ZEnabler

CEO of Sales

Competition between reps? Are you FOREAL?!

I was talking to a colleague in another tech company, an account executive. He was telling me about the culture in his sales team:

Reps not helping each other
People fighting over accounts
Reps comparing their quotas

I was like WHAT DA HELL... There is so much value in being more collaborative - sharing best practices, get coaching on how to get better, etc - everyone WINS!

Do I just work at a great company or is this type of culture more frequent than I think?

Seems pretty toxic...

🧢 Sales Management

🥇 Teamwork

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25 comments

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CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

It depends. At the company I am currently at, because of how frequently accounts shuffle and the holdover policies, it deters collaboration because you essentially hope they fuck up so it will roll to you. Now I will never ever sabotage a deal for someone else but the thought of someone slipping a deal worth a third of my quota and I get a layup, is enticing. It is unfortunate that that is the reality.

I think it comes down to the business prioritizing profits over people. Do you want to be a profit machine or do you want to be a fun place to work? You can have a mix of both, but never 100% of each so it just depends where each company falls on that sliding scale.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I used to work for a company just like that - and there was zero reward for being collaborative and a good "team player". Accounts rolled over annually at a minimum. Honestly, I don't know why they haven't figured out that reworking territories and accounts every single year is literally costing them business when relationships and account knowledge have to be rebuilt over and over, but I'm glad to be away from that.

CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

Yeah… I have been spending the last few weeks repairing some fire drills caused by people burning shit down last minute to try and nickel and dime accounts before they lose them

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

SaaS Eater

Way more frequent than you think. Usually at companies that are a sinking ship but I dont think its particularly rare.

CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

Either a sinking ship or clearly established market leader trying to maximize profits at any cost

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

SaaS Eater

Good point.

ZEnabler

Good Citizen

CEO of Sales

Not sustainable, right? Especially when sales reps jump ship super easily and companies are investing a lot in keeping their team happy. Thoughts?

CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

Nah not if you are a big name company that pays well. There are always more people that want to work there

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

We have nothing to gain other than a shitty reputation when we don't help each other. 🤷‍♀️

SaaSam

Politicker

Account Executive

It's a pretty frequent culture depending on industry and product. Some companies have pretty cutthroat sales cultures. Last company I was at was very much this way. No territories, really just a mad dash to "own" companies that you're prospecting into.

IMO if you're sales team isn't competitive, you're doing it wrong. But I'm talking healthy competition, not this "keep everything secret so I can fuck everyone over and come out on top" competition. More of the "buddies trying to one-up each other" kind.

ZEnabler

Good Citizen

CEO of Sales

There is definitely a way to make this a healthy competition. People pushing themselves up, vs. dragging each other down!

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Been there. It sucks and you see it far too frequently. Lots of managers, especially those who never carried a bag, think that putting reps against each other is a great way to run a sales team.

ZEnabler

Good Citizen

CEO of Sales

That's super unfortunate - culture starts from the top...

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

totally common.

The best culture I have ever been in was when we had team selling model.

We had a team quota and everyone got paid on every deal that was closed.

(if you ask me to explain the comp structure I will but its complicated and annoying haha)

But this TRULY aligned the team. we all wanted to close deals but if you closed some and I didnt....i still got paid.

it was awesome.

ZEnabler

Good Citizen

CEO of Sales

Inspiring to hear @TennisandSales !

ZEnabler

Good Citizen

CEO of Sales

Quick question for you@TennisandSales:
How have you seen reps collaborate with each other when that model is in place?

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

Reps are more open to sharing and receiving feedback since its not as cut throat vs the other ppl on the team.

Also everyone can truly celebrate other peoples wins which is nice.

Also there is a lot less fighting over accounts and territory.

DatSaaS

Executive

Sales Executive

Does this model ever end with someone not pulling their weight or under performing?

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

yes. but so does every model. no matter how you slice it I do believe that 80% of the production comes from 20% of the team.

so it is up to the manager to really help improve the ones that need help.

i believe it is actually easier to do this when those under performing are still making money.

because they will feel like they have time to make changes that may take a while to see results.

now the whole comp model has to be changed. Everyone gets paid on every deal but not everyone makes the same %. its all based on their OTE

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

Really is a case by case basis, The structure of the accounts, how sales reps are fed leads, I do think a collaborative environment wins each and every time.

NotCreativeEnough

Big Shot

Professional Day Ruiner

Companies with clearly defined territories that aren't always changing is definitely the way. It encourages collaboration and healthy competition as opposed to an environment like you mentioned. Everyone knows who their accounts are, what area they cover, and what their quota is. There is no benefit to screwing over another rep.

CRAG112

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

What's your company name and how do I apply? I yearn for zero toxic Republican anti-worker BS.

Corpslovechild

Politicker

Inbound Sales Manager

I would quit, I wouldn't want to work for that company.

JustGonnaSendIt

Politicker

Burn Towns, Get Money

Seems like a cultural issue. Defining it as toxic is really a matter of perspective and how the company culture aligns with your principles.

I choose to look at my role as an AE as a steward of a particular territory or list of accounts.

I've received several shit territories over the years and have done my best to build them up to a place where if I inherited them, I'd be excited about it. So far this has served me well in terms of income and career advancement.

I intentionally chose cultures that look at things the same way when I join a new company. It's never 100%, but as long as it's the prevailing view on my team, so far this has been an effective approach.

Plenty of reps that are short-term focused and work well in organizations with the culture you've described. They are usually more transactional people and organizations, selling more transactional products.

10XQLA

Politicker

Medical Sales Assassin

Unfortunately, this is still an active form of old-school boiler room BS. and it is alive and well!!!!

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ZEnabler

Competition between reps? Are you FOREAL?!

25 comments

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