TheSDR

SDR Leader

Old School Bravo

How do you spot a shit show company before it’s too late? 🚩

Here are 4 red flags I’ve run into during interviews or at past jobs:

Unrealistic expectations: For an AI outbound role, they wanted to replace 3 BDRs, each with a 30-meetings-per-month goal, going after Fortune 500s. So… 90 meetings a month? Seriously? At that rate, we’d cover every Fortune 500 in under 6 months.
High turnover w/ no real plan: Worked at a place that overhired a sales team without building enough pipeline to support everyone. Not enough demos or booked meetings to go around, and instead of fixing the pipeline, they just kept firing people and calling it “performance issues.” Pipeline’s still a mess, and they’re still churning through reps.
Lies during the hiring process: The CEO told me SDRs had “left the company.” Turns out, he fired them.
Cheap Commission on High ACV: SDRs paid $10 per meeting on a $39k ACV, with capped commissions.

What red flags do you look for to avoid getting stuck in a sinking ship?

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20 comments

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jefe

Arsonist

4

🍁

These are good ones. I'd also add the following:

- Constantly moving goalposts
- Leaders actions and words are mismatched

TheSDR

Fire Starter

2

SDR Leader

One thing I can’t stand: leaders saying “we parted ways” when they actually fired someone. Saw it happen a few times at a past job.

jefe

Arsonist

3

🍁

I hear you. Just own it.

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

3

Bad MFer

Sadly I’ve heard of companies showing all 4 of these flags

TheSDR

Fire Starter

2

SDR Leader

Yep, heard someone say they had all 4 of those at a fintech company.

CadenceCombat

Tycoon

3

Account Executive

If you’re being made to feel like your lack of quota attainment is only attributable to your individual performance despite most reps not reaching quota, you’re working in a toxic meat grinder.

Justatitle

Tycoon

2

Account Executive

Gut feeling, most often that is the most assured way

TheSDR

Fire Starter

2

SDR Leader

Totally agree. One time, I said no to a company just on this.

Gasty

Notable Contributor

2

War Room Community Manager

Gut feeling and tons of research!

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

2

ERP Sales

Back channel and meet with people who have left

TheSDR

Fire Starter

1

SDR Leader

Exactly. People who leave either found something better or got fired—and they’re not just going to share the good stuff.

medhardwaredr

Politicker

2

Director of Sales NA

If your hiring manager is fidgety and can’t sit still it’s a sign of stress and hard times to come. Keep an eye on the body language, it’s often over looked

MRK47

Tycoon

1

VP of International Sales

You've covered the main ones...and as others have said, gut feeling / intuition.

Would also look at :

# lack of internal promotion track / limited SDR>AE>Manager> progression # lack of engagement across socials and organic / paid search efforts - in your example, targeting Fortune500 so would expect there to be a pretty sophisticated marketing / brand awareness machine in place to support outbound motion. # Lack of owning mistakes - in your example, SDRs left or were fired...what have they learnt from that and how are they planning to improve retention etc. If limited awareness / introspection, red flag.

Some others I have faced recently.....confusion with lines of reporting (who the role will report into)....unrealistic expectations (looking for +30% growth but no meaningful plans to change resource allocation or headcount to support the scaling motion)....most recent one (founder led) stated he did not really believe in digital marketing and felt 40% growth was a conservative expectation without it.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

1

🦊

Oof those are baaaaaaad

ThePiedPIPr

Executive

1

Enterprise Sales Executive

This is a great list. If you don’t have a job and you get an offer from a company with these red flags, it is hard to pass on any opportunity, but if they have flags like this, it is worth it to avoid them.

SafetyKnight

Tycoon

1

Account Executive

Could always go to RepVue - salespeople can rate their companies on it.

F5onrepeat

Politicker

0

Sales minion

RepVue

FoodForSales

Politicker

0

AE

all are solid

LMachine

Tycoon

0

Sr. BDR

Old leads are given to you as "HOT, NEW LEADS," with the prospect telling you: "I told the last person from your company not to..."

pyouenou

0

CRO (Chief Revenue Officer)

The spread between commission and ACV is the clearest one IMO.
It either demonstrate that the commission structure is not set correctly or that there is terrible unit economics in the end for the company overall.

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