Sold Out: Why Cal.com Replaced Sales with Product Specialists
At Cal.com, we’ve made a bold decision: we’ve replaced our sales department with a "Product Specialist" team. This team doesn’t just help you get started with scheduling—they’re a group of experts who live and breathe the product, ensuring that your team succeeds. By reporting directly to the Growth team, they’re aligned with the long-term success of both our customers and the company. Here’s why we believe this approach is the future.
Rethinking Sales Incentives
Traditional sales teams are often driven by quotas and commission-based incentives. While this model can boost short-term results, it can also create misaligned priorities:
Bad Incentives: When your paycheck depends on hitting a quota, the focus often shifts to closing deals quickly rather than ensuring long-term customer success.
Territorial Behavior: Sales territories and individual quotas can lead to internal competition, creating unnecessary friction within the team.
Sales Rep Anxiety: Nothing is worse than not hitting your quota (whether it’s your fault or external factors) and bringing increased levels of anxiety to the entire team.
Customer Anxiety: Let’s be honest: most people dread the pushy sales call. Customers want genuine help, not a hard sell.
At Cal.com, we’ve eliminated these pitfalls. Instead of variable compensation, our Product Specialists are motivated by the same incentives as everyone else: equity in the company and the shared mission of helping customers succeed. This alignment fosters collaboration, customer trust, and long-term growth.
What is a Product Specialist?
According to Quora, the description of a product specialist is the following:
Focus: Primarily on the product itself. They possess in-depth knowledge about the features, benefits, and technical aspects of the product.
Responsibilities:
Educating customers about the product.
Demonstrating how the product works.
Providing technical support and answering detailed questions.
Assisting the sales team with product-related inquiries.
Often involved in product training for both customers and sales staff.
Skills: Strong technical knowledge, problem-solving abilities, and communication skills.
Most Customers Are Already Sold
With AI and automation transforming the sales landscape, many traditional sales functions are becoming obsolete. Customers today are highly informed. By the time they fill out an inbound form, they’ve often already decided they want to use your product. They don’t need a sales pitch; they need guidance.
That’s where our Product Specialists come in. They:
Understand the Product Inside-Out: Whether it’s integrating Cal.com with your tech stack or solving complex scheduling challenges, they’re equipped to help.
Focus on Onboarding: Instead of convincing you to buy, they help you hit the ground running.
Prioritize Long-Term Success: Their goal is to ensure your experience with Cal.com is seamless and that your team’s scheduling needs are met, now and in the future.
A Human-Centered Approach
Nobody loves talking to a salesperson. But everyone appreciates talking to someone who genuinely understands their needs and can offer real solutions. By replacing sales reps with Product Specialists, we’ve created an experience that’s consultative rather than transactional. This approach eliminates the anxiety of a sales-driven interaction, replacing it with genuine support.
Joining a Growing Movement
Cal.com isn’t alone in this shift. Companies like AngelList have proven that you can grow without a traditional sales team. By investing in product experts who can genuinely support customers, they’ve built lasting relationships and driven sustainable growth. This model reflects the changing expectations of modern customers, who value expertise and authenticity over aggressive selling tactics.
The Benefits of Being “Sold Out”
By eliminating commissions and quotas, we’ve removed the stress and competition that often plague traditional sales teams. This creates a healthier work environment and allows our Product Specialists to focus entirely on helping customers succeed. And because they’re incentivized by equity rather than quick wins, their priorities are perfectly aligned with the company’s long-term growth.
The results? No more territorial behavior. No more anxiety about missing quotas. Just a dedicated focus on achieving customer satisfaction and sustainable success.
At Cal.com, we’re proud to be “sold out.” We believe that replacing traditional sales with Product Specialists is not just a better approach—it’s the future. By prioritizing expertise, authenticity, and long-term growth, we’re building a company that’s truly aligned with the needs of our customers.
Because in the end, people don’t want to be sold to. They want to talk to humans who understand their needs and can help them succeed.
P.S: We are hiring Product Specialists, especially ex-Startup founders welcomed! cal.com/jobs
