So anecdotally, it seems to me sales productivity startups are one of the biggest impacted by the current macro environment. It seems like everyone just … stopped buying them. Ever Salesforce itself is having a rough time, much rougher than most public SaaS companies. We had a great conversation on how much harder it is now with Gong’s incredible CRO here:
But is that an excuse to sort of quiet quit? To give up a bit?
I say No. In fact, I always say No. I sold a sales tool in 2008-2009 when the global economy was in total meltdown, and I’ll tell you, we sure didn’t stop selling. You shouldn’t, either. But for sure you have to sell smarter, to the segments of your customer base still doing well, often to far more stakeholders, and new ones, and with more proof of ROI.
With that, we did a survey to see who is actually still hiring in sales.
And the answer? Most of you. 62% of you.
Now, that’s down for sure from 12 months ago. It’s harder out there.
But folks are still growing their sales teams. We are, even at little old tiny Team SaaStr! So are a number of my top VC investments.
You can say woe is me. You can say your playbook from 2021 doesn’t work anymore. I hear you. And if need be, take another week or two and quietly feel sorry for yourself.
Or then find that 62% that’s still growing and hiring. And sell them something that really helps them. A lot.
Published on January 17, 2023
