SoccerandSales profile picture
SoccerandSales profile picture

SoccerandSales

Account Executive

Big Shot
Politicker
Executive
+9

What brought you to sales?

Looking at my own personal background and why I am in sales, a lot of it has to do with the 3 main buckets below. Plus, coming out of college and an athlete, it felt like the natural next move. Curious to hear about others' experiences and why they are in sales though.

Why are you in sales?

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🚀 Career Goals
😎 Sales Skills
🏄 Personal Life
24

39 comments

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Filth
Politicker
11
Live Filthy or Die Clean
I don't have any other hard skills that I could make a living with. I didn't want to spend more money on law school (my initial plan - I love arguing counter points regardless of my beliefs). It's the money, but it's also the only way I know I can support myself and help others. I honestly believe I am helping people when I sell them a service or product, or I wouldn't do it. Also bc I'd be a criminal at this point otherwise.
champchamp
Arsonist
6
Certified Savage
^^^ This. I majored in criminal justice but was having second thoughts about law school.

I spoke with a professor who used to make great money as a corporate lawyer in NY.

He told me he realized he was never certain about law school and that he simply did it as it was the next most logical step in his career, but said to be very careful as law school is a very difficult and expensive way to figure out what you wanna do in life.

After realizing he hated his corporate job in NY he said he hustled it out for a few years to pay student debts and save money to then bounce to San Diego, where I met him.

Since I wasn’t as excited about law school anymore for multiple reasons, I decided to explore different careers and ended up in tech sales.
DungeonsNDemos
Big Shot
4
Rolling 20's all day
100% this! I am not here to sell snake oil.
SoccerandSales
Big Shot
2
Account Executive
An interesting trend here early on, I didn't realize the pre-law to sales pipeline was so heavy
Filth
Politicker
4
Live Filthy or Die Clean
It's logic based and overcoming objections while working to help people while tempering expectations, so I think that it makes sense from that stand point AND it a much more direct path to money than going to law school or graduate school.

I didn't think about any of this before but I've had time to think back on it quite a few times and rationally it makes sense, we just don't think as lawyers as sales people b/c of the justice aspect. They really are though - they have to win your business as a client and then sell your position to either a judge, court, or opposing parties to find an acceptable resolution.

And one more thing, it wasn't a concrete choice to go into sales over law for me...I just wanted to pay off my undergrad loans so I could think/sleep better. I couldn't stand having the debt over my head, I barely use a credit card - I'm a have the money before doing things kind of person and I only went to college b/c I thought that's what your supposed to do. I fell into sales after hustling for years as a WAY overqualified delivery driver. And it a took some real mistake positions within sales to find myself to true professional business to business sales that allowed me to respect myself, make an adult living, and feel confident enough to look for a real relationship.
SoccerandSales
Big Shot
1
Account Executive
Agreed, it makes perfect sense, just not sure why I never had made that connection. To be fair, we can likely draw parallels to sales in most careers, but I do think Law has a lot more sales than one would originally think
antiASKHOLE
Tycoon
7
Bravado's Resident Asshole
I came to sales to stop working 90 hours a week and to start having a life. I made better money at that point but had no time to spend with my wife.
SoccerandSales
Big Shot
0
Account Executive
I find at times it is super difficult to step away or turn away from the computer, but I am grateful to have the flexibility
NotCreativeEnough
Big Shot
2
Professional Day Ruiner
that's the thing though, it may be hard to do. but you always have the option. can't say the same for other industries.
CuriousFox
WR Officer
6
🦊
Pharmaceutical sales got me. I like shiny things.
Sunbunny31
Politicker
5
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
Fell into tech sales ages ago and never left.

I was always comfortable with technology, but only technology that works and serves a purpose. When I was a kid, we had a Commodore 64 that my mom thought would be great for school essays, but I stuck with the typewriter, because I found the computer non workable. The Commie's buffer didn't hold enough memory to do the entire paper, and it didn't have the capability to alert you that you'd reached the end of a page, so I wouldn't use it. The upgrade to 128 wasn't any better. We were the first on the block to have personal tech besides the Atari, but it wasn't all that just yet.

At any rate, this level of both adoption/comfort and exasperation with tech that doesn't meet expectations has served me well over the years. Sales enables me to make money working with it.
SoccerandSales
Big Shot
1
Account Executive
A typewriter? BOOMER! Jk but that is interesting how far back you can trace that connection and drive
Sunbunny31
Politicker
3
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
Hahaha. Not a boomer. Better - GenX, the UTR generation.
ThatNewAE
Big Shot
4
Account Executive - Mid enterprise
To be honest, I didn't choose sales. I was a college passout when sales happened to me. Loving it since then.
Gyro25
Notorious Answer
3
Account Executive
I realized I hated working in politics and being broke whilst doing it. I figured if I'm going to put up with people's bs, I may as well get paid to do it.

Also, like below, it was either grad/law school or some entry level gig. I just happened to be a glutton for punishment, so sales became a bit of a natural fit..
SoccerandSales
Big Shot
3
Account Executive
"glutton for punishment" should be my new title
Gyro25
Notorious Answer
3
Account Executive
Aren't we all..lol(Except marketing)
NotCreativeEnough
Big Shot
2
Professional Day Ruiner
currently trying to convince a friend of mine to get out of politics and get into tech sales.

He does data analytics now. And used to go door to door and cold call for political campaigns. I was like man if you can do that you can definitely be successful in sales and make way more money doing it.
SoccerandSales
Big Shot
2
Account Executive
I almost always try to recruit door to door sellers, being an SDR is easier AND more rewarding
NotCreativeEnough
Big Shot
2
Professional Day Ruiner
yep, that's exactly what I've been telling him.

If you have the balls to knock on a random door and pitch a political figure in today's climate then you can cold call someone to talk about some software lol
Gyro25
Notorious Answer
1
Account Executive
That's how I first got started. I did door to door, got a glock pulled on me in Oakland a few months in and I peaced out.

I was pretty fucking stupid to put myself through that, but I was broke in community College and worked at subway prior. I think the act of cold calling for political donations is abhorrent imo(for other reasons) , but we all start somewhere.

And yeah, I always suggest SDR/BDR entry level sales roles to my friends I know can do very well. I have a close friend who I helped get hired at my company right out of college and he's killing it. Very smart guy, but also smart enough to know where the money is and where to place your efforts. I don't like seeing anyone get fucked over for their efforts, so If they have the work ethic, I help as much as I can.
Gyro25
Notorious Answer
2
Account Executive
Absolutely. If you don't crumble at the moment someone tells you fuck off or rejects you, you can do very well. If you can do d2d and get results, you can definitely do even better as an SDR/BDR.
SoccerandSales
Big Shot
2
Account Executive
Not only can you do better professionally, but……money
jefe
Arsonist
3
🍁
Definitely a mix of all of them.
Justatitle
Big Shot
3
Account Executive
Got into it by accident, was in construction then said no more to that and had an opportunity to get into biz dev and haven’t looked back
HappyGilmore
Politicker
2
Account Executive
A mix of the above
DungeonsNDemos
Big Shot
2
Rolling 20's all day
I want to help people while also making solid money... Sales is the best way!
SoccerandSales
Big Shot
0
Account Executive
I think this is the one I relate to most.
bandabanda
Tycoon
2
Senior AE Mid Market
Where’s the “slipped and fell” option?

Seriously though, the number of people that don’t plan on being in sales is crazy. For me, it was a parts of

- interest in tech/saas
- helping people solve problems and if I can’t, genuinely pointing them to something better.
- earning potential giving me opportunities for my family I never thought possible.
KendallRoy
Politicker
2
AM
Started working in tech sales to get through school. To my surprise, I excelled to the point where I was looking at a massive pay cut to start in a grad job for my degree, so decided to stay down the sales path as a career.
FinanceEngineer
Politicker
1
Sr Director, sales and partnerships
I kind of fell into sales from capital markets. Fintechs make that happen.
Kosta_Konfucius
Politicker
1
Sales Rep
Sales classes in college were the only ones I liked and I studied Supply Chain so I didnt want to be working in a Warehouse or for a 3PL all my life
NotCreativeEnough
Big Shot
1
Professional Day Ruiner
a college that offered courses in sales? interesting. I've always felt there should be a formal path for it for those who are interested and that it was strange that there wasn't. Like damn I can get a degree in Native American basket weaving but not something actually useful like sales? Kinda wild.
SoccerandSales
Big Shot
1
Account Executive
This is what I tell people when they ask why I majored in marketing, there just wasn't a major in sales
NotCreativeEnough
Big Shot
1
Professional Day Ruiner
money and work-life balance.

I also just genuinely enjoy it.
mrosales
Politicker
1
AE
I needed the money to support my family.
SalesArmyKnife
Good Citizen
1
Sales Manager
I found sales to be a great equalizer, it doesn’t matter where you come from or what degree you have it’s down to how much you put into it (you can be lucky 1 or 2 years, not 10 in a row). Being very competitive it appealed to me early on that the more I put in the more I would get out financially.

Now in complex SaaS sales and with a family I have an incentive to be very efficient with my time as I don’t want to spend 14 hours a day on the job anymore.

On the competition side, of course I’m happy when I / my team tops the leaderboard but most of all what matters to me is that I’ve given it a 100% and where I land at in terms of performance is a reflection of what I’m worth. Commissions are just a (very pleasant) byproduct.
sugardaddy
Politicker
1
🍬
Please, don't lie.
Everyone start working with sales, cus of the money. EoD!
salesking
Politicker
0
Manager of Business Development
Money 100% and I like talking to people

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