Juancallclose

Director

Director of Sales title for a start up

Have an opportunity to be AE1 for a startup, but they're positioning it as Dir of sales or heck call yourself the VP if you want, but you write the playbook you control the sales motion ,full autonomy. If it goes well, you can hire your own team in x amount of times.

My question is, if you put you're a director or even a vp of sales as your title, when in fact, you're really only an AE who wears many hats. Recruiters on the next job search, and there's always a next, nobody stays at the same place for 10 years these days, would see right through it right?

🎈 Mentorship

27 comments

Sort by:

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

You are the VP of sales. Own it and use it.

thedue2.0

Good Citizen

VP of Sales

Agree with @FinanceEngineer... most CEOs in this space are NOT executing anything.
They are at best, General Managers.

The title will likely you get some credibility, and may/might help to get doors open, or encourage your prospect to think they're dealing with the big wheel.

Tech, Financial Services, and some others, all use titles because it helps the person and company.

Other businesses, like CPG, Retail and others, reduce titles, as a way to protect the company, and, the title itself does NOT help the company in many ways.

So, in this space, Own it and Use it!

ThatNewAE

Big Shot

Account Executive - Mid enterprise

They see through the title, yes. But what matters is what you do wearing those hats. if you are actually controlling sales, writing the playbook and setting everything up - next recruiter would see that as well.

Title no longer matters these days, your JD matters.

Fenderbaum

Politicker

Retired Choirboy🪕

I'd have to agree 100%. It's not what you're called, it's what you do. You da man.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

I mean if you get to the point where you hire your own team, then you are an actual director, right?

And from the beginning you are building sales playbooks, doing forecasting, creating sales goals, and other director activities.

I think if you put VP of Sales it would be hard to get another VP of Sales role right out the gate but director, I would assume, is still realistic given you work there more than a year

Never been in this situation, but this is how I would see it as a recruiter

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

for a start up i would choose the director title. This way it shows you were assigned more responsibility than an AE at the start.

And if you never get to the point of hiring a team, thats a good reason to leave if you end up doing that, most recruiters would understand that

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I agree with this.

But if they say "heck call yourself a VP" - are they paying you like a VP?

Juancallclose

Catalyst

Director

Fuck no

Juancallclose

Catalyst

Director

I appreciate it. But you're kind of just an AE that wears a crap load of hats right? I have a buddy, actually a few that put "enterprise sales leader/director" and they weren't even AE1. I feel there's a lot of grey area there and sort of airs on the side of dishonesty. Like he's just an AE, but he puts director or leader on some of his roles

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Well, if you’re doing the work, then you can “defend” the title. So if you’re feeling director is appropriate, then go for it.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

I think it you should take the role that is more aligned with the responsibilities you have.
when I think of someone who is the Director of Sales or Head of Sales at a start up I think of someone who is in charge of running the whole sales team and hiring the first team as things progress.
You might also be involved in creating the comp plan.

When I think VP, i think, this person is in on the senior leadership meetings talking about the future of the company. Are you going to be doing that? if not a director of sales title could be a great fit. and an awesome opportunity

ChumpChange

Politicker

Channel Manager

I would make the most unnecessary and elaborate title that sounds cool but mean the same shit. IE. VP of Global Transformative Technology Solutions and Sales

Juancallclose

Catalyst

Director

This guy I know is a lone AE for this company and they only sell to smb. He calls himself director of enterprise sales. When I ask him about it he says "I mean I sell for the enterprise I work for"

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

VP that shit boo.

Juancallclose

Catalyst

Director

Lulz, will probably turn it down. I don't know what the right thing is to do and I don't fault anyone either way as you write your own story and I've seen a lot of freakign c-suite lie on their resume LI

SalesArmyKnife

Good Citizen

Sales Manager

Before thinking about recruiters for the next gig I’d think about what that title will mean to prospects you’ll want to sell to and then AEs you’ll want to hire.

My title and profile clearly shows I’m managing a team but I’m still getting daily messages (spams) from recruiters about AE roles.

And you’re right now depending on companies an individual contributor is more and more called a sales director so good recruiters would still qualify if you’re an individual contributor or leading a team.

Hope this helps.

saaskicker

Celebrated Contributor

Enterprise AE

have you considered Ninja?

Juancallclose

Catalyst

Director

Like Vp of ninja sales? Or Ninja AE?

tightlines

Politicker

Account Executive

Use what you got, my first role was many hats but an IC title, and I used that to launch to my next company. Just depends on if you want the spread of work

nomdeguerre

Executive

Account executive

Take the title and then make your self the title over time.

JustGonnaSendIt

Politicker

Burn Towns, Get Money

In my time at a startup, I found that more creative titles seemed to help break the ice with customers.

Yeah, yeah, VP of Sales, or Director of Sales has a ring to it with a certain crowd.

But titles like Head of Customer Value, Chief Cat Herder, etc... seemed to really give an opportunity to expose your true value to the customer.

Meaning, they'd ask about your silly title and you could explain yourself in a way that helped build trust.

Just my $0.02.

If I could pick my title as an Enterprise AE here at my current company, I'd call myself Chief Customer Advocate. And that's how I introduce myself when I'm explaining my role to new contacts.

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

Bravado's Resident Asshole

use the title and own it.

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

If you want to continue in a VP like trajectory, go for it.

detectivegibbles

Politicker

Sales Director

No, they wouldn't see through it if you're meticulous and show exactly how you grew revenue/team/culture.

Seriously, use the title and have a description about how you were the first hired sales team member who helped scale.

Juancallclose

Catalyst

Director

Damn, dark side energy here. Love it.

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Of course people see through titles. Titles mean very little.

RaymundoFlex

Opinionated

who cares

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.

Juancallclose

Director of Sales title for a start up

27 comments

Related posts

Sales Director or Senior AE?

Detained Sales Director