TheAsSaaSsin

Account Executive

Jumping ship - How do you know its not a dinghy?

I would love to hear some of the criteria that everyone uses when evaluating a new job opportunity. We all know that just as we put our best foot forward in interviews, so do companies. Being in sales it is of course crucial to know that you are going to be joining a company that supports sales (both from a resource and comp perspective), however how do you know if you are making the right move?

Companies can promise the OTE of your dreams, but if they aren't equipped to assist you in achieving your targets it doesn't mean shit!

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funcoupons

WR Officer

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Ask questions surrounding hard numbers:

- What are the monthly/yearly quotas?

- Is there a ramp period for new employees? What does that look like?

- Are there weekly/daily metrics that need to be met?

- How many reps attained quota last year? How many exceeded?

- What are the OTEs for someone in their first year, second year, third year etc.

Ask questions about how they're going to help you:

- Describe a day in the life of a rep. Ask questions regarding things like whether you're expected to prospect on your own or if you have SDRs, are you responsible for account management once a deal is signed? That sort of thing.

- What does the onboarding/training process look like? Reading from material? Hands on learn as you go? Mentorship program?

- What kind of technology do the salespeople use to perform their duties?

- What would make someone successful in this position? What would stop someone from being successful?

- Is there future opportunity for advancement? (If you're interested in doing something other than AE in the future.)

Ask questions about the company as a whole:

- Describe the culture of the company and of the sales team.

- How do you describe your management style? (If talking to someone you'll directly report to.)

- What are your hopes for the sales team in one year, how about five years?

Anyone that avoids answering the above questions or gives vague answers is a red flag. And obviously, if you don't like what you hear it's a red flag as well.

My last piece of advice is to pay close attention to how they treat you as an interviewee. Are they warm and open in conversations or do they treat the interviews like a chore? Do they get back to you when they say they will? Is their interview process reasonable for the position or are they making you jump through a bunch of hoops? If there's a panel interview pay attention to how they treat each other as well. Do they seem to have a good rapport as a team, treating each other with respect and maybe even cracking a few jokes or do you sense tension/unhappiness or that one person dominates the conversation all the time? If you get to tour the office and people are working there, take note of the vibe there too. The physical office can give you some clues - does it look comfortable and bright or is it full of junky furniture and depressing? Are people chatting happily in the kitchen or hunkered down in their desks looking half asleep?

We're salespeople and very good at reading people - use this to your advantage.

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

I'm falling short of words now 😬

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

In the past 6 months I left a job I'd been at 5 years and absolutely loved. Jumped to a start-up that seemed great but ended up being a shit show. Captured my thoughts here: https://bravado.co/war-room/posts/somewhat-comprehensive-guide-to-avoiding-a-toxic-startup

The biggest piece of advice is to aggressively back channel (e.g. reach out to current and former reps via LinkedIn).

Fwiw I'm leaving my shit show to go to a company full of former colleagues. At least that way I know they culture is one I can jive with.

TheAsSaaSsin

Contributor

Account Executive

That is great! I will definitely give that a read. Really appreciate all your insights over the past couple days.

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

I've had 2 weeks of downtime in between gigs so figured I'd fire up Bravado and try to get some commission!

The other big thing (may be obvious) if you're looking at a start-up/scale-up is "triple, triple, double". You want to find an org whose revenue has tripled twice then doubled (at least) year over year.

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

SaaS Eater

@braintank and I each wrote a few posts about this exact topic. The one he linked is fantastic. I just wrote about how I chose the current startup I am at here:

https://bravado.co/war-room/posts/your-most-common-questions-answered-should-i-leave-my-current-role-for-x-edition

hh456

Celebrated Contributor

sales

Do your research, follow your gut instinct, reach out to other employees at your target company and ask how they like working there, pros/cons, etc.

Pretty easy to figure out if you're going to a place with great funding and no support, no funding and great support, or good funding and good support (i'd choose the 3rd).

LordOfWar

Tycoon

Blow it up

Some great answers here, I'm being recruited now by a firm and have a few reservations myself as I joined companies in the past that couldn't deliver on my efforts and lost deals due to production/quality issues.

I now take into account all of the below items:

- Quota, expected and past fulfillment
- Base salary and termination/severance policy
- Comp plan including payment frequency, ramps and incentives
- Equity options
- # of reps (aka how easy am I to replace?)
- Position in the market
- Historic success and future scalability
- Funding sources and ownership
- 5 and 10-year growth plan (company and my role)
- Management's history and qualifications/experience
- Reporting procedures and day-to-day expectations
- Travel requirements
- Expenses (minimal out of pocket and company card)
- Existing business, % new and revolving, % win rate and why
- Buying cycles, timing and average level and # of decision-makers
- Average deal size
- New product design and launch timeframes

For my specific role I would also be interested in:
- Am I to work as an IC and/or management?
- # of reports, existing and expected to hire
- Budget for marketing and sales training

It is much easier to interview when you are already working and are not urgently looking. You can be more choosy and it certainly helps with negotiating comp since they have to entice you away from where you are vs. just open their arms and catch you.

Where I'm looking now will have to basically double my salary, give a bonus to cover lost commissions and have a nice termination package to entice me to join. It's a start-up, so lots of risks vs. staying where I am now.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Damn. This is killer.

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TheAsSaaSsin

Jumping ship - How do you know its not a dinghy?

9 comments

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