Rizzdawg

What exit opportunities are there in sales ?

I'm 27 but could you see yourself in a sales role past age 45? If so what is something you would work your way up to like a manager or VP?

staying in sales past 45ish

Attached poll

yes no

*Voting in this poll no longer yields commission.

🚀 Career Goals

🏄 Personal Life

✍️ Sales advice

42 comments

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Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I'm over 45 and still in sales, so yes.

I've been management before and didn't want to take that path these days. As an IC, I have a lot more flexibility with my time than I would as a manager.

But good managers are priceless, so if you'd like to head that direction yourself, that's great. I think you'll find that the truly good managers do good work in every role they're given as they move up the ladder, and that they have the ability to leverage resources and coach that will be very important to leading a team.

I'm happy with my role, though, and enjoy what I do as an IC.

sketchysales

Politicker

Sales Manager

This is a great answer. I aspire to go into Sales leadership. I love selling and I consider myself good at my job but I like working with people, coaching and supporting more.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Good for you! So if there's a sales leader at your current org whom you admire and who can help fill you in on his or her day to day and how they got to their current position, I'd jump all over that. Expressing your interest in the role will be beneficial.

ChumpChange

Politicker

Channel Manager

Another caveat to this post is most high-performing ICs make as much or more than the manager they report to.

LordOfWar

Tycoon

Blow it up

I'd like to not have to work by the time I'm 45, but might decide to stay because it is exciting or contributes to a further nest egg/child inheritance/buying fun things.

My dad was in a constant cycle of retire-get bored-go back to work-get pissed off-retire-get bored-go back to work in the last 15 years of his career.

I strive to have the same level of FU money and attitude.

ChickenDinner

Politicker

Account Executive

Oh yea retiring that early will get boring. I was hiking and met a 26-year old retiree that was trying to hike all the 14ers in the US and I was thinking "Oh yea, he's gonna be bored in less than 12 months and get back to work"

tightlines

Politicker

Account Executive

What did this person do???

ChickenDinner

Politicker

Account Executive

Oh gosh I can't even remember, too long ago

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

Our parents are very a like

LordOfWar

Tycoon

Blow it up

Does yours golf 4-5 times a week now?

I actually wish I had more time now to spend with him, but between the kids and the job I barely have time to spend with my wife.

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

Pretty much, call once a week and he is usually driving to or from something golf related.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Age is just a number 😉

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

For some of us, it's getting to be a pretty big number.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Well I am 92 soooo....

JustGonnaSendIt

Politicker

Burn Towns, Get Money

lol you mean born in '92 right?!?

Fnord

Praised Answer

VP of Sales

VP of Sales here, at 37, climbed the ranks quite fast and also kinda got lucky (right place, right time).
While many people aspire to sales leadership roles, there are a few things that you only get to learn once you are “there”.
1. Stress and Pressure from management will likely take a toll on your mental and even physical health. I’ve had colleagues and mentors that I’ve seen physically becoming sick after too many forecast calls where CEO is putting pressure (sometimes irrational) on them.

2. The average tenure of a VP of Sales is now roughly 2 years in most SaaS companies. Part of this is because there is a very poor role/company fit, and most founders do not understand what they are hiring a VP of Sales (ie VP of sales scales a company sales efforts, they don’t create demand).
So if you are OK pursuing that leadership role, you have to be OK with the role only lasting about 2 years, despite your efforts and outcomes.

3. At some point, VP of Sales are hiring and firing every other day. I hate this part of my job. I throughly enjoy coaching people but for every 10 reps I hire, I fire 1 or more likely 2. This is not fun at all. Sometimes you give a ton of yourself coaching and mentoring people only to have to kick them out later.

4. At least in my space (enterprise IT / Cyber security) The system is broken. SDRs making cold calls to c-levels make no sense, buyers hate talking to AE’s because they distrust them from the start. Something is not quite alright and nobody knows how to fix this.
Maybe AI will replace half of you over time.

5. VP of Sales has less customer interactions than anyone else. Usually I’m brought it to help “close” (which I suck at tbh) or I wear the “I’m sorry we screwed up hat”. I miss talking to customers, doing discovery calls and finding out what their pain points are, this was my favorite part about being an IC.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m honored and grateful for the opportunities I’ve been given and I’m happy with the situation I’ve achieved financially. But there’s a big dark side to sales leadership that people rarely talk about.

SaaSsy

Politicker

Absolutely love this post, especially 2 and 3. A VP of sales is often blamed for other department heads’ problems and it is mentally challenging because you’re not only responsible for numbers, but keeping that motivated culture amongst the team. Few do it very well.

nemix

Politicker

SDR

Lot of CEO's are too busy drinking the zuckerberg, next uber of whatever kool-aid. Lot of them create horribly aggressive environments because they're completely delusional about the market there in.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

i guess this really depends on what you want.

I could see my self being an AE/individual contributor for the rest of my career due to the income potential and time freedom I have been able to maintain so far.

But I could also see me at some point wanting to take on a more of a leadership role.

is sales something that you need to "exit" though??

Rizzdawg

Politicker

that's very true. there always a demand for sales and something to bring to the table, of course you can wear different hats in an organization too. Just curious in the titles. As long as you're clearing a good number that makes sense

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

yeah for sure. i would not be surprised if I was in some sort of leadership role at some point but i would still consider that "sales"

who knows, if things go well i can always become one of those cool Sales consultants and then post on Linked In about how My morning routine is the key to my success. 😂

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

No plans to get out of sales. Still in my mid thirties though but I don't see that changing

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

I'm happy to stay and enterprise AE until I retire

slaydie

Big Shot

Account Executive

I thought sales leadership was the only way to keep a career in sales after 40 but I've come across some 40+ IC's over the past year and they are great so I've dropped the stigma. I think staying an IC is the path for me. You can make way more money and deal with way less bullshit.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

No shame in that game.

Not that I'm biased or anything.

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

For me, an ideal situation after 45 is to start my own stuff that I have planned for. But if it doesn’t materialize, sales sales is the path for me

SticksAreUnbelievable

Valued Contributor

ADR (Account Development Rep) Sales Representative

I started last year at 47. Did liaison work for years but never direct selling of product.

Year one is was #1 in bookings

This year - potential president’s club and 1 or 2 in bookings.

Next year, turning 50 and looking to keep going for many more years!

Mr.Pickles

Arsonist

Sr. Customer Success Manager

At 45 you can consider diversifying the portfolio and be on sales and at the same time advisor

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Chonkonaut

Valued Contributor

CSAM of Luke Warm Chowder

Plenty of people I know in their 70s are their VP/President of companies.

RingRingGoesTheTelephone

Opinionated

Account Executive

I'm using my IC sales role as a way to fund starting my own business and if that takes off I will leave the field.

JustGonnaSendIt

Politicker

Burn Towns, Get Money

In my view, there are really 4 general buckets of employment (in the private sector):

- You work in sales
- You create net-new ideas that you then either have to sell yourself or get salespeople to sell for you
- You support sales in some capacity
- You're retired

So, I suppose pick one? Lots of variation within each bucket, but that's about as simple as career prospects get.

Personally, I'm feeling like I'm approaching a fork in the road where I'll choose to explore 1 of 3 paths in more detail:

- Continued growth in IC role / bigger more strategic deals
- Manager / Director role, build more direct experience leading a team and coaching (than I already do...)
- Independent consulting for Sales / GTM

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

I know at age 27 you probably think you know everything about sales and selling. You are still Learning, young grasshopper.

And age 45 probably seems like so far off in the distance that you can’t comprehend it. It will come sooner than you think.

SandlerFan

Good Citizen

Account Executive

I’m 58 and plan to work til I die. If you aren’t in sales you are basically an expense.

Snowey

Politicker

Account Executive

Keeping this one. Thanks “If you aren’t in sales you are basically an expense” - @SandlerFan

Arzola

Valued Contributor

Business administration

with 45 years u can teach how to sale to the new generations (and also sale of course, but two income always are better than one)

666ABC

Good Citizen

RM (Relationship Manager) Director of Sales

Wow, I had no idea that 45 was so old for sales. I would say maybe at 55 or 60 you might be a bit old to be selling but I’ve seen and myself plan to be selling well past 45.

sellnow

Good Citizen

Regional Sales Director

I am a 45 year old EAE IC and have thought this myself. Stay or do something else? Encouraging to get the perspectives in this thread and to have most of the positives resonate and ring true. Big years = more income than C level. Selling is still fun and exciting and the money and total work life balance is second to none.

ZachYak

Catalyst

Sales Guru

Damn I am 45 and just impacted by Dells poor choices. Man way to start my Friday.

Equaliser

Territory Manager

Yes why not,Sales job is a passion and age is just a number if you are mentally and physically fit.

StalledDeal

Contributor

Enterprise Account Executive

I’d say it’s an easy one. By the age of 45 - assuming you have a successful career - you should be able to retire.

finboi

Notorious Answer

Fi-nance

It’s a job that ages well as an IC. Moving up In management will require more time per week as you progress but as an IC you will gain more flexibility as you prove your consistency. You’ll also get put on larger accounts and thus make more money.

I worked with a guy (Ron) in his last 5 years in sales (met him when he was like 63, he retired at 68).

Ron was happy as anything with his career, had a very solid retirement to live off of something like $150k a year (his portfolio yield+ him and his wife’s social security). I really enjoyed talking with him about life philosophy and career advice. At the time I was a senior manager getting recruited to be a director of sales. He cautioned me from chasing the exec route since he had many friends who got lost in the rat race and missed valuable time with their families. Ron had got P club every year but he was by far most proud of his involvement in his kids life (coaching sports, chaperone for field trips, school council, regular weekend and week long vacations. Point is he was happy and had everything he needed. He had a nice house in a nice suburb. Drove a BMW M3 that he cherished. And at the end of his career he really couldn’t regret much.

Ron is my guiding light.

Epicurus

-2

Sales

Sales is a dying profession. It was necessary before and while the internet was growing up. You (customers) needed a sales person to tell you about the solutions/products because information wasn’t readily available. Today information flows like wine from the land of Dionysus and customers do 90% of their due diligence before having to contact a sales organization. I feel bad for the hustle/grind/build your brand culture that today’s SDRs are tricked into believing. Making short money for doing the hardest and dirtiest job in sales. Lastly, the supply of sales people vs demand is now out of wack. Way over supplied. It may come back to balance when quantum computing starts to take off yet AI sales bots may fill those seats in the Metaverse.

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Rizzdawg

What exit opportunities are there in sales ?

staying in sales past 45ish

42 comments

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