Hiring a player-coach… and 2 other sales recruiting “hacks” that rarely work.

As a sales veteran turned sales recruiter, I’ve seen (and continue to see) startups try to hack their way to sales success when they’re trying to scale.

But the truth is, most of the shortcuts they try end up biting them in the proverbial derriere more often than they help.

Truth be told, trying to cut corners and take shortcuts to sales success almost never works for the long-haul. And though the draw is usually to save money and time, it more often than not ends up costing more in the long term than it saves in the short term.

Below are 3 of the approaches I’ve seen most often… and why they don’t work. Plus what to do instead!

1. Hiring a “player-coach” to bridge the gap and save some money.

This seems like such a great idea on paper… but the truth is it usually just ends up being an expensive hiring mistake.

First of all, sales is a tough job — sales leadership even more so. And it’s incredibly hard to do one of those well, let alone two.

So the competing priorities of being both a coach and carrying an individual quota often put the person you hired in a tough position where they have to choose between doing one or…