salesbeard

Enterprise Inside Sales Rep

Time to step away from Sales?

Hey War Room,

Any advice on when it's time to step away from Sales, and what some good career changes might be? Struggling a bit in my role (Been in sales for 3+ years, straight out of college - essentially I fell into sales). Right now generating business for some of our largest Enterprise clients (SAP, Amazon, etc.) but the daily grind and expectations are wearing on me.

I find I'm uninterested in my job but not quite sure what the next best career move would be. I suppose there is a part of me that thinks if I find something I'm more interested in, then I'll perform better (been on a PIP earlier this year but crushed it so I was fine - but feeling myself slide back towards that again - my momentum and motivation is very up and down).

My manager told me I've got the best talent on the team when writing emails/taking calls, etc. and that "I just get it" but where I lack are the "effort metrics" (I'm top 5 in pipe generated for our team on the Q - but towards the bottom in calls/emails, etc.).

All of this word salad to say...Is there hope outside of sales if I decide once and for all I'm sick of having a quota? Or do I just need to stop being a baby and get a better work ethic? Thanks!

✌️ Growing Pains

🎯 Career Development

18

23 comments

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funcoupons

WR Officer

19

👑

If you don't want a quota and the thrill of the hustle isn't interesting anymore, you might want to look at opportunities in account management, sales ops, or retention.

Before you leave sales forever though, determine why exactly you're disinterested. It could be that sales isn't for you, but also could just be the wear of the last two annoying and fucked up years, or maybe the company/product isn't the right fit for you.

MassholeMovesWest

WR Officer

2

Account Executive

Gd deleted my original comment, but i'll say this is great advice @salesbeard . I never envisioned myself in sales but it was the only thing that allowed me to afford the city I lived in after college. I knew what I wanted to do outside of sales and worked nights and weekends and built relationships until I could financially support myself in that other world, but...

the lessons you learn from sales right now will apply to every job you have from here on out. A lot of the shitty things you gotta do you gotta do everywhere and whether you stay an "account executive," become a entrepreneur, or make art with your body in porn, you're going to lean on the foundation you've built these past 3 years. If you can sell, you won't be broke. And that's #1. First step of Plan B is finding out what plan b is and then pursuing it, but until then. Crush quota and stack that paper.

salesbeard

Fire Starter

1

Enterprise Inside Sales Rep

Thanks for the insight funcoupons. The last two years have indeed been a shit show.

sugardaddy

Politicker

1

🍬

Spot on!

CaneWolf

Politicker

1

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

Nice to have ya back in the thick of things.

funcoupons

WR Officer

1

👑

A Queen has to mingle with her subjects at least once in a while.

Flippinghubs

Opinionated

0

Account Executive

Spot on

Maximas

Tycoon

0

Senior Sales Executive

I second this!!!

Mobi85

Politicker

6

Regional Sales Manager

Some of the best reps out there don’t have the highest KPIs they are doing their due diligence and asking the right questions and closing sales.
Myself personally could careless about KPIs for people that are performing. If you get the job done I don’t care if it is 1 call or 100 calls.
Also look at the management route, if you like helping others to succeed that could be the right route.

justatopproducer

Politicker

2

VP OF SALES -US

All companies eventually wont hit their number and when that happens orders from the top down will be to scrutunizs kpi’s as its the only measurable thing they can reveiw or try to dublicate success. I left my last job for exactly that reason.

FuzzySlippers

Executive

2

SDR Manager

If you have the talent and believe you could have a passion for management, explore that route. I was a very similar case, had the talent and knack for it but was not overly passionate about selling. The switch to management has been amazing, yet to wake up dreading my work days.

salesbeard

Fire Starter

0

Enterprise Inside Sales Rep

I've considered this, actually am assigned to help a new rep ramp right now and he is doing great and I'm enjoying it. How did you make the jump?

FuzzySlippers

Executive

1

SDR Manager

I started by vocalizing a desire to track mgmt and asking where I could get involved organizationally to show that I was worth considering going forward for mgmt roles. Just remember the follow through on this will be expected to be on you. Probably won't be force fed, your going to have to pursue opportunities to get your name out there.

Anyway got involved with training/ramping up new hires and being a part of the interview teams. Took over project lead on a few things, presented at meetings, basically whatever I could do to show I was a worthy leader and showcase my skills. Then had to wait for an opening which ended up being the SDR Manager role and went for it.

I had built enough recognition that after my initial conversation with the hiring manager, was told point blank they weren't going to waste time with external applicants. Always a good sign, especially when your in an org that historically does their due diligence and does look externally just as hard as they do internally.

Woody

Politicker

1

Business Development Executive

You can always come back to sales if you really don't like it and have another thing you're interested in. Lead generation firms are lined up at the penitentiary on release day looking for new SDRs. Coming back is no problem.

It sounds like you might actually be good at this. (Rare) If this is true you might be on the path to some above average earnings. Its important to do well and enjoy the money in sales. You're not going to get paid well for fun and easy.

If you stay you're going to need to make peace with the fact that outbound sales jobs are somewhat of a shit show. Quotas get set and reset all over the place, territories get moved, and no one can decide what metrics are important. People get shit canned on the regular. I've been shit canned twice in 15 years.

The best advice of course is: sales are dope, never, ever stop selling.

salesbeard

Fire Starter

0

Enterprise Inside Sales Rep

Great points Woody. Appreciate it. SADNESS always (honestly no job out there that sales skills don't help IMO)

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

1

Account Executive

What mobi said. It seems as though the grind of KPIs is the issue as well. Maybe it's management expectations of x emails and y calls that's an annoyance. If you're closing business, then I don't see the issue, but then again, I'm not in management.

Diablo

Politicker

1

Sr. AE

Hey @salesbeard if you don't like closing sales, did you ask yourself what would make you more happy?

We had a rep who felt that she wasn't good in Sales because she wasn't able to close deals but then she had all the answers to product and technical queries, she could draft things well. Guess what, she brough this to her manager and she was put in Customer Exp team where she is kicking off. Less money but she is happy.

Find your pros/cons and interest.

Fribbles

Notable Contributor

1

Sales doosh

My first couple years in sales were brutal. I only recently found passion in my sales career given I found a company that pays me well, gives me autonomy, and lets me live the life I want. So that they key - find a job that allows you to live the life you want - that's how it is for me anyways.

MCP

Valued Contributor

1

Sales Director

Sounds like the focus is on the wrong metrics. Nobody should be concerned about effort metrics if you’re hitting pipeline and attainment. If you’re not, that’s another story.
If you like helping people and are able to generate enough pipe, what you need is a more progressive results based environment. If you like money, consider making this change before a move toward a totally different career.

MediocreSalesGuy

Valued Contributor

1

AE (Account Executive)

Keep in mind, you’ll still need strong work ethic outside of sales. So regardless, you will want to figure out the whole putting in effort thing. Could be a symptom of you hating your job today, but if it’s something else, solve for that otherwise you’ll continue to run into the same performance issues down the line, just in a different field.

CaneWolf

Politicker

1

Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract

"My manager told me I've got the best talent on the team when writing emails/taking calls, etc. and that "I just get it" but where I lack are the "effort metrics" (I'm top 5 in pipe generated for our team on the Q - but towards the bottom in calls/emails, etc.)."

This pisses me off. Why the fuck should effort metrics matter when you're crushing it? We don't get paid on process. We get paid on results.

Mr.Reddington

Executive

1

Account Executive

Have you ever heard of JOB CRAFTING. It’s pretty interesting stuff. You take your job and view your role differently to fit your values. For example say a janitor working at a hospital looked at themselves as part of the healing process. That everyone that came in is effected by the job they do and can mean the difference in their healing. And guess what happened in those studies… they were a lot more motivated. I’m not saying it’s an easy thing to do it takes effort but there is a saying that holds true to this day. You choose happiness. No one else. Maybe sales isn’t for you but also think long and hard before changing and make sure you’re mentality is locked down. Best of luck to you man I hope this helps even a little.

pirate

Big Shot

0

🦜☠️ Account Executive

Maybe try some smaller company? Do a bit of job hopping? I think if you're honest and try hard, work hard and keep hustling, your process will pay off and your hard work will pay off.

I think it's interesting that you are in top 5 in pipeline gen but lowest on calls and emails. Quality pipe?

I know a lot of people fake their calls and create pipeline out of thin air and email bomb people they know won't ever answer... The metric game. And they're bloody awful to work with. Maybe do a bit digging into what reps with highest calls and emails actually do? Who and how they call, whom they email, how do they hit their numbers. You can ask help from them, AEs, Sales Ops can be helpful

Either learn or then copy cat what they do with metrics or if it seems suspicious, get out and find something you like

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