CanadianSales profile picture
CanadianSales profile picture

CanadianSales

MBA graduate

Valued Contributor
Catalyst
Contributor
+1

I got a job offer. But there is a catch... Your recommendation is needed.

Hi guys,

Several months ago I asked you about what is the most efficient way to begin my career in Tech Sales. This is my post:

https://bravado.co/war-room/posts/i-am-old-but-i-am-good-what-pathway-should-i-choose


I received many super valuable responses and thank you for this! The whole list of special thanks is below.


And now I have good news. I got a job offer!

Thank you, Bravado savages! You've given me so much inspiration and support! It's incredible!


  • The good news is that the position in a big SaaS company.
  • The bad news is that it's not Sales, but Marketing.


Thus, I'd like to ask you:

  • What do you think, will I have a chance to move from Marketing to Sales inside a company?
  • What should I do to move to the AE role (not SDR)?


Now let me share some statistics with you. My job search took 2.5 months, I applied for 89 positions. I had 11 job interviews:

- 4 for AE

- 4 for SDR

- 1 for Sales Enablement (thank you @Fnord for this idea!)

- 1 for Marketing

- 1 for Sales in Pharma


Interestingly, with all my huge experience in Pharma and Medical Devices, those companies totally ignored me. They are weird...


Well, my journey into SaaS Sales continues. And I will be grateful for your recommendations!


Canadian Sales

P.S. Special thanks for the most insightful answers to


@SerialBiller (ex SADDNESSLieutenant)

@Fnord

@RealPatrickBateman

@Pachacuti

@Hoopnip

@playerone

@Boutdamtime

@ABCvs

@TreTime

@Jbeans

@Notmyrealname

@10XQLA


☁️ Software Tech
🤓 Sales Tech
📨 Marketing
17

32 comments

Sort by:
braintank
Politicker
2
Enterprise Account Executive
What kind of marketing position?
CanadianSales
Valued Contributor
0
MBA graduate
Product management 
Gasty
Notable Contributor
2
War Room Community Manager
Congrats Yo! 

Product Marketing to Sales is something I haven't seen much to be honest.

Have you already told 'em about your long term intentions?
CanadianSales
Valued Contributor
0
MBA graduate
Thank you!
During offer negotiations, I asked them whether I would have a chance to move to another department. They confirmed it. But I understand that it wasn't guaranteed. I plan to talk to my boss when I start work.
braintank
Politicker
3
Enterprise Account Executive
Just be mindful of how you bring this up. If your first interactions with your new boss are you announcing your desire to move to a new team/role you're going to get off on the wrong foot. 
CanadianSales
Valued Contributor
1
MBA graduate
True. Thank you for the warning! I should raise this topic in several months, I guess
SerialBiller
Executive
0
Account Executive
Wait until you pass your probation dude, until then, say what they want to hear
playerone
Politicker
1
Regional Account Executive
I’ve done marketing only before—I was basically an SDR manager though with creative control over our general marketing. If you can be sales minded as far as tracking how marketing influences sales then you could leverage that up to a sales roles. It just depends on actual duties. Will you be creating MQLs?
CanadianSales
Valued Contributor
1
MBA graduate
Thank you for sharing your experience! I don't know what exactly I will do because I haven't started yet. But I got your point. Thank you! 
playerone
Politicker
1
Regional Account Executive
Well congratulations, I’m happy for you!
CanadianSales
Valued Contributor
0
MBA graduate
Thank you for your support! 
10XQLA
Politicker
1
Medical Sales Assassin
Congratulations brother 
CanadianSales
Valued Contributor
1
MBA graduate
Hey, thanks for your help once again! 🤝
Boutdamtime
Politicker
1
Client Executive
Thanks and congrats
CanadianSales
Valued Contributor
1
MBA graduate
Thank you for your support last time 🤝
Fnord
Praised Answer
1
VP of Sales
Congratulations!! It’s fantastic to see the advice got you a successful offer in <3 months.

I spent some time working in marketing in an early stage startup and did a ton of different projects. Launched products, ran demand gen campaigns, etc. It was super fun, quite challenging and great learning opportunity. All the insights I got working as part of the Marketing team gave me an edge a few years later and helped me get promoted to sales leadership because I was able to work very well with my marketing counterpart. So don’t just try to move rapidly to an AE role, spend some time learning the tools, the way of working and getting some experience in the field. It will also help you be a better sales person.

Now when it comes down to moving from your actual job to AE, you need to explain what exactly you’ll be doing and/or give more details about the company/market/product because I’m confused since @braintank asked what role you’ll have and you replied ‘product management’ 🙃
Do you mean product marketing? Because if you are going to be a product manager, then you don’t have a job on marketing. You are a product person. In most companies, the PM is the shit magnet or the CEO of the product (or both).
CanadianSales
Valued Contributor
1
MBA graduate
Fnord, thank you very much for the detailed answer and for sharing your experience! You are right, first I need to understand my scope of work. And after that, it will be clear how to move to Sales. 

Well, let me return to this question later then. When I spend some time on my work. I think in several months.

Let's stay in touch!
Fnord
Praised Answer
1
VP of Sales
Happy to chat. Hopefully in a few months we will have DMs 🤣🤣🤣🤣
CanadianSales
Valued Contributor
0
MBA graduate
True true 😂😂
Notmyrealname
Politicker
1
AE
Huge congrats! 
CanadianSales
Valued Contributor
0
MBA graduate
Thank you for your help! 
Pachacuti
Politicker
1
They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy
Congrats on the new position.  Marketing is a great way to get your feet wet and know if you really want to be there or not.

If you want to move over to sales, make that known ASAP to Sales Management.  Talk about your Sales Experience & Accomplishments.  Be a solid resource to the sales team and become trusted by them.  Sales people always like to know that a person in marketing has actual sales experience.

Good luck!
CanadianSales
Valued Contributor
1
MBA graduate
Pachacuti, thank you for the valuable recommendations! I will follow them. Great ideas!
CaneWolf
Politicker
0
Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract
Still sounds like ageism. And do you want to do the job? If so, take the job!
CanadianSales
Valued Contributor
0
MBA graduate
What sounds like ageism exactly? Could you elaborate?
CaneWolf
Politicker
0
Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract
I believe I commented that some of the stuff you were going through reeked of ageism last time around. But pharma in particular is known for pushing older people out (and by older I mean like 40). It's insane.
AnchorPoint
Politicker
0
Business Coach
Ask.  If they say no and that is your goal - pass.  Otherwise, congratulations.
Jbeans
Opinionated
0
Director of Sales
Interesting…. Can you take it and see what happens? I moved from product based sales and marketing into sales only…. But my marketing background I feel gave me an edge (my proposals look a lot better, punchier, my email templates and my social media company game is prob benefited from my experience) but…most importantly.. does the job interest you? Do you feel like you could roll for a least a year there before moving to sales(if/ when one opens up?) I’d be like 😒 if a new hire started looking at diff roles within a few months - such a big on-boarding investment to risk for a boss.. id keep that low key, shine in the role and then other departments come sniffing around. Happens to my team all the time - other divisions all trying to steal my reps… but that’s all sales. Hate to say this - but there’s nothing wrong with taking an interim role to get by if you need work! Let us know what you decide :) congrats regardless - feels nice to get an offer 😎
jefe
Arsonist
0
🍁
Congrats!

And thanks for the update. 
SerialBiller
Executive
0
Account Executive
Congratulations dawg, if it feels right, go for it… maybe you don’t truly want to be in sales, marketing is a completely different gig but you can still make bank 🏦
bomboclat
Opinionated
0
BDR
Not sure if you're just being really picky but when I wanted to break into SaaS Sales I was applying to probably 4x that many positions in one week. you can still get a sales role. but you need volume.
CuriousFox
WR Officer
0
🦊
Definitely couldn't hurt.

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