tonysoprano

Sr. AE

Interviewing when no one at my company is hitting quota

Haven't posted on here in a min but wanted some advice

I've been at my co for almost 3 years now. I'm the top rep on my team (by far) and not even coming close to our unattainable quota. I barely hit quota last year and it was almost doubled this year with no updates to our product(s) marketing strategy, and we laid off all our BDRs.

When talking to recruiters or applying to new jobs, it feels like they hear the quota stuff, and I get tossed to the side immediately.

I have a lot of job security in this company, but leadership is stingy af when it comes to a raise, and with a higher quota, by commish percentages are even lower now.

Am I stuck here in the current state of the job market? or is there another way I can talk around the quota conversation besides the fact that I have sold more than the rest of my team combined?

tia

🚀 Career Goals

🗣 Interviewing

13

26 comments

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oldcloser

Arsonist

21

💀

Here's a thought that nobody will agree with. Lie. Just tell them you're killing it. #1 on the team. Y-O-Y personal rev growth. Percentage of quota last year. This year isn't done yet. I can't imagine telling a recruiter that I'm sitting at 72% and basically out of pipe. Hear me out...

How would they ever know? Job verification happens with HR. HR has no idea where you sit unless you've been PIP'd. Even when they know, they're not going to say it. They can't! Huge potential for liability. Depending on your state, probably illegal.
You're sitting there at the top of your team's food chain. You've got a strong 3-year stint, verifiable and still cooking. You and your current org are the only ones who know anything. You gotta flip this script.

You'd be freakishly lucky to have someone with my chops.
I am really fucking good at what I do.
I am the top seller my the org. Nobody is even close.

Why should randomly-generated, board-appeasing, leadership-dreaming, insane quotas dictate your future. They've got nothing to do with you.

Can I get an amen?

CuriousFox

WR Officer

10

🦊

📣📣📣

oldcloser

Arsonist

3

💀

😂 sometimes you just nail it

CuriousFox

WR Officer

2

🦊

I amaze myself sometimes

Sunbunny31

Politicker

4

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

AMEN.
And HR operating as gatekeepers for incoming sales candidates using attainment as a disqualifier often have no clue what sales is all about and how the market has been the past few years, with overhiring and CROs focusing on saturation rather than well-executed sales strategy. So...make yourself look as good as possible.

Modro

Valued Contributor

2

Senior Account Executive

Agree with this!! To add to this, make sure you write fake numbers down as well as deals, the size of deals and their names, and how you closed them and get confident about talking about them so you come across solid when you’re interviewing with the hiring manager!

Rosie

Catalyst

1

Sales Director

Amen!

ER0173

Opinionated

1

Sr. Business Development Manager

AMEN!!!!

ManifestSuccess

Good Citizen

1

Account Executive

Amen

Sunbunny31

Politicker

11

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

The recruiters or gatekeepers during the hiring process use attainment as a measure to disqualify reps. The best key to getting around that is to network into your next job, where you can have an advocate to promote you.
My other suggestion right now is to mention the attainment last year, and that this year is still not decided, and mention your placement amongst the team.

GDO

Politicker

4

BDM

Yeah leveraging your network is key

tonysoprano

Big Shot

1

Sr. AE

Thanks!

BTQ

Politicker

4

Account Manager

When you talk about missing quota how do you twist it into a positive when talking to recruiters? Do you let them know you dont have BDRs
I don't think you're stuck there and I would continue to apply but judging by stingy commish % and removing BDRs those are some red flags.
Goodluck!

tonysoprano

Big Shot

3

Sr. AE

Yeah I share that my pipeline is 90% self-gen due to lack of BDRs. The twist is my rank on the team, so I share my attainment and how far ahead I am than the next closest person

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

2

Director, Revenue Enablement

Don’t even explain that’s it’s due to lack of BDRs. It’s because of you being you.

When you say you generate 90%, that alone is F’n amazing.

As soon as you say because of no BDRs I’m now wondering why it’s not 100%.

kindagoodae

Executive

3

Account Executive

I’m curious about this too. Our new logo team will literally have 1 person going to Prez Club this year and all the BDR’s are out.

oldcloser

Arsonist

3

💀

Bullshit quotas have nothing to do with you. I wouldn't admit any sort of attainment to anyone. No spin required. We're so trained to own this shit. Time to dump it.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

2

Sales Rep

I would be leading with rank on your team, mention a quarter where you did your best on ask about your attainment.

jefe

Arsonist

2

🍁

This is really the only path in these situations.
Network in when you can, as @Sunbunny31 laid out, but if not then do this.

2

Retired Sales Professional

Focus on the metrics that made you top dog, this will stand out at a company that has realistic goals.

Pachacuti

Politicker

2

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

When you know about something - talk about it.
When you don't - make it up.
-David Lee Roth

I feel this can apply to your situation.

fidelcashflow

Catalyst

2

Account Executive

LIE BRO. Jesus Christ. They are not gonna ask you to pull up sfdc. Their verification is interviewing you and if you sound like you're full of shit, then you're def not a top performer. Obviously don't say you're crushing but say you're barely hitting your number while almost no one else is. You want longevity and you're not gonna get it there.

pirate

Big Shot

1

🦜☠️ Account Executive

I once worked for a company who was soo quota driven. And they had insane amount of inbound. Currently in a different kind of role and I get a lot of slack because I build patch up from scratch and do a lot of internal external events etc. Just focus on that, focus on how much of a team player you are or quick learner etc. Or if you missed quota, go into how you were working your way back to achieving etc. Etc

WalkOnBy

1

Account Executive

Recruiters are dumb as hell. They're literally ticking off checkboxes on those screen calls. You just lie to them and say you were 114% of quota or whatever. They don't have the time (or the understanding) to know why you missed quota and how you were in a situation you couldn't win. You can explain that to the hiring manager if you feel the need.

ManifestSuccess

Good Citizen

0

Account Executive

Oldcloser nailed it. And this is surely what everyone has been doing all along anyways. He covered it perfectly but I'll add this.
Most companies have team of reps that are not hitting quota. This is because most tech companies have useless products that only exist during times of low interest rates (free money, especially VC funds), and don't have good market fit (nobody needs them). The execs have received said funds and promised to grow the team so the problem gets even worse as they add more sales reps who have no work to do.
The other reason is that most sales leaders have arbitrarily set the quota at an imaginary number that nobody has ever done. This number is calculated based on how much money they promised the board divided by the number of reps they have hired. Need $10M more money? Hire ten more reps at $1M per year quota. Done!
So I think it is a little funny when one of those companies expects to hire only sales reps at 100+% quota.
I've been at several companies like this, but I have usually been one of the top reps. While most reps sold very little I was able to close some of the deals we had going. So I would lead with "I'm the leading rep in my company" which was true. I'd be able to give clear details on why, and how I got around the obstacles that came up to close the deals, and what I learned that I could bring with me to their company. If pressed in detail about quota specifically after that, it's a red flag in my opinion that they only care about that instead of the details I've given which I think are the most valuable thing for a salesperson. So then you could decide what the quota should have been based on your territory size and how much help you got from marketing (none) and say you were at 102% (100 even sounds made up...)

0

Chief Sales & Marketing Officer

You're in Sales...SPIN TO WIN. As a former executive recruiter, I would not recommend lying. That never looks good. Integrity matters. But you can tell your story in a way that equivocates a bit on the answer. Put on your resume what you said. You were the number one sales person out of X people on the team. That there has been nearly 100% annual turnover and based on your solid performance, you are still standing. If the quota was rated on a curve, then you hit 100%. Some companies are soooo unrealistic when it comes to quota. Discuss your deals in brief but compelling detail to demonstrate you were the salesperson of record. Be armed with your best sales successes. Having been SVP of Sales for a F500, I couldn't care if you made quota at another company. I was more interested in have you ever sold deals of the size we are targeting. The deals often took a year to put together, so an annual quota was meaningless. I want to know if you can sell successfully to the C-Suite? Will any of them be a reference for you? Play to your strengths. Don't make lying into one of your core strengths.

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