Ask You Anything: Learning about Sales

differentialequations12 surferdude867 UTDFinanceGuy @southernguy78" tengleha donquixote2929 softwaresalesguy

Happy to help. On mobile so apologies in advance.

Pay: usually start at ~40 base with ote being 50-60 with commissions. Right now im getting $100 per set demo, but usually only set 1-2 a week, so around $400 in commissions a month. Taxes kill it thougj sadly. Larger tech companies like oracle and salesforce pay a lot more. Oracle starts at 60k base with 2k signing bonus plus commissions. Hitting quota isn’t difficult as long as youre not lazy.

Hours: pretty great, 8:30-5 with an hour lunch break. Catered lunch on Friday bc startups try to be cool, but im not goingt to complain.

The job: usually around 60 cold calls a day. These leads are sourced through linkedin and zoominfo when youre not calling. It sucks at first but you get used to it. When one of yhe senior guy closers a deal you brought in via cold call is extremely rewarding.

Career path: bdr/sdr for 8-24 mos depending on variety of factors makong 40-65k. Then promoted to closing role as an account exec. You’re doing the demos that the bdr/sdr set up for and bringing it to a close. Large enterprise deals take up to a year so it can be a slow process Should be making 100k at this point being in tech salaes for about 2-3 yrs.

The job can be learned. Im not the most social or extroverted guy but i can do the job jusr fine. It is important to have normal social skills though to get along with coworker and hold and lead a conversation throuhh a cold call.

All in all its an awesome career and the opportunity to make tons of money is abundant. Would recommend.

Also check out teh reddit sales forum

also been looking in to this recently. thanks

-How much do you actually make?

Not enough to brag about yet. If you want a guarantee to make a lot of money I would honestly go IB. I was an Oil Engineer then oil dropped and I couldn't make it to IB so I just went to where I had heard there was money.

Could probably get a Masters in Engineering and go do that... so I probably have a good 3-4 more years before I would have to seriously think if this is something I want to do for the foreseeable future.

It's my understanding that you start at around 30-40k base and are paid hourly. You then make commission per appointment set. What is your on target earnings and what % of reps hit it?

Sounds right. You basically bite your teeth for a while in the lower level jobs until you get to the higher level roles where things are a lot better. I interviewed for a role double my current pay last week.

-What are the hours? Seems that everyone totes an amazing 35 hour work week. Is this feasible? Love him or hate him, Tim Ferriss worked in tech sales out of college and says he found success cold emailing during the day, but then staying from 7-9 to make cold calls directly to decision makers, as the gate keepers had left the office.

If you're good at what you do sure. Different industries work differently. If your role is light on the prospecting working from home you might find a few roles that only require 20-30 hours of real work.

If I wasn't required to be in the office from 8-4 I would probably work my ass off 8-1 then try to go home. I fuck off a lot in the daytime because I'll hit above daily meeting quota by 1 or 2 then fuck off til 4.

-What do you do all day? Its my assumption that you are required to make X amount of calls per day. How long does a call take, how much research goes in to the lead prior to the call?

100-200 calls. 70% prospecting for new business. 30% trying to close deals and demo. I'm at a startup and definitely way overworked.

If your job is moreso current business you probably sit around all day answering emails and calling which makes it real easy. These kinds of high paying jobs exist but they are the type you get after 5-10 years of experience and a track record as well as a referral from someone when the job opens up.

-If you advance, what does your role become? What is the career path? What do you do at those next stages - present demos of your product, "manage relationships" - what does that mean?

SDR (AE if you're lucky) then just work your way up to bigger and bigger accounts and better and better situations until you realize sales is not for you or you make 250k-1mm. Once you get to the enterprise roles you decide if you want to be a VP of sales or keep selling.

-Do you think sales can be learned or is it something that must come natural? Lot of introverts on this forum - is sales feasible for anyone or does it require a certain mentality?

I have no idea. I tried it and my first company told me I sucked even though they stuck me in the back and had me do spreadsheets all day. Then I moved to where I am now and the sales director and my manager both have mentioned many times how i am talented.

Downsides you have to work your ass off and hustle. Upside its really (extremely) easy to find a new job if you are good in comparison to finding a new engineering role for example.

Hours can also be really high if you have a role where you travel a lot or just get a sitation where it is unlucky.

The upside is you are on the forefront of the business and the skills are universal for all industries and even if you ever start your own biz -- so the skillset in itself is very valuable.

Its usually a good gig. There are downsides but I'd imagine most jobs have those. You're not pulling 60-80 hour weeks for your entire life like iB or something else, however it can be a grind and its not always the most fun -- but even average salespeople usually end up at 100k+ working 40 hours a week -- so not the worst job in the world.

-How much do you actually make?

I'm a field AE now selling into the enterprise. My base salary is 125k, and my on-target is 250k. My actual earnings fluctuate wildly from year to year - in a bad year I'll make my base, in a great year I'll make a multiple of my on-target. Success in sales is a combination of territory, timing, and talent - I know some very talented people that got stuck with a bad patch and spun their wheels getting nowhere for an entire year. Conversely, I know some absolute tools that got lucky with a good patch (say, Silicon Alley in New York) and great timing (a new must have marketing tech was recently released and the company was pushing it hard) that absolutely crushed their number with inbound orders alone.

-What are the hours?

In field roles, hours aren't really tracked. I can work from anywhere in-country and no one really cares what I do. In finance terms, I'm more like an MD in that all that matters is the amount of revenue I generate for the firm.. Call it 30ish hours during normal weeks. This doubles during the last 2-3 weeks of any given quarter, and can triple during the last month of fiscal.

In junior roles you still don't work long hours (average 45), but they are way more intense than the hours in engineering or finance roles... I would come home destroyed after work in my days as an SDR & BDR.

-What do you do all day?

Get yelled at by my RVP, update my CRM, prospect a little bit, work with sales engineers on demos, work with my BDR on strategy, go over contracts with legal, direct customers to the appropriate support people... I'm essentially the quarterback.

No one cares about my metrics as long as I produce.

-If you advance, what does your role become?

SDR - fielding inbound interest -> BDR - generating interest through outbound activities -> Account Executive (small business) - first real closing role -> Account Executive (mid-market) -> Larger deal sizes and companies -> Account Executive (enterprise)

There are usually many different levels of account executive i.e. 1-10 employees, 11-100, 101-500, 501-2000, 2001-10000, 10001+ - different product lines to specialize in, different industries to focus on, etc.

There are adjacent supporting roles a la solution engineering, implementation, customer success, renewals, etc.

The top in pure sales would be something like a global account manager for a fortune 500 company.

-Do you think sales can be learned or is it something that must come natural?

It's like any other skill - some of it can be taught, some of it is innate... you don't become LeBron James without (a lot of) natural ability.

In my experience, the very best salespeople are moderately extroverted, moderately analytical, have a bit of flair for creativity, and can be imposing (in one way or another) when necessary.

If anyone knows how best to frame a Sales resume, coming from non sales background that would be good to know.

My buddy works at Cintas in sales (selling uniforms, soap dispensers, urinal cakes, etc) in the DC Metro Area and took in 150k last year. He did hustle and probably worked 50-55 hours a week. His schedule was his own though as he could come and go as he pleased.

Not very prestigious but solid money for what seemed like a pretty easy gig.

I did software sales for a bit but I was on the account management side.

-How much do you actually make?

My base was 40-43k but I was on track to make 100-115k with bonuses.

-What are the hours?

Hours varied depending on how well things were going that month but normally 60-70.

-What do you do all day?

Unlike the other posts I would not cold call daily, I would have a "pipeline" of existing accounts approx. 100 and I would advise on how to use the software while also focusing on selling them new products or services or finding other teams/divisions that I could sell to. So I was still constantly on the phone and when I was not, I was researching about my accounts, participating in onboarding meetings or helping clients with certain projects.

-If you advance, what does your role become?

After account manager, you had the option to become a manager so you would still have the same responsibilities, but also to manage a new account manager, or become a key account manager who handles larger accounts.

-Do you think sales can be learned or is it something that must come natural?

It helps to naturally be extroverted and persistent but its still a skill that can be learned. I come from an engineering background and had no prior experience and I was still pretty good at it, but you just have to know what you are getting into. Its all about enjoying a challenge and hustling.

Personally after 7 months I realized that sales wasn't for me or just not for me at the time and decided to pursue something else. There's a lot of money to be made in sales but like all industries you have to put in that work, a lot of hard work.

-How much do you actually make?

Typically $40k-$45k starting out, small salary increases with each successive promotion. You'll hit a base of $60k-80k or so as a first year AE/AM (Account Executive/Account Manager, the person managing relationships with clients and ensuring that they keep buying your product every year). Commission and bonuses are then based on years with the firm, % of sales goal hit (100%+ goal is key, and bonuses get bigger in successive percentages, e.g., 110%+ of goal, 120%+ of goal, etc) size/scope of your territory (i.e., your clients; you'll have access to bigger clients/a bigger territory and bigger commissions as you progress). Depending on the company/seniority/territory/product, you can make low-mid six figures eventually. Not top-performing HF PM figures, natch, but a decent salary for sure.

-What are the hours?

Ugh, Tim Ferriss.

Snark aside, core hours are typically 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. or so, with an hour for lunch. Some people choose to stay later to make calls, others come in earlier; it's up to you. During quarterly and yearly closes, it's typical to spend several weeks for 10-12 hours/day at the office to meet goal. You'll see this affect the AEs/AMs more than entry-level people, though.

-What do you do all day?

You don't have to make X amount of calls per day, generally as long as you're hitting your weekly/monthly goal (some firms make you call 100 people/day or whatever, though, at an entry-level, which is a pain, but certainly not all). A call can take anywhere from 15 second ("DON'T EVER TALK TO ME AGAIN, I'M BLOCKING YOU!") to 20-30 minutes if you have the right rapport with your target or their secretaries. Generally, scheduling calls at the entry-level are brief while you set a time for your AM/AE to walk the client through demo.

Research also depends on you; some people really like to dig deep into the industry, target, etc. Others find it easier to stick to a usual script; it's a matter of preference.

The rest of the time, you're updating Salesforce/your CRM tool, helping younger kids practice their phone skills, or in company meetings.

-If you advance, what does your role become?

The path is entry-level scheduler -> Scheduler 1/2/3 (similar to A1/2/3/etc) -> AM/AE -> Sr. AM/AE -> VP -> Division Head -> Head of Sales.

Unlike IB/consulting, this isn't up-or-out. Some people can be (Sr.) AM/AEs for years because they like sales; others like moving around in the company and making it to the top.

Once you graduate from the scheduler/training program, you talk to clients one-on-one. You "present demos" (pitch clients and potential clients existing products or newer products),"manage relationships" (keep in touch with clients on what they like/don't like, make sure they renew their sales contracts every year), and manage a small team of new entry-level hires, more experienced schedulers, etc. Some AEs/AMs train new AEs/AMs, too.

At the VP and above level, you manage teams of AEs/AMs, make sure the team overall is hitting and exceeding its sales goal. The responsibilities increase in scope as you move up.

-Do you think sales can be learned or is it something that must come natural? Within the context of the job, yes, sales can be 100% learned. It's very systematic, IMO, once you get into it (especially at the entry-level). More extroverted people may have an advantage initially, due to sheer social stamina, but the company usually expects you to sell their way, and your managers expect you to do as they say when you're being evaluated for promotions, so introverts have an advantage when selling "by the book" at those times, so to speak.

On a more personality-based level, I think you do have to have some inclination to sell yourself to other people to do well (for dating, interviews, etc). Here, I think you can also learn the basic mechanisms of what makes a good conversation partner and how to ask questions, but then you come off as robotic. To learn to "sell" in a non-work context / not for money, you have to put more of your personality forward in a socially-acceptable way, which is where most people struggle. But if an awkward Jewish kid from Baltimore can become one of the top PE fundraisers on the planet (shout-out to whoever gets the reference!), I think you can learn enough "sales" skills for real-life social interaction.

In fact, to learn how to present yourself/"sell" yourself, networking is by far best way to do so, IMO.

My roommates is a rich kid from a target school, comes from money, partied and barely studied in college, and graduated with a 2.7 GPA, and couldn't get a good finance job, so he settled for tech sales. His first year he made $70k all in, and the past couple years have been between $110-120k. He likes his job, but is very concerned with the lack of clarity on how the career progression will be. He also doesn't like the fact that the overwhelming majority of his colleagues are not as "clean cut" or "polished" as him and have middle class childhoods from public non target colleges (like very non target).

How often do you see people with significant sales experience in other industries move over to tech sales? And where do they usually start? If you have 5-10yr years of B2B sales experience in another industry I can't imagine you would start off in an entry level position.

Not in tech sales, but the payments space

-How much do you actually make? Garbarge sales people make 60k. The best make between 100k - 150k. I have heard some people make 250k - 500k

I make 90-110k. 70% of that is commission. Of which Uncle Sam robs you of.

*Secondary market numbers.

-What are the hours? office based - 40-50 hrs field based - salary. Whatever it takes to manage the territory

-What do you do all day? Dial, set appointments, meet with customers and close new business analyze statements, read newspapers, dial some more, etc

-If you advance, what does your role become? SMB -> Middle Market -> Enterprise/Commercial *At the enterprise/commercial level, the leads are based on relationships with IBD/Corp Bankers, kind of like PWM is dependent on it sometimes.

-Do you think sales can be learned or is it something that must come natural? I am an extrovert in business, and an introvert in life. Sales comes easy to me because I have taught a few classes. I think anyone can be a marginal salesman. I do believe the best are born with it.

my $.02

Regardless of the product or service, selling is selling. It's all the same. Toothpicks, computer systems, financial services, etc. It requires you to find out what your client wants to accomplish and providing them with an appropriate solution. You need to ask good questions and be a really good listener. The image of the fast talking car salesman is ridiculous. Nobody wants that. But if you make it a great experience for the consumer while solving their problems, they'll buy from you all day long.

It really is a great way to earn a fantastic living.