🧑🏻‍💼 What is a VP of Sales, anyway?

Picture a “VP of Sales.”

Do you see a person in a blazer? Are they pressuring you? Are they a smooth talker? Are they at trade shows all the time?

I’m starting to learn that the television version of a sales leader - which, by the way, absolutely does exist - isn’t at all what sales teams actually need.

☝️ First off, I’m not a salesperson

I know, I know - that statement probably seems disingenuous, because it’s right there in my title on LinkedIn, and a lot of my time is, in fact, spent selling stuff to people. But hear me out:

I started my career as a "Research Associate” at a commercial real estate firm. Did I do a lot of research? Nope, not really. I did, however, travel to 27 states in a year performing site checks for potential acquisition targets. I basically flew to bumblef*ck, rented a car, stuck a camera to my windshield and drove around quick service restaurants or big box retailers or gas stations, narrating ingress / egress points and traffic patterns. I realized much later that the company only really cared about the rent that the tenant was paying, not the actual real estate. They only sent me to make sure there was, in fact, a building. Coulda been a check box.

I moved into a Financial Analyst role, which was really about cash flow projection and spreadsheets. I got good at Excel and I learned a little bit about retail operations.

Went to business school, then ended up in CPG at Anheuser-Busch, where I managed trade marketing for our craft portfolio. Technically part of the sales org, but I was building decks and ordering 100,000 display racks for Goose Island - not actually selling.

My first actual taste of sales came when I started managing wholesale reps for distributors on the west coast, and later when I called on Kroger in Southern California. I was terrible - terrible! - at both. I had no training. I asked no questions. I presented decks, then people beat me up on pricing, then angry Brazilians at AB yelled at me for not getting a new, awful-tasting Budweiser SKU into every Ralph’s 😂 Rinse and repeat.

My point is: before Jane, I had never been trained to sell anything. I didn’t know how to cold call; I didn’t know what “discovery” was; I didn’t particularly enjoy changing someone’s mind.

🗣 Communication, strategy, and - most importantly - people

When I got to Jane as the “General Manager” of the SoCal market, I was still very bad at all of this. My first cold call, in-person and in the Valley, with my boss in tow, went like this:

After getting absolutely shellacked by the California market for a while, I started to ease into the process. I asked more questions, I focused on solving pain points - the normal sales stuff. We hired actual salespeople who could cold call, and who told me I was talking too much during demos. I learned over time, and I’m so grateful for my team, who always managed up so well and educated me while they learned the industry.

After we scaled for a few year, and I wasn’t doing the lion’s share of selling, I started to realize what a sales leader was actually good for:

1. Difficult conversations (two types): confrontational ones, and complex ones.

I used to hate confrontation, and now I genuinely don’t mind. I’m happy to tell people no, and I’m happy to explain the reasons why (this is with both internal stakeholders and external partners). I also don’t mind dealing with buyer egos. This has made me valuable as a sales leader, because some people don’t like the feeling of disagreeing with someone.

Over time, and because I think about Jane constantly, I also developed a knack for speaking to our high-level strategy in a clear way. That’s the best litmus test for a VP of Sales: can they articulate the complicated nuances around the what, the how, and (most importantly) the why - in a very clear and concise way?

Hard conversations are a big part of the job.

2. Collecting information and informing corporate strategy

A good sales leader is not an order taker. They should have an active role in collecting feedback from the market, then ensuring that corporate strategy aligns with what they’re hearing.

I have met a lot of sales leaders that don’t know why they’re doing what they’re doing. They tell me outright. It’s terrifying.

3. The most important - always and forevermore - the people

Over half of my time is spent with my directors and their teams. We talk about career aspirations, team structure, pipeline, future strategy, partnerships, hopes and dreams, etc. I adore my team. I think they’re great. The single most important thing I can do is put them in a position to be happy and productive. If I don’t sell anything myself, that would be enough.

Sound fluffy? I don’t care! It’s true.

🗡 Let me sum up

A VP of Sales will sell things, from time to time. I still have my moments. But that’s not my primary function - my job is to have tough conversations, inform strategy, and nurture my people.

📚 tl;dr

• I do have a nice blazer as a VP of Sales, but I don’t wear it often

• A sales leader should focus primarily on:

  • Having tough conversations, internally and externally

  • Collecting feedback and informing strategy

  • Nurturing people

• It is Friday, I think