Product Knowledge by Itself Won't Make You a Salesperson

It's tempting for founders to think being a subject matter expert means you can also sell successfully.

Most founders wouldn't hire a salesperson to run their development team. Yet plenty assume that a developer, an engineer, or another technical expert can step into a sales role and do well.

I understand why. You need sales to survive, and the subject matter experts around you know the product and probably the competitors. Edtech is a good example. I've seen edtech companies hire educators and administrators exactly for their expertise. The issue is when their expertise doesn't include sales.

Yes, whether we're talking about developers, engineers, or educators, that transition into sales can work. It's just not as common as founders may think — especially when they have little to no direct experience in sales themselves.

What's the Biggest Issue? Rejection.

This is the salesperson's daily reality, and I've watched how tough it is for people in their first sales role. I went through it myself. I was an engineer before I transitioned into sales.

Sales is a profession like any other. The skills can be taught and learned. The role also asks for things beyond skills — like a thick skin. It requires a strong internal belief in your own self-worth as a professional and as a person to go along with your belief in your product or service to solve problems.

Gartner's 2026 survey of 645 B2B buyers compared their experiences with sales reps and with GenAI. Buyers were 39 percentage points more likely to say a rep understood their needs, and 21 points more likely to say a rep helped quantify the benefits for their organization. Gartner says sellers stand apart in empathy, judgment, contextual understanding, and value framing.

Equip Them or Don't Move Them

If you do change someone's seat, be sure the goals are clear and achievable, the ideal customer profile is well defined, and the person has the tools and playbooks to do the job. It's your job as the leader to equip them.

The same thinking applies to the sales leader's seat. Somebody on your leadership team needs to have developed a sales strategy, created sales processes, and built sales teams; otherwise, you're back to the original question.

If you wouldn't hire a salesperson to run development, what makes you think your best move is to move or hire a technical person into a sales or sales leadership role?

After all, if it doesn't work out, that failure isn't just on the SME-turned-salesperson. It's also on whomever it was who put them in the role.