Modro

Senior Account Executive

Valued Contributor

Executive

Member

Ok so 4 months into this new commercial AE role where I’m the first AE on the ground and I’ve sold nothing and have 0 pipeline from inbound or outbound. With 2023 around the corner I’m living in utter uncertainty and stress given the current pipeline. Should I carry on or look for a new company?

🔐 Cybersecurity

✍️ Sales advice

☁️ Software Tech

42 comments

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SaaSsy

Politicker

Holy crap, do you have a quota? Do you have a high base to survive on while you build? What does leadership plan to do to help develop a pipe? Do you have support and see a path ahead? If the answer is no to all the above, yes RUN for the hills. But if you’re supported and see a future for the product, could be a great story for you.

Modro

Valued Contributor

Senior Account Executive

I will have a quota of 500k for 2023 so 125k a Q.. they’re expecting x3 in pipeline. Leadership are relying on partner channel Manager to form some partnerships, they will sponsor some events maybe 1 per Q? But given that in the past 4 months I’ve had only 1 inbound leads which closed lost is worrying me

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Who is doing outbounding? If you're not, you should be. I mean, if you have no pipeline, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by proactively looking and working on your ICP and outbound.

CadenceCombat

Tycoon

Account Executive

This!

Modro

Valued Contributor

Senior Account Executive

All I’ve been doing is outbounding.. I mean constantly and creatively trying out different approaches Emails, SalesNav, calls you name it.. all tailored messagings, working with my two SDRs on their outreach and messaging.. but none of us have seen results.

CadenceCombat

Tycoon

Account Executive

Have you been able to book meetings or demos? Does your product have a compelling unique differentiator or does your product suck ass?

What are you selling?

Modro

Valued Contributor

Senior Account Executive

I haven’t been able to book a single meeting from outbounding, neither have my two SDRs. The solution is actually good and has a compelling differentiator.. but my struggle is booking that damn meeting and it’s not happened the past 4 months 😣

CadenceCombat

Tycoon

Account Executive

1. What are you selling?
2. What tools do you have for outbounding?
3. Which titles are you targeting?

Modro

Valued Contributor

Senior Account Executive

It’s a cyber security awareness training platform.. automated and tailored to every training user, it’s quite unique

Modro

Valued Contributor

Senior Account Executive

For outreach we use Seamless and Outreach.. mind you were in the UK so seamless isn’t too accurate but does good with emails and outreach does the trick too. I’m selling mainly to CISO, InfoSec, Secure awareness lead, Cyber security manager/ Dir

CadenceCombat

Tycoon

Account Executive

This sounds like hot garbage. What makes you think there’s a market for this? Any company i’ve worked for where cyber security was a factor had in-house resources to handle this. The resources that handle the cyber security also handle making the company at large aware of any serious threats they should be mindful of… fucking stupid product.

Companies buy cyber security. A cyber security awareness training platform sounds like a joke… I would get out asap.

Modro

Valued Contributor

Senior Account Executive

Damn that hit me! I don’t know what to say

CadenceCombat

Tycoon

Account Executive

There’s a reason why your product is unique. It’s because it’s a dumb fucking idea.

Polish that resume and dear lord, be more discerning in the product you’re signing yourself up to sell.

No wonder you can’t get any meetings.

SaaSsy

Politicker

Exactly, someone has to outbound if you’re B2B and haven’t found PMF yet where you can rely on demand.

Modro

Valued Contributor

Senior Account Executive

I mean it’s not that bad of an idea given every company in the world now days does cyber security awareness training.. it might even become regulation in the future given how much cyber crime is increasing. In simple terms it’s an email phishing training tool

CadenceCombat

Tycoon

Account Executive

I honestly can’t wait to tell my buddies that someone out there is working for a startup that sells a cyber security training awareness platform and can’t figure out why they can’t generate interest.

i promise you, they’ll laugh. Hard.

You think any company will waste budget on this shit from an unproven startup that recently hired their first AE in today’s economy?

Cut your losses and move on. Otherwise, prove me wrong and generate pipe.

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

Exactly this. Is there a real market for this.

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

You got to know this. Absence of product market fit will lead you no where

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

@modoroautomated and tailored in what way?

How are you better than Knowbe4?

CadenceCombat

Tycoon

Account Executive

Oh wow, so there is competition in this space. I bet even the established players are seeing revenues drop.

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Security awareness training is a real business. Even got it's own magic quadrant.

It's mandatory for all sorts of compliance frameworks.

Usually it's pretty generic (e.g. how to spot a phishing email, how to choose a strong password, etc.) and bundled in with email security tools.

CadenceCombat

Tycoon

Account Executive

Never had anything other than a zoom meeting with IT to go over security protocols and i’ve worked at a company that was SOC 2 type 2 compliant.

Even still, I can’t see a small company entering this space making a dent in it.

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

That's also an option. Basically need to check the box that annually you tell staff about dangers of clicking unknown links.

Modro

Valued Contributor

Senior Account Executive

We’re batter as we’re not failure rate focused, the platform rewards success and drives user engagement through gamification and rewards which KnowBe4 doesn’t do. In Addition to creating a unique training path for each user using AI, also personalisation, as in phishing simulation is sent to them based on their spoken language, location, job role, previous performance etc.. and everything is fully automated and managed unlike KnowBe4, but we’re also x5 more pricey than them 🫠

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

So why aren't people buying?

CadenceCombat

Tycoon

Account Executive

Companies see this as simply checking off a box so I don’t think building a better mousetrap is going to command the premium you guys are looking for.

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Oh shit. I thought you were going to be 5x cheaper. Y'all are DOA. Go find a new gig.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

The 5x more expensive may indicate the lack of sales, and the lack of meetings suggests the industry is aware of the price tag and doesn’t bother engaging. Sorry, dude. Could be the best solution ever, but if you’re not even booking meetings with the effort you’re expending, I’d be looking for a new company. You have a good work ethic. Time to benefit from the work you put in.

Modro

Valued Contributor

Senior Account Executive

It’s true companies do consider it a tick in the box.. I’ve had a few conversations with smb firms and they say that.. but on the other hand AEs from other regions have closed deals with the likes of DocuSign, Spotify and a number of other known logos which gives me hope and it’s what kept me in the firm

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Are you waiting for leads to come to you? Are you allowed to prospect and outbound on your own? Take some initiative and do it. Pipeline doesn't build itself.

Modro

Valued Contributor

Senior Account Executive

I’m not really waiting for leads to come to me.. I just not seen results for outbound prospecting and yes I have the freedom to outbound on my own and have an open territory, just not seeing results in 4-5 months is painful, besides not seeing any inbound leads either.

ThatNewAE

Big Shot

Account Executive - Mid enterprise

What works / worked best for fellow AEs, did you tap into it? I am sure there would be fruitful lessons on tricks and hacks!

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

I’d be looking for something new

coletrain

Politicker

Account Executive

Welcome to cybersecurity, where the trends are product/offering consolidation, cyberinsurance requirement alignment, and commoditized offerings.

If a CISO/CIO/etc is looking at a cyber training tool, it's likely going to be a part of another tool like KnowB4 or Mimecast which can and will price match if not already cheaper.

Your product is not unique (I don't even need to know what it is), nowhere close to it. IF you stay, you must truthfully answer this question: why would I buy standalone cyber training when there are plenty of companies with a tool that includes it?

Modro

Valued Contributor

Senior Account Executive

Ok so our product integrates well with Mimecast that’s for sure. Also, what I’ve been taught here is that those other tools are just a tick in the box and don’t necessarily drive true engagement so they won’t eventually build cyber resilience, where as with our tool engagement is high due to gamification and user regard for going through training.

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

🙅‍♂️

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

Even if you get leads into pipeline do you know what the average sales cycle is? Because if it’s more than ~60 days then you’re not likely to close a deal in Q1. How will that sit with management and leaders at your org. Seems there’s many red flags and you are in a place that you need to leave. Sorry to be so blunt about it.

Modro

Valued Contributor

Senior Account Executive

Found from the CRO today that an average commercial deal cycle is 5 months,, so yeah impossible to hit Q1 target

palmtrees

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

Do you anything prospected for 2023 at all?

Modro

Valued Contributor

Senior Account Executive

There’s a small commitfor January and two other early stage Demos

palmtrees

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

Need to make your pipe as fat as possible

Armageddon

Opinionated

Enterprise Account Executive

yeah i'd start looking elsewhere

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Modro

42 comments

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