Sales superstar or tech genius: Who’s worth more?
At last Wednesday’s Entrepreneurship 101 lecture, students heard Lance Laking, President and CEO of BTI Photonics Systems, talk about the difference between techies and sales people: the different motivators and rewards for the two different groups.
What remains debatable, however, is when you allocate your budget, who gets the bigger paycheque — the techie who develops the product or the salesperson who sells it? It has famously been said, “Nothing happens until someone sells something.” But what if there is nothing to sell?
How would you make the decision?
- Webcast
- Class information
- ENT101 Facebook Group
- Presentation: “Techies are from Venus, Salespeople are from Mars: Strategies for effective communication in a start-up environment” (PDF)
As a Venture Group Advisor at MaRS, Tony advises entrepreneurs and high growth companies, particularly in environmental, advanced materials and manufacturing markets, with a special emphasis on mentoring and development of entrepreneurs.
If you have a great product, you don’t need salespeople. Not even one.
If you need great salespeople to sell your product, eventually they’ll leave - sales has the highest turnover of any job, and great salespeople are employable ANYWHERE - and then you’ll be screwed.
Posted by: Anon on April 7th, 2008 at 3:08 pm