Panda4489

Head of Some Shit

Is SaaS Sales Hiring broken?

I've been in Sales for my entire career 10+ years. Made the pivot to SaaS 3-4 years ago. The transition was easy for me, I'm constantly on Linux Academy/ACG anyway trying to keep my product knowledge up to par. But... thinking about friends of mine who are in "legacy" industries and now trying to make the pivot to tech for slightly better money and pay... They're fucked. I know seasoned AEs that are being passed up for SDR roles because they've never been in Tech and most companies I've seen (-Gong And a few others) have shitty enablement that dont enable their SDRs or AEs with good enough product knowledge.

Are the guys and gals from non tech companies screwed before they even try to make the transition into tech? It seems like even SDR roles are requiring some tech experience...

☁️ Software Tech

✌️ Growing Pains

🧠 Advice

15 comments

Sort by:

Smithy

Politicker

Director of Sales

SaaS, as an industry, preaches diversity and empowerment, but will literally pretend like you don't exist if you haven't worked in SaaS before.

It's like that all the way up the ladder. a seed level company wants a VP with experience in getting to Series A, even if they have been a serial failure after getting the Series A.

They are now telling SDRs that it's OK to stay an SDR for a career as they don't want to keep their promotion overpromise from the interview.

SaaS is an exceptionally narrow minded 'industry' when it comes to hiring and they still want to claim that they aren't. Therein lies the problem.

Panda4489

Politicker

Head of Some Shit

Amen to this

BCD

Politicker

BDR

preach

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

The problem is that most folks want to join the next pre-IPO startup and expect that their background makes them a fit, even if they have no tech experience. Join smaller stage companies, build your skillset, enjoy the hustle, and then take cracks at Sr AE/Ent roles once you've got your chops.

Too many folks want to ride unicorns when they should expect to herd a few donkeys first.

Panda4489

Politicker

Head of Some Shit

This my friend... Is facts 😂
Mostly lol

AlecBaldwinsHairline

Valued Contributor

Head of Sales Development

It's been broken

CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

One of our best reps doesn't know how to work half of the tools on his computer. Technical experience itself doesn't matter from what I have seen, the issue is SaaS has very different buying/selling motions from other industries.

If you have not sold into IT/Security teams before, it can be challenging at fist so that may be what is causing some friction. I am looking at new roles, and have not once been asked about my technical abilities - only what LOBs I typically sell into and who my normal EB is.

We all use our SEs for the technical stuff anyway.

BCD

Politicker

BDR

Truth. Going from an SDR to an AM in a non SaaS org was completely different selling cycle than I was use to seeing as an SDR at a SaaS org

Rallier

Politicker

SDR Manager and Consultant

Interesting perspective. I've worked in saas for a while now and most companies don't expect you don't have any technical skills. Of course that entirely depends on the industry, but the vast majority of them are non-technical roles

Panda4489

Politicker

Head of Some Shit

I agree the vast majority of sales roles are non technical. I feels like that's where the brokenness lies. Why would someone need tech experience for an SDR role or even CAE role of they're legit closers coming from another vertical? They shouldn't.

And even if the sales cycle and buyers are different. If you have an over performer, shouldn't it be up to the RD for that AE to coach them up to learn those nuances?

stanrym

Valued Contributor

CEO

just use your prospecting skills to reach out to your future boss. if you do a good job, I think there is a problem with getting a job. SDRs get a ton of training so it doesn't matter. might be different with higher positions.

KPIMaster

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

All these companies are like the girl who wants a 6'7" guy, thats in great shape, could have any girl but only wants her, and likes to cook and clean.

steakalldayerryday

Opinionated

Yep. An overwhelming % of SaaS sales hiring managers are white.

CaneWolf

Politicker

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

No, SaaS hiring isn't broken. They need to go to bigger SaaS (Salesforce being the most obvious example) companies that will hire people for their business knowledge. A lot of the start-ups fancy themselves as something new and act accordingly. (They're not and their actions are dumb). Some companies will definitely value their legacy knowledge as well.

SaaSguy

Tycoon

Account Executive

Sometimes you need to take a step back to jump forward, embrace the hustle and spend a year as an SDR and earn your stripes. The earning ceiling for the average SaaS salesperson is a lot higher than other common selling industries.

Bravado is a community of trusted sales professionals endorsed by their customers.

Products

The War Room Jobs Salary Guide Tech Sales U

Company

About Us How It Works Blog Bug Bounty

Contact

Press Careers

If you are hired as a contract sales rep by a Bravado customer, we may ask you to prove access to the employee email account provided to you by that customer. This data will be shared with customers to track your sales productivity; customers can use this data to confirm you meet the minimum activity requirements to pay out your ramp stipend and commission.

Panda4489

Is SaaS Sales Hiring broken?

15 comments

Related posts

SaaS sales terminology glossary

For Hiring Managers - Favorite sales recruiting agency

Hiring sales people with no sales experience