Gyro25

Account Executive

Offered AM role instead of AE role. Need advice

As the title says, I've been offered to move to an AM role instead of the AE role I was told I was going to get. I want to be in a closing role, but i've heard AMs mainly do the upsells, crossells etc and basically 0 outbound. I've never been an AM in SaaS and don't really know what to expect. The only other alternative is moving companies or staying in a BDR role(The latter is something I refuse to do).

For those who've been both AEs/AMs, I could some advice on a transitioning BDR/AE. I want to be in a closing role, but If AMs earn as much and it's less fuckery in terms of calling, emaling etc, I might be open to it.

Appreciate the advice

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Gasty

Notable Contributor

War Room Community Manager

Take the role, but tell them you'd be expecting to move into AE in 6 months on the basis of your performance. Win-Win for both parties.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Did they offer the AE role to another candidate or scrap it all together?

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

Account Executive

Scraped it all together. I dont see myself in that kind of existing customer role. It's likely I'm going to want them to let me go vs me quitting. It's likely I'll resign in the next week or two if I've got no options.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Can you not accept the role while you look for another job?

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

Account Executive

That's exactly my plan. Got a few interviews lined up next week, but I honestly want them to fire me for the severance at this point cuz I found out they did this to 3 other good colleagues of mine.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

I'm sorry to hear this friend. I totally support your decision. 🦊

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

Account Executive

Appreciate it. I'll make a separate post for a checklist of things to do before quitting if/when it comes to that. Gracias!

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

https://bravado.co/war-room/posts/checklist-for-leaving-job

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

Shitty situation, @Gyro25 . Definitely support your decision.

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

Account Executive

Yeah, I'm in a bit of a pickle currently. Have a meeting with my SVP and likely I'll continue my BDR work while actively applying for other roles.

If there's no room for me in a closing role down the line, then I'll up and leave once I get an offer.

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

Good luck!!

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

AMs still close, but there's a lot more work on customer satisfaction. I'm sorry that there's no current AE opening.

Sounds like you're going to take the role and look outside for an AE position, which would be my suggestion.

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

Account Executive

Yup, I've done a bit of AM work here and there, but dislike it for the reason you already stated. I don't want my job to be just customer satisfaction, it feels too much like a b2c role and that point and I have no intention of doing that again.

B2B, full-cycle to close outbound role, and getting BDR support down the line is my goal.

countingmyinterest

Politicker

Account Executive

Take the role, get that closing experience, then bounce in 6-12 months.

You might enjoy it more than hunting tbh, different strokes for different folks

tosaas

Good Citizen

Account Manager

I just made the jump from BDR to MM AM, as it was very fast-tracked vs waiting for an SMB AE opening. And the base alone is higher than my total OTE was as a BDR. My AM OTE is the same as MM AE’s at my company, but I miss outbound for the same reasons you want to be an AE. My advice like others stated is take the AM role and in 6-12mo you don’t like it, you’ll have no problem getting an AE role after getting the AM closing experience. For most companies, AM vs AE is potato potatoe.

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

Account Executive

Appreciate the insight! I'll definitely have to think about this cuz closing experience is my #1 priority and I definitely don't want anything to derail my ability for a closing role later on as an AE. How has your experience been so far? Pros, cons, how long were you a BDR and did you think of going SMB AE prior to MM AM?

tosaas

Good Citizen

Account Manager

Happy to help. It’s nearly impossible to find AM vs AE advice from my experience. To answer your questions:

1) Pros are it’s easy compared to being an outbound BDR. I think everyone who’s been through it knows how hard being a BDR is. It’s also undoubtably easier than being an AE.

2) Cons are that it’s far less exciting than outbound. Even if you have a CSM, a Sales Engineer, and someone else doing Onboarding and you’re strictly closing deals with not many support-duties, you just don’t have the “chase” or the “hunt” you do on outbound/ net new.

3) I was a BDR for 7 months.

4) Yes definitely, always wanted to go SMB AE route rather than AM. But the opportunity arose and it would have been silly to turn down. Remember, you’re not shutting the AE door by taking an AM role. Rather, you’re getting further more valuable experience to apply to an AE role should you decide to take one in the future. Think about it, would you rather hire somebody with 2.5yrs BDR experience or 1.5yrs BDR experience 1yr AM experience? Probably the person that has that 1yr closing experience, albeit not net-new.

Companies I’ve been at, past and present, have AE’s who were AM’s and AM’s who were AE’s. Ones that only worked inbound deals who are now on outbound, and vice versa. And reps that came to tech from media, event sales, hospitality, etc. You’re not bound to one subcategory of tech sales (i.e., existing biz/ AM work, outbound vs inbound) by taking an AM role. If you like the company, take the promo and see where it goes IMO!

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

Account Executive

Appreciate the response. Spoke with my director today and there's an AM role in partnships, which I'll likely spearhead, so I'm staying open to the idea. Do you feel like you have more free time/less stress as an AM?

tosaas

Good Citizen

Account Manager

Sorry for the delay here boss - but if you’ve accepted the position (congrats!) yes as you’ve probably found out … less stressful and more free time. Easier, and less stressful than new logos & outbound, but much more boring

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

What was their rationale?

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

Account Executive

No AE demand for the team I'm on. Focusing on retention vs net new business atm

doingthehustle

Good Citizen

Most Recently Account Director

Curious for the seasoned vets, if you bounce to a AM role, would it prevent you from eventually moving to an AE role? Do you get stuck in a career path once you make a move one way or another?

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

it all depends on the company.

I would dig into what the comp plan looks like as an AM, what the OTE is, what metrics you are expected to hit.

it will most likely be around retention. So if you are losing customers left and right, that will be a hard job to do well.

I know AMs that make a ton of money.

I also know AMs that hate their life.

Same on the AE side.

How many AMs compared to AEs do they currently have?
Is the company more heavily focused on renewals or net new business?

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

Account Executive

Definitely more skewed towards renewals since net new business has been pretty screwed lately.

Honestly, I just don't want to do any kind of customer management. I want to source leads, close deals, pass that out to an AM and go about my life.

I was contemplating staying with the company cuz I do like them, but I can't see myself faking a smile at an existing opp just for the sake of reselling or upselling. I'm sure the money is decent, but I don't think that the earning potential is in line with what my current goals are both financially and personally. Appreciate the insight!

NotCreativeEnough

Big Shot

Professional Day Ruiner

Is the AM role something you're interested in? Or do you want a full cycle AE role? If you want to be in a closing new business role then I think you've already answered your own question.

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

Account Executive

Yeah, I can't do the sales persona past the close. I'm happy to source the deal, do the demo, close the deal, and send out the RFP, but once that's done, I don't want to have to manage all the existing accounts other than a few touchpoints here and there.

NotCreativeEnough

Big Shot

Professional Day Ruiner

sounds like saying no to the AM job is the right answer then

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

What’s the money like?
If it’s the same then stick with the AM role.

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

Account Executive

Higher base, lower commission for AM role. AM is a safer bet in all honesty. However, that doesn't negate the lack of closing experience, which I told everyone was my goal.

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

You will still be doing plenty of closing in an AM role.

MR.StretchISR

Politicker

-1

ISR

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

Account Executive

Dude, you're gonna get banned if you keep making non sense comments on every single one of my current and old posts. This isn't how the platform works.

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Gyro25

Offered AM role instead of AE role. Need advice

31 comment

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