SaaSy Talk S01.04: Chris Orlob Discusses Sales, Hiring, and Scaling at Gong and P Club
About The Guest(s):
Chris Orlob is the CEO of pclub.io - the #1 online learning and skills platform for revenue professionals. Prior to that, he helped grow Gong from $200k to $200M ARR and a $7.2 billion valuation within 5 years.
Summary:
Chris shares his journey into sales, starting with selling golf balls as a child and later realizing the potential for a lucrative career in sales. He joined Gong, a startup in its early stages, and played a key role in its growth. Chris emphasizes the importance of a clear hiring profile and a repeatable sales process. He also discusses the impact of AI on sales and the future of the industry. Chris advises founders to invest in marketing and build an audience of superfans. He also highlights the need for business acumen and intellectual horsepower in sales reps.
Key Takeaways:
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Chris emphasizes the importance of hiring people with business acumen and raw intellectual horsepower.
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Investing in marketing and building an audience of superfans is crucial for success.
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The future of sales may involve AI-driven skill assessments and AI role plays.
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The first comp plan for early hires should be focused on new customer acquisition and be generous with accelerators.
Quotes:
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"Business acumen is probably the most underrated body of knowledge when it comes to sales success."
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"If you don't piss somebody off by noon each day, you're not marketing your business hard enough."
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"Most startups are trying to acquire new customers, so you should orient the commission payout to be almost exclusively on new customer acquisition."
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"Be generous when people perform, but be stingy if they don't."
Chapters:
(00:00) Introduction and discussion about how Chris got into sales
(04:10) Gong was a small company with $178,000 ARR when Chris joined
(10:41) Gong cracked the code by creating a playbook for success
(14:41) Developing hiring profiles for salespeople.
(21:06) Hiring for ambiguity is still a challenge for P Club.
(25:15) Need to hire builders as the company scales
(26:37) Overview of P Club and its vision
(31:37) Future of sales and AI
(35:20) Biggest mistake founders make when scaling
(46:41) Quick Fire-Round
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