BitcoinAddict

AE

Valued Contributor

Unpopular Take - SaaS Sales has a serious character problem.

I have been in SaaS sales for years and I think I got to see this more because early on in my career while I was not making much, I also bartended at a nightclub on the side.

SaaS sales has a serious character problem that I think needs to be addressed.

I know, I talk a lot about my dislike for the fact that fraternities dominate the leadership at a lot of SaaS sales teams. However, I wanted to touch on something a bit more sinister, especially in the Start-Up world and was wondering if anyone else has noticed it too. Maybe I am the only one with this unique experience.

Let's just say that most of these guys, you could not trust them around a vulnerable woman who is passed out and leave it at that.

I have lost count of the amount of guys I have worked with or alongside who were creeping women out at Happy Hours. Let's just say that Andrew Tate-like behavior was not that out of the norm in a lot of places.

It's always the sales team at a lot of software companies that is acting like this too and some of these guys, I do not even affiliate with outside of work.

I can't be the only one noticing this, right?

☁️ Software Tech

23

37 comments

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detectivegibbles

Politicker

12

Sales Director

I'd take the stance of...there's good and bad people from every profession, ethnicity, and gender.

Whether you want to associate with that behavior is up to you.

"Be the change you want to see in the world"

BTQ

Politicker

5

Account Manager

^agrizzle - what you’re describing is not just SaaS sales but it’s an issue everywhere.

HVACexpert

Politicker

4

sales engineer

Exactly. And if you stand up to it, and get push back. Then it’s not the right place for you.

Find a place where culture is just as important as the bottom line, when you put people first sales will eventually come.

You won’t be able to put a price on peace of mind when you make the right choice.

Fenderbaum

Politicker

2

Retired Choirboy🪕

Agree on everything said here... @Sunbunny31 said it best to avoid the clowns. Your life can change in an instant if you hang around with idiots. You have to protect yourself, and whoever else depends on you. I was told many moons ago, "Show me your friends and I'll tell you who you are." It is so true.

BitcoinAddict

Opinionated

0

AE

And if you are a loner? LOL!

Sunbunny31

Politicker

9

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

As one of the first women in sales in my industry many years ago, I leveraged a message I learned years ago and applies to many situations:

Avoid the clowns.

Now I'm much older, I probably scare the bejeebers out of most of the newbie reps, and I look out for my own. And avoid the clowns.

Honestly, I haven't seen too much of that behavior, but I don't tend to club around with sales teams that aren't of a certain age. The ones I hang out with are too busy sharing pictures from the last tournament their kid played at to be misbehaving frat boys. Wait, I take that back. Now we're sharing photos of college graduations, weddings, and grandbabies!

Avoid the clowns.

BitcoinAddict

Opinionated

2

AE

Seems like an age thing but unfortunately, I have been in sales teams where men in their 30s and 40s acted like clowns.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

1

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Ah, those young 'uns. Shenanigans.

---not to downplay misbehavior. Acting like juveniles is unfortunate no matter the age.

BitcoinAddict

Opinionated

1

AE

TBH, these days I never want to join a company where the sales team is very young and way too into "Happy Hours".

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

6

Sales Rep

If you are in the office, it important to work along people you can get along with. I would highly recommend networking with people so your next role you don't have the same issues.

There are shitty people at every company, but good companies will get rid of the shitty people quicker

BitcoinAddict

Opinionated

0

AE

I find that startups commonly have these issues more than big companies

jefe

Arsonist

5

🍁

I've seen too much of this, but also many places aren't like that.

Perhaps it's my career progression, and improved radar for toxicity, but I've not seen it as much lately, thankfully.

BitcoinAddict

Opinionated

0

AE

Good point, maybe the further you go in your career the more it gets weeded out, hopefully.

jefe

Arsonist

1

🍁

🤞🏻

Also, anecdotally, I’ve found the presence of a foosball table in an office can correlate with your point

Gyro25

Notorious Answer

2

Account Executive

100% I witnessed some vile shit from former frat bros who's main laurels were that they were the first few hires at Salesforce during the .com bubble.

They were in fact, out of touch dinosaurs who hadn't sold shit in years and were using SFDC templates to guide growth at a series A/B and had crawled their way to the C-suite just based off that clout.

One of our Enterprise VPs would be like "Yeah, I used to crush so much p*** back in the day" to us BDRs with his 300lb ass struggling to go up a flight of stairs.

I avoided all of them like a plague, kept my head down and worked my ass off. I still got let go, but I never gave way to that frat mentality bs in sales.

BitcoinAddict

Opinionated

0

AE

I am so sorry you got let go. As someone who worked at bars and nightclubs before sales, the ones bragging about getting it almost never get it.

SportsSalesGuy

Tycoon

2

Enterprise Account Executive

These type of people give the sales profession a bad reputation. The ole boys clubs, the frat behavior. But this continues more as I see with older reps as well though. As a young guy, sometimes I truly feel I am way more professional than my colleagues who are 10,20,30,40 years my senior in sales with the way they talk and act.

Pisses me off how my generation gets a bad name for being unprofessional when there people openly talking about affairs, making inappropriate comments to female colleagues particularly the young ones, the list goes one. But at the end of the day if you hit your number don't rly matter unless its truly egregious. Corporate America man, money and results over everything.

oldcloser

Arsonist

1

💀

I've personally never seen this in business for what that's worth. It is alive and well elsewhere though. It seems the world is more conscious of how wrong this is post me2. But it's the fastest way to get a startup un-started if someone brings it to light.

BitcoinAddict

Opinionated

1

AE

Unfortunately, it is overlooked in SaaS. Some company just says diversity and everyone overlooks and SDR Manager creeping on interns.

HVACexpert

Politicker

1

sales engineer

If this is the case sounds like a major culture issue which starts at the top. Will take time to tune something like that around.

And it’s not an industry issue. I have been around people and teams like this, and been around others with great culture where this never happens.

It’s about leadership, not industry.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

1

☕️

I have worked for a fair amount of companies in my career. The larger the teams, the creepier the folks that you'll run into. Why? Population density gives way to a divergence in thought...and the divergence is either killed by moral and ethical leaders or fostered by those who think the same.

I've witnessed female VP+ leaders try very hard to take entry-level dudes home from happy hours and work events. I've also seen mature adults ruin each other's marriages because they were horny AF at a conference and couldn't wait till they were in private before they got into it.

However, at the sub-50 employee shops, that behavior is often rooted out and killed before it becomes pervasive.

BitcoinAddict

Opinionated

0

AE

I have actually noticed this behavior a lot in startups tbh.

Justatitle

Big Shot

1

Account Executive

unfortunately, the bad ones often leave a bigger mark on your memory even if they are in a smaller percentage.

Maximas

Tycoon

1

Senior Sales Executive

It's the people not the industry,probably just because you weren't out of Saas that much you didn't see the same,well I've been in and out as many as you count and I already saw what you've described and even more.
Company's culture andadministrationside by side with the employees impact the working environment to be as good as you wanna see it or way the opposite!

GingerBarbarian

Opinionated

1

Lead Sales

Sales has always had issues like this. It is not limited to SaaS. The high levels of stress due to the feast/famine nature of our work can lead to high levels of substance abuse. Likewise, salespeople tend to be very stimulus driven, meaning they want very busy atmospheres which seem to invite people with substance and sex addiction. Likewise, sales is know to encourage concepts like domination and control, which has a direct correlation to sexual assault.

Does this mean all salespeople are runks, druggies and rapists. Of course not. But they are far more common in sales than other fields.

BitcoinAddict

Opinionated

1

AE

They are but I think we need to look at how we can actually fix sales as a professor and weed those other types of personalities out.

GingerBarbarian

Opinionated

1

Lead Sales

That is my entire brand. I have been talking about it for years through Broken Salespeople. I am currently working on a book about how to fix sales management and recently self published a book on helping introverts thrive in sales.

BitcoinAddict

Opinionated

0

AE

I admire you for this. I was thinking of getting in on this topic too but I would love to buy your book. Maybe we can partner on this together sometime.

GingerBarbarian

Opinionated

0

Lead Sales

Send me a DM on LinkedIn with your email. I'll send you a Kindle version.

BitcoinAddict

Opinionated

0

AE

Can you DM me your LinkedIn?

GingerBarbarian

Opinionated

0

Lead Sales

I can't DM without an Apple device. It is Red Stafstrom

roftheyear

Opinionated

0

Account Executive

yeah but i mean it's not new- a male-dominated industry which attracts lots of egomaniacs/raging narcissists who enjoy putting everyone else- not only women- down because they are not them. and die for being right for the sake of being right.

DariusAbron

0

calibration tech

You’d be completely dull to not think this is a worldly problem even the people you think “would never” you’ve know them for a decade yada yada stand up guy might just be a cereal pedophile. Just how our world is and most of y’all are to uncomfortable to talk about hence the lack of traffic on main news. Also I’d love to see where Tate distributed behavior that would lead one to believe he’d take advantage of a girl

BitcoinAddict

Opinionated

1

AE

It happens in other professions but sales seems to attract these types in droves.

DariusAbron

0

calibration tech

That’s trash can’t wait to join the industry 🤮 I hope I’m working on my lonesome from home

lowhangersalesbanger

Executive

0

Director of Sales

I have worked in a ton of industries. Everything you said can be said of every business everywhere

CoffeeAndSales

Valued Contributor

0

Sales Consultant

This is a vibe I’ve gotten since interviewing with SaaS sales companies as a female and it sucks.

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