From 5 to 400 Reps: Building a High-Velocity Machine - Butch Hodson
About the Speaker
Butch Hodson is the VP of Sales at Sellfire, where he helps high-velocity sales teams level up their hiring, training, and coaching processes. Over his career, he’s scaled teams from 5 to 400 reps, personally trained more than 10,000 sellers, and developed repeatable playbooks used by leading vertical SaaS companies.
A career salesperson who started selling cars straight out of high school, Butch worked his way up to become a top rep and later a sales leader known for building disciplined, high-output organizations. He’s also the author of Sales Lab Scripting, a guide to building scalable sales processes rooted in clarity, accountability, and coaching.
Summary
In this episode of the Vertical SaaS GTM Playbook, Orbital’s Riley Soward sits down with Butch Hodson, VP of Sales at Sellfire and author of Sales Lab Scripting, to unpack the real playbook for hiring, onboarding, and coaching high-velocity sales teams.
Butch has personally hired and trained over 400 sales reps and more than 10,000 sellers throughout his career — scaling teams from scrappy startups to well-oiled outbound machines. He shares what most companies get wrong about hiring, why role-plays beat resumes, how to structure the first 30 days of onboarding, and why the best managers spend 90% of their time coaching.
This conversation is a masterclass in building a repeatable GTM engine that wins through people, process, and relentless coaching.
Key Takeaways
Hire for intangibles. Work ethic, coachability, growth mindset, and competitiveness are the non-negotiables for high-velocity sales.
Simulate, don’t interview. Role-plays, live scenarios, and homework assignments reveal more than traditional tell me about a time questions ever will.
Onboard with intention. Start with classroom learning, mix in live calling by week two, and certify every rep before they hit the floor.
Managers should coach 90% of the day. The best sales leaders are in the trenches listening to calls, giving feedback, and developing reps daily.
If you don’t believe in someone, don’t hire them. Once you put your name on a rep, it’s your job to make them succeed.
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