I started as a SDR in SaaS and was the top-performing rep there. However, it was a very lousy culture and there was 100% turnover in a quarter, and so I left because my morale got seriously affected and also because I was underpaid together with everyone else. I then got a closing role in a seed company where I was supposed to do channel sales, and I was sold on the idea that it would be a rocketship, it would IPO or get acquired in a few years, so I jumped into it because I was just excited to start on a closing role and was sold on all the upsides of the company.
Here's the reality:
- Sales team had CCO (1st sales employee), Sales Manager (2nd sales employee), me (3rd sales employee) and they hired another sales rep (4th rep) soon after I joined. My CCO and Sales Manager are doing their own closing as well. I've only been on the job for 1 week before I started cold calling and getting on discovery calls. As a new AE, I then realised I needed a lot of structure and 'hand-holding' to ensure that I was getting the best experience and results I could have as a new AE. I was self-learning everything, watching webinars and subscribing to newsletters to know how to start a discovery call, what questions to ask, how to deal with objections, how to close a client, how to talk through pricing, etc.
- I'm the only female and my CCO, Sales Manager and the other sales reps are male. I get that SaaS in itself have more males than females, but I only recently found out from my Sales Manager that I was hired because I was likeable, showed potential and also because CEO (who's a female) didn't want the company to be a sausage fest with all males. I felt so insulted that I was hired based on my gender and it made me question just how much the decision to hire me was based more on my gender vs my potential and likability.
- I've always wanted to do direct sales but CCO told me during the interview that their direct sales were focused on enterprises whereas the channel sales was focused on SMBs, so he wanted me to do channel sales first as a start to gain more confidence, and then do direct sales after I've shown progress and results after a year. I accepted it, and my compensation plan was based how many channel partners I closed etc. However, when I joined on the first day, I was told that the company's direction has changed and they wanted me to do direct sales instead. I was ecstatic, because I've always wanted to do direct sales! BUT. They made me sell the basic subscription plans that were worth less than $150/year even though it's completely self-served and people could just come to our website and pay for it themselves to start using it. Their rationale they gave me was that I had no experience, so they wanted me to get my hands dirty on selling basic plans even though these plans were self-served online, and also because they wanted me to boost website traffic and get more visitors going to my company's website. They then gave me an impossible quota and when I questioned it, they told me that they give high quotas to encourage me to reach for the moon, and that even if I miss quota, at least I'll still fall among the stars. Needless to say, I didn't even hit 20% of quota because I was demotivated and felt absolutely helpless about my situation.
- Have I mentioned that I was sold on the upsides of the company that I accepted a lower base for this AE position than the base I had gotten as a SDR? And because the direct sales quota was impossible to hit, I'm earning way lesser than what I was earning as a SDR. I am so angry at myself, so unmotivated and am feeling so so so tired and upset that I can't even bring myself to work properly.
- They soon realised that selling $150/year subscription plans weren't gonna make a dent in their revenue because they want to hit 1M ARR, so they got me back to doing channel sales AND direct sales. I soon realised I hate channel sales, or maybe because I hate the market segment that I was selling to. It bores me and I'm unmotivated, tired, sick of this job, have no one to talk to in my team because who else can I rant about work to? My CCO? My Sales Manager? The other sales rep got hired by my CEO because he's the son of a rich person and have tons of connections, so I feel completely alone in this situation.
- The culture is so boring. I find no joy in this. I'm dragging myself out of bed everyday and I can't even get started on work. I know my drive as a SDR, I am damn bloody driven and resilient and all my ex-colleagues could vouch for the kind of sales rep that I am. I was the last to leave my previous firm, but I eventually left after being fed up and lost the drive because everyone in my team (including me) was underpaid and everyone left, and my morale was at 0. I accepted this AE job with a lower base, excited to make a difference, only to find out the reality is so far from whatever I was told. I have no equity as well, and was told that the CEO will be rewarding it based on performance.
- Company has no tech stack and I'm really turned off by this. I feel like it's the 90s or early 00s whereby I'm in a boiler room just cold calling a list of companies instead of how I did prospecting really well in my previous firm as a SDR, using good tech stack to gain insights about a company and building a good sales cadence.
- I can't tell if I'm burnt out from being only at this company for 3 months, or whether I'm not cut out for sales, or whether I'm just at a point in my life where I'm tired. I don't know anymore. I just want to find a company where I can have a good support system in my team, have clearly defined responsibilities, and pays fairly well. I know that I can crush my goals but now that I've only been in this AE role for 3 months, it's so hard for me to get an AE role and I'll be so so disheartened and discouraged to go back to a SDR role and restart because it's not certain that a company can always promote internally.
- I haven't even worked today because I can't bring myself to get started. I hate this, I'm so tired, but I don't know why. Am I mentally weak? I don't think so. But why can't I get myself to start working? I'm so tired.
Should I leave this job before I get the next job? I honestly don't know how long more I can stay here without feeling absolutely shitty and miserable. It's already taking a toll on my mental health as you can see from point no.9
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