ThatDudeFrio

Account Executive

Ceiling for SMB closing to management/leadership?

Hey Sales Savages,

As someone who is much more interested in moving into the management/leadership side of SaaS sales, what is the opportune role to have tenure in before making the jump from IC to management?

As someone currently selling into SMB, would I have a ceiling for position climbing on the management side before I'd be told that I didn't have the experience with those sorts of deal cycles?

My current company has a lot of young SMB managers, but I'd wonder where all they can go from there both internally & externally.

any & all advice/insights welcome!

🎯 Career Development

🔐 Cybersecurity

🧢 Sales Management

12 comments

Sort by:

E_Money

Big Shot

💰

Best way is to look for leadership opportunities at your current company and I don't mean open positions. I mean offer to lead team meetings, coach new reps, shit like that.

It will get you noticed and give you experience you need to make the move when it is time. Then when something opens up you're first in line.

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

Rolling 20's all day

Not a bad idea. Plus if you can help develop something new, you take ownership of it and in smaller companies/startups it will show you are core to success (assuming you do it well)

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

I love this idea.

SADNESSLieutenant

Politicker

Officer of ♥️

+1, be an indispensable leader before you are made one

FoodForSales

Politicker

A company with a lot of young ambitious sales people typically is expecting a lot of churn. I also sell into SMB and that is what I have seen.

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Why do you want to move into mngt? You think you're better at managing a bunch of whiney sales reps rather than actually closing business? You think being a manager is more lucrative? Less problems?

What do you have to offer as a manager of people over a manager of sales deals?

I can tell you from personal experience - 99% of the time a company is going to hire someone with previous management experience rather than an IC. And many companies don't want to move their better IC's to Management because good ICs are hard to come by.

But if you REALLY want to manage people than you ought to approach your current company about this desired career path and ask for opportunities to gain management experience.

FattySnacks

Politicker

Senior Account Executive

Why is there always some useless asshole who has to inject his opinion into something instead of just answering the question?

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Where are YOUR golden nuggets of wisdom?
Or did you post to inject your opinion into something instead of just answering a question.

FattySnacks

Politicker

Senior Account Executive

No I came to talk shit to you.

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Ok, so you’re the asshole. Glad we established that.

IYNFYL

Politicker

Enterprise SaaS AE

SMB is usually high churn as the quota is harder to get to since the prospect list is smaller. As far as growth it’s difficult as from someone coming from SMB that recruiters sometimes don’t see as much value tbh

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Yes 👏👏👏👏

Bravado is a community of trusted sales professionals endorsed by their customers.

Products

The War Room Jobs Salary Guide Tech Sales U

Company

About Us How It Works Blog Bug Bounty

Contact

Press Careers

If you are hired as a contract sales rep by a Bravado customer, we may ask you to prove access to the employee email account provided to you by that customer. This data will be shared with customers to track your sales productivity; customers can use this data to confirm you meet the minimum activity requirements to pay out your ramp stipend and commission.