startupminion

BDM

Red flag or the norm?

Interviewing for an AE role now, and was told new AEs are given 6 months to close the first deal, and will be put on a PIP otherwise. The hiring manager is looking for someone who will work his ass off to meet quota.

Does this sound like revolving door culture? I don't quite like the sound of it, but am afraid this is the norm for sales and I'm being naive for expecting any different.

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🤠 Culture

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Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

What's the sales cycle? If its short/transactional and you haven't closed anything, no matter where you work the chance of a PIP is high.
Easiest way to check its a revolving door is looking at the tenure of reps on Linkedin who current work there and doing another search on past employees

startupminion

Executive

BDM

Sales cycle is 5 mths for enterprise, 2-3 mths for mid market, and I’m free to go after either or both. Not too much info on past employees as the org is only 2 years old.. total team size of about 5. Hiring manager has been in the manager role for about a year and has put 2 pple on PIP

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

So if you are enterprise and dont find a opp that can close in the first month you get PIP'd, I see this as an empty threat

SalesMama

Executive

Senior Account Executive

Very surprised that a company could close any meaningful enterprise transaction in 5 months -- if the Hiring Manager put 2 ppl on PIP, how many total has he hired?

I don't think the 6 month requirement is inherently a reason to run (esp when you could close a mid market deal to satisfy this), but I would question the tone/culture that comes with it. Is it 1) "you must close on your own in 6 months and it better be a big one" or 2) "we expect you to close within 6 months but we're a team and you'll have the right resources to ensure success so long as you're doing your job"?

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Really depends on sales cycle, how good the product sells itself, frequency of leads (in/out bound), contracting process, etc.

How many hit this mark? And what if you have 1-5 deals in contracting and the 6month mark hits… how flexible are they?

At least they are honest about the 6months requirement. Many companies aren’t.

startupminion

Executive

BDM

Product doesn’t really sell itself. The problem that they solve isn’t a big pain for most companies. Haven’t asked about flexibility- fair point and I’ll be sure to ask.

2 out of 5 are on PIP, so i guess i can infer that to mean 3 out of 5 hit targets.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Is it actually attainable? Have you spoken to other AEs?

startupminion

Executive

BDM

Not yet, but i’ve reached out and scheduling to speak to one of the AEs

startupminion

Executive

BDM

Realised I should add more details here. This is for a b2b sales role, sales cycle for enterprise deals is 5 mths, for mid market 2-3 mths. Was told will be given 3 months to ramp up.

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

So will you be in Ent or MM?

startupminion

Executive

BDM

There is no demarcation between Ent/MM, free to go after either or both, as long as quota’s reached at the end of the day.

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

Considering MM I don't see any reason why you would hit your first deal. Enterprise - might/might not happen as you will still be ramping up. Being upfront about it is a bit too early but at least you know their expectations now :)

SoccerandSales

Big Shot

Account Executive

Seems aggressive to share that during hiring process, but I would imagine with any role (assuming it isn't enterprise) that you would need to show some sort of return by the 6th month.

BmajoR

Arsonist

Account Executive

Doesn't seem too unreasonable to me.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

If they're up front about it and the sales cycle is shorter than the time allotted to get that first deal, then I don't read this as a red flag as much as their line in the sand. And that the obvious thing to do is get that first MM deal done while you're building out a respectable mix in your pipeline.
If everything else about the role and company are solid and not giving off alarming signals, this doesn't seem extreme.

ZVRK

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Red flag for me.. Saying this at the interview has to be a warning for a high pressure culture.

Revenue_Rambo

Politicker

Director, Revenue Enablement

On the surface this seems reasonable. Start by focusing on MM to get a quick win and take that heat off. Also gives company very easy way to cut dead weight for reps that want to come in and coast.

However, 40% of AEs are on PIP. I’d have to know how long the other 3 had been in role. If those not on PIP are less than a year I’d be really worried.

Dig into Glassdoor and RepVue and see if you can garner any additional insights. Also find out what the ongoing expectations are for reps who get through the first hurdle.

Maximas

Tycoon

Senior Sales Executive

Did you have a chance to know the hiring/promotion date of these new AEs to see how massive was the delay that made the hiring manager putting em on PIP, and if they find the required support when needed in order to know the nature of this working environment before actually getting to it!

startupminion

Executive

BDM

The AEs were hired straight as AEs instead of being promoted inhouse, so my guess is it’s the 6 mths period that they didn’t get through. Team size of 5, with total of 2 folks on PIP.

pirate

Big Shot

🦜☠️ Account Executive

Sales cycle seems short based on the replies to comments from you. Are there a lot of leads? What does the pipeline look like?
Say fictionally you have 1000 leads and need to close one then PIP makes sense. Versus 1 strong lead and that's it

CPTAmerica

Opinionated

President/CRO

Don't like that unless the cycle is typically 30-60 days.

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

Not cool, in my opinion, but also something I've heard of before. Definitely not the norm.
Not necessarily a red flag, but I don't think it's indicative of a good culture.

thesearentleads

Member

Account Executive

I would be more concerned about the problem they solve not being a big pain for most companies. There is limited budget for nice to have software and the sales cycles are likely to be longer without a sense of urgency on the customer side

Beans

Big Shot

Enterprise Account Executive

What's the product, ICP, and ACV?
This can be a red flag if it's large enterprise deals, if it's one off SMB/MM deals it makes sense.

salesgirly

Contributor

Regional Sales Manager

Red flag. Not giving the employee ample time and proper training to get ramped up will result in company and culture failure

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startupminion

Red flag or the norm?

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