wasting time uncovering opportunities outside of their current company’s product offering. The killer sales guy is always trying to meet more people in the account getting introduced by who they already know. They will also pull these opportunities and partner with other vendors that will reciprocate for them.

4) Conduct in-depth research of prospects – Probing is a gift and top sales guys have it. Questions some of the top sales guys have used are: What are the three top challenges that you faced this year to hit your bonus? Top salespeople are always asking why or in what respect to go deeper and deeper. These two probing approaches always bring up more and more information to truly uncover the real hurdle to getting a deal closed. The top guns are always losing. If you could accomplish this, this and that, would you be able to get approval for the solution we provide? Why not? Another catch phrase to keep asking is what else?…until the client can’t answer anymore.

5) Deliver what is promised – Producers always use word of mouth to carry them to the next deal. That is a precious commodity. A top gun can be your hero, but he can also be your worst enemy because he knows his next deal is only possible if the last deal was successful. His successes are predicated on building long lasting relationships with his rolodex of long term clients and relationships. If they see that you or the company are not following through, the salesman’s next call will be to our firm to lend a hand with our Stealth Reverse Search or to another recruiter to see what companies are hiring.

6) Be tenacious – The most common trait that the top guns possess is that they must hear no six times before it registers. Most salespeople will quit after two or three calls to a client or hearing no a couple of times. Killer sales guys are relentless. They will do whatever it takes to stay in front of a potential client. No is not in their vocabulary.

Don’t be fooled by the sales guy that pontificates on the importance of focusing more on a network of contacts, engaging the client with interesting analogies, or providing customers with advice. I encountered many of both of these types of reps when we enacted our Hypergrowth Strategy and built a startup from $0–$140,000,000 in one year. The bulk of our work concentrated on uncovering what each hire could do for our client, rather than what our client could do for the hire.

There just isn’t any substitute for hard work…and successful sales reps recognize that.

The Oxford Group is prepared to help you build your successful sales team.

Why Cloud Computing Companies Misfire on Their First VP of Sales Hire

I have spoken to many VCs. Most of them are in sync on one fact: the odds may be against you if you are hiring your first VP of Sales for a SaaS start-up. VPs of Sales are fired more often than professional sports coaches. Hiring the right VP could be the difference between gaining or losing momentum, minimizing or maximizing internal confusion, and catapulting or crippling your organization as you make the transition from Internal Traction to Initial Scale.

I have spoken to many VP of Sales that have been fired. The real question is Who was wrong? The guy doing the hiring? Or the VP who didn’t have the right skill set but took the job anyway? If you don’t know what a VP of Sales does at a SaaS company then how can you hire the right one? Knowing what a VP of Sales does in a SaaS company is crucial to catapulting your organization’s growth. It is always enlightening to talk with a CEO after a mis-fire at the VP of Sales level. When looking at a SaaS company in the $500k-$25m range, the following are critical factors that the successful CEOs I spoke to understand.

Recruiting and Backfilling: The great Vice Presidents of Sales that I have met are great at putting together excellent teams of killer sales reps. The perfect VP of Sales candidate for this position will already know that. He or she will have a pipeline of the next 3 great sales reps. I have put together recruitment programs for clients to do this on both small and grand scales by using our Lifetime Warranty Program. The right VP of Sales will know that the company’s success depends on finding these producers.

Assisting / Looking Out for Sales Team: Time and again the failures are due to not working closely with the sales team to help reps close deals. We all want sale guys that don’t need to be managed. The key is to create an environment that assists them to do what they do best which is to hunt. I spoken to more and more companies that are going with an inside lead generation team to allow the outside hunters to do more hunting. Cisco, Softchoice and VMware just to name a few who have built large inside sales teams to procure leads and sales. Some of this is domestic and some is built over in the Philippines. I have had a lot of experience in hiring these teams in the Philippines and if you think hiring good sales guys in the USA is tough, its even harder overseas but the payoff is great when you succeed.

Also don’t overlook the importance of canvassing the websites and associations that publish the information going on in your niche on who moved where and who is doing this and who is doing that. These information outlets will uncover , much information which will keep you and your team from overlooking the importance of being on the lookout for future opportunities Watching over deals before they blow up, and follow-up with all direct- and indirect-reports will insure that they are working efficiently and effectively. They will be more efficient and effective if they know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are inspecting these areas. We pattern a Reverse Engineering approach in our business and also in our recruiting of sales guys that has always uncovered a number of new leads for our clients. The successful cloud computing VP of Sales I have spoken with are really adept in all of these areas.

Tactics: From talking to successful VP of Sales in Big Data, SaaS, IaaS, PaaS and other segments of the Cloud industry, I have concluded that they have deduced their roles into knowing how to segment customers, pitch scripts, determine the best approach to Demand Marketing, and perform Gap Analysis. Successful VPs of Sales I have talked with were ready to hit the ground running in all of these areas.

Strategies: In a survey I did with a large group of successful VP of Sales in SaaS, they all looked ahead to determine potential markets, solidified the customer base, determined where to spend resources, etc. You would be surprised at how many VPS keep a tight relationship with a recruiter who provides the most up to date information on the street to assist with these strategies. It is equally as important for the VPS to have a strategy for their next career move. Most of the successful VPS focused on Tactics until they hit $20-25m in ARR when in a startup enviornment, at which time Strategies became #3 on the list. These VPs of Sales had strong managers who were able to handle the core Tactics. Our company has introduced our Hypergrowth Strategy to help Vp of achieve their core tactics and yearly goals. At the end of the day it all comes down to hitting bonuses.

Selling: All of the successful VPs of Sales had one thing in common: they could create and sell deals themselves. They were all excellent prospectors, consultants, and closers all wrapped up into one. They looked at deals like herds of cattle and could get them into the corral and close the gate better than most of their counterparts. I put this on the list because it is overlooked too many times with the carcass of a mis-hire because the hire was the wrong guy at the wrong time. If the VP you are looking at cannot sell better than you, then pass on him.

So, when is the best time to hire a VP of Sales?

If you, the founder, have been acting as VP of Sales with 1-2 reps to help you, but the time has come to catapult your business, it’s time to hire a VP of Sales who is even better at selling than you are.

Consider this: In the case of an SaaS company, If you are hitting $1m in ARR (Annual Revenue Requirement) and your goal is $2m, you will need no less than 3 reps hitting their quotas of no less than $300k each. If your ACV (Account Current Value) is $5k, you will need to close about 200 deals as quickly as possible. This goal will require that you hire 5-6 more reps to hit your next goal. In no time at all you will have expanded to over 400 deals per year. While your VP of Sales should be able to close your key deals – hitting his / her personal quota at first – the volume of deals will quickly become too much for them to tackle by themselves. If you are hitting $1-$2m in ARR, it’s time.

From what I’ve seen in the market place, very few VPs of Sales will be able to create organic demand where there is none, or fix a great-product-no-revenue dilemma. No doubt the VP will need to close deals but it is a pipedream to think he will take you to the Promised Land by himself because you need too many deals to hit your number. You will know it’s the perfect time to hire your VP of Sales when you are ready to fund, build, and scale a growing sales team. I have used a technique we termed hypergrowth to make this happen.

The Oxford Group is here to assist you in reaching your goals and hitting your bonuses. Contact us at: TheOxfordGroup@att.net, by phone at 214 360 4000, or schedule an appointment at https://theoxfordgroup.youcanbook.me/.managed services in the cloud, cloud computing, cloud companies, cloud computing company, about cloud, about cloud computing, cloud company, about the cloud, business in the cloud, in the cloud software, cloud software free, cloud server free, cloud in it, cloud engineering, Big Data Analytics, top 10 cloud companies, cloud companies list, vp sales, analytics, software, finance, telecom, app, storage, salesforce, security, data, application, big, cisco, pc, crm, sap, var, amazon, ibm, hp, open, insight, cdw, managed services, in the cloud, Saas, PaaS, IaaS, hybrid cloud, cloud integration, compugen, compucom, onx enterprise, metafore, long, acrodex, cis, hypertech, microage, soroc, shi, acceo, scalar, scale, flexity, microserve, northernmicro,

Over 65% of Your Cloud Computing Sales Reps Aren’t Doing Their Part! Why?

In my conversations with VPs of Sales – especially those in big data companies and cloud computing companies – a common complaint is that nearly 70% of the cloud sales reps aren’t pulling their own weight – the top producers are doing more than their fair share of the work. These top performers have figured out how the sales process works, and they can replicate it time and again. Although they are always looking for an edge, they probably aren’t going to improve much since they are already giving their best. So, what can you do about the large percentage of sales reps that are lagging behind?

Successful Cloud VPs of Sales know that the best ROI of sales training is focusing is on the B-players. These guys already have the basic skills in place, and they aren’t in the sales arena by accident. A few were probably even in that top 20% at one time. While some lack experience, most probably have the attitude and determination to succeed.

A slight shift in the middle can have a huge impact on the bottom line in the Cloud space. Hypothetically speaking, let’s say your goal is to increase revenues by 10%. If you try to push the top performers who are already producing around 70% of the sales revenue, you would expect them to increase performance by 33%. The odds are your top performers won’t do that. BUT, if you focus on the other guys – the ones who are bringing in the other 30% of revenue – you would expect them to increase performance by 14%. This is much more do-able.

It would be difficult to get top performers to produce any more than they currently are, BUT if focusing training on the B-players can improve performance by 15-20%, then “moving the middle” is definitely the way to go. I have created a Lifetime Warranty Program for our clients that insures the Topgrading of your sales team.

Let us help. The Oxford Group is here to assist you in building a successful sales force. Contact us at: TheOxfordGroup@att.net, by phone at 214 360 4000, or schedule an appointment at https://theoxfordgroup.youcanbook.me to discuss how we can be of service to you.

Why You Haven’t Hired the Right VP of Sales for Your Cloud Computing Company and What To Do About It

I have talked with many CEOs who are looking to hire a VP of Sales. Finding the ideal fit for your organization, and avoiding a mis-hire, can be challenging. That is one of the many reasons I created The Oxford Group’s unique Reverse Engineering Strategy.

When matching experience to fit, I always consider:

Which candidate is most successful at handling your type of business model? Whether you need a VP of Sales who has handled more in-bound sales or out-bound sales, hiring a VP of Sales that fits your primary business model is crucial.

Which VP has the most experience with Competitive Sales? If your market is highly competitive, the VP of Sales you hire needs to thrive when competing in that arena. If you are recruiting from other companies, consider, for example, that a VP of Sales who comes out of a Salesforce.com environment might be great at closing, upselling, driving up a deal size, or convincing companies to purchase something that might not be launched for 6-12 months, but this guy may not be your best choice since your market may not necessarily compete with Microsoft, Oracle, etc. in a winner-takes-all fashion.

Which candidate has the most experience with your company’s deal sizes? I also consider his or her experience with regard to all-commodity volume (ACV) for the majority of SaaS companies. Does the guy you are considering hiring have the most experience with an ACV of $1-9K, $10-90K, or $100K+? Whatever the size of the organization, it is crucial that he or she be a proper fit for your largest customer base.

In addition to CEOs, sales personnel and technical personnel, we have successfully recruited and placed the right VP of Sales using a recruitment approach to avoid misfires to give our clients the horsepower they require to achieve success. A mishire can costs the average Cloud company approximately $3,500,000 in cost and lost revenue. The Oxford Group has created a lifetime warranty strategy on cloud salesman that are hired to assist cloud computing companies with their growth and budget challenges.

I have worked with many executives in overcoming their challenges in reaching their goals both in their current roles and the next move in their career. As a senior executive if you have thought about a job change, our Stealth Reverse Search could be your ticket to that new leading edge technology company.

Contact us at: TheOxfordGroup@att.net, by phone at 214 360 4000, or schedule an appointment at https://theoxfordgroup.youcanbook.me/

Double Your Cloud Computing Startup’s Sales in 90 Days With the Right VP Sales

Most CEO’s, Presidents of Cloud companies that I have talked with don’t know how to do this – but it can be done. I’ve spoken to several C level executives that have accomplished it. Is it easy? No. It takes finding the perfect VP Sales who, after examining the numbers and sifting through data and where the skeletons are buried in your cloud startup, can see the potential in the raw materials.

If your company has just dog-paddled its way through a difficult year, you have no time to waste in getting a great VP Sales on board. The cloud computing industry is going to quadruple in size over the next 4 years.

Where will you find this strong candidate? What resources will your new VP Sales have to work with? You may not have time to bring in any new customers. I doubt you can change your product or competition. Your pricing, target customer, and target deal size is probably also static. Your best bet is to do as much as you can with the customers you already have.

You are going to have to make the most of every minute, so I’ve compiled a list of 5 things this VP must do immediately.

He is going to need to bring at least 2-3 new killer reps – proven closers – with him when he walks in the door on Day 1. These reps don’t necessarily have to have a great deal of product knowledge. They just need to know basic Cloud sales processes at your pricepoint – AND be expert closers.

Reconfiguring the sales team is the next order on the agenda. Your new VP Sales must be able to recognize talent and pinpoint the top producers. All precious leads must be routed to the closers. There simply isn’t time to waste them on slackers. As a matter of fact, getting rid of those who aren’t delivering should be your next move.

The super successful VPs of Sales that I know recognize that they just can’t do it all themselves. They know they are going to have to zero in on productivity by focusing on doubling and tripling the best of what they have. This guy is going to bring on board additional talent who can sell at 2-3x the rate of the former reps. I have used a Reverse Engineering Technique to bring this kind of talent along with existing deals to the table.

Since time is of the essence, one thing your VP Sales simply must do is forget about the pipeline as a metric. Pipeline doesn’t matter if it isn’t going to close. The focus needs to be on closing deals now.

Lastly, your previous sales team was probably struggling with, or running from, the competition. It’s time to put aside that mindset. The new VP will need to learn what he can or have come from the competition. It is vital that your VP Sales is able to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the team so that closing deals can be the primary focus. We have implemented a strategy for many clients to locate those VP of sales who can bring the top guns with existing deals by implementing our Hypergrowth Strategy. Getting a VP that can bring a team with him is of critical importance.

Chances are your time is limited to about 180 days. You will either sink or swim. And what this VP does will determine that.

It’s going to take a VP Sales with an immense amount of focus and cloud savvy who has broken his pick at other organizations so he doesn’t break it at yours. Since time is of the essence, you will need to find a way to infiltrate the competition. We have done this hundreds of times utilizing a Reverse Engineering Technique coupled with the lifetime Warranty Program that insures your success.

Are Your Sales Reps “Coachable”?

From interviewing and managing 1000s of salespeople over 20 years I have interviewed for activity levels, self-starter, integrity, confidence, charisma, determination, thick skin, a positive attitude – all great qualities, but one thing I have found to be vital is “coachability”.

I see a direct correlation between athletic performance coaching and sales performance coaching from observing many years of sports coaching as my son progressed as a quarterback in junior high and high school to obtaining over 40 offers to play quarterback in college. I purchased a fast twitch training program that is one of five in the country that can increase speed and agility performance in significant measurable results in six weeks. The measurable results displayed that all the talent in the world doesn’t matter if the athlete is not coachable. I have found the same experience in interviewing, training and managing sales guys.

Coachability should be an integral part of the screening process to ensure that you are recruiting a solid sales force.

A small percentage of athletes are the exception – the ‘naturals’ – who will succeed on the playing field no matter what. In the sales arena, those ‘naturals’ are your self-reliant, driven, persevering, top-performers. While some may want coaching, a greater percentage of these guys may already recognize the importance of being flexible and trying different strategies, so they may not need additional coaching.

However, I have found that, just like athletes, the vast majority of sales reps need coaching. So, how do you determine just how ‘coachable’ your potential sales reps are? I typically ask probing questions in the interview such as What proactive measures do you take on a regular basis to sharpen your sales skills? I also want to know about the candidate’s biggest sale, and what he did to win the customer’s business.

I am especially interested in the candidate’s description of a time when he lost a sale and what he learned from the experience.

Additionally, I want to know what this sales guy has learned, and implemented, from sales seminars. If he can explain to me the impact that has had on his sales, then I know he is able to evaluate his own performance and that he is ultimately ‘coachable’.

Whether independently, or through coaching, you need sales guys that are always working toward sharpening their selling skills. This doesn’t mean that all of your reps will always need to be “coachable”, as there will always be that small percentage of ‘gifted’ individuals who will already possess the experience needed, and they will be able to make the magic happen almost effortlessly.

As for the rest of the sales team, coachability is vital to their success. I specialize in training sales teams, speaking at conferences as well as utilizing Reverse Engineering to procure top performers. We prefer to partner with our clients and take responsibility for the quality of our candidates by offering a Lifetime Warranty Program that can be customized to assist you in meeting your challenges and goals and oh yes to facilitate your hitting your annual bonuses!

Contact The Oxford Group, to book speaking engagements on a variety of topics that range from Sales, Hiring, Training, Executive Recruitment, Growing Startups, Turnarounds, M&A, International Growth, Technology Growth, The Cloud, Telecommunications, and Offshore Outsourcing.

For booking information contact us by phone at 214 360 4000, by email at: TheOxfordGroup@att.net, or schedule an appointment at https://theoxfordgroup.youcanbook.me/.

SaaS Companies: When to Say Yes or No to Merger & Acquisition Offers

Mergers and acquisition (M & A) offers can be tempting, but how do you know when to say ‘yes’ and when to say ‘no’? Accepting the wrong offer at the wrong time can be a costly mistake.

I have talked with numerous CEOs and Presidents who are considering a merger or acquisition offer.

A common question that comes up is the over valuing of the company’s worth. Just because you are growing at 10% per month doesn’t mean your value grows at the same rate. Acquisition offers can vary based on where your company is in its growth cycle. Considering the stage of your company’s growth is very important if you are going to accept the right offer at the right time.

Startup – You haven’t yet earned revenue. You aren’t yet on the radar unless your team is solid and proven. Prior to the first $1m in annual recurring revenue (ARR), those who are potentially interested are monitoring your minimum sellable product (MSP). This will be considered your initial purchase offer Maximum.

Initial Traction – You are at $1-1.5m ARR. You are now on the radar for big tech companies since they may be looking for acquisitions to fill gaps or expedite their product launches. We have worked many deals in this sector. If you have a hot product, and have the ideal equation, you may be able to score an offer of $20-100m. With proven initial traction, a solid customer base, and a product priced just right to hold a top spot in the market, you could essentially find yourself looking at a great offer even if your revenue isn’t quite as great as your competitor.

Initial Scale – You are very possibly growing at a high rate with an M & A opportunity between 5-10x ARR. At this point, you may not find an offer all that tempting, because offers at this stage can actually be lower than you may have had at the previous stage.

Up and Coming Scale – Once your ARR hits $10-15m, you’re a proven business. Projections look great and you are seen as a $100-200m product line for them – right where you are. Acquirers see the potential in your product, customer base, and marketing strategies. This can lead you to a nine-figure offer at your new purchase offer Maximum.

Cruising level Scale – Your company has hit $10m ARR, you are growing 100% but those M & A opportunities you once had are dwindling. Once you are interested in selling at $300m or above, you are far more limited in the number of acquirers.

Maturation Scale– You are at, or above, the $400m rate. Of course, it’s not unheard of to sell at $1.2B at a low ARR, but unless you are approached by giants in the industry, there probably isn’t a public company willing to take on the venture. Your chances of an attractive acquisition are slim, and you may find yourself facing an offer for much less than you had hoped.

The ideal situation seems to be to say ‘Yes’ to a good lower offer Maximum – or realize that if you pass it up, you may feel desperate to ‘settle’ later for a purchase offer Minimum. For the past two years, several entrepreneurs from rapidly-growing companies have turned down attractive acquisition offers preparing for a bigger payoff. I have assisted clients in walking through this M & A process. What I have found unique from other firms is that my clients can use The Oxford Group’s Hypergrowth Strategy to increase the sales while pursuing the best offer for a sale or acquisition.

Contact us at: TheOxfordGroup@att.net, by phone at 214 360 4000, or schedule an appointment at https://theoxfordgroup.youcanbook.me/.