A 6-part operator’s workbook for defining your next Sales hire— before you post the job, take the meeting, or interview the first résumé.
-
Separate today from tomorrow — and find the gap that produces mis-hires.
-
Pressure-test segment, ACV, cycle, and GTM machine against the hire you have in mind.
-
Includes the four most common mis-hires we’ve seen across 500+ placements.
-
Used by founders and revenue leaders at growth-stage SaaS and ad-supported media companies.
Built by operators who’ve run Sales themselves — not career recruiters. Trusted by Series A through pre-IPO teams.
THE SALES ICP WORKBOOK
Get the full workbook.
Once Completed, Delivered to your inbox in under 60 seconds.
We use this to send you to the workbook, and occasional GTM hiring insights. Unsubscribe anytime. No spam, we hate it too.
WHAT’S INSIDE
Six parts. Built on the same diagnostic we run before every Sales search.
Each part includes operator-level questions and a “Why it matters” callout — so you know not just what to ask, but how the answer should steer the hire.
TODAY
What are you actually selling today?
Segment, ACV, cycle, multi-threading, technical complexity, motion. The reality, not the deck. Seven operator-level questions.
TOMORROW
Where is the sale going — tomorrow?
The 12 – 18 month state, with the same precision. Where the mis-hire lives: in the unspoken gap between today and tomorrow.
PART 03
The GTM machine around them
Marketing, SDRs, enablement, SEs, RevOps,leadership. Sixty percent of any rep’s productivity is the machine. Map yours honestly.
PART 04
Now — who fits?
Matched experience, builder vs. optimizer, quota history in context, tools fluency, player-coach vs. pure IC.
PART 05
Compensation reality
Are you paying for who you described? Equity, OTE mix, accelerators, and the upside narrative that wins finalists.
PART 06
The four common mis-hires
The Big-Logo Trap. The Segment Mismatch. The Inbound Crusher. The Aspirational Hire. The expensive patterns — out loud.
A SAMPLE FROM THE WORKBOOK
This is what every question looks like.
An operator-level prompt, followed by what your answer means for the hire. Twenty-five of these across six parts.
FROM PART 01 – TODAY
03 How long is the sales cycle, honestly?
7 days. 30 days. 90 days. 6–12 months. We need the truthful median from signed deals — not what you wish it was.
Why it matters. A marketer arriving from a 70%-marketing-sourced environment will assume the GTM machinery exists to convert demand. If yours is 15%, the gap is exposed in the first board meeting, and they’ll be holding the bag.
24 more questions like this one — across six parts. Get the full workbook
0
+
Placements
0
%+
Retention Rate
0
%+
Close in < 6 Weeks
0
+
Years Building GTM
ALSO AVAILABLE
The Marketing ICP Workbook — which marketer are you actually hiring?
The same diagnostic, applied to the function where the title hides the job. Demand Gen vs. Content vs. Events vs. ABM vs. PMM — they’re not interchangeable.