The Reason Your New Sales Hire Isn’t Performing
Matthew Codd
SaaS GTM specialist | Co-Founder of Cosmic Partners | Working with VC backed tech startups
Top salespeople don't chase your OTE, they chase their own goals. But most founders still copy compensation plans from past roles or generic decks without thinking about what drives sales behaviour.
That's why this month’s Revenue Rocket is all about helping founders better understand the motivation that drives performance.
Inside:
As always, I hope it delivers value.
Matthew
How to motivate salespeople
Too many founders copy compensation plans from past roles or advice decks, without thinking about what drives sales behaviour. Big OTEs, quarterly accelerators, a hope that the AE figures it out.
But top salespeople aren’t chasing your OTE. They’re chasing their own goals.
When you understand those goals, your comp plan becomes fuel. Miss them, and your sales hire becomes a cost line.
The best plans?
Motivation is about maths with meaning. Show your sales team that extra effort hits their goals, and you won’t need to push. They’ll pull.
Founders often mess this up. I see it all the time. They copy plans from a past role, but a comp plan isn’t a formality, it’s a lever.
Great ones make it obvious what good looks like. And what’s in it for the rep when they deliver.
Being ghosted? It’s probably your fault
Everyone gets ghosted in sales. But it’s not the prospect’s fault, it’s yours.
Ghosting usually means your sales process is broken. Maybe you met the wrong person, maybe they couldn’t sell it internally.
I see it all the time, founders flinging proposals at someone without checking if they have power to make decisions. Then wondering why things go quiet.
I help founders spot early red flags including; vague answers, demo-chasers, blocked access to senior stakeholders. We help them ask better questions, tell better stories, and build a process that includes the right people earlier.
One founder we worked with turned a ghosted deal into £250k ARR, just by mapping the account better and going to the person who could say yes.
You don’t fix ghosting with more pipeline. You fix it by improving how you sell.
What makes VCs lean in
Most founders forget that only a few VCs lead rounds. The rest just follow.
In our latest chat with Freddie Kalfayan from Smedvig Ventures, we unpacked what gets him to lean in:
Freddie also shared what strong founding GTM teams look like, what metrics stand out, and why seeing junior AEs close deals is often more impressive than flashy senior hires.
If you’re raising soon, this one’s worth a listen.
Highlights from our Founders Dinner
The recent Founders Dinner in London was a reminder of why we built Cosmic Collective.
A group of early-stage SaaS founders came together to talk about GTM. We shared what’s moving the needle and how best to:
Every founder in the room is building something real. And everyone leaves with a clearer view on how to improve their sales motion.
The dinners are just one part of Cosmic Collective, a community built for early-stage founders who are taking GTM seriously.
Thank you for taking the time to read this month's Revenue Rocket.
Matthew.