Bro culture in software sales, is it slowly going away or as strong as ever?

It seems like it is relatively common for sales leadership to be former frat guys that religiously follow football and play golf. I wanted to know from your experience in recent years, is software sales becoming more diverse in leadership or is bro culture going as strong as ever?

๐Ÿฑ Off-Topic
โ˜๏ธ Software Tech
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boredAnti
Tycoon
12
That One Guy
This was my first thought after reading your post lmao!
Mobi85
Politicker
3
Regional Sales Manager
came here to hopefully see this and @antiASKHOLEyou did not let me down.
boredAnti
Tycoon
5
That One Guy
I am memelord afterall.
NoSuperhero
Politicker
3
BDR LEAD
Cultural ApBROpriation, bruh...
boredAnti
Tycoon
1
That One Guy
YES!! I love the pun Bromontana
BitcoinAddict
Executive
3
AE
OMG my favorite show lol
jefe
Arsonist
0
๐Ÿ
PC PRINCIPLE
CuriousFox
WR Officer
5
๐ŸฆŠ
I don't think it will ever truly go away. ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™€๏ธ
Kosta_Konfucius
Politicker
4
ERP Sales
Really depends on the company, I would say itโ€™s slowly going away but still present at most
braintank
Politicker
3
Enterprise Account Executive
Still exists, but less prevalent than a decade ago.
jefe
Arsonist
0
๐Ÿ
My thoughts exactly.
Gyro25
Notorious Answer
3
Account Executive
This may just be a personal anecdote, but every WASPY "bro" director/VP Sales who was at my company or have come across are out of a job or currently "Open to work" on LI.

This is hardly indicative of it going away, but just a personal observation.
Sunbunny31
Arsonist
6
Sr Sales Executive ๐Ÿฐ
Similarly personal observation (so take with a total grain of salt): biggest bros I recall from a decade ago are pigeonholed into non-desirable positions. Rose quickly, never fulfilled potential, got sidelined because better reps came along. And those reps? A lot more women!

Note: I am not a scientist, this is only based on a small sample, and there are most likely a HOST of other factors involved. And yet...
CuriousFox
WR Officer
3
๐ŸฆŠ
You're totally a scientist.
BitcoinAddict
Executive
1
AE
This is really good to hear.
Sunbunny31
Arsonist
1
Sr Sales Executive ๐Ÿฐ
Definitely a mad scientist, then.
Sunbunny31
Arsonist
1
Sr Sales Executive ๐Ÿฐ
Damn, I'm going to sound old...but when I started, I was often one of one or two women in sales. The rest were always guys. I fit in ok, and I've made some great friends along the way, but I was definitely in the minority.

Case in point, went to a massive Sales & Marketing inside meeting at the large tech company ~ 10 years ago. Lots of polished women, bus casual men, in the opening session. Then everyone dismissed to their breakouts, Sales one direction, Marketing the other. And 95% of the women went to Marketing and 95% of men to Sales. By the time I left 2 years ago, the proportion of women was significantly higher, and a woman had finally won rep of the year. It happened in increments year over year, but it's happening, at least in some places.
BitcoinAddict
Executive
4
AE
I do not wish misery on anyone tbh, unless those bros were assholes then I hope these dudes find a nice role if they are good leaders. However, I do wish to have more leadership that isn't the frat-heavy and golf on weekends type.
Gyro25
Notorious Answer
1
Account Executive
Oh one was a total douche. A salesforce "veteran" as he likes to call himself. It just felt like they were from an era that no longer exists. The decade-old Patagonia wearing San Francisco types.
SalesMama
Executive
1
Senior Account Executive
Todayโ€™s execs have totally upgraded to Arcteryx
BitcoinAddict
Executive
1
AE
Salesforce seems to breed some of the worst of humanity in the sales realm, their entire recruiting team is a sorority girl grad school.
Sunbunny31
Arsonist
1
Sr Sales Executive ๐Ÿฐ
OHANA BABY.
CuriousFox
WR Officer
0
๐ŸฆŠ
oHaNa
DevSomeBiz
Valued Contributor
2
Senior B2B Sales Guy.
Bro culture is declining in general, so it will decline in sales as well.
BitcoinAddict
Executive
0
AE
Depends on where you live tbh, my southern friends say it is as strong as ever.
DevSomeBiz
Valued Contributor
0
Senior B2B Sales Guy.
I don't know. I'm in the south, and the bros are just sort of fading out.
NotCreativeEnough
Big Shot
2
Professional Day Ruiner
not sure how having those hobbies in particular make you a "bro". I feel like they're just common male hobbies. But I digress on that point.

I do feel like "bro culture" is slowly disappearing in SaaS though. Its a very relationship-heavy industry. and the stereotypical "bro" isn't exactly great at building long term relationships with people who aren't the exact same as them. They're great at getting a sale then having customer who either dislikes them or never speaks to them again instead of building that relationship to grow revenue with them over time.
BitcoinAddict
Executive
1
AE
I mean lets be honest, not a lot of males of minority groups want to play golf on weekends while chugging beer over a football game. Some definitely do but not to the same extent as a white guy.
Kawari
Contributor
1
Operations Manager
This is my experience with the VP level especially. They can still be nice and supportive in your sales but you wonโ€™t be on the inner circle if you donโ€™t bro down.
Pachacuti
Politicker
1
They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy
I put this on another post -
boredAnti
Tycoon
0
That One Guy
And I still want it
GALACTIC
Politicker
2
Account Executive
SB in chinese is short for dumb cunt....i need it
PineappleYa
Opinionated
0
AE
Alive & well. Maybe better than 10 yrs ago but def not progressing fast enough. most of my company is filled w chads in leadership & mgmt.
BitcoinAddict
Executive
0
AE
What kind of software do you sell?
PineappleYa
Opinionated
0
AE
Unified comm
TennisandSales
Big Shot
0
Head Of Sales
for sure still present but also 100% going away....slowly.

sometimes I wonder if the work that Corporate Bro does and the content he puts out there is perpetuating the "bro" culture or if its highlighting the negatives sides.

s
5

My company is acquiring Another company. Any advice going through a merger in sales?

Advice
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13

Has massive growth ever led to mental breakdown? I have been hustling since 17 years old chasing to strive for success doing odd jobs and unintentionally ended up with Edtech K12 Sales as my first official sales job - A toxic culture with no employee respect eventually me to switch after 18 months. Since reps in Edtech are highly valued, had no option but to continue in Edtech sales. This time it was higher education segment, things looked good in the first few month but slowly it started adapting methodologies like the old Edtech since the management was changed. I decided to move out and switch to B2B SaaS. After 13 months of learning & success, my aspirations werenโ€™t matching with the growth vision shared by my manager and ended up being desperate to switch. Got to a AM-Inside Sales role with a 50% hike. Guess what? It led to my mental break down since the culture is pathetic. In entire journey, all challenges never affected my performance but l am losing the spark to glow and hustle eventually. While I plan to switch, a token of guilt is still alive. The experiences have made me far better and strong as a BDR but blank about the next steps in my career. Thanks for reading. Do share your thoughts.

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