SaasSlingin

Sr AE

Will a strictly inbound AE role hinder my growth?

I eventually want to be an Enterprise/Strategic rep. One company I have my eye on is all inbound. Targets seem fair and this would likely make for an easier gig but I'm concerned my prospecting muscle would atrophy. Also imagine that's not so attractive to future employers.

also: Pay is on par with current OTE (where I do mainly outbound) but I'd also have to go to office multiple times a wk (don't love that)

Thoughts?

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Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

Not an EAE, but I would think there are Pro's/Con's to it. You can make the argument you will have better closing experience, winning competitive deals, and more experience working deals through RFPs. All are still important skills, and maybe more important than cold calling.

Plus with all the posts talking about ChatGPT, maybe you can just start using that once you are a EAE

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

Bravado's Resident Asshole

Idk about strictly inbound. depends on what they are doing, is it sustainable?

SaasSlingin

Politicker

Sr AE

Yea, well established and well capitalized

saaskicker

Celebrated Contributor

Enterprise AE

i got a similar email, does this company start with the letter R?

SaasSlingin

Politicker

Sr AE

It does

salesking

Politicker

Manager of Business Development

Sus

SaasSlingin

Politicker

Sr AE

Think so?

saaskicker

Celebrated Contributor

Enterprise AE

i thought it was sus, you can have 20 demos a month, no prospecting, but were hiring like crazy --- can marketing keep up? lmk if they have an answer to that question.

SaasSlingin

Politicker

Sr AE

Good point. I ended up ditching them

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Go for it. If you're successful, there isn't anything you can't explain to future employers.

That said, see if you can't get that base pay bump to make the switch.

Diablo

Politicker

Sr. AE

I don’t see much cons. All the enterprise guys do inbound as well or there’s some of outbound? I understand SMB and MM might have a lot of inbounds.

punishedlad

Tycoon

Business Development Team Lead

If it seems like something you want to do, I'd say go. I don't think it would severely limit your growth. As long as you're bringing in revenue, negotiating contracts, and competing with other vendors you're fine. All of those sales muscles are being flexed, it doesn't matter where the deal comes from.

ThatNewAE

Big Shot

Account Executive - Mid enterprise

I was strictly an Inbound AE, and I can tell you it does affect your personal and professional growth.
You get into the habit of relying too much on your inbound leads.
Your cold-calling and prospecting skills go for a toss.
That's also true that a lot of companies look out for outbound AEs. That's the tougher job for sure.

You become a little lazy on the 'stay on top of your game'. So.

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

The only person that has to know your heavy on inbound is you…

SaasSlingin

Politicker

Sr AE

I like the way you think

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Closing is closing. Get that money honey.

Plssign

Good Citizen

Account Executive

Ive done this and I say it depends on who/what your selling to for sure.

You could lose the muscle and it does def hurt your resume for a little bit but you can get really good at closing / qualifying and owning the other side of the funnel.
Also the potential to better understand gtm initiatives, you spend all day closing deals not trying to figure out how to break into accounts.
Whatever you pick up could take most outbound AEs years to get to.

From my experience and what other dipshit hiring managers said, if you ever do find yourself in a prospecting again, it may suck for the first few months but it eventually clicks if you care about money

SaasSlingin

Politicker

Sr AE

Lol’d at “dipshit hiring managers”

thanks for being thorough, I figured it’d be a trade off like you describe

SADNESSLieutenant

Politicker

Officer of ♥️

Yes

dealdaddy87

CEO & Founder

Nothing's stopping you from doing outbound sales.

If you take the role as an excuse to stop doing outbound sales, then yes it'll hinder your growth.

If you see in as an opportunity to build a healthy franchise that have both efficient inbound and outbound (as all companies should) then you'll grow.

Maximas

Tycoon

Senior Sales Executive

I guess not as long as you're good at Outbound prospecting at the first place it should not be impacted.

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SaasSlingin

Will a strictly inbound AE role hinder my growth?

21 comment

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