Thesamiam13x

Sales

Celebrated Contributor

Arsonist

Catalyst

Selling Physical Product Sucks!

Eventually once I get a little more experience I am going to SaaS.

Selling physical products sucks. They affect your numbers when we cant get them shipped out due to supply.

Shortage on components which creates a long ass lead time. We can get the sales order in but it doesnt count until we invoice them which doesnt happen until we get the item shipped out.

Anyone else have the same issue or is your sales org pretty good at adjusting your numbers?

🦾 Hardware Tech

33 comments

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Broncosfan

Politicker

Account Manager

Imagine selling staffing. I can do my job 100% of the way, get open positions with the best possible terms, and then if my recruiters can’t deliver it means absolutely nothing. We’re selling a product that can tell us no.

slaydie

Big Shot

Account Executive

Yeah, now that's tough when your product is real human beings haha

Thesamiam13x

Celebrated Contributor

Sales

lol

Stratifyz

Big Shot

Account Executive

I can relate. Human capital is the fucking worst and I’ll NEVER go back.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

The good news is EVERYONE is experiencing shipping delays, which makes it a little easier to set the expectation with the client.

Thesamiam13x

Celebrated Contributor

Sales

True but our numbers doesnt get adjusted so it hurts us lol

paddy

WR Officer

Director of Business Development

I've never sold physical products so I can't speak to your challenge here, but just be weary about jumping into SaaS. Yes it's great, but getting companies to adopt software is no fucking cake walk.

Thesamiam13x

Celebrated Contributor

Sales

@paddy Could you elaborate just in case I make the wrong decision lol. Plus it seems like SaaS is where the money is at.

paddy

WR Officer

Director of Business Development

There is plenty of money to go around in SaaS. There are more steps in the sales process than selling a physical product though. So more room for objections. Most of the time in the SaaS world, companies are under annual contracts and usually they will already have a solution that already works okay for them so you are essentially asking them to rip and replace a current solution they've already invested in or are asking them to adopt something they can't physically see. That being said, just make sure the company you work for has a good product that doesn't have a shit ton of competitors in the market.

Thesamiam13x

Celebrated Contributor

Sales

@paddy I assume you are in SaaS, would you get out of it then or you like it since you've been in it.

paddy

WR Officer

Director of Business Development

I am indeed. And I plan on staying here. My company does something unique though

ExtremeVibeChecker44

Arsonist

Inside Sales

Margins are significantly higher in software.

BamPeesly

Good Citizen

Sales Director

Solid point- I sold a plethora of copiers with completely unnecessary add-ons just because they were in inventory - delivery was required for the revenue to count towards the month so yep I was often selling clients on this new brand called Whats-In-Our-Warehouse so my boss could have his numbers for the month. 10/10 do not recommend slinging copiers

Thesamiam13x

Celebrated Contributor

Sales

Ha yea that sucks

GDO

Politicker

BDM

A friend of mine did copiers. He’s glad he does not do that anymore.

WheresMyPO

Opinionated

Biotech Sales Rep

My org is the same. Huge push to get things in a few days in before EOQ or we won’t get revenue recognized for Q2. Sucks for the business but I get paid on an annual quota so I don’t care if it’s Q2 or Q3. If anything, it’s nice to start Q3 strong with orders out the door first thing.

looper1010

Celebrated Contributor

Solutions Specialist

I've sold physical products and it was the WORST. I'm in software sales now and it's been so much better. As you said, delivery, shipment, and logistics kill the relationship. On the flip side, I have to worry about implementation for software sales >_<. There's no way of escaping!

Thesamiam13x

Celebrated Contributor

Sales

I'll head over to the SaaS world one of these days.

looper1010

Celebrated Contributor

Solutions Specialist

one of us, one of us, one of us!

Thesamiam13x

Celebrated Contributor

Sales

Hah yes joining the cult!

looper1010

Celebrated Contributor

Solutions Specialist

Alright! Which industry?

Thesamiam13x

Celebrated Contributor

Sales

Anything involving software.

ppg

Catalyst

All around good guy

Looper, you selling RFP Response Software?

looper1010

Celebrated Contributor

Solutions Specialist

In Fintech, selling a financial benefits platform :)!

FamilyTruckster

Politicker

Exec Director, Major Accounts

We sell other peoples stuff. Feast or famine. I get it.

If it’s out of your control AND you can prove it, barter your numbers down with your leadership. Come with facts and be honest. If you’re not, it’ll bite you in the ass and they won’t trust you.

Thesamiam13x

Celebrated Contributor

Sales

Thanks for the tip!!

JuicyKlay

Celebrated Contributor

Yep I did that for 5 years and it does suck lol especially when leadership doesn’t adjust quotas. Hard to hit numbers when nothing counts as a sale until it ships

Thesamiam13x

Celebrated Contributor

Sales

Yea im not sticking around that long lol

Blackwargreymon

Politicker

MDR

The good news is EVERYONE is experiencing shipping delays, which makes it a little easier to set the expectation with the client.

GDO

Politicker

BDM

I sold a combination of physical and non physical products in my first job. It is really annoying when you sign a deal and then afterwards someone fucks up. But tbh that can happen with non physical products as well.

bassinshaps

Politicker

Territory Sales Manager

It’s an even playing field right now. Nobody can get anything. And if for some reason you can’t get inventory but your competition can, go sell for them. If you can ride this tough supply chain out until it’s over, you’ll beat out a lot of competitors and be ahead of the curve when the rookies jump in after you’ve seen the worst of the worst.

Thesamiam13x

Celebrated Contributor

Sales

Yea that true, no one can get anything lol. We are the largest inventory stocker in North America. But either way I am not sticking around. The pay is not great at all lol.

Error32

Politicker

ISR

you should never take a pay cut moving from BDR to AE. that's not right at all.

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Thesamiam13x

Selling Physical Product Sucks!

33 comments

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