369DocuSign

Sales Director

Help with vetting a new role

Hey y'all after 4.5 years at my first "real" job in martech and climbing that ladder (sdr > sr sdr > AE/sales manager) I'm looking to make a move to a new opportunity. Only problem is that there's a lot of BS out there and I don't want to misstep into the wrong company. Looking to gather a checklist of questions to ask about before accepting a role, and the War Room is the best resource I know to ask! Other than the standard questions about comp, quotas, daily work flow, what else is typically important to look into?

🧠 Advice

🎯 Career Development

🗣 Interviewing

13 comments

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poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

1) Manager quality.
2) Rep attainment and satisfaction.
3) Product Market Fit
4) Retention metrics.

Those 4 things will tell you more about the role than the PR bullshit the interview process feeds you.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Number two especially gets hidden behind smoke and mirrors so make sure you reach out to other AEs at the company you are interviewing with.

quinoa

Contributor

order taker

what are some great questions to ask to get elicit genuine responses?

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

"comp, quotas, daily work flow" reveal almost nothing.

So much here depends on the type of company you're looking at. what you ask interviewing at a Series A vs Salesforce.com are quite different.

369DocuSign

Big Shot

Sales Director

You make a good point, that’s why I asked! I got into the SDR role by accident in 2017 and ended up being pretty good at it. Now that I have a couple years of experience as an individual contributor and SDR manager I want to make sure my next step is as well placed as possible.

E_Money

Big Shot

💰

I would ask to speak with other reps, top performers and not so top performers. Get a sense of what its like to crush quota and to have a bad quarter at this company.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

I think a big thing to learn about is the manager you would be working for. I would ask about who that is, what their experience is and then try to learn about that person outside of the interviews

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

SaaS Eater

Talk to other AEs off the record/outside of the interview process so you can get more candid info on what its like working at these potential spots.

AnchorPoint

Politicker

Business Coach

Why are you leaving? That is key to what you need to know.

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Hard thing is we don't know what you really want, what your life situation is currently, your career objectives, and where you want to be 1-5-10 years from now.

That said, if you are actively interviewing with various companies, *IMO* its important to know how that company will enhance your resume for the NEXT gig. Let's be honest - you're going to work for 6-12 companies over the course of your career. So how will your next move enhance your move after that, and so on.

Having a marquee name on your resume is very beneficial. For some reason people think that having been blessed by an Oracle, AT&T, Cisco, Microsoft, etc. means you're better than the guy who knocked it out of the park at a no-name start up. Go figure.

Also, what are your personal circumstance? Are you wanted to settle down into a job for the next 5-10 years? Or do you want to take on some risk and look at 1-3 year gigs? There's pros/cons to both.

Good luck!

369DocuSign

Big Shot

Sales Director

I really appreciate the detail, there’s a lot to think about!

Charito

Fire Starter

Senior Account Exec

Check out the "reverse interview" by Elena Verna. I found it helpful.

CRAG112

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

What stage company is it. What total funding and previous funding round did they secure? How many companies just like them are emerging or have existed for many years and are successful?

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