BitcoinAddict

There is nothing more irritating than an AE that can't stay in their own lane.

I know that people will have conflicting views on this but I have run into one too many AEs that try to act like they are the manager of the SDR team or get too involved with the SDR team itself. Often times, they give awful advice on prospecting but man, it just ruins the entire sales org when an SDR has a Manager on one end and then an AE on the other trying to play role of manager.

Most of the times, I find that the AE cannot sell to save their lives and is just a power hungry maniac trying to get a manager title to cover up for their own closing flaws.

And I probably pissed some people off with that.....

☁️ Software Tech

🧢 Sales Management

19 comments

Sort by:

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

This is why whenever I actually DO hear from a SDR I call them, get the details, make a plan with them, and keep them updated throughout my process. Everyone wins.

butwhy

Politicker

Solutions Engineer

*laughs in Sales Engineering*

Oh boo, you have no idea.

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

Bravado's Resident Asshole

You do you and they will always do what they want to do.

Gasty

Notable Contributor

War Room Community Manager

Happens all the time. I've told my entire SDR team to agree with such AEs wholeheartedly, but only for the sake of agreement. Also: given the liberty to throw me under the bus if/when required.

Kmoney

Valued Contributor

Account Exec

Ehhh not pissed off. Just think it’s naive. It is their swim lane…because it’s their swimming pool. Your SDR manager is in charge of you. Your AE is in charge of the territory. You outreach the AE’s territory. Therefore…yeah, I mean you get it.

Life sucks, and then you die. 🤷🏽‍♀️

Filth

Politicker

Live Filthy or Die Clean

Right but within that, then the SDR could act as a manager to give the AE shit for not converting any of the prospects they put in front of them. There is a good reason for the divide in responsibility and management. I'm not saying there isn't a relationship, and communication can't happen on what is ideal, qualified, not a good fit but beyond that, stay in your lane or schedule your own meetings.

Have been a SDR before and have been an AE before so I say with both perspectives in mind.

Kmoney

Valued Contributor

Account Exec

The SDR is never going to act as a manager. That’s why they’re the SDR.

SDRs enable sales. If you aren’t doing everything in your power to get that done, yes even playing politics, you’re failing at the job.

There’s a reason a lot of big dumb dumbs do well in sales. They don’t overthink it, and take the advice of people above them.

“How you gunna hate from the outside of the club, you can’t even get in.” - Chris Brown

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

hahaha life sucks then you die. boom done.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

hahahah sounds like you have had some terrible experiences.

as a former SDR, i would 100% align more with the AE's then the SDR manager! most SDRs will be able to determine quickly if the AE is giving shit advice.

but the funny thing is.....it is kinda their lane right?

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Maybe the SDRs are doing the same thing you are doing, rolling their eyes at the "helpful" AE.

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

Hierarchy is important and people need to respect who actually reports to whom.

GDO

Politicker

BDM

They should be viewed as the same team tbh. The AE is empathetic by what thebSDR achieves. However, they should do it trough the SDR manager. Only thing they can do is offer some tips or coaching

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

The AE shouldnt be micromanaging you and if the rep is giving you bad advice, you need to let them know. The AE probably thinks he is being super helpful so you need to have that convo.

However, he should be involved because its his territory too. It should be a team effort

Kmoney

Valued Contributor

Account Exec

Bahahahhaha this is the worst possible advice in the history of Bravado. It has to be a troll comment.

Good luck telling your AE that you know their territory better than them. I’m sure that will pan out nicely.

SDRs are junior-mid level positions depending on the company, product/solution.

Do you value “feeling” right? Or do you value career progression?

frenchiemom1120

Member

Inside Sales Representative

Agreed. Been there, done that. My last role was SDR and even though I had an AE out of my location/region, I actually covered the whole US and passed business to all AEs. Our office was the only one in the whole company/nation that had SDRs. It didn’t benefit me any different for who I passed business too. I had a few that didn’t understand my role and thought I was trying to steal their business/commissions and would complain to my regional sales manager too (who ironically was in my location and was my direct boss) lmao. Well after a snarky email that I showed my AE because I didn’t know how to respond, she got on their ass and told them to back off because it was putting money in no one else’s pocket but theirs. Well after a couple cases of AEs complaining I was calling their territory, the sales VP had to step in. After that, my boss just pretty much told me F them and do not call in these certain territories or help them because they wanted to be greedy. And when they got behind on their campaigns it was no one’s fault but their own.
And later on the same one who sent the nasty email, came crawling back for me to help them 😏😉

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

Rolling 20's all day

And they are always that one guy on the team who has to comment on EVERYTHING! Even in large meetings

TheOverTaker

Politicker

Senior Account Executive

I will never get involved with an entire SDR team but when I'm working with an SDR if i see immediate problems with the meeting or lead, I will tell them an attempt to give some advice. However, I always follow the advice with "listen to your manager though"

growthmanager

Growth Manager

Another channel I take is to train my AEs to work with the managers. They're sometimes crap at sales strategy, but do understand their own strengths to close. Pulling them close also gives you more reign of oversight in what they're telling your team.

gbshore

Senior Strategic Account Manager

I think this rant is sophomoric. This sounds like an organizational/process issue between how the two organizations work together. So, instead of anonymously trashing AE's, why not work with your management to see how SDR team and AE teams can better align and work together? How about volunteering to participate in the process improvement and take initiative? Throwing out blanket darts doesn't help solve the situation and IMHO, show a complete lack of maturity. In my company, we have a process and are aligned. I have bi-weekly meetings with the SDR who covers me and we have a strategy in place. This process was put in place by leadership between the orgs. What a concept.... SMH...

Bravado is a community of trusted sales professionals endorsed by their customers.

Products

The War Room Jobs Salary Guide Tech Sales U

Company

About Us How It Works Blog Bug Bounty

Contact

Press Careers

If you are hired as a contract sales rep by a Bravado customer, we may ask you to prove access to the employee email account provided to you by that customer. This data will be shared with customers to track your sales productivity; customers can use this data to confirm you meet the minimum activity requirements to pay out your ramp stipend and commission.

BitcoinAddict

There is nothing more irritating than an AE that can't stay in their own lane.

19 comments

Related posts

Should I leave, stay, crawl into a hole and never come out? All viable options...