notdavemoss

CCBW

Valued Contributor

Sales Leaders with MBAs

Since I'm just throwing red meat with my questions about cold calling and sales gurus, time to toss out a prime rib....I have come to believe that CROs or VPs of Sales with MBAs are pretty much the worst type of sales leaders ever.

In decades of work, I think I have run across one MBA'd sales leader that could run a sales meeting with a client or actually coach reps on what to do in a sale meeting.

I mean these MBAers look GREAT when presenting to investors or the board...but to customers?

I'd rather hand an enterprise account to a recently hired SDR than to 99% of these MBA sales leaders.

And if it's an Ivy League MBA? Those guys can't sell ice cream at the beach on the hottest day of the year, IMHO that is.

Maybe its just my bitter bitterness that's making me bitter about MBAs.

Thoughts?

When I learn my sales leader has an MBA....

Attached poll

I shake my head and keep dialing I get why they are so bad at their job I understand that the degree is the reason they think everything they say is Golden! I am happy to be working for such an amazing sales leader Who cares?

*Voting in this poll no longer yields commission.

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20 comments

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Fenderbaum

Politicker

15

Retired Choirboy🪕

.

notdavemoss

Valued Contributor

2

CCBW

BRILLIANT!

GDO

Politicker

1

BDM

haha I'm stealing this!

ReadTheScript

Politicker

1

Sales Manager

I've been places where anyone with an MBA got kicked out of certain meetings.

TennisandSales

Politicker

8

Head Of Sales

i really dont care what sort of schooling they have had. i care about the results they have produced and how the plan on helping me and the team NOW.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

6

🦊

They can believe it all day. It's what I believe. And how I think/feel they will influence the decision of my Enterprise prospect. We all know how long the sales cycles are - I ain't letting ANYBODY fuck up my hard work. I say it varies.

kittychachas

Valued Contributor

5

VP/Director of Sales

The MBA only works if the person had solid experience before and put in the work during the program. My CRO has an MBA and is fantastic in front of clients. My former SVP didn’t and he was ok at best in front of customers.

Plenty of people get an MBA just for the three little letters next to their name but don’t actually put in the work. An MBA is only worth it if you actually study and engage with the coursework’s

Lambda

Tycoon

4

Sales Consultant

MBA's can have weight depending on the organization
Most times I have realized that adding letters to the end of your name just makes you that much more capable of regurgitating information you read in textbooks most of us cant understand 0.o

Justatitle

Big Shot

4

Account Executive

Degrees and titles, nothing beats experience.

Fenderbaum

Politicker

2

Retired Choirboy🪕

Amen.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

4

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

The only way I know if any of my sales leaders have an MBA is if I check their LI profile.

I did work with a BDR who had it as part of the displayed name on LI - which I found very odd. And since the BDR could not spell to save his life, I found the MBA attainment highly suspect.

That said, if they feel the need to flaunt the degree, they usually don't have the chops to back it up.

Avon

Politicker

4

Senior Account Executive

"And since the BDR could not spell to save his life, I found the MBA attainment highly suspect." I found this way too funny

Sunbunny31

Politicker

1

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

It was sad but true.

Definitely confirmed a suspicion I had about the value of an MBA.

GingerBarbarian

Opinionated

4

Lead Sales

An MBA is great, but most of academia is not really designed for sales. Academia is about theory and historical data. Real sales is not about accumulating data, it is about knowing what to dismiss

fidelcashflow

Catalyst

3

Account Executive

All about results. Pretty soon it will be very irrelevant but it's already getting there. Most of the MBAs I know suck ass. I was under one amazing leader though who happened to have one but it had nothing to do with his success and how he leads. It's BS imo. People now shouldn't attempt to get one unless it's suuuuper convenient (you/parents have the money, you're young) I'll never understand people in their late 20's going back to get it. Does nothing for them.

Pachacuti

Politicker

3

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

MBA is overkill for 99% of sales jobs. It encourages you to consider things not relevant to most sales opportunities.

But if you want to move to some other field it can definite help in the transition or provide credibility that you can do the job.

Angusmacg

Valued Contributor

2

Territory Account Mgr.

I got my MBA awhile back. The hope was to become a branch Mgr or something similar but most places wanted mgmt experience so I just stayed in my sales role. Realized that by staying in the sales role I was able to avoid the BS of management, reporting, etc.

HVACexpert

Politicker

1

sales engineer

I got my MBA to help learn the business side of things outside of sales. Agreed MBA doesn’t help create a better seller. But it can help a seller become a better business manager. Also agreed though, I would rather have a manager or business unit leader with sales experience, helps me to know that my manager or VP has gotten his or her hands dirty before down in the trenches

Sales_Yoda

1

Sales Leader

You presume to judge people with MBAs. It's no different than people judging you as a pushy, self-serving salesperson. It's not fair of them, and it's not fair of you.

Fnord

Praised Answer

1

VP of Sales

Hi,
Former VP of Sales with an MBA. I think I’m sort of qualified to respond as having experience both as a sales rep reporting to MBA and Non-MBA leaders and then becoming one myself:

1. The MBA is a great degree to obtain, and then hide it from your resume. Saying that you hold an MBA is only padding your level
of self confidence. The real value of the MBA is the network you obtain. After graduating in 2023 I know I can find one senior person in almost any company that I can call and say “hey I’m an alumni, can we talk for a few minutes”. And they almost always say yes.

2. Learning how to manage is very different than becoming a good sales manager. Executive management is a lot about stakeholder management (your CEO, your board, etc). Managing sales reps is all about coaching and ensuring they all deliver on the target. You can do this without an MBA for sure.

3. MBA will still help you advance in your career. I moved from director of sales to VP of sales within 2 years and I think this was in part because I could communicate more effectively with senior management. I can’t say for certain so this is probably my own experience.

I will say one thing though:
Most sales people I have had the pleasure of leading always think they can do a better job as a manager than their own manager. I don’t know if it’s the nature of the role but every rep thinks they are great at marketing and GTM strategy because they are good at pitching and closing. And by the same coin, the reps that I’ve promoted from IC to team leads, almost always fail in their first year (also happened to me). That’s how you learn to lead sales orgs.

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