I was on the job hunt. going from jobless to back into the SDR gig. I had companies lined up to interview me, pouring into my inbox, CEO's reaching out directly to hire me.
More on that here ( https://bravado.co/war-room/posts/how-to-go-from-jobless-to-offer-in-4-days-update-on-job-hunt-1-offer-2-next-stage-3-in-1st-stage-lfg)
I had interviews going for TOP companies, 86k base, 75k base, 65k Base, 100% quota attainment, great culture and tech stack. But I wanted more, I wanted fast progression. So what did my dumbass do? You guessed it, I joined a series A, that was seemingly a 'great fit at the time', to help establish a sales function as their first SDR w the help of a sales coach and openminded Chiefs.
More on that here ( https://bravado.co/war-room/posts/yoyoyo-advice-for-establishing-a-sales-function-1st-sdr-ae-mgr-w-2-sdr)
I had let all my interviewers know exactly at that time why I wasn't going to continue forward with them and I had been extremely transparent in the stages of my other interview, reasons I would be leaning towards or away from either. I sent all my interviewers the same break up message:
I apologize but I’m going to have to pause our interviews for the time being.
I just received an offer today that I want to move forward with.
54-75k OTE with a promotion in 3 months of performance to 60-80k OTE.
Working with a fantastic sales coach to setup a sales function.
Get promoted to AE/ manager in 6 months of quota achievement.
Then ramp & coach other SDR’s and close business.
Working directly with two amazing female CEO, & COO in a successful privately owned company thats B2B and Saas.
I feel it really aligns with what I want as far as career growth, resume growth, and income potential.
So I want to take it and blow it out of the water.
I apologize, but I really appreciate the opportunity it would of been my next choice.
Thank-you for your time & interviewing me.
Some counter-offered me with more money and quicker promotions, one warned me of falsely promised promotion paths. But what I never expected was the answer to a couple questions:
- How do you structure and pay out OTE?
They promised 75k OTE but what they really did was give me 62k OTE and a promised end of the year bonus 'based on performance' with no indication of what the fuck that meant only that 'it would equal 75k if you did well'
- What are you Implementing/how much are you willing to spend on the tech stack?
They were willing to implement the extreme basics and unopen to anything else. This meant the base base hubspot, seamless, and sales navigator. where as I was promised they would do everything they need to in order to be successful. I soon found that working out a CRM with no sales process at all, from contacts, with no account links, no lead data, no intent data, no linkedin data, no company data, was a fucking shit show.
- Will there be any leads? Or marketing?
There was no such thing as a lead. There was no webinar/conference attendance. No lead lists, no past customers in a crm, no current customers in the crm. no potential customers in the crm. a total mindfuck.
- Has this sales coach done this before?
The sales coach lied to me, he told me he has done this before with other companies, as did the Chiefs. he hasn't. After a dissapointing performance and the lack therof in the first month I came to find the last time he sold something was me. before that it was in 2002. then he was in upper management for the next 20 years building an ego the size of Texas and learning corporate fuckery to make your head spin with gaslighting statements.
Yeah. tech stack and leads and coaching aren't everything. but they are to be considered. Jumping into a brand new field with no leadership on how to sell into it is daunting. The Chiefs have only ever done in person selling based on referrals and there sales process and mindset was stuck in 2002 along with the coach. They told me shit like 'this is the way we've been doing it for years, you dont need all that marketing or tech stuff, just LinkedIn and will power.' Yeah ok Linda.
My first three days there seemed to go well because I saw EVERYTHING that needed to be done and implemented to take this place from 02' to 2022. To make it into the Digital B2B selling powerhouse it could be. all of that was outlined here. I was so excited to make a difference and add to my resume that I helped do it all. I was going to wear all the hats, get all the support.
( https://bravado.co/war-room/posts/update-sadness-lieutennant-new-job-is-going-great)
@poweredbycaffeine told me:
'3 days in and you’re this confident? Can we skip to the sad part?
Jokes aside—good for you for landing somewhere that you can bring value to.'
To which I said:
"LMAO RIGHT - HOPEFULLY NEVER
ALSO THANKYOU FOR MAKING AN APPEARANCE ON MY POST SIR YOU ARE MY IDOL
Note: I am being extremely confident and optimistic"
To which, 2 months later I learned some lessons.
Mainly, you can only bring a horse to the water, but you can't make them drink it. I was pretty much a fucking growth consultant for these idiots. I should of been paid thousands for what I had to offer. Great product ideas, great marketing ideas, great selling ideas, great partner ideas, great growth ideas. The CEO and Team loved them all but the problem was I couldn't implement it all on my own. I started channels in the chats for each one, not a peep, I requested people to chime in and contribute there knowledge, nothing. I couldn't do it all on my own and I needed to start selling. So I did.
- Don't buy the horse and pony show - companies will say whatever they can to get you in, and once you sign, there's no going back. I might have signed up with a company with LESS pay, and LESS OTE, and pretty much a series A. They told me 'we will have this great sales coach with you, he will help you establish our sales process'. The sales coach was terrible. made everything worse. and non-existent (1-2 hrs a week of which was all bs talking no action)
- Don't let potential blind you from reality - While I was so excited to help this company start a revenue machine, all they cared about was to get a few meetings on the calendar. So I gave them 8.
quickly the sales process fell apart, after doing thousands of touches on the target contacts I had set up, there was no pipeline for new contacts in the right segment to reach out too.
They had me do a whole mini QBR where I tore into every detail of what could be improved, what worked well, and what was ass. They hated that. because it was mostly ass.
I'm more so pissed off that I sold myself on this place and let myself get sold by some sleezy ass wanna be sales coach who told me he would be there for me when he wasn't. He made it seem like these people need so much help and are going to do everything to implement everything. He said he would make calls and emails with me to figure out a sales process. He said he would figure out the tech stack, the funnel, the leads, all the things a manager should be doing but he did but fuck nothing. Now it's two months later, I am nowhere near confident in becoming an AE in a month with this shit show, or bringing sdr's in here, or with any kind of sales funnel/process.
I learned how to stand up to dumbass CEO's and Sales coaches, and tell them what's wrong with what they are doing. Show them what they promised me vs what they delivered but the harsh reality is that THAT shit doesn't matter once you've signed the offer they have you by the balls. For fucks sake. I haven't heard from the sales coach for weeks. The chiefs have there head so far up there ass they can't see shit. And now they are trying to tell me that I'm making excuses. like NO. You made promises, we had an agreement and you fucking failed you pieces of shit. All I did was make it happen for your pathetic asses, I gave you the ball and you should of ran with it. I gave excellent recommendations time and time again but you want to defer to half ass over paid underqualified nobodies to tell you to do nothing. well that's not how you build a successful, revenue generating, scaling, B2B Digital SDR-AE org. I hate to break it to you. I may not be a fucking CRO but I know a thing or two about what's needed to be successful.
Anyways. Rant over. Had to warn you savages on my own skin.
That being said. I am taking all my own fucking advice and getting the fuck out of here and thankfully continuing the interviews that I left off back in February, that's the power of transparency and not burning bridges but holy fuck am I disappointed in myself for not catching all this shit and being 'positive and optimistic'. Don't get me wrong autonomy is nice, but not like this. Give me a fucking modern organization please for fucks sake.
So the warning? Think twice before joining that 'start-up' and drinking the 'kool-aid' because holy fucking hell between flaking management, changing comps, and but fuck tech and process. This makes @funcoupons torture chamber seem fun. Diamond tipped whips? Yes please.
That is all.
all my love,
the kid
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