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BlueShirt

SDR

Contributor
Fire Starter
Personal Narrative
+2

Top tips for a fresh AE

Hey team - I'm finally shifting from SDR to AE and looking for tips from some seasoned pros


Facts:

UK based, Selling to Mid Market (200-2k ee), ACV 30k, NEMEA territory - currently no one else in Mid Market so huge opportunity.


What advice would you give yourself if you wound back the clock to when you first started as an AE? I want to make a short term impact and have a good H2, but also set myself up for a strong year next year.


Thanks in advance!

๐ŸŽˆ Mentorship
๐Ÿ“ˆ Closing
๐Ÿ“ฃ Demos
11

18 comments

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CuriousFox
WR Officer
10
๐ŸฆŠ
Shadow other AEs. Make friends with them. Ask best tips. Be there and willing to help. They will be your best training/guides. Also, you could end up making a few good friends out of it.
TennisandSales
Politicker
4
Head Of Sales
SUCH good advice. please do all of these things. An underrated side benefit of making friends with other AEs is when ppl progress and advance their career you never know if your paths will cross again. this is how people develop a "network". starts by just being friends with people.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
2
Sr Sales Executive ๐Ÿฐ
Great advice!
BlueShirt
Contributor
1
SDR
Love this, thank you!
ChickenDinner
Politicker
3
Account Executive
-Always set next steps in the meeting (get time on the calendar).
-Utilize texting and calling, not just emails.
-Listen to your discover call before the demo and demo call before proposal to get quotes from them and use their own wording right back at them.
-Don't get too stressed out with all the nitty gritty questions and blast your supervisor for every question a prospect asks, I've found that many of them are not make-or-break but just curiosity questions.
-Regulate your emotions, you will lose more than you win, and that's not your identity. You are valuable and provide value to your customer.
BlueShirt
Contributor
0
SDR
These are great thank you!
TennisandSales
Politicker
2
Head Of Sales
Make sure you understand how the product works, but also understand WHY the features of your product are helpful.

For example: knowing your product can auto classify recipts for an expense managment software is great. but understanding that this feature helps eliminate duplicate work for the end users and helps reduce miss reporting of money being spent and makes the end user look better to their boss is a WAY bigger benefit.

thats a really tiny example but make sure you do the work to understand ALL of this.

normally someone in product, or even customer success will be good at this.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
2
Sr Sales Executive ๐Ÿฐ
Yes! Knowing WHY your features/product/solution has value for your customer is extremely important. Be able to answer the questions "why my solution?" and "why now?" for each customer.

Also, always operate with a high level of integrity. It's a small world. This will be important.
TennisandSales
Politicker
0
Head Of Sales
yeah integrity is HUGE. not just you, but the people you work with. if you team is known for doing the WRONG thing...you will start to be known for it too even if you are clean.
BlueShirt
Contributor
1
SDR
Awesome tip thank you! Our spread of users in terms of seniority is huge which is challenging but also gives us the chance to tell a great story in terms of how the product solves X.
TennisandSales
Politicker
0
Head Of Sales
love it. story telling is always the best way to make a point.
Kosta_Konfucius
Politicker
1
Sales Rep
Meet with Sales Engineering or whoever will help with demos. Its great to be friends with one who will hope on any call to help, plus you can email them a product question and know its the right answer
antiASKHOLE
Tycoon
1
Bravado's Resident Asshole
find someone in the org and become friends with them. You will learn a ton that way.
HappyGilmore
Politicker
1
Account Executive
All of what the other folks have said on here, but I would say to stay as level headed each day as much as you can. Try not ride the highs too high and let the lows get you. The more level headed you can be the better off you'll be.
salesguy123
Personal Narrative
1
RVP Sales
Work your butt off. Learn the business problems your product solves and the target buyers. Be super accountable and follow up quickly and professionally. Make sure that you and your prospect are aligned - dont be afraid to ask what you might think are uncomfortable questions like "do you have budget to invest in a solution to this problem this fiscal year?" or "who is the ultimate decision maker" etc. I see a lot of reps afraid to ask simple questions that clients expect us to ask as salespeople. Just make sure that you're consistently oriented towards your prospects' success.
BlueShirt
Contributor
0
SDR
Thanks for your advice!
GDO
Politicker
1
BDM
Replicate what the top performers do + add some stuff to make it your own (what you feel comfortable with, works in your culture etc)
Gasty
Notable Contributor
0
War Room Community Manager
All great advice is given already.

I'm just here to say congrats! @BlueShirt

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