Salesandcoffeedude

Business Development Representative

My AE makes 15 calls/ week - should I be worried?

There's weeks where the AE aligned with me does more demos booked by me than any follow-up calls. Is this what being an AE is like or am I learning from the wrong role models?

Big deals never close. And I get paid only on closed-won revenue.

👑 Sales Strategy

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47 comments

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CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

I'm sure the AE has other duties than the few demos you send over.

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

Always do

Maximas

Tycoon

Senior Sales Executive

Totally Agree!

SaaSsy

Politicker

I guess you need to understand if your AE is hitting quota. Are they way behind the other AE/ or tracking similar? Why are demos not converting to your next step - are they qualified, have timeline, budget? You need to understand where the breakdown is happening. Use data, find and fix.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

* standing ovation *

Salesandcoffeedude

Valued Contributor

Business Development Representative

Thanks. Using the data it's definitely in the follow up. These are all deals that have come inbound and have been qualified by an SDR. Other AEs have been closing deals faster and more consistently than this one. There is no quota for th3 AEs. They rely entirely on SDR opportunities. But we rely on them to close them cos otherwise we don't get paid. I think there are just structural issues someone needs to fix. But I was curious if 15 is a normal amount of calls for an AE to make.

Rallier

Politicker

SDR Manager and Consultant

OP you've got to provide more context than this. There's plenty of things AE's do during the day

Salesandcoffeedude

Valued Contributor

Business Development Representative

That's fair and I don't know what that is. My issue is that the AEs do 7 demos a week. If they don't have more demos the blame falls on SDRs for not booking more demos. A new AE closed 75% of an old AEs pipeline that they said were not interested anymore. So I just wanted to see whether other AEs make more than 15 follow up calls a week or if that is actually the max they can handle.

BourbonKing

Valued Contributor

VP of Sales

You know the answer. Not making enough calls -> not closing enough deals -> not generating enough commissions. Sounds like your wagon is hitched to the wrong horse.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

im confused, what you say the AE makes 15 calls are you talking cold calls? or are you talking demos? follow up calls?

Also you dont get any comp for setting qualified meetings? just when the deal closes? that kinda blows not gunna lie haha

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

Me too. More detail is needed @igotintosalescosofcorpbro

Salesandcoffeedude

Valued Contributor

Business Development Representative

Yea it blows. That's why I'm gonna leave. Barely make any money because they don't pay for qualified ops. Only realized that was a thing a few weeks ago (I'm new to sales).

And yes, 15 follow up calls. They don't do any prospecting. And each AE has only 1 SDR aligned to them... small org. So I don't pass on just a few... their entire pipeline is what I've passed on.

PhlipOut

Politicker

Account Executive

15 client calls a week is a decent amount. unless your business is very high velocity small deals.

i have weeks where I have half that in actual client meetings/calls

(not talking about cold calls or impromptu catch someone on the phone quickly)

mode

Contributor

Sr. BDR

Most likely, based on the incentive structure for most companies - you'll get 1% (hopefully more) on CW deals. IMO, wherein, an AE has inbound leads from marketing and outbound from SDRs, the AEs that earn the most (ceteris paribus, because of territory or vertical) continue to prospect and conduct outreach either via cold call or email.

Salesandcoffeedude

Valued Contributor

Business Development Representative

My AEs don't prospect at all. They rely entirely on the SDRs.

mode

Contributor

Sr. BDR

It can be tough because you don't want to overlap accounts and blow them up with spam. I work for 5 AEs. One has to prospect and do cold outreach as well because it's a LATAM territory. Of the other 4, 2 do outreach, 2 don't. If your org has great inbound leadflow and great recognition on G2/Gartner, etc., then cold calling is probably not necessary.

SDM

Politicker

Sales development manager

15 demos per week 😲😲

My AE just called me yesterday and said that he doesn't have room to breathe because of demos and follow ups. His monthly demos are 10-12... You msg makes me feel wow...

I feel 20-25 demos per month are a good number

Salesandcoffeedude

Valued Contributor

Business Development Representative

15 calls are just follow ups. They only have about 5 to 7 demos a week.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

What is the expectation, if there calendar is booked with demos I wouldnt think they are making that many calls. More than 15, but not more than 75

Salesandcoffeedude

Valued Contributor

Business Development Representative

Well that's the thing. The max they have is about 7 demos in one week .

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Can you provide more specifics?

Does the AE fail to follow up, or is that a guess (because deals aren't closing)?

What are those 15 calls? Cold calls, or follow up calls? And how do you know it's 15 calls?

Are you suspecting your AE is not doing his/her job?

The other comment is wondering why you are only paid on closed-won in your role. It's much more common for SDRs to be paid on qualified meetings set and/or demos booked and held than it is to be paid on a deal. So I'm very curious about this.

Salesandcoffeedude

Valued Contributor

Business Development Representative

Yeah, the compensation is a whole issue that I've brought up to management. I'm leaving tho so Idc anymore.

The AE only makes follow up calls. Their entire pipeline are opportunities I've passed on. I know it's 15 calls cow I see it in their hubspot

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

So you have a new job already lined up? Great. Congratulations!

Salesandcoffeedude

Valued Contributor

Business Development Representative

Yup thanks !!

Wellss

Tycoon

Channel sales

Does the revenue they do bring in align with your expectations from the position? Or how do they compare to other AE's?

Salesandcoffeedude

Valued Contributor

Business Development Representative

They're average AEs. They don't even have a quota. It's just close as much as you can. So they don't source pipeline at all. It's only on the SDRs to bring in new business and then we don't even get paid for it until it closes.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

It's a crazy way to do business, IMO. Is this a startup?

1.000.000maxi

Politicker

BDR (Business Development Rep)

An SDR only getting paid when the deal closes is like a relay runner only getting paid when the team wins.

Look up the title of South Park Episode 4, Season 8 for my thoughts on your comp.

Salesandcoffeedude

Valued Contributor

Business Development Representative

I hate my comp too. Only 5 weeks of it lef5.

1.000.000maxi

Politicker

BDR (Business Development Rep)

Wish you well and hope you crush your new plan

TheEnglishMajor

Opinionated

Account Executive

How do you know how many calls they're making? If you're just looking at something like outreach, a lot of AEs are simply just dialing numbers. It's even easier getting into a texting relationship

Frederickl

Contributor

Lead everything

There are way too many messages in this thread. It’s very simple. If you are not getting the results you think you should be getting, ask yourself why. Guaranteed there is something you can do / change. Do that.

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

Bravado's Resident Asshole

I only got paid on closed deals too, so I know how frustrating this can be. Are you just tied to one AE? Is there a conversation that you can have with the manager/director? I would and have requested in the past that none of my deals go to that person. Always provide numbers when doing this. Stats make things easy for managers to understand and move on.

Salesandcoffeedude

Valued Contributor

Business Development Representative

Fair. I don't even have a manager. Never going to a seed startup again. I report to the C suite who have no sales experience and don't see why we would get paid on qualified ops.

BourbonKing

Valued Contributor

VP of Sales

Good God. What a nightmare. Glad to hear you’re on your way out of there and now know what to look out for in the future so you don’t find yourself in this situation again. Good luck!

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

Do you mean they are not following up with your prospects they spoke with?

Salesandcoffeedude

Valued Contributor

Business Development Representative

Well I'm starting to think so. We have a new AE who came in and took over some deals that have been in the pipeline of this other AE for months now. And she just closed 75% of them in about 2 weeks. So I was like wtf why wasn't this other dude closing them.

Arzola

Valued Contributor

Business administration

To be honest I don't think you should worry

RTP23

Executive

Account Executive

Definitely go find a new gig that pays on qualified opps not just closed won business.

dbrooks

Old School Bravo

sales hunter

There should be a balance. As an AE my whole focus is to push the sale engagement to the next step of the close deal. If there is SDR supporting the AE, then I'll support all the qualified intro/disco meetings. Ultimately its my job as the AE to push the sales management after initial intro/disco call. SDR primary is to get qualified meets --should SDR like to help with follow-ups post intro/disco meets then that should be discussed with both SDR and AE.

BlueJays2591

Politicker

Federal Business Dev Director

Find another AE and try to ask questions about how they operate for learning/Mentorship purposes

heatmiser

Good Citizen

Key Account Manager

Please help me understand. Is your role as an SDR to do demos only? Is there no responsibility to drive sales and help close the sale? Sounds like a team approach to me and in my experience everyone got paid once the deal closes. I guess for me it would be best to understand who is responsible for bringing the opportunity, developing the opportunity, and closing the opportunity between the 2 of you. There is ultimately someone that falls on.

Salesandcoffeedude

Valued Contributor

Business Development Representative

As an SDR we do the outreach and discovery call. The AE does the demo and close. We have no involvement after the discovery call as SDRs.

heatmiser

Good Citizen

Key Account Manager

Ok. Now I get. it. Here is my belief on sales measurement. It’s not necessarily the number of activities or even the number of certain type of activities that move sales. Placing a specific number on someone’s head drives activity in the wrong way. So it’s not did they make the right number of calls or not enough. The right number of demos or not enough. It is so much more than that. It sounds to me someone has them focused more on activity rather than progress. My suggestion is to help refocus the rep on what is needed to progress a sale. What more could he/she be doing to help bring the customers to a close. Some of those activities may still happen but for the right reason. That refocuses the energy not on activity but on progress which is what everyone wants to see. Best of luck to you.

activity

Politicker

VP, Business Development

There's a lot in the background that an AE has to do but I still wouldn't let him off the hook if nothing is closing.

saleschangeagent

Contributor

VP Sales

Have a conversation to understand and see if there is something you both can do to streamline the work

salesgenius

Sales and Marketing Associate

Is your AE making fewer calls than the average AE in the company? Is he/she competent in your view? How many leads are you sending to the AE? Have you asked the AE to explain the process he/she uses? Have you spoken to management about this issue?

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Salesandcoffeedude

My AE makes 15 calls/ week - should I be worried?

47 comments

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