CharmingSalesGal

Account Executive

Sales Career Paths: The Ways

I'm sure we all know there are a TON of different paths one can take in sales. Whether it be from SDR to AE to Manager to Director...

Curious what paths y'all have taken or are interested in taking?

I started as an SDR and am currently an AE. Planning to move into a Sr. AE role within the next year and unsure what after that. I've always loved training people and am often helping train in new hires so maybe a Sales Trainer type role? Still up in the air!

🚀 Career Goals

✌️ Growing Pains

🎯 Career Development

43 comments

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poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

BDR->MM AE->AM->Ops->AE->Director->Operator (I don't have one focus anymore, I show up and tame chaos as a sales leader)

CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

Looks like the only thing left is CRO and then you have done them all! That is a ton of different perspectives which I bet helps a ton. You have seen literally every side of the situation haha

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

I'd be cool with CRO, or maybe COO. Not sure I could do CEO, my pragmatism would kill someone.

CharmingSalesGal

Politicker

Account Executive

I've recently started toying around with CPO (Chief Procurement Officer) or CRO as an end goal for myself too. Would love to haggle people for discounts day in and day out. 😂

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

I feel like procurement is where they put the finance people with anger management problems. "David, you're a great excel guy...but you can't keep breaking keyboards when your macros error out. How about we re-focus that energy on making other people hate themselves?"

CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

LOL. Or deal desk.

CharmingSalesGal

Politicker

Account Executive

HAHAHAHA. That is the BEST description of Procurement I have ever heard. I don't have the Excel skills so maybe I'll just be a side hustler for that team instead. CEO perhaps?

Wolfof7thStreet

Valued Contributor

Damn that is quite the progression, congrats!

CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

I am taking the "traditional path" : SDR -> ISR -> AE -> leadership.

I know plenty of people who have done non-traditional routes though. Some became SEs, some went into ops, one quit and founded his own company.

That is the beauty of it all, there is no "right" way to do it, find what makes you the most happy and go full fucking send and do it the best you possibly can!

CharmingSalesGal

Politicker

Account Executive

Couldn't agree more- I LOVE the flexibility of it but also find it kind of overwhelming at times! Have you always wanted to eventually move into a leadership role?

CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

Yup! I tend to gravitate more towards team lead and formal leadership roles due to my personality! I love coaching/mentoring people.

CharmingSalesGal

Politicker

Account Executive

Another area I struggle- differentiating the leadership roles when it comes to Sales Trainer vs Sales Manager/Director. I think Managers and Directors have to deal with more politics and (hate to say it buuuut) people's feelings which I'm not always the best at. I do love helping people though so it's intriguing to go there!

CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

I love the office politics. It's like Game of Thrones in this bitch, and I am the king of the North.

CharmingSalesGal

Politicker

Account Executive

😂😂😂 I have my days where I like it and then some days I'm like no, absolutely not to-fucking-day.

Wolfof7thStreet

Valued Contributor

Nice, taking a similar route hopefully!

impartialstick

Good Citizen

BDR

Partner enablement is a path that's always interested me.

Highly relevant to selling skills, lucrative, and very much continues to grow in demand.

Seems to allow for a little more relationship building than a lot of B2B SaaS selling as well.

Wolfof7thStreet

Valued Contributor

Ive always thought this has seemed interesting too, even more personal than sales?

funcoupons

WR Officer

👑

I've only been a BDR, now AE. Unsure if I want to try my hand at management in a couple of years or stay IC til I die. In between I wouldn't mind taking on a training role while still being an IC.

CharmingSalesGal

Politicker

Account Executive

This is exactly where I struggle! I'm good at sales & love it but do I want to deal with the politics that come with a managing role??? Super conflicted but I feel a small pressure to plan out a path like... yesterday.

Wolfof7thStreet

Valued Contributor

Yeah Ive been questioning whether management is the right next step or not too. Becoming an excel junkie scares me lol

PowerFade58

Fire Starter

VP of Sales Dev

I have approached my career without a focus on a path in terms of title, but much more of a path focused on cashflow. I need to make more this year than I did last, and so on and so on. I've figured out ways to do that again and again, and that has led from being an SDR to being a consultant that does a range of things.

Two things I continually improve year over year in my path: Work/life balance (working from home, with good tech, shorter hours), and more income (I'm averaging raising my income by ~20% a year)

Wolfof7thStreet

Valued Contributor

Damn a 20% a year raise so far is pretty crazy, congrats!

Wolfof7thStreet

Valued Contributor

SDR to AE so far, want to move into BDR Management or Enterprise sales next

KendallRoy

Politicker

Went from outsourced SDR, to SDR Team Lead, to BDM bringing in new clients for the outsourced lead gen agency I worked for, then took a step back to enterprise SaaS SDR after being repeatedly knocked back for not having SaaS closing experience for AE roles. Moved to SaaS AE last year. Not sure of my next move, still early days. Segment above mine is openly regarded as a black hole of death, so the obvious path forward isn't an option.

CharmingSalesGal

Politicker

Account Executive

Black hole of death being what? I feel like there's a couple of roles that could correlate with that title.... 😅

KendallRoy

Politicker

Segment where no one hits and more than half the team is on PIP at any given time. No changes have been made despite them being requested for years and the top performers in my team keep turning down offers to move up every time and give clear reasons why. The segment has twice the reps it needs and they're still currently hiring another role when the highest current attainment most of the way through quarter is 50ish. Blows my mind.

CharmingSalesGal

Politicker

Account Executive

Woah, wtf. That's weird.

KendallRoy

Politicker

Yep. I genuinely feel sorry for people joining the team. One guy hasn't even been there a year and is already on PIP this quarter

CharmingSalesGal

Politicker

Account Executive

I feel like this is common unfortunately. I was once told that if you didn't have a sale in the first four months, you were let go... 🤯

GDO

Politicker

BDM

Outside sales - AE - BDM

Wolfof7thStreet

Valued Contributor

Are you happy with this progression? looking at something similar potentially

GDO

Politicker

BDM

Yes, my situation is a bit special. Mostly because I only was AE for 7 months

HappyGilmore

Politicker

Account Executive

Likely taking the traditional path, SDR to SMB AE and climbing up the AE ranks/segments from there and then going into leadership.

CharmingSalesGal

Politicker

Account Executive

In your current company, how long will it take you to climb the ranks into a leadership opp?

HappyGilmore

Politicker

Account Executive

Oof, that could take a few years depending on how things go. Tbh I'll probably be at a different company by then trying to get into leadership, but tbd.

Wolfof7thStreet

Valued Contributor

Would you like to lead AEs or BDRs?

HappyGilmore

Politicker

Account Executive

Personally would love to lead AE’s. Think being part of deal strategy and helping on deals would be something I’d miss greatly leading BDR’s

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

SaaS Eater

Started as an AE moved into SMB Management and now Mid Market Management. Goal is to lead a sales org in the next few years and then C level beyond that.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Did you like die or something

NorthernSalesGuru

Politicker

Manager, Outbound Sales

Commission only rep > IC at legit company > Sales Manager > Director of sales > Back to IC (enterprise though at bigger company)

I love developing people so I’ll likely be back into some form of leadership soon (just at a much bigger company than previously)

Blackwargreymon

Politicker

MDR

That is the beauty of it all, there is no "right" way to do it, find what makes you the most happy and go full fucking send and do it the best you possibly can!

Clashingsoulsspell

Politicker

ISR

BDR->MM AE->AM->Ops->AE->Director->Operator (I don't have one focus anymore, I show up and tame chaos as a sales leader

Error32

Politicker

ISR

I am taking the "traditional path" : SDR -> ISR -> AE -> leadership.

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CharmingSalesGal

Sales Career Paths: The Ways

43 comments

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