David Gardner

Enterpsie Account Executive, Cloud

Starting as a new AE for a B2B SaaS company, how can I prep for the new year to hit the ground running?

Starting a new role as an AE coming from 8 months as an SDR and getting promoted.

I have very little experience with disco calls and speak to very technical individuals (data architects, engineers, devs, etc.) I always feel the imposter syndrome due to relying on out working individuals and being quite good at building relationships, but my goal is to become a more well rounded seller. I seem to struggle to sell through solutions rather than features and being able to really pry out and identify pain points. I have issues with admin stuff like day to day staying on tasks, and a lot of the stuff time I just feel like I have no clue what I really should be doing.

AAAAND on top of all that I seem to struggle with listening and retaining information on calls. how TF did I get promoted lol.

All jokes aside I have the drive and love to succeed in sales I know I do but I have a lot of improving to do if I want to be a successful closer rather than just an SDR.

📢 Communication

🛩 Onboarding

7

15 comments

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bonez

Politicker

7

Account Executive

Hit the ground running by showing up, listening, and realizing this is your training ground. Give yourself room to make mistakes and learn from them.

Look at what the top reps are doing and pick their brains. The squeaky wheel gets the grease so don’t feel like you’re bothering them by asking. And remember You got this job because they believe in you, it wasn’t a mistake. Show up like you belong because you absolutely do.

With the two things you pointed out, it comes with time and practice. You’ll get better at both by doing them more and being part of the process. Quick caveat, I am horribly unorganized but have managed a decent career in sales. It’s not always a liability if you can work around it and plan for it. And you get better as time goes on I promise.

You got this dude. You’re there because you belong. Don’t forget that!

jefe

Arsonist

6

🍁

What @bonez said.

Good luck!

2

Enterpsie Account Executive, Cloud

Thanks so much for the advice man, in terms of territory, account mapping, prospecting, and admin stuff like CRM hygiene. What’s your advice on what I can do before the new year and how to go about it?

Rosie

Catalyst

2

Sales Director

What´s been said here is G.o.l.d.

oldcloser

Arsonist

1

💀

☝️ solid

CuriousFox

WR Officer

6

🦊

Check out the Academy:

https://bravado.co/blog/tag/academy/

Sunbunny31

Politicker

5

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

You're at the beginning of your career. Of course you have a lot to learn! Sounds like you've identified areas you'd like to focus on, and where you personally may be challenged. All of that indicates that you're highly motivated to succeed.
Some tips: rely on the rest of your team. You should have support from manager/SC/product. Use the experts. Listen and learn from them, but understand everyone will have their area of expertise and you are not expected to struggle on your own (at least at a good company).
Shadow experienced reps - the good ones. Learn from them. Adopt their good habits. Over time, those will become your own.
Value is what a solution can do for a company, not a cute feature that is cool. What's the problem you're solving leads to what the value is. Small problem, little value. Big problem that affects time to market or brings risk on the company - bigger value. Does your solution eliminate hurdles, or help a company avoid external audits - that's the value. Getting to $$ around that is the gold standard but doesn't always happen; if you can tell a story around success, often that works.
Just a few items in a nutshell. I've been in sales for a very long time, and still get impostor syndrome AND know I have a lot to learn. I'd like to think that's a sign of an open mind and someone who is not rigid - so I encourage you to embrace it and use it as incentive to continously improve your practice.
Honestly, I expect to see some wins from you next year. You've got this.

2

Enterpsie Account Executive, Cloud

This is really helpful and I do think a lot of it also comes down to just doing it and with experience a lot of the uncertainty will become a little more clear. Thanks for the kind words as well I hope to be posting some wins in the future LFG!

Sunbunny31

Politicker

3

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

You have got this. Things that will take you an hour starting out will take 15 minutes down the road. Be kind to yourself, and just stay on top of things. You'll be fine!

Rosie

Catalyst

0

Sales Director

Do you think the way a good sales professional brings value can only be by bringing more revenue. How about when they bring revenue and also help the company build better processes/products/market plans..etc?

Sunbunny31

Politicker

0

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Value to a team? I was talking about SE discussing value with a prospect, rather than feature/function, which was the allusion from David.
Do I personally think a good sales professional brings value other than revenue? Absolutely. Do I think it ultimately matters when there are layoffs? Maybe, maybe not. Case study is the dude who reported being fired - twice - because he was too much personally for companies to handle. At the very least, don't be that guy. Be someone companies want to keep around.

Fenderbaum

Politicker

4

Retired Choirboy🪕

Don't be so hard on yourself. You'd be surprised at how many people out there are simply faking it, whatever their career. You mentioned struggling with retaining information on calls. Have you ever thought about taking notes (old school style) with a pen and paper? Studies have shown this will improve your retaining skills.
It sounds like you have the drive to succeed. Maybe once you give yourself some credit for being you, your path will be smoother.
Many moons ago, my supervisor told me to stop apologizing to people. It made me realize I was putting myself down constantly. Looking back, I appreciate him telling me. It changed everything. You remind me of my younger self.

wolfofmiami

Opinionated

2

🐺

Shadow some pple and take notes ask them to record the meeting and go back and rewatch it over and over then practice running disco calls and demos on your manager or friends until you’re comfortable

1

agent

im not even in sales rn, but id give you a small advice for info retention that you make little notes small doodle pics it helps.( i got 0 sales experience but this method helps retaining info of my boring lectures)

Natsochist

Good Citizen

0

Director of Product Sales

Late to this party, but I’ll throw out one more item - when you’re selling to super technical or super specialized clients, they generally know their craft and can sniff out bullshit easily.

If they ask you a question and you don’t know the answer? No sweat. Own it, tell them you’ll find out (and by when), then meet that commitment. (“Great question. I don’t know the answer off the top of my head, but I know where to find it / who knows it. I can get you an answer by [date].”)

You’ll earn so much more credibility than trying to flub your way through a partial response, and they’ll be more likely to listen to you in the future. Good luck!

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