tobygoofy

Business Development Representative

Valued Contributor

Looking for a way out of sales?

Like many others before me, the grind of sales has really gotten to me. I've been in a SDR role for over 2 years across 2 companies, thinking I wanted to move up to an AE role. My current company gave me the opportunity to dip my toes by taking over cross sells for our current clients, on top of my SDR duties. It's been fine but I'm totally burnt out of being an SDR (constant rejection, tons of cold outreach, low commission) and I'm realizing my heart really isn't into sales. I've tried it for a couple years now and ironically I think I sold myself on the idea of being an AE.

My question is where do I go from here? I don't feel like my skills are very transferable and have no clue what kind of roles are adjacent to sales that I can pivot to.

This is my first ever post here so apologies if I'm breaking any sort of norms here, any help is appreciated!

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TennisandSales

Politicker

6

Head Of Sales

I have seen SDRs make jumps to other departments: marketing, CS, specifically.

I would have a conversation with you boss.

Let them know how you are feeling and see if they have any suggestions.

Id make it clear that you will continue to work hard at your current role but that you would like t see what other opportunities are there in your org.

Staying in the org might be the best chance? Not quite sure

tobygoofy

Valued Contributor

1

Business Development Representative

I’m also not that happy at my current company. I’ve been here for almost 2 years and haven’t gotten a single raise, even for inflation, and the product we sell is pretty nebulous. I’ve applied to some other jobs but I’m not finding much success, and I’m concerned other companies aren’t going to want to take a chance on something completely new. How do you jump over to marketing? I feel like I don’t really have the chops for that but maybe I’m misunderstanding what goes on in a marketing role

TennisandSales

Politicker

6

Head Of Sales

ah I see ok that is good to know.

so In my opnion the easiest transition could be to customer success. (if you really want to be out of sales)

There your goal is to help ppl use the product more effectively.

I would call out on your resume that you are looking to move to a new direction and want to help customers use the product they purchased more effectively.

Skills you have:
1. you learn quickly
2. Quickly understand people paint points
3. are good at aligning the product to solve a problem
4. effectively communicate

im sure there are many more but this is just off the top of my head

tobygoofy

Valued Contributor

1

Business Development Representative

This is all great stuff, thank you so much! I really appreciate it

jefe

Arsonist

1

🍁

I agree - success would definitely be the easiest move, and it seems like you'd enjoy it. The lowpoints of SDR-life aren't really a thing when you're managing a book of business post-sale.

tobygoofy

Valued Contributor

1

Business Development Representative

And I’m assuming on resumes/applications, my experience with cross sells should be highlighted? Any other relevant experience in BDR work you can think of?

TennisandSales

Politicker

1

Head Of Sales

so I wouldnt say cross selling should be highlighted.

but it could be an example. the skill you want to highlight is: the ability to understand what the customers future state is, and make suggestions on how to use your tool to get there.

Gasty

Notable Contributor

4

War Room Community Manager

Marketing! Go into Marketing and be on the side of SDRs / Sales. We always wanted an insider in there. Take one for the team?

Jbeans

Opinionated

4

Director of Sales

I can’t imagine being a SDR/ BDR for 2 years… I get that prospecting is a big part of sales… but being able to dig in and work with clients that trust/respect/ me is where I get my feels. That’s what keeps me going during the grind - you need to have something like that to get you through, and if you don’t? You’ll hate sales. Who wouldn’t? Dialling for dollars is not fun. If the passion is burnt out, just make sure it’s actually “sales” as a career you’re over vs just ready to move up the ladder!! Everyone has lows in their job where they question wtf they are doing …when that takes over your whole mindset you need a full shift - either in companies or roles. Sales people imo can go anywhere- inside sales is like boot camp for life. Good luck!!

Sharkismyspiritanimal

Good Citizen

0

Sr Account Executive, Enterprise Software

“Dialing for dollars” is a great way to put it!

Pachacuti

Politicker

1

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Do you have a degree? What's it in?
If its business, you can look into Customer Service/ Account Mngt, Project Mngt, Marketing, etc...
You can also leverage your "experience" and go into Sales Enablement ;)

tobygoofy

Valued Contributor

0

Business Development Representative

I’ve been looking at some sales enablement, I definitely have a good idea of what does and doesn’t work in terms of training salespeople. I don’t have a business degree, but just started a Google course on project management

Forrester

1

Sales Exec

Depending on your strengths and enjoyments, also explore operations and analyst roles. There are some entry-level roles where a little spreadsheet acumen and salesforce experience goes a long way. And let’s be honest, bring salesperson hustle to any role and you can thrive so my suggestion is align your interests as best as possible.

Draw a big x on a piece of paper and the x axis (horizontal one) becomes your hate to enjoy meter from left to right. Then the y axis becomes your good at it to bad at it meter.(good at the top).

List out all of the things you do and things other roles have and they fall into one of these four quadrants
Top left (hate it but good at it)
Top right (love it and good at it)
Bottom left (hate it and bad at it)
Bottom right (love it but bad at it)

Try to live in the right at much as possible, preferably top right and your hobbies and interests/ growth projects are the bottom right.

Cut out the left.

NotCreativeEnough

Big Shot

0

Professional Day Ruiner

SDR's are considered entryways into a lot of companies for many roles, not just sales. I've seen them jump to marketing, customer success, account management, partner enablement, management. Talk to your boss and see what options are available to you within in the company and what training is out there. Explain your goals and what you would like to see in the future. If he's any good at his job he'll be able to help you transition in to something within the company that you would enjoy more.

GDO

Politicker

0

BDM

Try to move to another company. If sales is still a no-no you’re more sure it’s not for you. Also look into marketing. We joke a lot about it but 2years writing cold outreaches makes u an advanced copy writer.

tobygoofy

Valued Contributor

1

Business Development Representative

Yeah, I’ve been thinking I’d have a much better/easier time selling a more concrete product like software, whereas right now I’m selling the services of a digital marketing agency, which is pretty much everything under the sun that pertains to digital marketing

GDO

Politicker

0

BDM

Yeah, I have bad memories selling services. I get it 😅 the issue was not only the product in my case though

tobygoofy

Valued Contributor

0

Business Development Representative

Yeah I’ve gotten very little “product” training and the other sales people all used to be account managers working on the back end. It’s much easier to train an acct mgr to sell than vise versa. I’ve basically been told to identify cross sell opps and close them, no real guidance. Fun times!

CuriousFox

WR Officer

0

🦊

What job interests you amongst your peers? You like operations? Marketing? HR?

tobygoofy

Valued Contributor

0

Business Development Representative

I think I’d be better suited to operations, but I’m also not 100% what that entails. I’m really interested in the actual functioning of a business and keeping everything moving smoothly, not sure if that’s spot on though

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

0

Rolling 20's all day

If I were you, I'd go around to other departments and ask people you trust about their jobs.
See what you find and go from there.

Coffeesforclosers

Notable Contributor

0

Director Sales and Market Development

Look into marketing, then delete your Warroom account. All jokes aside sales is tough, i get it. Get into product or sales ops, as a former front line sales person there is value in sales ops or product to actually put out things that can help people in the field.

tobygoofy

Valued Contributor

0

Business Development Representative

How much extra knowledge outside of sales experience would you need for product? Is it more technical?

Coffeesforclosers

Notable Contributor

0

Director Sales and Market Development

my wife went to sales ops then to product owner over the course of a few years with very little sales or product exp. She owns a product for salespeople. Possibly easier internally than externally as you need to show something. Any options to move internally?

tobygoofy

Valued Contributor

0

Business Development Representative

Not a ton of mobility internally, I work at a marketing agency so not a lot of “products” to own but potentially room in sales/revenue ops

IYNFYL

Politicker

0

Enterprise SaaS AE

You may look for roles as an Associate AE. It’s like a hybrid SDR/ AE role, which gives you a foot in with AE before you get your throat slit with your full quota.

AM_Nick

Member

0

Account Manager

You could also look into recruiting / HR roles. Especially talent sourcing might be interesting.

Essentially, you're looking for new talent for your company, reaching out to potential candidates and conducting a first interview.

Your skills are definitely transferable to this role, but I don't know if this might still sound too much like sales to you?

neotone

Personal Narrative

0

Chairman

Honest and humble

thadeuce

Opinionated

0

SDR (Sales Development Rep)

CS and Marketing are full of ex SDR’s.

SalesGuy1

Good Citizen

0

Account Executive

Lots of good advice here. I’ve personally been in saas sales for 3 years (2 as an AE) and while the money is good this job can take a toll if the highs/lows/rejection rollercoaster of the hunting role gets to you. Some are built for it, but many are not. I am personally considering a step into a farming type AM/CSM role or away from tech completely, but all options come with a pay cut at the moment.

Silver lining: being earlier in the game, you probably don’t have the golden handcuffs on yet

Fnord

Praised Answer

0

VP of Sales

Hey, first of all, don’t beat yourself down. It’s perfectly normal to feel burned out in any sales job, more so in SDR.

I transitioned from sales to marketing by taking a job in Sales Enablement, training SDRs & onboarding new AEs. I later learned more digital marketing and took additional responsibilities in demand generation.

I went back to sales again because an opportunity opened up to take a director role. But after that happened I transitioned to a product role and after a couple of years ended up in sales again.

I can tell you one thing: curiosity and your ability/interest in learning new things will get you far. And by ‘learning’ I don’t mean only technical or hard skills like digital marketing. Learning about your customers can also take you far.

Don’t leave a sales job because you don’t feel you are good at it. Leave because there’s something better or more interesting to do.

swndlr

Contributor

0

Enablement Manager

I'm biased but join the enablement gang. If you are/were any good, you've probably already helped to enable others on your team. Take on mentorship opportunities and show you have the chops to improve others, not just yourself. Be a fun trainer, not the stuffy kind that you'd dread being stuck with.

You might also consider looking into product marketing or customer success. You'd get to sell directly to existing customers or "sell" internally to your own sales team. Once you've seen it from the sales side, speaking the customer's language is so much easier and will make you a beast of a CSM, Onboarding Specialist, or product marketer.

scooter

Opinionated

0

BDR

I'm not overflowing with decades of industry experience, but I've watched two very close friends go through this since we all got into sales together. One went the way of digital marketing, and the other cycled into a consultative role. Have you thought about going into Account Management if the rejection is getting to you? - Scooter

CRAG112

Valued Contributor

0

Account Executive

Focus on Pre-Sales and Post Sales Roles.

Solutions Consultant.
Pre-Sales Engineer.
Customer Success Manager.

Many of these roles aren't looking for some technical coding guru, they need someone that can work with others, manage and build relationships, be accountable, work with the sales teams, etc.

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