Tatertot

Business Development Executive

First Couple Rounds of Saas Interviews

Hey guys! Long time listener, first time caller.

I would love to hear some advice about intervening for an upcoming saas SDR role.

I’ve been working in digital marketing sales for about a year and a half now and am working on transitioning into a better industry for my sales career. Now, I just want to make sure I nail these interviews. One is with a some current AE’s, one is with sales manager, and then the CEO.

Adding to the excitement — it’s a start up; would love to hear about experiences at a start up and what kind of questions you would lean into asking about their growth and what that looks like!

Thanks team!

👥 Hiring

👨‍🌾 SDR

☁️ Software Tech

17 comments

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InQ5WeTrust

Arsonist

No marketing, mayo isn't an MQL

What did the top rep achieve last year?

What is the median rep earning at the company?

What's the onboarding plan? (especially if remote)

What's the sale's teams targets for the next year?

What's the biggest challenge they face in achieving those?

Are desk beers at 2pm on Friday a no-go?

Tatertot

Executive

Business Development Executive

If desk beers on Friday are out, so am I ! 😂

FormerStartupJobHopper

Tycoon

Extremely standard interview format for SaaS sales. I have a list for every interview I go into. Here are the basics

-day to day? (obviously)

-tech stack?

-are they outbound vs inbound or both? Percentages?

-ASP

-are they profitable yet? plan to get there? what round of funding if that's applicable?

-competitors and what makes them different?

-manager's leadership style?

-quota? KPIs other than quota such as dials/talk time?

-% of SDR team at quota, % of AE team at quota?

-what makes a winner win at that company? where do the people struggling miss the mark?

-Career development process?

-When you get into comp plan, ask if there are any planned changes to commission structure?

Tatertot

Executive

Business Development Executive

Super helpful and concise! Any thoughts on the aspect coming into it as at the start up stage?

FormerStartupJobHopper

Tycoon

I may not be the most objective person for that... tried it 3 times, and I'll say I'm 1/3 at best. I prefer working at a company with processes in place, enablement, brand recognition and product market fit 1000 times better than my startup experience, but I was also laid off twice sooo

Tatertot

Executive

Business Development Executive

I can appreciate that. Definitely something I am working on balancing. Who knows, the next one might be the right one for you!

FormerStartupJobHopper

Tycoon

already happened my friend, you're next! good luck

MCP

Valued Contributor

Sales Director

You get to pick 2 of these to ask. That’s all there will be time for. Choose wisely.

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

SaaS Eater

Good luck with the interview - peep the search bar, there is soooo much good content on this discussion.

InQ5WeTrust

Arsonist

No marketing, mayo isn't an MQL

Don't teach him the forbidden Jutsu!

CaneWolf

Politicker

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

One of the biggest things I can say about this (and I've said it more than once here) is overthinking how different this will be. You're still doing a sales job, you're still laerning a product.

That being said, ask:

-how you can better learn the product
-what has made people successful in the role before
-how is the product going to grow
-how involved is leadership in the sales team
-want kind of mentoring do they provide

Tatertot

Executive

Business Development Executive

I love this. I think continued learning is so important and I really value bringing that up in the interview process.

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

You already received great comments and suggestions. If you get to know the name of those guys try to visit their LI profile (might make them feel happy)

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

What verticals do you typically target?

What do your most successful SDR's do that sets them apart

What should SDR's avoid doing

Who are the personas to reach out to and target

What type of messaging is most impactful

Stuff like that...

LordBusiness

Politicker

Chief Revenue Officer

Three+ interviews for an SDR role? The CEO is interviewing SDR candidates? That's red flag territory for me my man.

Tatertot

Executive

Business Development Executive

There is definitely a part of that concern as well on my side. It’s a smaller company >100 and they are working on growing their sales team. Really cool opportunity but somewhat worrisome because a lack in structure

Njanack

Good Citizen

SDR

Good luck!

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Tatertot

First Couple Rounds of Saas Interviews

17 comments

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