bendandsnack

Account Exec

Play nice or play dirty

Hey guys,

New SMB AE who just took the SDR leap. I must say, running my own deals is way more fun than sourcing opportunities for AEs to fck up. Anyways...

My company is pretty chill in general, doesn't seem like a super cutthroat stealing-opportunities-from-each other type place, but perhaps I'm naive. I've butted heads with 2x reps in the short 2 weeks I've been onboarding. I'll try to paraphrase -

1) My counterpart, splitting the territory - has been passed quite a few opps he should have been splitting with me, also tried to talk me into splitting the territory in a way that would bring him way more opportunities(he's not very bright)

2) AE who used to cover my territory in 2021 - he switched segments in the new year, but the 2x reps that covered SMB after him quit. So in Q1 homeboy failed to tell customers he was switching territories and has been farming opps that should've gone to other people. I started reaching out to these customers to tell them I was their new point of contact, and he was whining because he "hadn't told them he was leaving yet" even though I gave him 2 weeks to do it and reminded him multiple times.

I'm smarter than and can outsell both of these mofos, and have a few ideas on how to get back at them in a way that's absolutely fair game/legal.

My question - when your teammates are being assholes is it worth it to get back at them so they know not to fuck with you, or should you play nice and let your superior sales skills help you get ahead naturally?

Get even or play nice?

Attached poll

Fuck them, there's money on the table Play nice, not worth it for the drama

*Voting in this poll no longer yields commission.

👑 Sales Strategy

✌️ Growing Pains

🏙 Corporate Experiences

15

24 comments

Sort by:

braintank

Politicker

21

Enterprise Account Executive

Let your manager fight dirty. Best to keep your nose clean.

SADNESSLieutenant

Politicker

4

Officer of ♥️

+1

Mickjames

Member

1

Enterprise Account Executive

+ 1. That's why it's always important to make your allies in high places. Let them go to bat for you

E_Money

Big Shot

3

💰

👆

Sunbunny31

Politicker

3

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Agreed! That's their job.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

15

🦊

Do your job. Nothing more, nothing less.

goose

Politicker

9

Sales Executive

Read some books on the stoics.

jefe

Arsonist

3

🍁

Underrated but so useful.

peachykeen

Politicker

2

sae e-commerce

This. Yes.

TheNegotiator

Arsonist

8

VP of Sales

This isn’t them playing dirty, this is them being lazy or just testing your boundaries. That’s more instinctive competitive behaviour than anything else, and should be expected wherever you go, forever. In a perfect world companies have transition processes that sort all this out for you. We do not live in a perfect world, not even close.

IMHO, raise this with your manager asap, as light, refreshing, friendly, but firm feedback. Book a 1-on-1 with them and just say you want to summarize your first 2 weeks, and then feed them a positive-negative-positive feedback loop. A past colleague once called it a shit sandwich.

Tell them how much fun you’re having digging in. Tell them how you’re not gonna stand for this shit, and they can stamp it out, or you will. Tell them something else pleasant and enjoyable.

This is a very professional, but strong stance you’re taking. Something worth remembering is, sales is not something anyone is born with. Even leaders/managers with spoons up their asses, who had titles gifted to them, had to learn/master/fight for what they have.

You could be the owners son from birth to death, and as much as daddy/mummy may love you, they can’t feed your job to you forever. Eventually they need their child to learn and take control of their position. What this ultimately means is your boss has bigger fish to fry.

Your boss doesn’t have time to be stamping out feuds between his reps. So, as long as you’re in the right, the professional thing to do is to tell your boss clearly, but in a friendly way that they can handle this, or that you will.

After that, gut the competition. Take no prisoners. You can dominate and still be friendly. That actually happens to be the best way to sort out the winners from the losers.

Losers will whine when you beat them. Winners will appreciate the excellence. Your boss will appreciate both. If he/she doesn’t take the opportunity to clean up the mess, he can’t blame you for taking the initiative either.

Having/winning territory is not the same as keeping it. You have/won the territory because you were promoted. Now keep what’s yours or someone else will take it. I certainly would.

RealPatrickBateman

Politicker

5

🔪Amateur Butcher🔪

Fuck playing nice. Slash tires, put salt in their coffee, throw a rotten fish under their desk, horse head in their bed sheets, put their social security #’s on the dark web.

funcoupons

WR Officer

4

👑

Or turn 'em over to me for some funsies.

TheNegotiator

Arsonist

3

VP of Sales

When you reply like this, my heart glows a little.

NotCreativeEnough

Big Shot

2

Professional Day Ruiner

they're trying to test your boundaries and see what they can get away with. They want to see if they "accidentally" pick up a deal in your territory if you'll throw a fit or let them keep it.

Bring it to your manager's attention first. If he doesn't do anything, then deal with it on your own.

The one guy is the CEO's son, tread lightly. It would suck to get fired because you pissed off the owners kid. Nepotism is a bitch.

TheNegotiator

Arsonist

2

VP of Sales

Better yet? Slap the CEO’s kid around like the little bitch he is. Light a fire so big they could terminate you and still not suppress the light.

Show everyone who the next CEO is going to be.

NotCreativeEnough

Big Shot

0

Professional Day Ruiner

while I would love to be on the witnessing this happen end of things, I appreciate job security a little too much for that one

TheNegotiator

Arsonist

1

VP of Sales

In my experience this creates more job security than anything else you can do.

If not at the company you’re at, then at one of the many that will line up to have you.

it’s a matter of perspective. Two types of institutions: banks and churches, make decisions that will echo in centuries and millennia, not 1-2-5 year plans. They’ll do something severely unpopular today to ensure their survival in a hundred years.

If you start thinking that way, where you are now/what you do now tends to matter a lot less. Think bigger picture

JuiceBox

Opinionated

1

Director

If there is a cut and dry, black and white system (rules of engagament type stuff) in place, then bring it to their attn. and your managers but do it in a "hey maybe i misunderstand this, can you help explain it to me since I'm new" type way and then confirm what they say with the manager, then you will know if they can be trusted long term, if they cant, best to find a team and atmosphere you can trust

Pachacuti

Politicker

0

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Best to take the high road

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

0

Rolling 20's all day

Huh, we have a pretty even split here hahaha. I vote to outsell them and just make them feel bad rather than be outright hostile

ABCvs

Valued Contributor

0

VP of Growth

Do your job. It’s your managers job to fix that. You causing problems will get you fired.

ClutchDeluxe

Valued Contributor

0

asking people for money

They are lazy slackers, tell the manny to sort it out and just outsell them 💪🏽

Jbeans

Opinionated

0

Director of Sales

Play nice bc playing dirty internally .. will fail. Doesn’t mean you can’t play smart. Ie, hey I think there must be a mistake here or ive misunderstood something with our rules of engagement? I was under the impression you moved territories and we agreed to “ —— “(Said innocently but perhaps publicly) .. you see what I’m saying? Sales teams typically have a set of rules or guidelines- this should be cleaned up pretty quickly imo. But agree with the comments they are testing you. People will take advantage if you let them- calling it out or raising the issue is the best way. If it comes down to it, do you want to be liked or respected? Don’t let people fuck with your money. But be smart about how you address it. 😎

ShowMeMOdeals

0

Head of Sales

I’d let your manage fight the good ‘ole fight, if it’s a war you seek.

Here’s a different perspective: Sales teams require crucial conversations that create transparency, trust, and accountability, to perform at a high level.

Especially when they’re small, and even more so when you’re growing from small to big. Because everyone feels each others impact, or lack there of.

Since you’re the new kid on the block, and unproven as an AE, show your counterparts that you have a team mindset and bring them potential solutions to these problems. That’ll show them that you are not ignorant to what they’re doing and at the end of the day wanna find a way you all can win.

Examples:

1. AE #1, since were splitting the territory, let’s set up our opps on Round Robin and sync each Friday to collab on them together. Two heads are better than one and that’ll give you an opportunity to create data points to take to your manager should he keep hogging leads.

2. AE who used to cover my territory, you put in a lot of work building rapport with several accounts I’m tasked with taking over, let’s chat about which accounts you can help create a warm transfer and I’ll make sure you get a few points on anything that closes.

Work together. Sales is a team sport and everyone has a position.

Nobody gets to the top of Mt. Everest alone and here in the Show Me State (MO), we wanna see you walk it like you talk it. So I wouldn’t talk about outselling anyone until you can SHOW it.

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.