As long as I have been in SaaS sales, I notice how many AEs and closers come from the same background and are "one of the guys". Some of these people are great sellers and add value but you can tell that a good bunch of them got their jobs solely through nepotism and nothing else. A friend of mine at Salesforce claims that it used to be like that there but it has been rapidly changing since then.
If SaaS sales did not exist, some of these guys would be flipping burgers for a living. I have seen how they run their sales process, which is all being pushy and aggressive with customers. Others are just order takers who are watching sports during work most of the time or "socializing"/fraternizing.
Lately, I have seen this change, and the more analytical and driven type of sales reps that want to do the job are getting the jobs. One tech leader I spoke to told me that firms are realizing that hiring the "Country Club" was a bad decision as customers want someone that actually knows their stuff rather than trying to wine and dine people.
I have heard of how much that kind of culture has died down at so many SaaS firms every successive year.
I've been impacted by the layoffs but got a lot of good news this week. However, what if part of the mass layoffs is Tech Sales shedding these types of reps for more productive ones? What if Tech Sales is actively going through a culture change?
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