tedlassoo

AE

Can a well-experienced SDR land an AE role?

I have been an SDR for about 3 years now and even have recently been promoted to a team lead role at my current company.

Unfortunately, their is currently no path for me to move into a closing role anytime soon, as our solution is very enterprise-heavy and our sales team only consists of enterprise reps. I have been told that making me an enterprise rep right now would be setting me up for failure.

Inside sales/SMB is on the roadmap apparently, but could be at least another 1-2 years.

I have applied to numerous SMB AE roles and have even been given the opportunity to have a conversation with 2 companies. But for the most part, I get rejection emails the day after I submit an application. And of the 2 companies I have spoken with, I haven't made it past the hiring managers due to my lack of closing experience and the numerous amount of other more qualified candidates they are speaking with.

I am starting to feel hopeless in my quest to find an organization that will take a chance on someone with no closing experience.

Has anyone here successfully transitioned to a new company as an SMB AE with no prior closing experience? How did you do it?

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9 comments

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funcoupons

WR Officer

7

👑

Yes, this is the typical career trajectory for SDRs. If you've been an SDR for three years and there's no opportunity for a promotion ASAP it's time to leave.

If you've only had two interviews, that's not a reason to be worried or to be giving up. Hiring is hot at the moment - tons of candidates taking advantage of the great new opportunities being offered so it is more competitive right now. You're likely just getting passed over for candidates with AE experience.

Make sure you're decently qualified for the opps you're applying to and have realistic expectations. SMB is definitely your best bet. Don't bother applying to positions that explicitly state they want closing experience. Work on your interviewing skills and come prepared to answer questions about how you're going to quickly adapt to a closing role and the value you're going to bring. You'll get there.

braintank

Politicker

5

Enterprise Account Executive

As others said, don't get discouraged! Take feedback, iterate, and keep trying.

You may want to tweak your resume. There are a lot of threads about it here (search resume).

Most common mistakes I've seen are people listing job descriptions vs accomplishments & metrics.

Don't forget -- you *do* have closing experience. Being an SDR is closing -- you're just closing the meeting instead of the deal.

Goomba

Opinionated

0

Director

See this is some shit that a manager actually investing time into training their BDRs into AEs would say.

There's way too much of this lazy, "well we'll just wait until this BDR crushes quota by like 5000%, but yeah let's also hire a really green AE from somewhere else that has never had BDR experience."

Legitimately had an AE quit for MORE money from my company and they failed at call roleplay and refused to cold call/prospect on their own. Their base was $100k, they left for a $150k base.

I genuinely lost all faith in my sales leadership with the level of inconsistent bullshit around here.

fuzzy

Notable Contributor

5

CMO (Chief Meme Officer)

I know low-experienced SDRs who got Director roles LOL…not to mention AE roles. Just gotta find the right suckers…I mean place.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

4

🦊

Keep going. Don't be discouraged. Sharpen your response to the lack of closing experience objection.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

3

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Really great advice from fox and coups. It may take some time to get a role, but you are on the right path. Don't give up.

E_Money

Big Shot

1

💰

Yes... but some companies are reluctant to trust an SDR in a closing role. Even though that is the whole point of "sales development"

sendtrumpet

Personal Narrative

1

Co-founder & CEO

Definitely - checkout otta for great tech jobs. You'll be in high demand!

Goomba

Opinionated

0

Director

I feel like the whole "hey we care about you so we don't want you to fail" shit is equivalent to an "it's not you it's me" excuse.

If they genuinely did give a shit, they'd work to prep you up for the role, then trial you out in it and invest that time into seeing how you do.

I've heard the same thing before too.

Look, if I fail I fail, but I'll be damned if I'm letting someone tell me how my career is going to progress.

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