W
W

wfh

AE (Account Executive)

Fire Starter
Member

Previous quota % - Truth or Lie

Yo,


I'm looking for a new job, been on a closing role for 12 months now and I'm 30% on target, which sucks.


I manage to get interviews but when they hear about the above, it all ends there.


Am I too honest and not making myself a favour? Are companies actually verifying these numbers or salespeople completely make it up...





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CoorsKing
WR Officer
3
Retired King of the Coors Knights
Never lie. Come up with a new way to spin it - “transitioned from SDR to AE and closed X new logos in 6 months”
wfh
Fire Starter
0
AE (Account Executive)
Being explicitly asked about the % of quota, otherwise I won't bring it up. Maybe I should indeed try to talk about my target before I am asked about it haha 
CoorsKing
WR Officer
2
Retired King of the Coors Knights
Hmmm. What does your year to date look like? You were only in role for 6 months based on other comments so what is your 6 month %?
hh456
Celebrated Contributor
1
sales
Why are you only 30% to target? Let's start there first. I'll reply when you give more feedback.
wfh
Fire Starter
0
AE (Account Executive)
Transition from an SDR was far from smooth, took me a good 6 months to get my head around the role, do's and don'ts.
Product and sales cycle is fairly complex, lots of technical details.
For additional context, no one had 100% target for the past year (prior to that it was mainly CEO selling)
hh456
Celebrated Contributor
0
sales
Where is everyone else on your team % to goal?
wfh
Fire Starter
0
AE (Account Executive)
Half were laid off, other 2 between 50 - 70
hh456
Celebrated Contributor
3
sales
Okay. I would say constant turmoil, unclear corporate vision and it made it hard to succeed. You feel as though facing those challenges, 30% to goal was a significant success.
MSPSales
Politicker
1
Partner Development Manager
Everyone pads their numbers in interviews. Whether your a top achiever or not 
E_Money
Big Shot
1
💰
Don't straight up lie, but don't be afraid to stretch the truth a little bit... if you know what I mean. 

You're in sales so.. you know what I mean.

Diablo
Politicker
0
Sr. AE
What's the average Sales cycle and ACV? Are you seeing and drop in ACV but proportional increase in the number of customers. If that's the case, you might be able to explain those challenges. How much do you have in pipeline and when do you see them closing? Has the sales cycle increased? Did you check company's performance YOY to see if it's stagnant/upward/downward.


Start thinking from all angles and I'm sure you'll find a way @wfh 
LordBusiness
Politicker
0
Chief Revenue Officer
Honestly; I’d pad your numbers a bit, no one is going to call your previous employer to “verify”. That being said, sounds like you are just figuring it out, why are you interviewing?
softwaresails
Politicker
0
Sales Manager
Don't ever lie. 

Tell them the truth and explain why. Give context. Just hearing 30% to quota can be shocking at first but you should be able to provide some additional details about it.

Maybe you are only 30% but how much revenue did you bring in? How many new deals? How does that compare to those on your team?

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