I got fired from a SaaS role and I need help evaluating my options

So as the title says, I was recently fired. Worked at a family run HVAC business for awhile, wanted something with more opportunity. Found Revalize, they said no worries not having prior software sales experience.


Because I had no training on high volume cold calling, I was fired the day after we had our simulated cold call during training. Oh well, onto the next one.


My main question for all of you, what's realistic to be looking for, and what should I expect in the job market as a 25 year old with outside sales experience? Is it even realistic for me to shoot for another outside sales position?


Otherwise I just feel like i'm staring down a hopeless barrel of getting stuck at a desk making phone calls. Is it entitled for me to be trying to find another outside position?

🚀 Career Goals
💺 Outside Sales
🗣 Interviewing
26
braintank
Politicker
22
Enterprise Account Executive
Any company that would fire you during training is a shitty company. Sorry you had to deal with that but good riddance! 
CuriousFox
WR Officer
8
🦊
I have to agree here. Good news is there are tons of sales jobs open.
SirCloseAlot23
Politicker
5
Business Development
🖕🏻that company
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
2
Officer of ♥️
+1
aSaaSinator69
Praised Answer
3
Business Development
Thousands of companies are hiring sales people. On to the next one. If they fired you for having a bad mock call after 1 day of training you dodged a bullet cause that is absurd. Pick yourself up, tighten up on your mocks, and go interview literally anywhere. Repvue, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, *cough* Bravado, are all you need to know where and where not to work. Go get em boss man.
salesguy6969
Valued Contributor
1
Sales Representative
Much appreciated! had a lot of family say the same, and I could definitely see that not being the most fun place to work based on training.
aSaaSinator69
Praised Answer
0
Business Development
I can’t imagine how miserable it would be after being there for a few months with that hostile of management. Just know that is not a good company, you still can sell, and the right one is out there. Happy hunting!
Pachacuti
Politicker
2
They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy
Don't give up based on a single experience.  And at 25, you're just starting out.
You wanna work in SaaS?  Keep sending out your resume.  You may not want to mention the previous company, but that's up to you.  
A starting position though will still be a lot more high volume cold calling.  If you can't do that, you may need to look elsewhere.
salesguy6969
Valued Contributor
1
Sales Representative
yeah that's why i'm mainly applying for outside gigs in things like manufacturing, i'm based in NJ so no shortage of that kind of stuff around here
SADNESSLieutenant
Politicker
2
Officer of ♥️
Here: Take this.  https://bravado.co/war-room/posts/should-u-quit-die-negotiate-or-find-a-better-job

All u need ^^^ to find the best job for u yung king. Any job that fires u for that is a blessing in disguise. u will do great. keep ur head up
salesguy6969
Valued Contributor
1
Sales Representative
hell yeah much appreciated!
bandabanda
Tycoon
1
Senior AE Mid Market
Well, I officially missed this guide. Solid stuff! @SADNESSLieutenant 
looper1010
Celebrated Contributor
2
Solutions Specialist
That's messed up.  On them and not you.  You're better off without them.  Great news is that there are a lot of companies hiring.  Hang in there! Are you looking for AE or BDR positions?
DungeonsNDemos
Big Shot
1
Rolling 20's all day
Sorry to hear about the setback, but it sounds like they were not looking to invest into their team. 
If you feel like you have no clue where to start, you might consider a FREE (I say free because there are paid scams) saas training platform, such as aspireship or all the free content on flip the script (becc holland). 

In the meantime keep interviewing and be intentional with who you connect with.
TheNegotiator
Arsonist
1
VP of Sales
First and foremost, DO NOT limit your owner options, and do not let bad companies, bad leaders and bad experience taint your mindset.

I’ve done both inside and outside sales. I’ve been (objectively speaking) outstandingly successful at both, I’m talking 300-500% the average reps output.  Outside sales was BY FAR AND AWAY more enjoyable, and healthier for me, mind and body.

Though I have heard of a few unicorns, in my experience you stand to make 3-5x on average in inside sales. Unfortunately that’s the way of the world. Corporate business happens indoors.  It’s also worth keeping in mind, you’re 25, and your body will not always be up to outside sales. Seriously consider what kind of skill set and experience you want to build next.

Conclusion: soulsearch very carefully before you pick your next challenge, but bear in mind that while learning cold calling can be an absolute bitch, it can be done. I went from being King of the Hill in D2D sales to stuttering and being hung up on, on the phones. It was shattering.  It was such a huge shock to the system. But, I worked through the attrition, and now I have phone skills most people can’t compete with.

It can be done. It can always be done. Steel your mind, and pick very carefully. IMHO, you’re at the exact age where your decisions start to matter, and don’t let anyone tell you different, that age is a thing and the consequences echo.

But, with all that said. Keep it light, have fun with it, and don’t beat yourself up man. Some dbag manager at a crappy company fired you. So what? It doesn’t say anything about who you are or what you’re worth. A good leader will recognize that, and you’ll find your place. 
FormerStartupJobHopper
Tycoon
0
AE
In SaaS in my experience, outside sales is often considered a promotion from inside sales (even though I'm the reverse of you. Inside with no desire to go outside). So you may struggle to land an outside sales role at your age with your experience level/industry.

I have to ask the obvious question, did you really bomb the mock calls that bad, or are they just unreasonable? I'd be suprised that you were that awful at cold calling with 3 years experience in sales, even in another industry.
salesguy6969
Valued Contributor
0
Sales Representative
So that's the first part is I am considering going a different path from Saas, I had zero prior experience with the industry going in, and based my desire for it on the fact I'm a huge computer nerd. Now looking at it based on my prior experience in technical sales I'm kind of thinking I wanna go back to doing physical products, have a few interviews with some pharma equipment and computer manufacturing equipment manufacturers so I'll see how those go!

As far as the call goes... I think I'm willing to take 50 percent blame on not having cold calling training prior, the other 50 percent is these guys were fresh off merging we were the first AE's hired they were still getting everyone on the same CRM etc. etc. so I had a few friends/colleagues afterwards tell me yeah that's unfortunately standard in a large PE backed business.
TennisandSales
Politicker
0
Head Of Sales
wow man....fired during training? Thats really shitty. 

and yes its realistic for you to shoot for another outside sales position. 

Just be sure you know exactly what you are looking for. 
thadeuce
Opinionated
0
SDR (Sales Development Rep)
Find an SDR role. There are a ton out there and plenty of managers willing to train you. That will help you get all of the foundational skills you will need to be successful as an AE. You should be able to make 75-90k OTE pretty easily.
Charito
Fire Starter
0
Senior Account Exec
You might want to check out "sweaty startups" - Nick Huber. Might be a better path for you. 
LegacySales
Politicker
0
Account Executive
If they fired you during the training, then they lost money and mental bandwidth. 
The worst thing they can do is interview, hire, and train someone then fire them after all of that. 
You'll find something else!
handysales
Politicker
0
Enterprise Sales Lead
That is batshit insane – agreed that your former company already sucks and you're better off not there. 


Keep up the hustle, you'll definitely find something! Believe in yourself!
Fnord
Praised Answer
0
VP of Sales
You dodged a bullet my friend. I’ve been hiring sales reps the last 5 years and can tell you there are more jobs than people. 
go and find work elsewhere. 
dadasaurus
Opinionated
0
Enterprise Account Executive
25 years old with outside experience?  You're kidding, right?  As my esteemed colleague above said, you totally dodged a bullet.  

Without even knowing the particulars, I can tell you they did you a favor:

1.  Low integrity move on their part
2.  Any company that interviews someone, goes through the entire hiring and vetting/reference checking process (if they didn't, that's on them!!!) and then shitcans you on day 1, you don't want to work for anyway.  
3.   With the present economic/inflationary situation (caused ENTIRELY by Putin 🤦🏻... sigh...), you can get 6 more sales jobs in a week, no problem.

If this was your first let down in your sales career, you're lucky as hell.  You'll have hundreds more.  So pick up the crumbs and move on, my friend.  You'll be fine, trust me.  And this is coming from a 58 yo sales manager still looking for work 8 months later after getting fired for 100% personal reasons.
10XQLA
Politicker
0
Medical Sales Assassin
Could not agree more, they did you a favor....I once heard a comment years ago and it's helped me a lot. "If you have to get beat up get beat up quick, get up and move on bro!!! You'll be fine as your sales skin thickens with experiences both good and bad. 
goose
Politicker
0
Sales Executive
I get it.  Some shitty company fires you.  We've been there.  But "hopeless barrel", "is it even realistic" and "entitled"?  Sounds like you need to figure some things out about yourself.  If you got a C in middle school were you thinking "oh, jeez this education thing might not be for me..."?  Come on with this sorry talk.  Take a beat and get back to it.
daivonsburneraccount
0
Sr Manager - Business Development & Enablement
that's terrible! If you want, I'm happy to chat with you about opportunities with us at MedTrainer. If nothing else, I can give you some advice on your search!