SVP of Sales told the ADRs that they are not invited to our President's Clubs bc ADRs are not salespeople and that "sellers want to hang around other sellers". Thoughts?

🧢 Sales Management
10
madtea
Good Citizen
4
Regional Director
There goes those ADRs ever wanting to become sales people for that company...you have to appreciate the people with the worst job in the sales process.
slaydie
Big Shot
3
Account Executive
Totally agree - how is this motivating at all? Not the right call on behalf of your SVP If they want to continue to grow the team. 

Also P.S - ADR is like an SDR or BDR right? I guess I am a bit behind on the sales lingo :/
madtea
Good Citizen
2
Regional Director
Yeah there's a million acronyms for them. Our company calls them SAs.
slaydie
Big Shot
0
Account Executive
haha makes sense
JustGonnaSendIt
Politicker
1
Burn Towns, Get Money
Most overblown title that just screams toxic environment I've ever seen for this role is 'innovation strategist'
coffeeisforclosers
4
Enterprise Account Executive
Huge missed opportunity! Give them something to work towards throughout the year. In my past organization, the top global ADR (% to quota) qualified for President's Club. It was always a great indication of who was ripe to be an amazing future seller. It was motivating and a great competition for the ADRs too.
wolfofgulftobay
Catalyst
1
VP of Sales & Marketing
100% agree. You have to show them a path to the next level or they will leave and either you start over or hire someone off the street and pay more while they ramp up. 
billboski
Contributor
3
Strategic SDR
A few weeks later they asked ADRs to participate in upselling accounts...but we aren't selling, we're just setting meetings, right?  Using that logic, it should be called upsetting accounts, which I'm more than happy to do!
gdzll
Opinionated
3
Sales Development Representative
BS - ADRs are the engine of sales and the biggest grinders in a company. Without them, reps have nobody to sell to. This VP needs to go.
Trinity
WR Officer
3
BusDev
That's crazy. Opening is the new closing
businessdevelopment
Opinionated
3
Distribution Lead
That SVP of Sales appears to be ignorant. Comments like that leads me to believe is not a very good leader. 

If your ADRs are interacting with clients and/or supporting them, they ARE selling. You're always selling, whether it is direct or indirect.
GlenRoss
Politicker
3
Account Executive
Wild move and really bad for morale. Even if for budget reason they didn’t have room he shouldn’t have announced it that way and still had a competition for the ADRs
billboski
Contributor
2
Strategic SDR
Plenty of budget.  It would have been so easy to find a different way of saying it. 

we all have good relationships with our AEs (sellers), so is he saying that those relationships are fake and that they don’t actually like us as people?  Wild. 
SonomaKitsune
2
VP of Sales
That's a pretty shitty leader, imo. SDR/BDR/ADR are the tip of the spear...the first human touch a prospective "future brand ambassador" has with the company.

If the SVP of Sales feels that way then he/she has failed at providing appropriate enablement, up-leveling, and a career path for a key piece of the revenue team.
AssistantToTheRegional
Politicker
2
Enterprise Account Executive
Time to GTFO and go somewhere that sees ADR's as the future of their Sales team.
SalesPharaoh
Big Shot
1
Senior Account Executive
Nice motivation speech, should coach the Nets.
billboski
Contributor
0
Strategic SDR
😭
SalesPharaoh
Big Shot
0
Senior Account Executive
can't wait to rally around this
poweredbycaffeine
WR Lieutenant
1
☕️
That inbound marketing company in Cambridge, MA only invites a select number of BDRs to Presidents Club--usually the high performers. It always drove BDRs to crush numbers the following year to get that invite. That said, the sales culture at that inbound marketing company is incredibly toxic, so take that with a grain of salt.
goose
Politicker
1
Sales Executive
He's not wrong.
billboski
Contributor
1
Strategic SDR
i'm fine with the idea of it, i just disagree with the way it was conveyed.  adr's converse with ae's every single day with the hopes of one day being their equal.  to say that they don't want to hang around us implies that our daily conversations and relationship are disingenuous, which may be true for some cases but definitely not all of them.  I just think there was a better way to communicate it.
goose
Politicker
1
Sales Executive
Maybe he was challenging them
sebs
Politicker
0
BDR
That's just sad to hear... 
wolfofgulftobay
Catalyst
0
VP of Sales & Marketing
That's a great way to drive junior folks out of the org. Good luck growing and developing talent from within. 
Salespreuner
Big Shot
0
Regional Sales Director
I would not appreciate this ; supporting people with difficult roles is much essential! that too in sales, process!
Lumbergh
Politicker
0
Sr Account Exec
SVP of sales is clueless and should never have thought this, let alone vocalized it.  If anything, inviting top performing SDR/ADR/BD team is a cheap way to incentivize them to keep working hard.  
SaaSKicker1000
Politicker
0
AE II
Fuck that. Leave ASAP. You now know how the company feels about ADR’s vs AE’s. They don’t value you, clearly. 
8

For a newly funded startup, if they want to hire a VP of sales/BD person. What things should they consider?

Question
11
7

@Sales Leaders: how do you decide which reps get to go to which tradeshows / conference?

Question
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