bdiggidy

Account Executive Mid-Market

Valued Contributor

SaaS Sellers- Move on or be patient?

Fellow slingers I'd like to get some perspective from some of you who've been around the block a few more times than me, or have experienced similar situations/ decisions.

Currently an IC at a mature org- however the sales org is young less than a year old.x

The Bad- Sales Leadership runs the org like a dictatorship with no openness to feedback and almost no tolerance for questioning decisions -even if the question is to better understand or ask for context. Middle Management has been appointed- none having leadership experience and are basically just 'yes' people- guidance they give to win deals is all around discounting. Information is silo'd, there is little room for collaboration - Sales engineers seem to be positioned as not customer facing roles, but internal technical support, biz dev gets no training/ resources to standardize. Lastly variable has a 60% attainment threshold before earning any commission and at 100% attainment- earn 3% monthly commission- I am one of 3 reps that have hit goal out of 20- 60% who haven't hit goal, haven't even hit the 60% threshold so haven't made any commission this year.

The Good- The product is a good fit in the market. Strong against competition, and often easily wins in evaluations. There is a strong customer base with big logos, and there is a constant flow of inbound leads that often materialize but a bit of a lead lottery system. We'll be starting outbound soon which is great for pipeline growth, but no strategy, resources, tech stack in place to efficiently outbound. Transitioned to this company because of a very large Series A investment - and it seems the Sales organization hits its goals every month with the combination of the sales team and a self serving piece for smaller transactions.

Based on the leadership, toxic culture, lack of ramp goal attainment should I start strategizing for an exit- or am I being impatient and need to be looking at the bigger picture?

Love to hear some perspective - sales are dope, never ever stop selling

Move on/ Be patient

Attached poll

Move on Be Patient

*Voting in this poll no longer yields commission.

🎈 Mentorship

2

6 comments

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Bandido

Politicker

0

Client Director

I think this depends on preference. I would say the positives outweigh the negatives. If you could roll with the punches on the negative areas you mentioned but still thrive on those positives it would be worth it....A new company may not give you those same "pros" which from my point of view amount to more cash.

You may move to a company with an amazing culture but a poor position in the market where comp crushes you and this list would look completely different.

LordBusiness

Politicker

0

Chief Revenue Officer

Tough call here to be honest. The one thing I find interesting is that you say the product is solid, good market fit and wins in competitions, but you still have a significant portion of the sales team not hitting even 60% of plan. On top of the issues above, are folks simply just being over targeted? It really comes down to what you value more, a product you know you can sell, vs. a culture you know you can sell in, because I'll tell you finding both isn't as easy as you may think. My suggestion, stay put and battle through while you aggressively search/hunt down your target company. Is there a product you want to sell? Is there a company you want to be part of? - go hunt them down like a deal.

bdiggidy

Opinionated

0

Account Executive Mid-Market

@LordBusiness Definitely over targeted. It almost feels like quotas were designed for reps not to hit, and commission not to be paid out. With a self serving portion that will fill the gap for organization goals. I'm leaning toward the same way of thinking at the moment- thanks for your perspective

taylor

Executive

0

Strategic Account Executive

Be a culture carrier, send a message that you can lead in other ways. Going to recommend 'Multipliers' by Liz Wiseman again here. Send it to your VP of Sales or what have you. Shit, buy a copy & send it to your CEO too.

SalesSpectre

Opinionated

0

AE

A few questions...

1. If you choose patience...what are you waiting for? Are you expecting things to change?

2. How much did you make last year?

3. Your comp plan is total garbage. 60% to get commish? F*ck no. Leadership knows what they are doing. Buying cheap labor.

4. The saas space is on fire like I have never seen. Way more demand than supply for good sellers. Now is your time to go. 0 excuse for any good sales person to stay in a shitty situation. None. Sellers have all the power right now. You can pick and choose where you want to work.

bdiggidy

Opinionated

0

Account Executive Mid-Market

@SalesSpectre
1. Yes, I am hopeful that things will change
2. Not enough
3. Since I created this post, this has actually been removed- however, the commission before 60% attainment (30k) works out to less than $600. which I agree with you- total garbage.

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