I'm an AE with one year SDR experience that's been thrust into a Federal territory with little to no mentorship / training. I'm not sure how long this'll last, but looking to the future I know I want a company with a strong onboarding / training AND mentorship program. Anybody know of companies that offers this?
Mentorship
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Pachacuti
Politicker
+8
They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy
So you’re selling into the Federal govt? I have done that. It can be very challenging but VERY rewarding.
I would recommend looking for a for a purchasing person who works for the Feds to hold your hand a bit, if there is no one in your company who can/will help you.
There are also some online guides you can search for which will help you understand the process for selling to them.
The big thing is you need a lot of patience with the sales cycle (multi-year) and your mngt needs to understand that as well.
I would recommend looking for a for a purchasing person who works for the Feds to hold your hand a bit, if there is no one in your company who can/will help you.
There are also some online guides you can search for which will help you understand the process for selling to them.
The big thing is you need a lot of patience with the sales cycle (multi-year) and your mngt needs to understand that as well.
LonelyAE
Good Citizen
+2
Federal AE
Thank you!
CuriousFox
WR Officer
+13
Senior Account Executive
A very good resource 💯
NotCreativeEnough
Politicker
+8
Professional Day Ruiner
federal sucks. I did it for 3 years then switched to the commercial world. Looking back, wish I had gone the commercial route from the start.
If you want strong training/mentorship, look at larger startup companies. Pure Storage and cohesity both have great training program.
I haven't worked at netapp or dell but I would think it's a pretty safe bet that at their size they have pretty strong training as well.
If you don't want to switch companies - talk to procurement officers at the agencies you cover. They'll be your best resource to learn how that agency buys. They try to act like no deal exists until it hits their desk, but in the end you still need to get in front of end users that are your ICP. The government is still mostly remote right now, so unless you can get cell phone numbers email prospecting is your best bet.
The sales cycles are very, very long, and insanely complex. If it feels like you've been working a deal for forever and there's no end in sight, welcome to selling into fed.
If you have any contract vehicles like SEWP or GSA, or your company has any designations like SDVOSB, VOSB, woman owned, minority owned, etc. Make sure to leverage all those different things to your benefit. Agencies have quota's they have to hit of spending a certain percentage of their funding with businesses through those contracts or with those designations. One of the largest deals I've ever booked was because of that. Customer was going to go with someone else who was cheaper, but we were an SDVOSB so procurement told them it had to go through us to hit their target percentage spent with SDVO's.
It is a very, very tricky space to get into. But it can be very rewarding financially. The highest paid sales reps I know sell federally.
Hopefully I didn't bore you with this insanely long response.
If you want strong training/mentorship, look at larger startup companies. Pure Storage and cohesity both have great training program.
I haven't worked at netapp or dell but I would think it's a pretty safe bet that at their size they have pretty strong training as well.
If you don't want to switch companies - talk to procurement officers at the agencies you cover. They'll be your best resource to learn how that agency buys. They try to act like no deal exists until it hits their desk, but in the end you still need to get in front of end users that are your ICP. The government is still mostly remote right now, so unless you can get cell phone numbers email prospecting is your best bet.
The sales cycles are very, very long, and insanely complex. If it feels like you've been working a deal for forever and there's no end in sight, welcome to selling into fed.
If you have any contract vehicles like SEWP or GSA, or your company has any designations like SDVOSB, VOSB, woman owned, minority owned, etc. Make sure to leverage all those different things to your benefit. Agencies have quota's they have to hit of spending a certain percentage of their funding with businesses through those contracts or with those designations. One of the largest deals I've ever booked was because of that. Customer was going to go with someone else who was cheaper, but we were an SDVOSB so procurement told them it had to go through us to hit their target percentage spent with SDVO's.
It is a very, very tricky space to get into. But it can be very rewarding financially. The highest paid sales reps I know sell federally.
Hopefully I didn't bore you with this insanely long response.
LonelyAE
Good Citizen
+2
Federal AE
Update. Got a call from my VP this morning and they're moving me to commercial accounts. LOL. Didn't realize prayers could be answered this quickly.
LonelyAE
Good Citizen
+2
Federal AE
You didn't bore me at all. Thanks for taking the time to type this up. I think my best bet is to start reaching out to procurement officers. I'm selling an unknown cyber tool to a greenfield territory (10 agencies in my territory) so going direct to CIO / CISO / end user mgmt has not been fruitful. I'll definitely look into the cos. you mentioned. Thanks again!
NotCreativeEnough
Politicker
+8
Professional Day Ruiner
10 agencies is a huge territory. What I would recommend is look at the annual report for budgets that get put out each year and pick the top 2-3 that have the highest budgets for the category your product falls in.
Procurement officers are great to get knowledge on what you should be prepared for in that agencies buying process, but the issue with them is that once a deal hits their desk to put it out for bid, it's already been getting worked by someone with the end user for months. It's only in contracting because it legally has to be and that's who cuts the PO. Sometimes you can catch some small wins there by throwing in some lowball bids, but you won't have much profit on them then. However, if the procurement person is good enough, they may be able to recommend some good people within the agency that would be good for you to reach out to.
Something else to check out is sam.gov. that's the page where anything that's going out to bid can be posted. Again, bidding on that stuff is a race to 0, but you can use it to see what agencies are trying to buy what products to know where you might be a good play. For example if I saw someone had an RFQ out for servers, I would know that means they're probably in the middle of a refresh and try to prospect in to pitch storage.
Procurement officers are great to get knowledge on what you should be prepared for in that agencies buying process, but the issue with them is that once a deal hits their desk to put it out for bid, it's already been getting worked by someone with the end user for months. It's only in contracting because it legally has to be and that's who cuts the PO. Sometimes you can catch some small wins there by throwing in some lowball bids, but you won't have much profit on them then. However, if the procurement person is good enough, they may be able to recommend some good people within the agency that would be good for you to reach out to.
Something else to check out is sam.gov. that's the page where anything that's going out to bid can be posted. Again, bidding on that stuff is a race to 0, but you can use it to see what agencies are trying to buy what products to know where you might be a good play. For example if I saw someone had an RFQ out for servers, I would know that means they're probably in the middle of a refresh and try to prospect in to pitch storage.
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But the best way I have figured out how to get better is really think about what specific skills you are looking to get better at.
-cold calling
-discovery calls
-demos
-asking questions
-RFPs
ect ect
then find resources around those areas. This can be ppl in your company, other "coaches" or just good books.
dont wait for your company to offer training,
Dont wait for your company to develop you.
go seek it out.