Executive decision-making
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Why a vp inside sales is a strategic bet, not just a sales hire
From senior salesperson to strategic operator
In many entrepreneurial companies, the first instinct is to see a vice president of inside sales as a kind of “super sales manager” ; someone who closes the biggest deals and pushes the sales team to hit higher sales targets. That is only a small part of the real role.
A true vice president of inside sales is a strategic operator. This person connects sales strategies, team structure, and decision making with the company’s long term growth plan. The job is closer to a head of a business unit than to a top performing sales rep.
Think about how you define other senior roles in your company. For example, when you clarify the role and authority of a payroll manager, you do not just ask for someone who can run payroll software. You expect a person who manages risk, compliance, processes, and data that impact the whole organization. It is the same logic with a vice president of inside sales ; you are not buying more sales capacity, you are buying a new layer of sales leadership and business discipline.
Why this hire is a strategic bet for revenue growth
Bringing in a president sales or vice president of inside sales is a bet on future revenue growth, not only on this quarter’s numbers. In a lean entrepreneurial context, this bet is significant because the salary, bonus, and equity package of such a profile can be one of the highest in the company.
What you are really investing in is the ability to :
- Design and execute a coherent sales strategy that fits your market and your stage
- Turn a few heroic closers into a repeatable, scalable sales team
- Align sales targets with realistic capacity and pipeline, instead of wishful thinking
- Improve the quality of decision making around pricing, segments, and territories
- Build a track record of predictable revenue and performance that investors can trust
In other words, the vice president is responsible for driving revenue in a way that reduces dependency on the founder or general manager. This is a structural change. It moves the company from “founder led selling” to “system led selling”.
From ad hoc selling to a real inside sales engine
Most entrepreneurial businesses start with opportunistic sales strategies. The general manager, a director sales, or an early sales manager closes deals through personal network, hustle, and improvisation. It works, until it does not.
The vice president of inside sales is the person who turns this improvisation into an engine. Their authority covers :
- Defining the inside sales model ; inbound, outbound, or hybrid
- Clarifying roles inside the sales teams ; from SDRs to account executives and customer success
- Setting clear sales targets and compensation logic that support the strategy
- Choosing the right tools and processes for lead management, submitting form flows, and pipeline tracking
- Creating feedback loops between sales, product, and marketing to adapt to the market
This is not just about more calls or more emails. It is about building a system where each person in the team knows their role, their metrics, and how their work contributes to revenue growth.
Why this role is different in an entrepreneurial company
In large organizations in the United States or elsewhere, a vice president of inside sales often inherits an existing structure, with clear processes and a mature market position. In an entrepreneurial company, the context is very different.
The vice president must be comfortable with :
- Ambiguous markets where the ideal customer profile is still evolving
- Limited resources and lean headcount for the sales team
- Direct collaboration with the general manager on strategy and trade offs
- Hands on work ; sometimes acting as both president sales and frontline coach
- Fast iteration on sales strategies when the data shows something is not working
This mix of strategic thinking and operational execution is what makes the role a strategic bet. If the hire is right, the company gains a strong making authority on sales topics, someone who can own the sales strategy and drive revenue while the general manager focuses on product, financing, and long term positioning.
What you should really expect from a VP inside sales
Before you sign the contract and commit to a high salary and bonus structure, it helps to be clear on what success looks like. The value of a vice president of inside sales is not only in closing more deals. It is in building a foundation for sustainable growth.
Over time, you should expect this role to deliver :
- A clear, documented sales strategy aligned with the company vision
- A structured team sales model with defined roles and career paths
- Reliable forecasting and visibility on revenue, not just optimistic projections
- Improved performance across the whole sales team, not just a few stars
- Better coordination with marketing and operations to support driving revenue
Later, when you look at how this person reshapes your sales model in a lean organization, or how they build the first scalable inside sales team without killing your entrepreneurial spirit, you will see that the initial decision was not a simple hiring move. It was a strategic shift in how your company thinks about growth, authority, and execution.
When an entrepreneurial company is really ready for a vp inside sales
Recognizing the real trigger for a senior inside sales hire
Most entrepreneurial founders wait too long before bringing in a vice president of inside sales. Others hire too early, hoping a senior title will magically fix weak sales strategies or a broken offer. Both mistakes are expensive.
The right moment is not about a specific revenue number. It is about a combination of signals that show your company has something to scale, but not yet the structure to scale it. In practice, you are getting consistent deals, but your sales team is improvising every day, and you as general manager are still the unofficial head of sales.
At this stage, the role of a VP inside sales is to turn scattered wins into a repeatable sales model, then into a real sales organization. That requires more than charisma. It requires systems thinking, sales leadership, and the ability to drive revenue without crushing the entrepreneurial culture that made the early success possible.
Operational maturity : from heroic selling to repeatable performance
A useful way to decide if you are ready is to look at operational maturity. Not in a corporate sense, but in a very practical, entrepreneurial way. Ask yourself :
- Do we have a clear ideal customer profile and a defined target market, or are we still selling to “anyone who will listen” ?
- Are our sales targets based on data and a basic funnel model, or on optimistic top down wishes ?
- Can we describe our sales strategy in a few concrete steps, or is it mostly in the head of the founder and one or two top performers ?
- Do we have at least a small track record of repeat customers and predictable revenue, not just one off deals ?
If the answer is “yes, but it is fragile” on most of these, you are close to the right timing. A vice president of inside sales can then take this fragile base and turn it into a robust sales system, with clear sales processes, documented playbooks, and a structure for the sales team.
If the answer is mostly “no”, you are still in the discovery phase. In that case, a VP level hire will spend their time doing what a senior account executive or a hands on sales manager could do at a lower salary and with less organizational weight.
Economic signals : when the numbers justify a VP inside sales
Beyond maturity, the economics must make sense. A VP inside sales is not a cheap hire. In many markets, especially in the United States, the salary and total compensation of a vice president or president sales level profile will be one of the highest in the company.
To avoid turning this into a financial burden, you need a minimum level of revenue and a clear path to revenue growth. A simple rule of thumb used by many investors and experienced general managers :
- The fully loaded cost of the VP inside sales (salary, bonus, tools, support) should be covered by a realistic, data based plan to drive revenue within 12 to 18 months.
- Your current revenue should already support at least a small team sales structure (for example, two to five inside reps) or be able to do so quickly.
- You have enough market demand and lead flow so that the bottleneck is sales execution, not awareness or product readiness.
When these conditions are met, the VP inside sales is not just a cost. They become a lever for driving revenue and improving sales performance across the whole sales team.
Organizational readiness : authority, scope, and decision making
Another common trap is to hire a VP inside sales, give them the title, but not the authority. In an entrepreneurial company, this is particularly dangerous. The role becomes symbolic, and the person cannot really own sales strategy or sales targets.
Before you hire, you need clarity on three points :
- Scope of authority : Will the VP inside sales own the full inside sales function, from lead handling to closing, or only part of the funnel ?
- Decision making power : Can they change sales strategies, adjust territories, modify compensation plans, and influence pricing within agreed boundaries ?
- Reporting lines : Will they report directly to the general manager or to another director sales or head of revenue ? The closer they are to the top decision maker, the easier it is to align strategy and execution.
In many entrepreneurial companies, the general manager is still deeply involved in operations, sometimes acting like a supply manager, sometimes like a sales manager, sometimes like a product owner. Understanding how to separate operational responsibilities is a good preparation before adding a VP level role.
If you are not ready to delegate real authority on sales strategy and sales teams, it may be too early. A VP inside sales without decision making power will struggle to build the systems and discipline needed for long term success.
Commercial clarity : product, market, and positioning
A VP inside sales is not a magician. They can optimize and scale, but they cannot fix a product that does not solve a clear problem or a value proposition that does not resonate with the market.
Before you bring them in, you should have :
- A defined core offer that has already generated paying customers.
- Evidence that your target market is large enough to support your growth ambitions.
- Basic clarity on pricing and packaging, even if it is not perfect yet.
- Early proof that your sales strategy can win against competitors in at least one or two segments.
With this foundation, the VP inside sales can refine the sales strategy, sharpen messaging, and design sales processes that fit your specific market dynamics. Without it, they will spend months testing fundamentals that should have been validated earlier by the founding team.
Cultural fit : preserving entrepreneurial energy while adding structure
Finally, timing is also about culture. A VP inside sales coming from a large corporate environment may bring strong sales leadership skills, but also habits that do not fit a lean entrepreneurial company. Too much process too early can slow down growth and frustrate early employees.
You are ready when :
- Your team accepts that some structure is needed to reach the next level of revenue growth.
- You, as general manager, are willing to share control over sales decisions and trust a specialist.
- The company is prepared to measure performance more rigorously, with clear sales targets, activity metrics, and accountability.
At this point, a VP inside sales can become a key partner in driving revenue, not a bureaucrat imposing rules. They will help you move from founder led selling to a professional sales organization, while keeping the agility and creativity that made the company successful in the first place.
In the next part of the article, we will look at how this VP role reshapes the sales model in a lean organization, and what that means for your existing sales teams and go to market strategy.
How a vp inside sales reshapes the sales model in a lean organization
From heroic selling to a repeatable commercial engine
In many entrepreneurial companies, early sales come from a few heroic individuals. The general manager, a first sales manager, maybe one or two account executives. Everyone does a bit of everything. It works, until it does not.
The vice president inside sales is brought in when the company needs to move from heroic selling to a repeatable commercial engine. This is not just about adding more people to the sales team. It is about reshaping the whole sales model so that revenue growth no longer depends on a few stars, but on a system.
In a lean organization, this shift must happen without adding unnecessary layers of hierarchy or killing the entrepreneurial mindset that made the company successful in the first place. That is where the specific role and skills of a vice president inside sales become critical.
Clarifying the core motion : who sells what, to whom, and how
The first thing a strong vice president inside sales does is to clarify the core sales motion. In many young companies, the sales strategy is mostly in the head of the founder or the first commercial hires. It is rarely documented, and even less tested in a structured way.
The vice president inside sales turns this implicit knowledge into explicit sales strategies and processes :
- Define clear ideal customer profiles and target segments in the market
- Map the buying journey and the decision making process on the customer side
- Design inside sales playbooks for prospecting, discovery, demos, and closing
- Align sales targets with realistic capacity and pipeline assumptions
- Clarify the role of each person in the team sales effort, from lead generation to closing and expansion
This work may look basic, but it is the foundation for driving revenue in a predictable way. It also creates a common language for the sales teams, marketing, and the general manager. Over time, this clarity becomes a key asset of the company, not just a personal skill of one or two top performers.
Designing a lean, inside first sales organization
Inside sales is often the most efficient way for an entrepreneurial company to reach ambitious sales targets without exploding salary costs. A vice president inside sales will usually push for an inside first model, where most of the sales activity happens remotely, with field presence used only when it really adds value.
In a lean organization, this means making tough but strategic choices :
- Prioritize inside roles over expensive field positions, especially in the early and mid market
- Structure the sales team around clear functions : inbound qualification, outbound prospecting, closing, and account management
- Use technology to support volume and quality of interactions instead of adding more headcount too early
- Define simple, transparent compensation models that reward both individual performance and team success
The vice president inside sales is not just a head of a department. This person is a key architect of the commercial model. The way they design the team and the sales strategy will directly impact the company cost structure, the speed of revenue growth, and the ability to scale in or beyond the United States or any other market.
Installing a culture of measurable performance
Entrepreneurial businesses often start with a culture of intuition and speed. That is a strength. But when the company wants to drive revenue at scale, intuition alone is not enough. The vice president inside sales brings a culture of measurable performance without turning the company into a rigid corporate machine.
Concretely, this means putting in place a simple but robust performance framework :
- Define a small set of key indicators that really matter for driving revenue : qualified opportunities, conversion rates, sales cycle length, average deal size, and retention
- Set realistic but ambitious sales targets for each role in the sales team
- Use dashboards that everyone can understand, not just the finance or director sales functions
- Review performance regularly in short, focused meetings, with clear decisions and follow up actions
This performance culture is also where the vice president inside sales starts to share making authority with the general manager. Decisions about hiring, territory focus, or sales strategy adjustments are no longer based only on gut feeling. They are supported by data, by a visible track record, and by a clear link between actions and revenue outcomes.
For many general managers, this is also the moment where they need to become more comfortable with structured reporting. Understanding how sales numbers connect to financial reporting, cash, and profitability becomes essential. Resources on financial reporting compliance terminology for entrepreneurial leaders can help make these discussions more productive and less abstract.
Balancing authority and entrepreneurial freedom
One of the biggest fears when hiring a vice president inside sales is to lose the entrepreneurial spirit. Founders and general managers worry that a strong sales leadership profile will impose heavy processes, slow down decisions, and demotivate the team.
A good vice president inside sales does the opposite. They create a clear framework where people know the rules of the game, and then they give autonomy inside that frame. The authority they bring is not about control for its own sake. It is about creating conditions for success :
- Clear expectations on activity and outcomes, so people know what success looks like
- Simple decision making rules : who can decide discounts, who can approve exceptions, who owns which accounts
- Room for experimentation on scripts, channels, and tactics, as long as it does not break the core strategy
- Transparent communication about performance, so there are no surprises when it comes to promotions, bonuses, or changes in role
In this model, the vice president inside sales becomes a central figure in sales leadership, but not a bottleneck. They enable the sales manager, the director sales if there is one, and the individual contributors to act with more confidence. The company keeps its entrepreneurial energy, but with more direction and more leverage.
Aligning incentives, salary structures, and long term growth
Reshaping the sales model also means reshaping how people are rewarded. In many young companies, salary and variable compensation are negotiated case by case. Over time, this creates frustration and misalignment.
The vice president inside sales usually takes the lead on building a coherent compensation framework that supports the company growth strategy :
- Define standard salary ranges for each sales role, based on market benchmarks and internal constraints
- Design variable plans that reward both individual performance and overall revenue growth
- Align incentives with the right behaviors : not just closing any deal, but closing the right deals that fit the strategy
- Ensure that compensation supports long term customer value, not just short term driving revenue at any cost
This work is often invisible from the outside, but it is a key factor of stability and success. It also reinforces the authority of the vice president inside sales as a strategic partner of the general manager, not just a head of sales teams.
Turning the sales function into a learning system
Finally, a reshaped sales model in a lean organization is not static. The market moves, competitors change their offers, and the company itself evolves. The vice president inside sales must turn the sales function into a learning system.
That means :
- Collecting structured feedback from prospects and customers on why they buy or do not buy
- Sharing insights with product, marketing, and operations so the whole company can adapt
- Testing new sales strategies on a small scale before rolling them out to the full team
- Documenting what works and what does not, so the company does not repeat the same mistakes
In this way, the vice president inside sales is not only responsible for hitting sales targets. This person becomes a key contributor to the overall strategy of the company. The sales team is no longer just executing orders. It becomes a central sensor of the market and a driver of informed decision making across the organization.
Building the first scalable inside sales team without killing entrepreneurial spirit
Designing a sales team that can actually scale
In an entrepreneurial company, the first inside sales team is a stress test for both the business model and the culture. The vice president inside sales is not just hiring people to hit sales targets ; this role is designing how the company will drive revenue for the next 2 to 3 years.
The risk is clear : build a rigid sales machine that crushes initiative, or keep a loose, founder driven approach that blocks revenue growth. The vice president inside sales has to balance both sides, with a clear strategy and a lot of humility.
In practice, that means three priorities from day one :
- Protect the entrepreneurial mindset while adding structure
- Build a repeatable sales strategy before scaling headcount
- Create a culture of learning, not just a culture of hitting quota
Hiring profiles that fit a lean, entrepreneurial company
Early inside sales hires in a young company cannot look like typical corporate sales teams. In large organizations in the United States, a director sales or president sales can afford narrow roles and heavy specialization. In a lean company, the first sales team needs broader skills and stronger ownership.
What usually works best :
- Builder mindset : people who are comfortable with imperfect processes and can help improve sales strategies, not just execute scripts.
- Learning speed over perfect experience : a strong track record matters, but the ability to adapt to a new market and product is often more important.
- Comfort with data : the team must be able to work with basic performance dashboards, understand conversion rates, and discuss revenue impact.
- Respect for the company’s culture : early sales hires will shape how the rest of the organization sees sales and revenue.
The vice president inside sales should be transparent about the reality of the role : less support, more ambiguity, and more direct impact on decision making. That honesty is often more valuable than a slightly higher salary.
Lightweight structure that does not kill initiative
Entrepreneurial teams often fear that a new sales leadership layer will bring heavy processes and slow down growth. The real value of a strong vice president inside sales is the opposite : introduce just enough structure to make success repeatable, without blocking creativity.
Some practical ways to do this :
- Simple, visible sales strategy : one clear go to market approach, written in plain language, that every sales manager and sales rep can explain.
- Minimal but consistent process : a defined way to qualify leads, run discovery, present value, and close. Not a 40 page playbook that nobody reads.
- Shared language : clear definitions for lead, opportunity, qualified, and closed. This helps the general manager, the head of marketing, and the sales leadership talk about the same reality.
- Guardrails, not micromanagement : a few non negotiable rules (for example, how pricing is presented, or how commitments are documented) and freedom inside those limits.
Research on high growth companies regularly shows that teams with clear but flexible processes outperform both chaotic and over controlled environments for revenue growth and team performance (for example, see sales effectiveness studies published by McKinsey & Company and Bain & Company).
Onboarding and training that reinforce entrepreneurial behavior
The first inside sales hires will copy what they see. If the vice president inside sales behaves like a corporate administrator, the team will wait for instructions. If the role models curiosity, ownership, and direct feedback, the team will behave the same way.
Effective onboarding in this context usually includes :
- Deep product and customer understanding : not just features, but why customers buy, how they decide, and what alternatives they compare.
- Live shadowing of founders and general manager : listening to real calls and meetings to understand how the company talks about value and risk.
- Practice on real opportunities : role plays are useful, but working early on actual prospects accelerates learning and reveals gaps in sales strategies.
- Feedback loops : short weekly reviews where the team shares what works in the market and what blocks deals. This is where the vice president inside sales connects field reality with strategy.
External research on sales training effectiveness consistently highlights that ongoing coaching and real world practice have more impact on performance than one time classroom sessions (for instance, studies from the Sales Management Association and CSO Insights).
Compensation, targets, and the risk of misaligned incentives
Compensation is where many entrepreneurial companies accidentally damage their culture. A poorly designed salary and bonus structure can push the sales team to close the wrong customers, promise unrealistic outcomes, or fight with operations.
The vice president inside sales should work closely with the general manager to design a model that :
- Rewards profitable revenue, not just any revenue
- Aligns sales targets with the company’s capacity to deliver
- Encourages collaboration with marketing, product, and customer success
- Stays simple enough for every sales manager and rep to understand
In many early stage companies, a mix of base salary and variable pay tied to clear, measurable outcomes works best. Public benchmarks from compensation platforms and industry reports can help the general manager and vice president inside sales calibrate offers against the market, especially in the United States where competition for sales talent is intense.
Tools and workflows that support, not dominate, the team
Technology can either amplify a lean sales team or bury it under admin work. The temptation is strong to copy the tool stack of larger organizations, but that often leads to complexity without better performance.
A pragmatic approach for the first inside sales team :
- One CRM as the single source of truth for pipeline, contacts, and revenue tracking.
- Simple automation for repetitive tasks like follow up emails or submitting form data from the website into the CRM.
- Basic dashboards that show a few key indicators : new opportunities, win rate, cycle length, and revenue by segment.
- Clear ownership : the vice president inside sales is accountable for data quality and usage, not just the tools themselves.
Independent studies on CRM adoption repeatedly show that sales teams use tools consistently only when they see a direct benefit for their own success, not just for reporting to management. That is why the vice president inside sales must explain how data helps the team close more deals and make better decisions.
Keeping entrepreneurial spirit alive as the team grows
As headcount increases, the risk is that the sales team becomes a separate world, disconnected from the rest of the company. The general manager and the vice president inside sales share responsibility for avoiding this.
Some practical habits that help :
- Regular cross functional reviews where sales, product, and operations look at the same market data and decide together on priorities.
- Transparent communication of results : both wins and losses, so the whole company understands what is driving revenue.
- Involving sales in strategy discussions about new segments, pricing, or offers, instead of treating them as an execution only function.
- Celebrating learning, not just numbers : recognizing experiments, smart failures, and insights that improve the sales strategy.
Over time, this approach turns the inside sales organization into a key contributor to decision making, not just a channel for driving revenue. That is exactly what an entrepreneurial business needs : a sales function that scales without losing the curiosity and agility that made the company successful in the first place.
Metrics and systems a vp inside sales must own in an entrepreneurial context
From gut feeling to a disciplined sales cockpit
In an entrepreneurial company, the vice president inside sales is the person who turns scattered sales data into a real decision making engine. Before this role exists, the general manager usually runs on intuition, a few spreadsheets, and what the sales manager or director sales tells in weekly meetings. It works for a while. Then growth stalls, or the team doubles, and nobody really knows why revenue is up one month and down the next. The vp inside sales brings a different discipline. They design a simple but rigorous sales strategy around a handful of key indicators that everyone in the sales team understands. The goal is not to drown the company in dashboards. The goal is to build a cockpit that shows, at a glance, if the sales strategies are actually driving revenue.The non negotiable metrics a vp inside sales must own
In a lean entrepreneurial context, the vp inside sales should own a short list of metrics that clearly connect daily activity to revenue growth.- Pipeline health : volume, value, and age of opportunities by stage, per sales manager and per segment.
- Conversion rates : lead to opportunity, opportunity to proposal, proposal to closed won, by channel and by sales teams.
- Sales cycle length : average days from first contact to close, with a focus on bottlenecks inside the process.
- Average deal size : by product, market, and sales rep, to guide pricing and packaging strategies.
- Activity to outcome ratios : calls, emails, demos, meetings versus opportunities and revenue created.
- Churn and expansion (if recurring revenue) : logo churn, revenue churn, and upsell or cross sell performance.
- Forecast accuracy : gap between forecast and actuals, by sales manager and by team sales.
Aligning metrics with sales targets and company strategy
Metrics only matter if they are directly tied to sales targets and to the overall strategy of the company. A strong vice president inside sales will start from the annual revenue targets and work backwards :- How much pipeline is needed to hit the revenue goal, given current win rates and average deal size ?
- How many qualified opportunities must each sales rep create per month ?
- What level of activity is realistically required to feed that pipeline ?
Systems that support, not suffocate, an entrepreneurial team
Metrics require systems. But in a lean organization, heavy tools can kill the entrepreneurial spirit faster than a bad quarter. The vp inside sales has to balance control and agility. Their responsibility is to design a light but robust system that supports the team instead of turning them into data entry clerks. Typical building blocks include :- CRM as a single source of truth : clear rules on what must be logged, by whom, and when. No exceptions, including for the head of sales or the vice president.
- Standardized stages and definitions : everyone shares the same understanding of what a qualified lead, opportunity, and committed deal mean.
- Simple reporting cadence : weekly team reviews, monthly performance deep dives, and quarterly strategy reviews with the general manager.
- Automation where it really helps : templates, sequences, and basic workflows that save time without removing the human touch from sales.
Compensation, salary and incentives tied to measurable outcomes
Metrics and systems are not only about reporting. They are the foundation for fair and effective compensation. In many entrepreneurial companies, salary and variable pay for the sales team start as rough approximations. Over time, this creates frustration and misalignment. The vp inside sales uses the metrics they own to design incentive plans that reward the behaviors that truly drive revenue. Some practical principles :- Base salary reflects core skills and role complexity, not just negotiation power.
- Variable pay is tied to a mix of individual performance (quota attainment, new revenue) and team performance (overall revenue growth, retention).
- Sales targets are ambitious but grounded in historical data and market potential.
- Leaders such as director sales or president sales have part of their bonus linked to forecast accuracy and team development, not only raw revenue.
Using data to improve skills and sales leadership
The most effective vp inside sales does not use metrics only to pressure the team. They use them to improve skills and build a culture of continuous learning. For example :- Low conversion at a specific stage can trigger targeted coaching on discovery calls or proposal framing.
- Differences in performance between markets can inform adjustments in messaging or sales strategy.
- Activity patterns can reveal when a rep is stuck, overwhelmed, or focusing on the wrong accounts.
Making authority visible to the rest of the organization
Finally, owning metrics and systems gives the vp inside sales visible authority inside the company. They become the reference point for anything related to driving revenue :- Product teams rely on them to understand which features actually help close deals.
- Marketing teams align their campaigns with the segments and messages that convert best.
- Finance uses their forecasts to plan hiring, cash, and investments.
How a vp inside sales changes the role of the general manager
From chief closer to architect of the sales machine
Once a vice president inside sales joins, your own role as general manager shifts. You are no longer the de facto head of sales, jumping into every deal and fixing every problem yourself. Instead, you become the architect of the whole system while the VP becomes the architect of the sales engine inside that system.
In practical terms, this means you move from being the emergency closer to being the person who sets the direction for revenue growth, market focus and sales strategy. The VP inside sales then translates that direction into concrete sales strategies, team structure, sales targets and daily execution.
This is a big mindset change. You stop asking “How do I help this rep close this deal today ?” and start asking “What is missing in our sales model so that the team can close this type of deal every week without me ?”
Sharing authority without losing control
Bringing in a vice president inside sales is also a decision about authority. If you keep all decision making on sales strategy, pricing and targets in your own hands, you will block the VP and slow down growth. If you give away authority without clear boundaries, you risk chaos.
A useful way to think about it is to define three layers :
- Strategic layer : You own the company level choices about markets, positioning, business model and long term revenue growth expectations.
- Tactical layer : The VP inside sales owns how to reach the targets. This includes sales leadership decisions on sales teams design, sales manager roles, compensation structure, sales strategy by segment and sales processes.
- Operational layer : Sales managers and director sales profiles own daily coaching, pipeline reviews, performance management and execution of sales strategies with the team sales.
Your role is to make authority explicit. Who decides what ? Who can change pricing bands ? Who can approve exceptions ? Who can change sales targets mid quarter ? Writing this down, even in a simple one page document, reduces friction and protects the VP’s ability to drive revenue while keeping you in control of the company direction.
New expectations for reporting, metrics and transparency
Once you have a VP inside sales, your expectations on reporting should change. You are no longer satisfied with anecdotal feedback from the field. You expect a clear, consistent view of performance and risk.
At a minimum, you should expect the vice president inside sales to bring you, on a regular basis :
- Revenue and pipeline view : Booked revenue, forecast, pipeline coverage and conversion rates by segment or channel.
- Sales team performance : Individual and team level performance against sales targets, ramp time for new hires, and early warning signals on underperformance.
- Sales strategy feedback : What is working in the market, what is failing, and which experiments are being run to improve win rates or shorten cycles.
- Capacity and hiring needs : When the team will hit capacity, which roles are missing, and what kind of skills are needed next.
Your own calendar should reflect this new rhythm. Instead of ad hoc deal reviews, you run structured reviews of revenue growth, sales strategy and execution. You challenge assumptions, but you let the VP own the plan. Over time, this discipline builds a track record of predictable performance that investors and boards in the United States and elsewhere look for.
Rebalancing your time across functions
One of the biggest benefits of hiring a VP inside sales is the time it frees up. Many general managers underestimate how much of their week is consumed by informal sales leadership : jumping into calls, rewriting decks, negotiating discounts, calming upset prospects.
When the VP is in place and truly driving revenue, you can reallocate your time toward :
- Product and customer value : Working with product and operations to make sure the offer matches what the market is telling the sales team.
- Strategic partnerships : Building alliances that can feed the inside sales engine with better leads or new segments.
- Culture and leadership : Developing your broader leadership team, not only the sales manager or president sales profiles.
- Capital and governance : Managing investors, board expectations and long term company strategy.
This rebalancing is not automatic. You need to consciously step back from operational sales decisions and resist the temptation to override the VP in front of the team. If you keep jumping in, the sales teams will continue to see you as the real head of sales, and the VP’s authority will be weakened.
New demands on your own leadership skills
A strong VP inside sales will challenge you. They will bring data, propose bold sales strategies and push for investments in tools, headcount or salary bands that may feel uncomfortable in a lean company. Your role evolves from “chief doer” to “high level decision maker” who can weigh risk and reward with more sophistication.
This requires you to strengthen a few key skills :
- Financial literacy on sales economics : Understanding fully loaded cost of a sales team, payback periods, and how to evaluate a proposed sales strategy or new segment.
- Scenario based decision making : Comparing different growth paths, such as investing in more inside sales capacity versus marketing or partnerships.
- Coaching senior leaders : Moving from coaching individual reps to coaching a vice president and director sales profiles, which is a different conversation.
In many entrepreneurial companies, this is the first time the general manager has to manage a senior commercial leader with strong opinions and a clear vision. The quality of this relationship often determines whether the VP becomes a long term asset or a short lived experiment.
Aligning incentives and expectations with the VP role
Finally, your role now includes designing and maintaining an incentive system that matches the responsibility of the VP inside sales. This is not only about salary and bonus. It is about aligning the VP’s success with the company’s long term health.
Some practical questions you need to own :
- Is the VP’s variable compensation tied only to short term revenue, or also to margin, churn and sales team health ?
- Do you reward building scalable systems, not just hitting this quarter’s number ?
- Are sales targets ambitious but realistic, given the current market and resources ?
- How do you recognize non financial contributions, such as building better processes or improving collaboration with marketing and product ?
Designing this well reinforces the VP’s mandate to drive revenue in a sustainable way. Designing it poorly pushes the organization toward short term wins that damage brand, product and culture.
In the end, bringing in a vice president inside sales forces you, as general manager, to grow into a more strategic, systems oriented leader. You move from personally making every important sales decision to building the conditions for consistent success, with clear authority, robust sales leadership and a sales strategy that can scale beyond the founding team.
