CKamapguy

Sales Director

Just venting about my $hit circumstances

I work for a privately owned, privately funded, 7 year SaaS company with 120 clients and 15 employees. Been there six months and report to CEO. Niche local government apps. License is 10k-500k annual.

I was recruited by CEO. I originally was told National sales with two other peers. A month in I was told moving to regions and I cover an 8 state area with 450 potential client entities. I am three states away from my assigned region.

Long story, thought we were spending money on data and tech. No. I have the most basic version of HubSpot which sucks, marketing sucks, no inbound leads, no SDR no BDR, no website SEO, no budget, no help with key contacts research, no way to email sequences, no travel budget, one of our product VPs is taking my leads and booking meetings and moving deals to his name.

Our marketing leader is in his mid 20s and WAY in over his head, good at graphics and social media, bad at writing, clueless about CRM but “manages it”. Our file share is a hot mess and I have been told our marketing material / slicks are being redone. They don’t have any documented pricing formulas and every time I get a client to the point of let’s talk budget, the CEO talks in circles about value and ROI and looks like a used car salesman that can’t be trusted.

Their PPTs are full of useless tech speak and faux benefits and any attempt at getting some emotional ties and quantitative benefit info in the sales deck is ignored meanwhile they want a 2023 goal of 7 million net new.

I promised the CEO I would not leave when he hired me. Now I think I need to write a Jerry McGuire-esque document that lays out all the issues and a plan to fix, if they follow I stay and if they don’t I get fired… HELP!!!! ADVICE!!!!

👑 Sales Strategy

☁️ Software Tech

12

13 comments

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CuriousFox

WR Officer

7

🦊

Oof @poweredbycaffeinewould die.

Diablo

Politicker

6

Sr. AE

It looks like a real shit and your post conveys an emotion that you don’t like your job at all. It’s just 6 month - did you try to explain the importance of tech stack in place ? Any reason why it’s not adopted yet as that’s the basic thing any sales org needs (if serious about business).

Honestly, I would give my feedback and see if things are moving in the right direction and wait for some more time before concluding my decision.

CKamapguy

Fire Starter

3

Sales Director

Thus far any attempt to discuss is shut down. I am told we are running lean and that I need to find success with what I am given. To improve our HubSpot instance it’s actually a 10x cost jump!!! I am leaning towards advocating we migrate to Salesforce before we get a massive history built up. I just don’t think they will listen. Here is my main point. In the current environment I don’t see more than 1-2M in sales being achieved. If they want 7M, we need a much more organized machine!!

Coastal_crusher

Politicker

2

Sales Director

@CKamapguyhave you asked hubspot if they have startup pricing through some kind of incubator? I got HS Sales and Marketing for like 200/month or some crazy discount a few months ago

Diablo

Politicker

1

Sr. AE

That is bad. These are investments, to get more they have to spend at least some. They got to understand that you can 3X your sales by doing what and how you’re doing.

As @Coastal_crushermentioned you might present the best deal from these targeted companies. If it’s still a no, you will have to make a choice.

Coastal_crusher

Politicker

4

Sales Director

I've been in a similar situation before where things where we had a good product but everything else was a shitshow. We lost deals for incompetence and issues I had predicted ahead of time.

What I can tell you is that I learned (the hard way) the importance of managing up. Set your ego aside if you don't want to get fired - as long as you can bring in deals, don't worry about anything else cause clearly your higher ups do not. I would have a honest word about that sneaky VP tho - wtf is he doing focusing on sales instead of his OWN dept.

Most importantly, please dont give a rat's arse about your 'promise' as he clearly has not held up his end of the bargain. If you weren't adhering to your arrangement they would drop you in a heartbeat so treat them the same. You can use this as paid interview time and collect that sweet severance cheque when they realize you stopped caring months prior.

BlueJays2591

Politicker

2

Federal Business Dev Director

I would deal with the Product VP taking your leads and deals first. Your tech stack is pretty bad and needs to be addressed. The company needs to spend money to be successful. There is being frugal and then there is being cheap.

Pachacuti

Politicker

2

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

I actually understand your situation better than you think, but I will remain anonymous and not say more.

You have to look after yourself. Can YOU make sales? Can you make the money you want? Can you make the impact you want in '23? That's what you need to be asking yourself.

I have landed at places with the exact same circumstances and have both excelled and epically failed. You need to determine which one is your more likely future there and act accordingly.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

2

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Sorry this has happened.

They've more than broken their word, and you don't owe it to the CEO to stick it out. I'm thinking that he knew this was going to be a bad situation, which is why he extracted that promise.

If it was only 1 or 2 things that were unsatisfactory, sometimes you can make that work. It's a lot, though, and not fixable by you.

I'd be looking for a new job, and would deliver all the data points about why you're leaving as you are paid and out the door.

Sellerguy

Opinionated

1

Sellerguy

Why do you feel you need to keep your promise of not leaving when it’s so blatant that he chose not to keep any of his when recruiting you? I’d be interviewing yesterday. It’s your life and livelihood on the line and you’re clearly pushing several boulders up Mount Everest.

And if he lies about what’s in it for you to get you to join, the company lies about the benefits they provide, and he can’t close deals…imagine what else they’ll lie to you about in the future. I would not stick around to find out

jefe

Arsonist

1

🍁

Sounds like a bit of a shit show :(

Do you think you can influence anything at all? If not, you need to think about how well you can do and then make the choice that's best for YOU

activity

Politicker

0

VP, Business Development

I would make the move now. Seems like this company could be affected in a recession. Gotta take care of yourself and your family first and foremost.

sketchysales

Politicker

0

Sales Manager

From the sounds of things it would seem you have a fair bit of experience in the industry? Im just curious why they would steamroll that. In a small company, generally every voice, especially if you are in a senior role has something to listen to imo.

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