My least favorite question in the interview process, by far, because it doesn't F'ing matter. I mean, it matters, I have minimums, but it's not what's important to me.
Am I crazy? Maybe, but I've built multiple sales territories from nothing to something and the biggest commonality in those that didn't work were that the company and the opportunity never showed up. How many salespeople do you know at companies who were paying $140k OTE that were tripling their number and absolutely obliterating some guy at a shit company who had an OTE of $350k? The answer is TONS.
Building, maintaining, and expanding a sales territory has to be a tight partnership between sellers and their company. It's literally 50/50. I go start fires, you pour ungodly amounts of fuel on those fires. You make sure I never walk in a room and say "you know who xyz competitor is? We're just like them but way better". You make sure I already have a seat at the table. You make sure your name and your brand are on point, that your reputation is STOUT. I'll go find the deals and manage the pipeline.
My response to that question now is always "that really depends on what you're asking of me. Am I doing this alone or are there closable leads pouring through the door? Does your marketing team have a clue or do I need to be my own marketing team? How many existing accounts are in the patch? How many opps did the last person generate? Is this a ground up build from nothing with little to no support or are you behind me with oodles of firepower? Are we doing every Evanta event there is or are we just going to host endless happy hours that the same six people attend to get drinks and food for free that literally EVERY REP knows??"
If I'm doing this alone, from nothing, then I want a 6 month guarantee and a fat OTE number.
If you're literally bringing me more leads than I can handle, put me on straight commission and tell me my % of each deal. Let's f'ing GOOOOO!!!
Nobody does it right. I have yet to work for the perfect company. I just don't feel like companies really have a clue how to actually hit their numbers. The difference between a quota attaining rep and a non-quota attaining rep that are both worth their salt comes down to where they hang their hat...change my mind.
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