Startup's need a different breed of salespeople

They do.

Some may be angered when they hear me say that but it's true.  Professional salespeople to me, are career sales people that were successful at big companies and have still have great contacts. If you hire them, they essentially give you a book of business that they will carry job to job.  

What's wrong with that?  Nothing, if you are a highly successful company with great exposure. Not everyone has the luxury of getting ready made accounts.  And according to fast company, over a five year span, there were 158,000 start ups in business.  Start ups may not be the most attractive due to a laundry list of concerns, but everyone wants to join the next big company that can impact the world. 

 90% of start ups fail! - This is no exaggeration and ultimately the real reason is not having a strong flexible sales team.  There's a different kind of sales person you need to have for your start up.  I can think of a few traits.

Holistic (Big picture)

You need salespeople that see the big picture.  Professional salespeople must have everything little nuance explained to them and they tend to get lost in the number of stats they accumulate.  Holistic people see the whole situation and do not bog down when "activity" is down.  They find a way to get it done.  In a start up atmosphere, you need the person that will find a way to get things done with limited tools.

Professional's mindset- "I've made my 30 dials and gotten two appointments set."

Holistic mindset-  "I've had 5 really good conversations that were about 15-20 minutes long."

Flexible

Flexible meaning they can adjust to the ever growing challenges of start up life.  There's been no consistent playbook at the start ups I worked for.  You learned by trial and error.  The people used to a routine rarely succeeded in a start up sales environment.  One minute you may need them to be strict hunters the next, people nurturing valuable leads. They need maintain a sense of realizing each day is different than the next. At the same time, leadership of a start up has to be flexible of the methods their salesperson utilizes to close deals.  

Entrepreneurial Spirit

Most start up companies look forward to hiring a superstar who will be with their company for as long as they can.  This just doesn't work anymore.  If you have a start up, you need people that aren't afraid to have conversations outside of their comfort level.  You need people who own a situation or deal.  Entrepreneurial minded salespeople do not stay at a company long, but they make their presence felt.  They have huge ideas for your company or even their own.  I had the chance of meeting people with this trait and they were always the ones that found big deals from just being fearless(and prepared)  I compare this to having two people at a party of 300.  Both are charming and engaging yet each approach people in different ways.

Person 1: Surveys the room and sees if there is anybody there they already know.

Person 2: Looks to connect with every single person they make eye contact with.

You most likely want person 2 for their fearless ability to make their presence felt.