ithinkyoushouldclose

Account Executive

Leave first tech sales gig ?

Finally got my first job in tech sales August of 2022 thanks to all of you here at Bravado. Been there a year. Finished 160% of plan in my first 9 months selling. In my first full year of sales now and over plan too. My original plan was to go into tech sales for a year and then look to make that next move for bigger base / OTE.

However, I haven't really been thinking about leaving until lately when I did some math on my current territory. I sell new logos and client upgrades but they want us mostly focused on client upgrades since they're easier to get in the door and easier to close.

I have 367 current clients. After only a year with this territory, I only have 17 clients left that are HQ in my territory, in my employee size range, legit companies, that I haven't met with or they haven't told me no yet. Not sure if these are good or bad numbers or normal.

I can focus on new logos but no one else in our market has had any luck with new logos, even our major accounts team that is new logos only -- this whole team has never performed and had a lot of turnover.

The gig is pretty easy, laid back culture, low admin, and you can make a lot of money, but if the opportunity isn't there the money isn't there to be made. They also just made us start coming in the office on Mondays and Fridays which has been awful. I'd like to find something fully remote as well.

So, time to leave while my numbers look good or stick it out for another year? I know some people have been saying it's tough out there right now.

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18 comments

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BmajoR

Arsonist

7

Account Executive

Sounds like it would be a good time to leave but keep in mind that most gigs you're going to look at are new logo, hunter-heavy type roles so the success you've enjoyed so far may not translate well.

ithinkyoushouldclose

Contributor

1

Account Executive

good point. My last role before this one that I was at for 6 years was all new logos/prospects so I'm used to that sale albeit not in tech sales.

BmajoR

Arsonist

3

Account Executive

Then I'd think you'd be fine. You'll need to lean into that prior 6 years a lot to show them you're not afraid to hunt.

That said, I say make the move now while you're on a hot streak.

jefe

Arsonist

1

🍁

@BmajoR hit all the key points.
The combination of the two experiences should allow you to get something, but timing is everything.

GDO

Politicker

1

BDM

farming vs hunting is a huge thing! That's something I learned the hard way

oldcloser

Arsonist

4

💀

I see this as a time to parlay your experience and success into a bigger opportunity. Thing is, you gotta find one. There’s a lot of tire kicking going on. Recruiter reaching out then ghosting. Agree with @DungeonsNDemos - get the offer - weigh it out. The spot you’re in is not bad.

Diablo

Politicker

2

Sr. AE

Do you have offers already or considering this? If you want to jump ships, do a litmus test - apply and see what companies have to offer and if that’s something you want.

ithinkyoushouldclose

Contributor

0

Account Executive

no offers yet, just taking calls from recruiters and companies that have been reaching out. That makes sense though.

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

3

Rolling 20's all day

Doesn’t hurt to take offers but I would strongly recommend mapping out the pros and cons first of making a change

CuriousFox

WR Officer

1

🦊

I absolutely agree. Grass ain't always greener.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

1

Sales Rep

Never hurts to test the waters and interview to see what is out there

Pachacuti

Politicker

1

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Well it never hurts to start putting out feelers. You should definitely be doing that.

Regarding leaving or staying… stay till you have reason to leave. Either you get a better offer or it gets so bad they let you go.

They are right though, farming is easier than hunting which is why hunting typically pays more but is higher risk. So between now and EoY, go after the farming oppts.

saaskicker

Celebrated Contributor

1

Enterprise AE

You've DQ's 350 accounts in your territory, you're working 5% of your book of business. Understand some may have gone out of biz, but this might be a time to go into those accounts that told you no or you thought weren't great the first pass and take a new approach there. Leaving 350 accounts untouched in this type of territory/sales model is going to be tough for you to hit your number or look busy.

ithinkyoushouldclose

Contributor

0

Account Executive

I should add - out of those 367 I only have about 125 over 50 employees. I could sell those under 50 employees but it takes special approval to sell them and I get way less money per deal. My thinking is am I wasting my time and effort with these smaller deals that's almost all that I have left when I could be on to a better opportunity with a higher base and/or better market, territory, etc.

saaskicker

Celebrated Contributor

0

Enterprise AE

put the small deals on auto pilot if you can. 10 small deals can equal one big deal. understand it sucks you make less - but bizarre your book of business would have accounts that require special approval to sell, that's your job?

ithinkyoushouldclose

Contributor

0

Account Executive

Yeah I wish. No way to do that. The smaller companies usually take more effort and hand holding than the bigger ones. And yes, they want us focused on 50-150 employee size. So they don't incentivize us to work the smaller companies.

ThatNewAE

Big Shot

0

Account Executive - Mid enterprise

It's tough out there, right now, yes.
But then again - it's tough inside as well. So choose your dirt.
If I were you (though I am not), I would bounce mate!

ithinkyoushouldclose

Contributor

0

Account Executive

Not sure how this works or if any of you will see this or not so I may just put this into a new post.

UPDATE: So I am in the process with 2 other competitors in my industry right now and working on 2nd round of interviews and already chatted with 2 current reps at both companies.
Want to get some of your opinions on these:

First Company

-Pros: bigger base of 100k, 250 OTE, get a BDR, protected territory, dedicated 1-1 relationship with my Solutions Consultant to help on the analysis/disco calls and demos, we get inbound leads, 15% commish on each deal before quota, 25% after quota, all remote, no office to report to

-Cons: 550k quota which seems pretty high for a first year gig (my current quota is 175k this year, 91k last year for reference and P-club is around $350k), not sure about product market fit with higher price tags than other competitors and high implementation costs too, they also want us hosting events every month or two which I'm not a huge fan of but could do it if it means more deals

Second Company

-Pros: I feel like I would like this gig more, clicked with the manager more, lower quota so I can hit multipliers faster and do also get a SE/SC on disco and demos, can get leads from partners too

-Cons: Lower OTE, lower base, lower commish - 5% at sign, other 5% after they implement, can tier up throughout the year though, but they want me doing drops in territory 1-2 days a week (not a huge fan of drops but I guess I could do it if I'm getting paid to drive and they're productive)

Thoughts?

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