Your new Sales Head built the pipeline exactly as expected. That is not the mistake. The mistake is what nobody told them to aim for.
How it usually goes wrong
Quarter 1
The new sales leader builds pipeline fast.
Quarter 2
Revenue comes in slower than expected.
Quarter 3
The founder panics and starts micromanaging.
Quarters 4–6
The Sales Head resigns.
Eighteen months lost, competition ahead, investors questioning your judgement. The problem was not the hire. You handed them a map without marking the shortest route.
They know how to sell. They do not know your fastest path
An experienced Sales Head understands enterprise cycles and has closed large deals. What they cannot know on day one is which buyer converts in 30 days rather than 180, which use case closes at 70% margin, which objection kills deals, and which features sell versus confuse. Showing them that is the founder's job — not executing the sale, not micromanaging.
Before the First Sales Hire
Analyse your last 20 deals
Wins and losses, with outliers removed.
Document the pattern
Average deal size, typical cycle, buyer personas, decision criteria, deal-killing objections and most profitable segments.
Walk them through your top 5 customers
Share the data and what you have learned, and set expectations on velocity and margins.
Then step back
They may chart a different path, and that is fine. If they stay consistently below the baseline, coach or replace.
Sales velocity = (number of opportunities × average deal size × win rate) ÷ sales cycle length. An experienced Sales Head improves the top of that equation. The founder must first shorten the bottom.
Do not just hire and hope. Guide, measure, then trust
Run your own numbers in the Sales Velocity calculator.
Related: 5 numbers to check before you hire a Sales Head — whether you are ready to hire at all.