Hey hunters,
This March it's been 3 years since I started working in B2B sales in the IT industry. I've been working for the same company all these years, but it wasn't a good choice because it's a 50-employee company with no solid sales department (the CEO taught me sales, but he did sales himself because he was the founder of the company). So I think I should start with corporate jobs where I could work under a sales manager who knows how to sell(then I would learn it the right way). I'm a little disappointed, but at the time I didn't know what that should look like (I was excited about the prospect of working under a CEO ;)).
We started as a custom software development company, working on a project model for various technical and non-technical founders from the US and UK. Within 9 months I was promoted from SDR to BDS, and of the team of 3 SDRs, I was the only one left (the rest were fired). I lived with the assumption that I was doing great and that I was somebody in the sales world. After a year in sales, I was responsible for all sales activities (inbound, outbound, account management, upsell) and we moved to a staff augmentation/leasing staff/outsourcing only model. This was difficult for me because the CEO went to work on his product and left me without any guidance. I'm not the drama queen type, so I buckled down to hard work and did the best I could. Now, after these 3 years, I know that I mostly closed referrals, inbound and upsell, so I was not successful in active sales (outbound).
I'm disappointed with my growth because I'm good at inbound sales and account management but to me, it's weak to not be able to actively acquire clients. My current company is super happy with me and sees me in a management position. I, however, am unhappy with my performance and have even thought about quitting sales.
At this point, I was approached by a colleague who has the same company(1,5 years on the market, a few clients, not solid processes), but it is still very young. He offered me to join the company for a salary (less than at present) and the possibility of shares within 6 months. There, apart from selling, I would slowly take over the position of CEO. An interesting idea, because developing something with a friend and on our account. However, in my current company(12 years on the market, well established, solid clients), I know that I could become a manager on my way to profit-sharing if I create a good sales department. In both companies there is still a lot to do, I do not have that experience but I approach things proactively, logically and pragmatically. The question is whether I am throwing myself in too deep by wanting to join a colleague's company and should rather focus on specializing in my current company. I am 27 years old, graduated from technical university and in sales I use the fact that I am an engineer who has well-developed soft skills.
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