How to build a sales team from zero: A people in sales spotlight
By Akshay Doshi
Last updated on Jul 7, 2026
Explore how Akshay Doshi built a high-performing sales team from zero to 55 people, and learn his practical lessons on sales leadership, AI, forecasting, and building a winning sales culture.
- How did you find your way into sales?
- What is an early lesson that still shapes how you sell today?
- You have built and led teams. What are your biggest sales leadership lessons?
- What trends are shaping the future of B2B sales?
- After the AI wave, how has the way you sell changed?
- Which tools are helping you work smarter today?
- In an increasingly digital world, how important are in-person relationships?
- What advice would you give to someone stepping into sales, or into their first leadership role?
People in Sales is SparrowCRM's community for sales leaders. It is a space where real practitioners share what actually works, without the noise. Every spotlight in this series features an honest conversation with someone doing meaningful work in B2B sales leadership.
This edition features Akshay Doshi, a fractional revenue leader for early-stage B2B SaaS startups in India selling to global markets. Most recently, he was Head of Global Sales at Spotdraft. There, he learned how to build a sales team from zero, growing it to 55 people and scaling revenue across APAC, MEA, and North America. Here is what he had to say.
How did you find your way into sales?
Like most people, by accident. Akshay spotted an SDR role, walked into the interview more prepared than anyone else in the room, and got the job. But the real lesson had nothing to do with the role itself.
“That was the first taste I got of a company indexing more on will than skill. Skill is trainable. Will is something that comes implicitly.”
That mindset still shapes how he hires and leads today. Curiosity and drive matter more than a polished resume.
Want to hear these stories directly from Akshay? Watch the complete interview below.
What is an early lesson that still shapes how you sell today?
“The best sales process is one that mimics what it feels like to be your customer.”
Akshay calls it the WIIFM framework, short for What’s In It For Me. But he flips it. It is not about your product. It is about what the customer is trying to achieve inside their own company.
He also makes a case for two things most sellers avoid: saying no and saying “I don’t know.” Saying no sharpens your ICP and builds trust with prospects. Saying “I don’t know” as a leader builds even more trust with your team.
You have built and led teams. What are your biggest sales leadership lessons?
He opens with a line worth saving,
“A selfish individual contributor can still be a great one. A selfish manager is a terrible manager.”
Three things define his approach to sales team management. First, start from trust. Assume your hire is an adult who knows their job. Accountability follows naturally. Second, what he calls the salt shaker theory.
When your team drifts from the standard you set, put it back in the middle of the table, every time, without irritation. That is not nagging. That is the job. Third, derisk your people, especially the newer ones who are afraid to take initiative.
“Run with it. If it works, the win is yours. If it fails, it is on me.”
What trends are shaping the future of B2B sales?
Two things stand out in Akshay’s read of the market.
Growth-at-all-costs has shifted to efficient growth. Sales cycles are longer. More stakeholders are involved. Trust now has to be earned across the whole buying committee, not just one champion.
On channel saturation, he points to cold calling.
He also praises publicly and gives feedback privately. Recognition compounds. A winning culture is not an accident.
“Cold calling was declared dead in 2020. By 2024 it drove a third of our meetings. Channels saturate and then unsaturate. Index on what works for your business and keep iterating.”
For sellers who want practical cold calling tips instead of theory, that iteration mindset is the real takeaway. His overall thesis on where the advantage lives right now is,
“The future isn’t a clever new tactic. It’s discipline: tighter forecasting, clearer pricing, sharper ICP. The boring stuff is the moat.”
Sales forecasting, in his view, is one of the most overlooked skills in B2B sales today.
Automate Your Sales Process With SparrowCRM
After the AI wave, how has the way you sell changed?
“AI has raised the floor for everyone, with the ceiling being up to anyone’s imagination.”
The repetitive work, research, call summaries, outreach drafts, and pipeline hygiene are largely handled now. That creates time. The best sellers use that time to be more human, not less.
His advice on getting real value from AI in B2B sales: treat it like a new hire.
“If you’d give a human a three-month ramp to understand your business, do the same for AI. Sustained value only comes with sustained investment.”
Which tools are helping you work smarter today?
He keeps it lean. Claude works as a second brain for thinking and content. Replit helps him build agents. Attio runs as his CRM. Gong supports conversation intelligence at team scale. Super Hawk AI flags upsell opportunities and churn risk before they surface on their own.
In an increasingly digital world, how important are in-person relationships?
“More important now than before.”
He tells a story that says it best. A prospect had verbally chosen a competitor at half the price. Two reps drove to their office. Three days later, the deal was alive again, and it closed at full price.
“A flight and a coffee beat a discount.”
Digital scales reach. In-person builds trust. Do not confuse the two.
What advice would you give to someone stepping into sales, or into their first leadership role?
For the new seller: own your numbers cold before anyone gives you the title. Get curious about marketing and customer success early. Make the ask for introductions, for mentorship, for help on deals.
“You will be surprised how willing people are to help.”
For someone learning how to lead a sales team for the first time: make the shift from individual contributor to leader earlier than you feel ready. Go in with one clear intention.
“My ultimate job is to replace myself. If I can do that, I can go do something better.”
His final gut check for anyone considering the move into leadership:
“Your job is to take genuine joy in other people’s wins. If that does not come naturally, stay an IC. There is a great career there too. But if you want to lead, that joy has to be real.”
