Saasnewbie_

Enterprise BDR

First year in tech sales as an BDR and yet to hit the 100% goal - Need help

Hello everyone, I am in my first year in tech sales and haven't been able to hit 100% of my goal. Not to forget the team KPIs have been changed 3 times in the last year. AE's have been in the same position as well. In limbo, if I want to look into newer opportunities as not hitting goals has taken a toll on my confidence level or change the way I approach prospecting.

Looking for advice or recommendations

🎈 Mentorship

🔎 Prospecting

🧠 Advice

25 comments

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Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

How does your performance measure up against other BDRs at your company?

Filth

Politicker

Live Filthy or Die Clean

Extremely relevant question from @Sunbunny31, if no-one is hitting goals, you should be safe at the top of the pile and/or the company needs to reevaluate targets.

Also, feel free to look for greener pastures, but start putting your best strategy in place in the here and now so you can build on it with any new organization.

Make sure you are selling the time of the meeting more than your product itself. Show value in just talking with the AE as you "feel" that they will have direct benefits just from having a conversation. Don't make it so you are selling the product before a disco call.

Saasnewbie_

Executive

Enterprise BDR

@Sunbunny31I have been the top-performing rep for booking more meetings although it's still not 100% of the quota. However, those meetings haven't been converted into an opportunity yet which makes me wonder if this is a product-to-market fit gap.

@FilthThank you for your suggestion. I have been using my time to hone my skills to build on it at the next opp.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

It sounds like your commission is based on booking meetings, not necessarily qualified meetings, am I right? And the AEs are struggling to convert those meetings into opps? You’re right, something is up. It could be product-market fit, or could it be that you don’t have the best ICP?

Saasnewbie_

Executive

Enterprise BDR

That's right. We have been testing out different ICPs but the response hasn't been better than what we have had in the past so I am convinced to lean towards product-market fit.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

So I’m already leaning toward you looking for something new (but don’t leave until you have that new gig), but I have to ask: is your product unique in the market, or is it one of many possible solutions? Does it actually fix or address a key problem or issue for customers? Or is it some niche solution nobody knows how to use or what it is used for?

Saasnewbie_

Executive

Enterprise BDR

Not a niche solution. I would place us in the visionaries market under Gartner Magic Quadrant. I hope that makes sense

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

It does, because I understand you’re in an established marketplace. However, something isn’t translating. What’s keeping your company from moving into the leader quadrant? Because if you are on Gartner, you have something analysts track. If you’re all not meeting quota, however, something big is misaligned.

CadenceCombat

Tycoon

Account Executive

In my experience, companies do not design quotas to be achievable by the majority of their reps and no one hitting targets, especially in this economic climate, isn’t as much of an anomaly as you might suspect.

If there is a decent number of BDRs hitting quota, then you need to evaluate your approach.

That being said, you should absolutely be looking for a better opportunity and you should be scrutinizing quota attainment in the interview process.

Hope that helps.

Saasnewbie_

Executive

Enterprise BDR

Thank you for the response. It definitely helps!! Not hitting targets have taken a toll on my confidence level. Any tips as to how to stay motivated in this economic climate?

CadenceCombat

Tycoon

Account Executive

Nope. Sorry.

Here’s a tip for Bravado etiquette, though: You should upvote every comment / post you find helpful.

HVACexpert

Politicker

sales engineer

🤣🤣

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

Sometimes I spend the afternoon upvoting with a cocktail.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

How does the cocktail manage to upvote?

oldcloser

Arsonist

💀

It knows it’s place. Just encouragement.

HVACexpert

Politicker

sales engineer

Sounds like a tough environment, but seems like you’re doing what you need to.

Have you met with leadership regarding your concerns /questions?

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

I was about to ask this one myself.

CPTAmerica

Opinionated

President/CRO

no ones hitting plan, all the reps are new, sounds like a recently funded early stage start up to me. I've said it before and I'll say it again; quotas are pointless.

If you're the top rep, be proud of that! Speak up often about what you're hearing from prospects. Let leadership know so that you can work together to craft a compelling message.

Don't worry about the quota. If they start giving you a hard time about that and you're the top rep it's likely a sign to consider moving on.

Maximas

Tycoon

Senior Sales Executive

Shadowing with the old reps is the keyword to me, no need also to tell to ask for help .
Check with your direct manager on the weak points to work on and the strong ones to keep.
Finally need to set a 30/60/90 days plan and hopefully you would find a progress in your performance soon till hitting your 100%.

Saasnewbie_

Executive

Enterprise BDR

Thank you. The entire sales team is new hence I have been shadowing more seasoned reps to gain perspective and improve my performance.

Maximas

Tycoon

Senior Sales Executive

I C, wish you the best!

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

Based on what I read, not achieving quota doesn’t make you a bad rep at all unless if it just 2. Don’t let this bog you down, looks like a better opportunity is ahead of you. All the best!

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

When something like this is the case it's usually a significant percentage of the organization setting unrealistic goals and never being willing to adjust. With that said, it's kind of on salespeople to figure it out and take a no-excuses approach, as unfair as that may be, also it's completely allowed to look for something at another organization while you are employed, hiring is coming back, and now is a pretty solid time to look around.

Armageddon

Opinionated

Enterprise Account Executive

I've been there. I rarely hit quota as a BDR and have been a top performer as an AE ever since I got in the seat. Pay your dues, try to better your prospecting skills, but know that success now does not = future success

FranchiseSalesQB

Politicker

Franchise Sales QB

What are the #'s? KPI/Quota? and is anyone hitting?

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Saasnewbie_

First year in tech sales as an BDR and yet to hit the 100% goal - Need help

25 comments

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