Gyro25

Account Executive

Notorious Answer

Acclaimed Answer

Transition to AE in May - Need Advice

Well, it's happening. Started giving demos, sending pricing, proposals, and negotiating. Our director wants to transition to an SMB role with a revenue quota and partner onboarding number. I'm gonna need some help with how to navigate this? I got a raise recently, but is my OTE on par with someone with two years of sales experience who's going to be an AE in May?(72k+103k OTE)

I feel fairly confident on demos and had one today with a pretty fucking huge company(Think the Atlantic) and kinda just got thrown into it by my manager and said fuck it. They all said I did great after the call, but I think I rambled a bit too much and should have paused and asked more questions. Overall, it's not a bad start, but I need more clarity on specific questions that AE's ask vs BDRs ask(Budget, pricing, next steps, implementation date, who's the decision-maker etc)

They're not questions I typically have to ask very often, so I'm going out here and trying to figure out how to be successful in my first AE role, what are some do's and don't, how do I exceed quota, and what steps I need to take? Any resources/ advice?

P.s, I'm fairly sure I'll be staying with my company since it's 100% WFH and an internal promotion which I doubt I'd get if I move.

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BmajoR

Arsonist

5

Account Executive

Congratulations! I got some great advice here:

<removed post>

Also, as a newer AE, I can tell you the thing that helped me the most was not waiting to be told what to do, or how to do something. I sought out that information myself in any way that I could. Don't depend on other people to show you the way.

Edit: I exceeded quota my first year as an AE. I think a lot of what helped me was to continue my outbound work as if I was an SDR still.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

3

🦊

People totally underestimate the power of hunting once they are promoted.

TreTime

Catalyst

1

Account Executive

This is key

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

1

Account Executive

If you don't mind me asking, what's your base and OTE when you got promoted this year? Is starting AE OTE typically capped or uncapped?

BmajoR

Arsonist

2

Account Executive

My pay is pretty inline with yours. I went from 55k to 75k base and my OTE is $105k but it is uncapped. I'd say the senior AEs are making a more standard 50/50 split because their acv tends to be higher with higher influx of opps

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

4

SaaS Eater

Go talk to the other AEs on your team, ask them all of these questions and shadow them.

On the OTE piece you have a base of 72 and total ote of 175? If so thats more than fair for a brand new SMB AE.

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

1

Account Executive

Nope, a total of 103k(72+31) OTE as per my contract at the moment seeing as how I'm still a BDR. I'll have to bring that number up seeing as how they're expecting me to do AE works currently on BDR pay, so It's kinda like a transition period I guess, and in May I get an offer for AE with a different OTE.

And yeah, been shadowing AE's for the past 8 months now, been going well, just looking for additional advice since I searched the forum and couldn't find any 'transition to AE' posts from BDRs.

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

2

SaaS Eater

How hard did you search?

https://bravado.co/war-room/posts/transitioning-from-bdr-to-ae-advice

https://bravado.co/war-room/posts/advice-for-moving-from-sdr-to-ae-role

https://bravado.co/war-room/posts/how-do-you-know-if-you-are-ready-to-become-an-ae

Makes sense on the transition OTE I guess. How long are your sales cycles?

BmajoR

Arsonist

3

Account Executive

SDR habits die hard.

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

2

Account Executive

Appreciate it. Guess I was looking at the keyword of "transition". Usually, anywhere between 1-5 months depending on the need. I've seen a 4-day turnaround to a 6-month strategic partnership with multiple rounds of proof of concept and negotiation.

TennisandSales

Politicker

2

Head Of Sales

1. your comp sounds pretty fair for your experience.
2. if your manager is letting you run demos for big accounts right away that is awesome, and if you have good leadership then sounds like you are in a solid place! congrats

3. dont.stop.prospecting. this will help fuel your growth SOOO much faster. the more at bats you get early the quicker you will learn.

4. really understand their pain points. this is super important because it will drive the whole deal. if you are not clear on what they are trying to solve then you will lose.

5. Once you get a "yes" to buy make sure you understand HOW they buy and who has to be involved.

6. use the search bar for more questions to ask or relply and ill keep going

congrats on the promotion!

Blackwargreymon

Politicker

1

MDR

Go talk to the other AEs on your team, ask them all of these questions and shadow them.

DragonTiger

Good Citizen

0

VP of Sales

MEDDPICC

MR.StretchISR

Politicker

0

ISR

Money makes people more attractive, so yes.

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