Sweetlue

Enterprise Account Executive

AE’s should just be selling. Less raw prospecting, more selling.

AE generated pipeline: opportunities sourced by AE prospecting.

today, many sales leaders seem to be obsessed with having their senior most reps drive a majority of their pipeline and I can't for the life of me understand it.

The modern SaaS Org has 2 massive divisions focused on one thing: generating pipeline (SDR/BDR teams and Marketing). Yet time and time again, I run into struggling orgs asking AEs to own a majority of their own pipeline creation.

To me it makes no sense. why would you ask your most talented people to spend their time doing the most tedious and least valuable tasks? the more time I spend prospecting the less time I have to work deals.

Am I crazy, or should orgs let AEs focus the core role: selling and qualifying interested parties.

*** I know several orgs who have shifted to this approach and seen better results. less overhead, turn over, and faster growth.***

Les debate this...

💼 Productivity

☁️ Software Tech

23

45 comments

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E_Money

Big Shot

9

💰

IMO you can't be a good sales person if you don't know how to prospect and you can't be good at prospecting if you don't practice. It's one of the hardest parts of the job, but it is nonetheless part of the job.

🔥 Soft sales people work only inbound leads 🔥

Sunbunny31

Politicker

5

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

There's that, but I think the question was about organizations relying on AEs to do the bulk of the prospecting and sourcing. I think AEs absolutely should take control of their territory and pipeline and not wait on inbounds, but on the flip side, if the org is relying on the AE to carry the lead generation effort, then the org is missing out on the closing skills they're theoretically paying the AE to do. I don't think anybody is saying an AE shouldn't and couldn't prospect, but when companies are demanding it rather than building out a better SDR/BDR org, they're missing out.

I mean, taking the analogy to an extreme: If a CEO is scheduling his or her meetings, booking his or her own travel, sourcing the catering for a board meeting...then said CEO isn't making business decisions and moving the company forward. Those tasks should fall to an expert, like an EA.

Sweetlue

Fire Starter

0

Enterprise Account Executive

Man you nailed it here. Exactly my point.

Too many orgs have forgotten what the central role of the AE is: working deals.

The best AEs will always supplement their pipeline through their own prospecting efforts, but when they start fully depending on those efforts your basiclly asking them to do too much.L and most importantly not leveraging their talents efficiently.

Ultimately, you will see burnout and attrition, reduced output and skewed metrics.

ABX

Opinionated

0

Account Executive

You've articulated the exact issue with business development in a lot of software companies right now.

nemix

Politicker

3

SDR

When i worked in insurance, I hated appointments set by an appointment setter. I always had better conversion doing the shit myself lol.

E_Money

Big Shot

3

💰

Yeah I don't think the CEO analogy really works here, but I appreciate what you are trying to say. I just think if you are working off of only inbound leads then you are bound to get 80%-90% garbage and if you are controlling your own pipeline then you will have a better chance (still not 100%, but better) at getting a solid pipe of solid companies that will actually close.

At the end of the day all I am saying is that true sales professionals are going to be better at finding and connecting with quality companies than any SDR or Marketing algorithm any day of the week.

E_Money

Big Shot

2

💰

BUT I also agree that companies should invest more in creating quality SDR/BDR orgs to balance it out so AEs aren't expected to prospect 24/7

justatopproducer

Politicker

1

VP OF SALES -US

Somewhat agree with this in short sales cycles. Longer complex sales, multi touch campaigns and multi levels in a company is a whole other job. Why put it on the AE that’s focusing on closing, and progressing long deals already? In my opinion and experience you’re just taking them away from closing. Also, if you’re closing more deals and working more deals you’re also meeting more people and networking so you build strong pipeline and connections other ways rather than cold emails and phone calls.

nemix

Politicker

1

SDR

Because you’re always closing, especially at follow ups and setting the demo.

Sweetlue

Fire Starter

1

Enterprise Account Executive

Yup. So to be fair, this problem isn’t universal for all sales orgs, but if your selling complex SaaS deals across multiple departments…

Which btw, is where I drive my perspective from

E_Money

Big Shot

1

💰

That makes sense

aSaaSinator

Good Citizen

2

Sales Director

Yes, but like Sunnybunny31 said, SweetLue wasn’t saying he shouldn’t ever have to prospect. He was pointing out that an effective SDR/BDR and Marketing team should increase productivity and leave more time for AE’s to handle post-cold call activities. I think we all agree that an AE is always going to need to source some of their own deals.

bandabanda

Tycoon

4

Senior AE Mid Market

I posted about this not long ago b/c I saw this quote from a sales leader I follow. I agree with his thought process.

The common sentiment among the WR though was the opposite, haha. Savages don't like trusting their pipeline to anyone but themselves apparently. #alwaysbeprospecting

Sunbunny31

Politicker

3

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Did I miss this when you first posted it, or have I just forgotten? But I agree with this, tbh. You want your AEs closing, not building target lists, which is something a well-trained BDR can do.

Which is where I think the whole "AEs must prospect" is coming from. AEs are already trained; SDRs/BDRs need training. This may all be a factor of companies not knowing how to train their SDR/BDR teams properly, so they fall back on AEs.

bandabanda

Tycoon

0

Senior AE Mid Market

@Sunbunny31 not sure which but here it is: https://bravado.co/war-room/posts/women-be-shoppin-ie-ae-s-be-prospectin

I know the original post says "in a perfect world" but it's coming from a sales leader who has built successful teams over and over, so he seems proficient in it. I agree with you, I think this could be a reality for more teams/companies that have a strong sales leader that knows how to effectively build out a sales team to function this way. And therefore trains them properly.

I'm at a Series A startup selling small, but very high-velocity deals and this is how we're doing it today. I honestly have more opportunities than I know what to do with because I've proven myself as a top closer and don't have time to source my own opps - they just pass me the ball.

Sweetlue

Fire Starter

1

Enterprise Account Executive

Savages indeed.

I mean, I will always do what it takes to fill the funnel… but sometimes I just don’t get the thought process.

I spent YEARS! Slamming away on the phones to get here. I am burnt out of that shit.

You want to see deals come in? set me up a couple hungry BDRs (just for me) and a decent patch … we will close more then a team of 5 prospecting AEs (with 3 shared BDRs) at half the cost (Wel maybeless, cause I expect a nice accelerator)

bandabanda

Tycoon

0

Senior AE Mid Market

I bet you could! What do you sell?

Sweetlue

Fire Starter

1

Enterprise Account Executive

Conversational Ai, mostly toward contact centers…. Truth be told though none of this rant has to do with mt current employer or role (I don’t have this issue today, but hear about it al the time).

NotCreativeEnough

Big Shot

4

Professional Day Ruiner

a good ae SHOULD prospect. They should not be REQUIRED to prospect. If the SDR team and marketing don't allow them to get in front of enough leads to hit quota then those departments are falling short. However, a top performer knows if they want to eat then they need to hunt. They can't have everything fed to them and expect to hit crazy number

LordOfWar

Tycoon

3

Blow it up

Man, wouldn't it be nice to have competent SDRs and Marketers who actually prospected and generated leads that were a good fit and ready to buy so we could close them fast and easy?

*wakes up*

Seriously though, does anyone have such an SDR/BDR or marketing team that doesn't quickly jump ship or get promoted out? I prospect 100% of my pipeline and as much as I wish I didn't have to, I don't think it could work any other way.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

5

🦊

Yup. I don't trust what I've got, and I know I can get good qualified prospects myself.

nemix

Politicker

1

SDR

Idk maybe if we found a way to not make being an SDR suck it would have better longevity. You bring in an deal sell the appointment and nobody gives a shit because AE closed it. Not a fun feeling.

Sweetlue

Fire Starter

0

Enterprise Account Executive

Honestly, it’s the AEs job to focus the efforts of the BDR appropriately. This is how most of the SaaS orgs I’ve had work.

A good AE meeting 2 to 3 times a week with their SDR, tracking activity, and progress.

Thus when the BDR moves on, they are ready to get the next one rolling right away.

Pachacuti

Politicker

2

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

You are responsible for your funnel/pipeline. No one else is. If you are incapable of filling your pipeline than gtfo of sales.

aSaaSinator

Good Citizen

1

Sales Director

Pachacuti, I think you and Sweetlue are both right. You do have to take ownership of your pipeline, but it is completely okay to recognize and point out to leadership if the SDR/BDR group is underperforming. Sweetlue, part of the ownership Pachacuti so delicately referenced 😜 is working not just with your assigned SDR, if you have one, but going to management with a solution on how to help the team improve. Handled correctly, it can elevate your position in the company and, of course, raise your commissions.

Sweetlue

Fire Starter

0

Enterprise Account Executive

Aggressive. As as AE I will always own my pipeline, but if you fail to feed my funnel then Ask me to pick up the slack… I’m out.

Pachacuti

Politicker

0

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Wrong. You “don’t pick up the slack”. There is no slack. It’s your funnel and your paycheck. Anything the SDR brings is just a bonus.

Sweetlue

Fire Starter

0

Enterprise Account Executive

I guess I just have too much respect for myself.

countingmyinterest

Politicker

2

Account Executive

My view is that prospecting is harder than closing tbh. Might be a bit of a controversial take but to get someone interested in the conversation is wayyyyy harder than convincing them to take another step.

Full cycle reps have to be prospecting for their own deals cause it'll most likely be the highest quality.

It's like saying you're hungry and someone gives you a PB&J vs a steak dinner. Technically you'll be full, but what's the better meal?

TennisandSales

Politicker

1

Head Of Sales

hmmm ok so ive always had to self source opportunities as an AE.

i would LOVE to not have to do that.

But ive never been a part of an org that the SDR team sends enough solid opps my way to not do it my self.

when the pipeline gets full the first thing to fall off is prospecting. whih sucks because there is always peaks and valleys.

Sweetlue

Fire Starter

3

Enterprise Account Executive

I’ve never been in a role where I had more active deals then I could handle. I honestly believe most SaaS orgs have too many AEs and not enough SDR/BDR support.

If you want more sales, you can increase your pipeline or increase your conversion of pipeline. (Of course you can do both, but the approach is what I’m debating).

Hiring a bunch of AEs who spend most or too much of their time prospecting, leads to lower conversion rates.

This if you want to increase pipeline and conversion rates, you should separate the two activities. Doing so should actually lower your overhead as well.

Thus I don’t get the logic.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

2

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

SDR/BDR are also less expensive to the org. Using an AE to do ground-up prospecting is not using an expensive asset to its full benefit.

Every AE should prospect; they should have contacts and an understanding of the territory/solution and some good skills at penetrating accounts, but I agree that the day to day grind of building up a target list and campaigns is not the best use of an AE's time.

EQSales

Opinionated

1

VP of Sales

because this only works at massive and mature companies and is debatable what success they see. AE's tend to self source deals that are larger ASP and close in less time.

plus, if you can find your own deals as an AE, you can go work anywhere, especially earlier stage companies where they need full service reps

Hot take- a lot of AE's think they are far better at "closing" than they actually are and many times those are the ones who need more pipeline and should be prospecting to begin with

sketchysales

Politicker

1

Sales Manager

I completely agree in the most however I think a hybrid is a good outcome. I did my best work in sales when I had lead generation support and wasn't relied upon filling my own pipeline as it freed me up to focus on actually closing. That said, it didn't mean I stopped prospecting completely, rather I focused on lead generation on the biggest accounts and opening those doors which again benefited from more attention and time. I think a bit of what you are saying is the best way to do it.

Sweetlue

Fire Starter

0

Enterprise Account Executive

Totally reasonable. That said, I’m seeing orgs normalize AEs putting 50% or more of their time toward raw prospecting activity.

I’m arguing here that makes no sense. Your either hiring poorly, have a shitty product market fit, or don’t give a damn about your people.

A world where you want to pay me $150k base ($300k OTE) to spend 50% of my time sending cold emails makes no damn sense… yet it’s totally normal right now.

To be clear, I don’t think this applies to all levels of AEs…

Doyle

Fire Starter

1

Owner, Magic Sales Bot

I think reps should get prospecting support, which could be a lot of things, but AEs should still be out there trying to land net new meetings.

That said, some of these companies switching to "all-in-one AM/AE/BDR" roles are just trying to get 3 jobs done for 1 salary.

Justatitle

Big Shot

1

Account Executive

1.) several orgs find large blocks of AEs calendars open and if that time isn’t being spent on contracts and/or other closing activities you need to set up pipeline and prospect

2.) usually the BDR/SDR Team is a quantity not quality play and so you may get fortunate with some of their leads but a lot of it is shit.

3.) Marketing… nuff said

Sweetlue

Fire Starter

1

Enterprise Account Executive

Valid points here, and can’t say I disagree.

Most of the AE generated pipeline though tends to come through those non-BDR related activities. Referrals, partners, upsells, etc. stuff that should never change.

My ultimate argument is AEs shouldn’t be assuming the role of another BDR. Their time is valuable and when your AEs are out there cold call and cold emailing prospects more then lining up next steps and pushing deals forward… you are wasting their talent.

It’s a sign you hired too many AEs and/or are pushing reps toward burnout.

Justatitle

Big Shot

0

Account Executive

Sure, not saying AEs should be putting up BDR activity but showing your willing to do the grunge work and not better than it goes a long way

BitcoinAddict

Opinionated

1

AE

Oh and having AEs do account management, renewals, and customer support nonsense. Fuck that, AEs need to close net new logos!

Hoopnip

Politicker

1

Commercial AE

Haven’t prospected / cold called in 10+ years. Hit quota or blew it out almost every year. If you have a team of SDR’s and good marketing ( and a great product / brand ) a farming role is way easier than a hunter role. Why work 3x as hard for the same money as 100% prospecting?

JohnnyDamone

Opinionated

1

AE Inside Sales

My role is my own BDR and I close deals as an AE, on a monthly quota. So yeah, I feel like they should pay me at least half of a BDR's salary since I basically do 2 jobs at once.

Porcorosso

0

VP of Sales

AE’s should be doing intelligent prospecting, that means reaching out to senior executives with detailed value selling when they have time. They also should be denoting markets/verticals for bdr/sdr prospecting and redirecting more junior contacts they come across to their sdr. I value my sdr’s ability to pound pavement but if I want to create a specialised call to action for a relevant executive I’ll just write it myself. My pipeline generation is 30/70 with my sdr but the leads I generate are mostly larger opportunities.

salesboi22

Politicker

0

Head of Growth

100% agree

CRAG112

Valued Contributor

0

Account Executive

That's because they are focused on meeting KPI's. Their intent is not to actually drive positive business your way. Because of this, you have to intentionally reach out to your potential audience and find new business.

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