salesdadinhis30s

Enterprise Account Executive

Old School Bravo

Not sure what to blame: product-market fit or me

Hey all. I am probably preaching to the choir when I say selling is hard.

I've been in the game for 10 years. Ups and downs--most years I've hit quota, missed a few years. Now I'm an enterprise sales rep for a series C company. I'm selling to a niche segment that maybe represents under $3M ARR out of our whole revenue. So in other words, the pressure is on to sell but we don't have a repeatable process to realize revenue goals.

It feels like selling ice to Eskimos. Or hitting a square peg into a round hole over and over again. Lots of challenges: the timing is always off, the pain is rarely acute, we're selling into a cost center in a tough economy, etc. etc.

But maybe I'm making excuses. I can't tell if this is a ME problem. Do I have the wrong mindset? Am I just not that good at selling? Or is there really not great market alignment for our product?

Anyone else struggle with this question day in and day out?

🙏 Mental Wellness

☁️ Software Tech

✌️ Growing Pains

5

12 comments

Sort by:

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

2

Bravado's Resident Asshole

I mean I used to sell copiers and it felt like no one wanted one for a while, along with the whole "green" bs that has kicked in. Eventually I was able to find a flow and target audience to keep it consistent.

salesdadinhis30s

Fire Starter

0

Enterprise Account Executive

How long do you feel like it took you to get into that flow? What happened that made that happen for you?

someoneinsales

Tycoon

2

Director of Sales

Over the last several years, VC's have pushed out a lot of money raising valuations of companies who have no business being in the market. A lot of early markets are being created that wont see success until 3-5 years from now.

Sometimes the best reps cant even sell these products because it is a nice to have rather than a need to have. Creating a world where reps question their ability and their skill.

All markets are crowded now. Competition is high. In some cases its a race to the bottom of pricing because there isnt real pain to solve for.

If you see this solving a problem in the next year and it becoming easier, stick around. If you see it as been niche and a nice to have rather than a must have, leave. Find a place with a better solution.

salesdadinhis30s

Fire Starter

0

Enterprise Account Executive

That's what I'm concerned about my product. It seems to be a "nice to have" rather than something mission critical. That's been

Or in the words of one prospect: "your product is caviar. I have the budget to buy McDonalds."

The problem is there and (IMO) will get bigger as we're in the business security space. Meaning the stuff going on with Russia and China will ironically help business.

So I THINK there's opportunity here, but the business is hellbent on hitting quarterly quotas and just isn't slowing down to flesh out to WHO or HOW we should be selling exactly. Just "sell sell sell." And we frankly don't have the internal knowledge to figure it out as this is a new vertical for the company.

TennisandSales

Politicker

2

Head Of Sales

i mean its not your fault that you are selling into cost centers during abad economy.

Is there a legit ROI on your product? if you selling into a cost center this is huge.

Is there a LEGIT reason a prospect using a competitor would switch to yours? (really try to understand this. many companies have differentiators, but not all of them would be big enough to trigger a rip and replace)

if the answer is NO to both, then its not your fault.

if the answer is YES to both that you may have somethings you can work on.

if its one YES and one NO......then your in a really hard spot haha

salesdadinhis30s

Fire Starter

2

Enterprise Account Executive

Thanks TennisandSales--this gives a good approach to thinking about it. In MY view, there's a legit ROI, but it's pretty hypothetical. It's around risk... IF a particular event WERE to happen you get a big fine. But we can help you NOT get that fine better than the other guys.

We provide value, but not enough for a rip and replace I think. Not YET--our product team is working on getting us to a place to be a head-on competitor with big brands, and big spend to capture. But I haven't been terribly impressed so far... it seems like every product upgrade people think "oh this will be the one that will break the dam" but it doesn't. For now, we're a supplemental tool at best in most cases.

So I think it's not a STRONG yes, but a SORTA yes for both. The challenge too is I'm just not from the space, and we're so small the company hasn't taken the time to understand the target demographic, buying motivations, etc.

TennisandSales

Politicker

1

Head Of Sales

so the biggest red flag for me is the last point. If the company doesnt understand the target market or why ppl would want to buyt your product that is a MASSIVE problem.

I have been in that space before. Where a new feature comes out and leadership thinks we will dominate now but its just barely keeping us on pace with the competition.

salesdadinhis30s

Fire Starter

0

Enterprise Account Executive

Is it time to jump ship? I'll be at the year mark in a few months. I'm also nervous to make a move in a market like this.

SADNESSLieutenant

Politicker

2

Officer of ♥️

What Anti said - is anyone else hitting quota?

salesdadinhis30s

Fire Starter

0

Enterprise Account Executive

No. The gov't team is doing amazing, EVERYone else is struggling.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

1

🦊

Is the government team working off of a sole sourced contract? If so they are really order takers at that point.

salesdadinhis30s

Fire Starter

1

Enterprise Account Executive

No, they have a number of contracts. I think it's maybe under 20 that are "large" (6-figures). But I hear what you're saying--that's something I hadn't thought about.

Bravado is a community of trusted sales professionals endorsed by their customers.

Products

The War Room Jobs Salary Guide Tech Sales U

Company

About Us How It Works Blog Bug Bounty

Contact

© 2024 Bravado Inc. All rights reserved.

Privacy Policy Legal and Privacy Center Sales Jobs

If you are hired as a contract sales rep by a Bravado customer, we may ask you to prove access to the employee email account provided to you by that customer. This data will be shared with customers to track your sales productivity; customers can use this data to confirm you meet the minimum activity requirements to pay out your ramp stipend and commission.