bendandsnack

Account Exec

dealing with SE egos?

Hey guys,

New SMB AE in tech. Our sales ops suck so while I'm technically working SMB, there are some absolute startup gems that slip through the cracks and end up spending a ton of $$$ really quickly and move up to Enterprise in a quarter or so.

However, I'm realizing that internally people see "SMB" and automatically deprioritize my deals.

I have a new SE I'm working with who cancelled on me last minute for a call with the same customer 2x in a row. He's also covering Corp/Ent reps, so I'm getting a feeling SMB is getting pushed to the bottom of his priorities.

I'm very candid when I think an opp is bad short term, but I only keep opps that I think have potential to sell into other product lines in our business. I'm very candid when selling in general. However, I think my candor is biting me in the ass as now he seems to think that my deals aren't important.

Should I stop being so honest and start fluffing about these deals in order for him to take them seriously?

👑 Sales Strategy

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10 comments

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butwhy

Politicker

4

Solutions Engineer

Here's the thing - from an SE. It's not ego to not prioritize smaller deals (how many of yours are actually four 4$$$?), they are comped on percentage of quota and your deals are smaller. One of the reasons I hate SMB SE-ing is also that smaller deals for some reason all become nitpicky nightmares with unnecessary custom work, so after two meetings the company has spent more money of my salary hours trying to win the deal than the entire deal is worth. Plus, SMB AE's when they are newer need more help with discovery and value selling than reps who have been around the block. So it all inevitably ends up as a time suck for a deal that isn't gonna move the needle on my comp and is probably going to be a pain in the ass.

However. This is their job, and canceling on you last minute is INCREDIBLY uncool and unprofessional. Make sure you are recording their flakiness and take it to them in a 1:1 first and level set with them directly and ask them if there is a better way to work with their calendar (this might be a double booking issue because reps never check my freaking calendar and supporting 9 or 10 reps is A LOT of meetings) and make sure that you are getting the resources you need. Maybe you can agree that you can take first meetings and only bring them in after a discovery and light demo session.

If after that level set they are still skipping - take it to your manager + theirs with the receipts.

bendandsnack

Politicker

0

Account Exec

We're in a weird space where we're a partner and we get deals from sellers at a large cloud provider.

So while it's not the best use of their time on these small deals, we have to do a good job on the shitty deals if we want the sellers to bring us their 6 figure opps, which benefits the SE as well as myself. I also have a few 6 figure deals and one 7 figure deal right now(not with him as he just started), so there really are diamonds amongst the garbage.

Any input on how to convey that to the SE without sounding like an asshole? Classic I'm thinking big picture and the SE sees what's right in front of him

butwhy

Politicker

0

Solutions Engineer

Ah, yeah - sounds like the larger part might be that they are new. This might be their first time in that kind of model. What's the average timeline on the 6 figure, 7 figure deal? This is a huge factor.

My first gut instinct says to approach them as a partner instead of a resource and start communication with them from a big picture. Maybe do a 1:1 with the premise of account planning or pipeline overview telling them that it is so they can get better predictability on time needed in the next quarter or two. That way the objective seems right in front, but you can communicate broader moneymoneymoney goals.

LordBusiness

Politicker

2

Chief Revenue Officer

I’d discuss with your leadership that the SE is causing a pretty shitty customer experience, and get a clear understanding of the SLAs your SE should be following and adhering too. If I’m that client, I’d have prolly told ya to F off after the second reschedule

ThatNewAE

Big Shot

0

Account Executive - Mid enterprise

Come what may, it's never a good idea to stop being honest and fluff about the deals.
It's best to have a 1-o-1 conversation with the SE and let them know the gap, expectations and what you think should be the best way to go about things. I know this is an uncomfortable discussion to have, but it's worth it.

Fluffing your deals will mean that when you won't close them, they will think your forecasting skills are weak. Or that you are resulting in deals to be pushed away - then they will dig deep into why your deals have so much fluff, yet no concrete foundation. Not worth it.

TennisandSales

Politicker

0

Head Of Sales

no dont fluff. but you also dont have to say that a deal is a better deal than a previous one or anything like that.

A deal is a deal and you are doing your job and its their job to support.

if they keep canceling on you, approach the SE about it. let them know if hurts your deals and makes it harder to do your job. dont be a dick but bring it up.

if that doesnt work, then go to your manager and explain the situation.

AnchorPoint

Politicker

0

Business Coach

Sounds like they need a culture change.

Gasty

Notable Contributor

0

War Room Community Manager

1. don't fluff
2. RevOps it's Shit almost everywhere
3. DON'T FLUFF

trusted.advisor

0

Manager, Solutions Consulting

Cancelling last minute twice is absolutely unacceptable, but I would treat that as a separate issue than what you're asking about. Re: canceling customer meetings like that, if that was something someone on my team was doing, I would want to hear about it, but generally that would be a discussion between the SE manager and the sales manager. I would suggest talking to the SE directly to see what is going on, but if that doesn't bear fruit, take it to your manager and let them deal with it. That's what managers are for.

Regarding the broader topic - in general SEs will have exposure to significantly more opportunities than AEs (probably 3-5x more deals at a typical SaaS company), so they will generally have A.) a better gauge on the actual quality of the deal, and B.) an incentive to prioritize the largest/highest quality opportunities. It's possible this individual does not have a good grasp on the relative quality of your opportunities, it's also possible that your opportunities are not as good as you think they are relative to other opportunities that SE is working. No way for us to know that as outsiders, but understand that it is a possibility.

It's great that you try to be candid about the quality of opportunities, but the SE is going to make their own assessment of that and they are far less likely to have happy ears. Also, "fluffing" your deals is a surefire way to REDUCE the level of support you get, because you're not going to fool anyone. I've worked with numerous AEs over the years who do this, and if I need to prioritize time commitments, their deals are the first ones on the chopping block every time.

The_Sales_Badger

Notorious Answer

0

Account Executive

That's incredibly unprofessional, and you need to make management aware. You were hired to fill a specific need, and if your resources aren't working with you internally, you're destined to fail.

@butwhyexplained it very well.

We're all about finding solutions here on Bravado, so here's my perspective.

1) Have a call with your SE, make sure you record it. Be congenial, but firm when you ask why they cancelled the meeting both times.

2) Askif there is a certain time of day that works best for scheduling meetings?

3) How can we avoid last-minute conflicts in the future?

4) (This needs to be blunt) Is there a counterpart, or another resource that you can rely on?

Maybe it's someone that absolutely hates their job and isn't willing to care or change. It's in your best interest to make it known rather than being afraid of snitching.

Either way, unless you can identify another resource to depend on, you're always going to be chasing prospect ghosts. Customers are more cautious than ever, and if you can't get your internal collaboration on point, you're walking into each opportunity at a disadvantage.

Get this joker to understand that you're not going away, and unless he wants to deal with company repercussions, you need to see a strong improvement, fast.

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