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Life and Death of a Salesman


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5 hours ago, MonkeyCigarette said:

Series A-C unicorns make up 33.1% of the unicorns (the rest being Series D-G, private equity and secondary markets).

Roughly 1/3.

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meh....money is being spent, doesn't mean much in reality. Example: I see investment in IAM and IDAS all day, and everyone is a disruptor with the nextGen AI, ML, blah blah, blah in very mature and crowed spaces. they can't all succeed. this specific market is hot b/c the tag line (with some truthiness) that "Identity is security" and the traditional IAM players needed to evolve, which they either do or they perish (looking at you CA and RSA) but we don;t need more Okta's or Ping's or ForgeRocks, etc. The investors backs up the spend with the "new normal" validation of everyone WFH, everything SaaS, everything cloud. Great, again the barrier to enter and survive this market is huge and the Enterprise has largely solved the issue and it's a race to the bottom on the SMB.

 

fucking "unicorns" and "disruptive"...add that to the buzzword bullshit list. It started with "Synergy" in the 90's 

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6 hours ago, MonkeyCigarette said:

Stat: Here’s a three-for-one from Nvidia’s Q3 earnings: 1) Its data-center sales jumped 55% year over year, to $2.9 billion 2) Its valuation topped $800 billion on Thursday, putting it right behind Meta 3) Its execs used the term “omniverse” 36 times on the earnings call.

How much of that is tied to crypto? I was on a call with Nvidia last week with my partner as they are looking for gpu support for some of their video analytics use cases and one of the nvidia guys said on the call crypto has been a boon for them. 

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13 minutes ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

How much of that is tied to crypto? I was on a call with Nvidia last week with my partner as they are looking for gpu support for some of their video analytics use cases and one of the nvidia guys said on the call crypto has been a boon for them. 

Probably a good bit, but their CEO is all-in on the Metaverse:

Quote

 

Nvidia’s market cap was beyond $800 billion at one point yesterday. Since October, the company has added $300 billion in value—roughly the size of Pfizer, Disney, or Netflix. Without much fanfare, Nvidia has become the seventh-largest company in America.

What’s behind the surge? Put simply, it’s a bet on the metaverse, a virtual work/hangout space where you can buy and sell digital goods and services.

And if the metaverse were Italian cuisine, Nvidia, which is the world’s largest maker of video game chips, would be the olive oil. CEO Jensen Huang is a firm believer in the inevitability of virtual worlds, arguing that the metaverse will be “much, much bigger than the 3D physical world that we enjoy today.”

As more companies from Meta to Microsoft to Nike launch plans to help build virtual worlds, Nvidia is saying, “What took you so long?”

 

As mentioned, Nvidia has quietly been one of the best run companies in America and is now the 7th largest company in America-- a far cry from a bit player making graphic cards and gaming cards for stupid Dell Inspirion machines. Everyone I know who has worked at nVidia talks about their time there fondly and the culture being A-1.

Edited by MonkeyCigarette
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  • 4 weeks later...
18 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

Do it.  Stressful as hell at times, but very rewarding at other times.  And if you hit it right, it can be your last job if you want it to be.

 

18 hours ago, MonkeyCigarette said:

Do it.

 

18 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

Do it.  Stressful as hell at times, but very rewarding at other times.  And if you hit it right, it can be your last job if you want it to be.

Yeah, love the upside and these guys are coming from really successful companies (yeah, I know heard that before).  Would be nice to be AE1 vs AE48 at a company. 

 

 

 

Different subject.  I've worked with probably 15-20 SDRS in my life.  My current one, no pics don't want to get fired yet, but has a smokeshow of a picture on LI and is booking meetings with middle aged guys like no tomorrow.  Problem is, all she says is "come see demo."  Demoing on meeting 1, at least in enterprise, generally sucks.

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3 hours ago, closetohumping said:

 

 

Yeah, love the upside and these guys are coming from really successful companies (yeah, I know heard that before).  Would be nice to be AE1 vs AE48 at a company. 

 

 

 

Different subject.  I've worked with probably 15-20 SDRS in my life.  My current one, no pics don't want to get fired yet, but has a smokeshow of a picture on LI and is booking meetings with middle aged guys like no tomorrow.  Problem is, all she says is "come see demo."  Demoing on meeting 1, at least in enterprise, generally sucks.

You control the process. Get her to change the call to action. If someone is willing to take a demo, they'll be willing to take a discovery call. If you're selling enterprise there is bound to be some type of customization that will help you at the demo stage if you get proper discovery first. 

Or just do what I used to do when I sold enterprise. Use the first half hour set aside for the demo to do discovery. Use the second half of the meeting to show most important parts of the product based on need. Loop in decision makers or other stakeholders on the next call for a deep dive/technical demo. 

Or just have sex with your SDR. Your call. 

Edited by StruggleBus
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4 minutes ago, StruggleBus said:

You control the process. Get her to change the call to action. If someone is willing to take a demo, they'll be willing to take a discovery call. If you're selling enterprise there is bound to be some type of customization that will help you at the demo stage if you get proper discovery first. 

Or just do what I used to do when I sold enterprise. Use the first half hour set aside for the demo to do discovery. Use the second half of the meeting to show most important parts of the product based on need. Loop in decision makers or other stakeholders on the next call for a deep dive/technical demo. 

Or just have sex with your SDR. Your call. 

Managing peers isn’t easy.

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1 hour ago, StruggleBus said:

You control the process. Get her to change the call to action. If someone is willing to take a demo, they'll be willing to take a discovery call. If you're selling enterprise there is bound to be some type of customization that will help you at the demo stage if you get proper discovery first. 

Or just do what I used to do when I sold enterprise. Use the first half hour set aside for the demo to do discovery. Use the second half of the meeting to show most important parts of the product based on need. Loop in decision makers or other stakeholders on the next call for a deep dive/technical demo. 

Or just have sex with your SDR. Your call. 

 

1 hour ago, MonkeyCigarette said:

Managing peers isn’t easy.

 

1 hour ago, StruggleBus said:

I mean an SDR doesn't report to an AE but every sales org I've the SDR's do whatever the AE wants. Including sex. 

I'm about to manage her ass tomorrow.  There absolutely has to be an agreement or willingness to do discovery.  If they're not willing to talk about them, then it's very likely not a sale anyway.  This is not SMB spray and prey.

She has selective hearing.  I said "don't pitch a demo" and she hears "come see personal demo."  

 

Can't have the sex.  She looks nothing like her LI pic and I'm a man of faith.  And her husband likely has ties to foreign mob.

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37 minutes ago, closetohumping said:

 

 

I'm about to manage her ass tomorrow.  There absolutely has to be an agreement or willingness to do discovery.  If they're not willing to talk about them, then it's very likely not a sale anyway.  This is not SMB spray and prey.

She has selective hearing.  I said "don't pitch a demo" and she hears "come see personal demo."  

 

Can't have the sex.  She looks nothing like her LI pic and I'm a man of faith.  And her husband likely has ties to foreign mob.

1) I’ve been in many situations where BDRs are useless and it’s awkward because you want to be nice but there is also a job to be done. At the end of the day a BDR who you get along with and can mentor and coach is a BDR who will work hard for you. That’s what I meant when I said it’s weird managing peers or across the ecosystem where there is no dotted line.

2) At most organizations they want you to be a team player. That means trying to work out a solution instead of throwing people under the bus (even if they deserve it). Probably should talk to the BDR manager if you aren’t getting improvement from your 1x1 feedback with the BDR

3) BDR’s are going to only care about what pays them and how easy a path they can do it in, in that order. Likely she’s paid on setting up demos which is why she uses that hammer.

Edited by MonkeyCigarette
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5 minutes ago, MonkeyCigarette said:

1) I’ve been in many situations where BDRs are useless and it’s awkward because you want to be nice but there is also a job to be done. At the end of the day a BDR who you get along with and can mentor and coach is a BDR who will work hard for you. That’s what I meant when I said it’s weird managing peers or across the ecosystem where there is no dotted line.

2) At most organizations they want you to be a team player. That means trying to work out a solution instead of throwing people under the bus (even if they deserve it). Probably should talk to the BDR manager if you aren’t getting improvement from your 1x1 feedback with the BDR

3) BDR’s are going to only care about what pays them and how easy a path they can do it in, in that order. Likely she’s paid on setting up demos which is why she uses that hammer.

She gets paid for any sort of meeting that I accept.  If the deal goes stage 2, and it won't on these, she gets paid a bit more.  She is money driven.  Former lawyer from another country.

 

This will be the end of it though.  I will nto accept any invite that says "CTH's pleasure to give personal demo."  Initial demos w/o discovery are almost always ass.

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1 hour ago, closetohumping said:

She gets paid for any sort of meeting that I accept.  If the deal goes stage 2, and it won't on these, she gets paid a bit more.  She is money driven.  Former lawyer from another country.

 

This will be the end of it though.  I will nto accept any invite that says "CTH's pleasure to give personal demo."  Initial demos w/o discovery are almost always ass.

Honestly I wouldn’t go scorched earth on her. At the end of the day, her entire job is based around you not having to do the grunt work.

I always liked to throw my BDR’s bones. Yeah, I’ll accept any meeting you send over and help you get paid more. I’ll even move a few to stage two that are questionable. But in return you can’t set demos. You follow my guidance when it comes to targeting accounts, messaging, calls to action, etc. You’d be shocked at how much better they will perform if they actually like you.

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1 minute ago, StruggleBus said:

Honestly I wouldn’t go scorched earth on her. At the end of the day, her entire job is based around you not having to do the grunt work.

I always liked to throw my BDR’s bones. Yeah, I’ll accept any meeting you send over and help you get paid more. I’ll even move a few to stage two that are questionable. But in return you can’t set demos. You follow my guidance when it comes to targeting accounts, messaging, calls to action, etc. You’d be shocked at how much better they will perform if they actually like you.

Agree.  I will absolutely take any conversation as I an obviously do disco better than her.  But the personal demo shit isn't gonna last long.  I haven't spoken to one peer who thinks that's ok in fact most have said "no chance you can convert that and I'd pass."  Now, are we the most righteous and prickly group in the world.  Yes.  Well, the sales engineers are worst but we're not perfect.

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18 hours ago, closetohumping said:

 

 

I'm about to manage her ass tomorrow.  There absolutely has to be an agreement or willingness to do discovery.  If they're not willing to talk about them, then it's very likely not a sale anyway.  This is not SMB spray and prey.

She has selective hearing.  I said "don't pitch a demo" and she hears "come see personal demo."  

 

Can't have the sex.  She looks nothing like her LI pic and I'm a man of faith.  And her husband likely has ties to foreign mob.

I had a BDR back in like, 2008 that had the biggest catfish pic you've ever seen on her linkedin. It was a pretty closely cropped face shot and she looked just like a young Carrie Underwood. Met her in person for the first time and almost walked right past her. In person, she looked like she had eaten Carrie Underwood. 

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35 minutes ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

I had a BDR back in like, 2008 that had the biggest catfish pic you've ever seen on her linkedin. It was a pretty closely cropped face shot and she looked just like a young Carrie Underwood. Met her in person for the first time and almost walked right past her. In person, she looked like she had eaten Carrie Underwood. 

Yeah, and there's no way this doesn't turn me into a sexist fuck, and I don't mean to be, but of the four meetings this week, all, universally had "no pain."  I was in the wrong room.   All sweaty middle aged dudes. 

Customer "we were promised a demo, what's with all the questions."  And that's even with me kicking off the call with "happy to show you our platform but let's gain an understanding of how you're currently doing things and whether we can help."She's landing in the wrong spot so the call ends with "send me some info and I'll talk to IT."  

 

She gets 100 a pop for every meeting I accept and I think an additional tree fiddy if it gets to stage two.

 

No call sheet, just some low manager needs to see a demo. Customers generally hate demos, or at least the ones with things to do, but they hate discovery. 

 

This gets fixed today.  

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5 hours ago, closetohumping said:

Yeah, and there's no way this doesn't turn me into a sexist fuck, and I don't mean to be, but of the four meetings this week, all, universally had "no pain."  I was in the wrong room.   All sweaty middle aged dudes. 

Customer "we were promised a demo, what's with all the questions."  And that's even with me kicking off the call with "happy to show you our platform but let's gain an understanding of how you're currently doing things and whether we can help."She's landing in the wrong spot so the call ends with "send me some info and I'll talk to IT."  

 

She gets 100 a pop for every meeting I accept and I think an additional tree fiddy if it gets to stage two.

 

No call sheet, just some low manager needs to see a demo. Customers generally hate demos, or at least the ones with things to do, but they hate discovery. 

 

This gets fixed today.  

Okay what do you sell? Industry/product?

Edited by MonkeyCigarette
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18 minutes ago, closetohumping said:

Software. The ole integration and analytics

I would argue a lot of software can be canned demos but yea, integration software is messy and nasty and needs predefined use case and value to be worth anyone’s time.

As an aside I feel for you selling that stuff, go get a better job at that start up you were talking about!

Edited by MonkeyCigarette
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1 minute ago, MonkeyCigarette said:

I would argue a lot of software can be canned demos but yea, integration software is messy and nasty and needs predefined use case and value to be worth anyone’s time.

As an aside I feel for you selling that stuff, go get a better job at that start up you were talking about!

I know man. Everyone sales some form on integration and analytics

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Here is a thought and debate I’ve had with my real life rogue gallery of hardened, battle-tested mercenary sales pros out for the 7 figure W2: 

- Money has been cheap the last few years; lots of mid-stage start ups are offering amazing packages with great RSU amounts.

- there is a huge attrition problem at almost every organization out there right now because a) nobody wants to work and b) true enterprise pros are in high demand 

- Inflation is up 7% or whatever

- wage growth is set to follow due to inflation (though not in lock step) and due to aforementioned supply demand issues

With all that, is it a great time to leave your job even if you are happy, in order to lock in a comp plan that takes you to the next level? Say it takes you from 140/140 to 180/180, for example?

My stance is yes, because with measures to fight inflation, this period of wage growth is temporary I think…this is a window of opportunity and in time to take advantage and once you are at a salary band it’s rare you backslide short of a massive recession right?

Edited by MonkeyCigarette
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On 12/16/2021 at 3:29 PM, closetohumping said:

 

 

I'm about to manage her ass tomorrow.  There absolutely has to be an agreement or willingness to do discovery.  If they're not willing to talk about them, then it's very likely not a sale anyway.  This is not SMB spray and prey.

She has selective hearing.  I said "don't pitch a demo" and she hears "come see personal demo."  

 

Can't have the sex.  She looks nothing like her LI pic and I'm a man of faith.  And her husband likely has ties to foreign mob.

My job might be more boring than i have previously thought...

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I accepted an offer, gave my notice and was ready to leave for the new gig and my employer countered. I;m happy to stay as I don't want to be out there "pounding the pavement" as it were with Covid and two young kids that are not old enough to be vaxxed but I regret staying. I'm back out again as soon as I can get my kids squared away, at least I get to collect a retention bonus in July. 

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1 hour ago, next2naus said:

I accepted an offer, gave my notice and was ready to leave for the new gig and my employer countered. I;m happy to stay as I don't want to be out there "pounding the pavement" as it were with Covid and two young kids that are not old enough to be vaxxed but I regret staying. I'm back out again as soon as I can get my kids squared away, at least I get to collect a retention bonus in July. 

I've been told to never accept a counter but absolutes don't apply in every situation.  Good going.

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2 hours ago, closetohumping said:

I've been told to never accept a counter but absolutes don't apply in every situation.  Good going.

Both times I’ve quit a job and had the company counter, they’ve matched at basically the same compensation as the new offer. Is there a corporate rule book to only offer the bare minimum to try to retain employees that might prefer the comfort of staying with what they know? I moved on to the new opportunity both times out of principle, if they were unwilling to pay me close to my market worth and then immediately show that they could/would have paid me more all along if I had been in a better negotiating position. 

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10 minutes ago, Murfdogg21 said:

Both times I’ve quit a job and had the company counter, they’ve matched at basically the same compensation as the new offer. Is there a corporate rule book to only offer the bare minimum to try to retain employees that might prefer the comfort of staying with what they know? I moved on to the new opportunity both times out of principle, if they were unwilling to pay me close to my market worth and then immediately show that they could/would have paid me more all along if I had been in a better negotiating position. 

My bigger worry is they may keep you while searching for your replacement 

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7 hours ago, closetohumping said:

My bigger worry is they may keep you while searching for your replacement 

That’s why I’ve always heard it’s best to leave; the company knows you are on the take and you will be first one gone if things go south.

That said I had a buddy negotiate an amazing retention non-recoverable draw. He poured through the numbers, put his pitch deck together carefully, practiced it on a few of us, all in all spent 20 hours on the thing. At the time it seemed absurd but it made sense when he shared the numbers and said “this retention bonus is my biggest deal of the quarter”.

Of course now that the draw period is over and Q4 is winding down, he’s halfway out the door. 

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  • 3 weeks later...
Which stories? Who are you replying to?

Sorry, fair point to all posting.

I’ve got 20’ish years on the other side of the table. I’ve bought and negotiated acquisitions, software, audits, consulting, hardware, etc. I cringe at generic sales pitches and am the asshole who is often angry when you show up.

Without anyone outing themselves, I am genuinely curious what kind of money is being brought home. I’ve got no doubt having a quota is not “fun”, but there is a lot of angst pitched here and i wonder why.
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1 hour ago, Axle Hongsnort said:


Sorry, fair point to all posting.

I’ve got 20’ish years on the other side of the table. I’ve bought and negotiated acquisitions, software, audits, consulting, hardware, etc. I cringe at generic sales pitches and am the asshole who is often angry when you show up.

Without anyone outing themselves, I am genuinely curious what kind of money is being brought home. I’ve got no doubt having a quota is not “fun”, but there is a lot of angst pitched here and i wonder why.

Are you procurement/VMO?

IMO Sales money is all across the board, from 75k to $750k on average, depending on market, organizations, problems being solved, ASP/ARR/Quotas, Comp plans/Spiffs/Multipliers, etc.

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18 hours ago, Axle Hongsnort said:


Sorry, fair point to all posting.

I’ve got 20’ish years on the other side of the table. I’ve bought and negotiated acquisitions, software, audits, consulting, hardware, etc. I cringe at generic sales pitches and am the asshole who is often angry when you show up.

Without anyone outing themselves, I am genuinely curious what kind of money is being brought home. I’ve got no doubt having a quota is not “fun”, but there is a lot of angst pitched here and i wonder why.

In sales you either make great money or you get fired. You don't get to hang around and do 70% of your job responsibilities for 30 years then retire. A lot of sales jobs (especially the highly leveraged jobs in software) are a gamble. I've known guys that were rock stars in one job get recruited to a start up or up and comer with promises of huge payouts and end up looking for a new gig in 15 months. Either the product missed the mark, the company gets swallowed up by a big company before they've cashed in, or they just hate the culture.  I've known other guys that were pretty average that landed in the right spot at the right time and killed it for a couple years. A lot of larger tech companies will punish your performance with bigger and bigger quotas until you're forced to move on or get fired because they've finally goaled you to a point you just can't get there. I work for a big tech company, and it seems like they guys that consistently do well here are guys that have aligned themselves with a leader that moves around a lot within the company so they're never on the same account set long enough to get that revenge quota. 

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In sales you either make great money or you get fired. You don't get to hang around and do 70% of your job responsibilities for 30 years then retire. A lot of sales jobs (especially the highly leveraged jobs in software) are a gamble. I've known guys that were rock stars in one job get recruited to a start up or up and comer with promises of huge payouts and end up looking for a new gig in 15 months. Either the product missed the mark, the company gets swallowed up by a big company before they've cashed in, or they just hate the culture.  I've known other guys that were pretty average that landed in the right spot at the right time and killed it for a couple years. A lot of larger tech companies will punish your performance with bigger and bigger quotas until you're forced to move on or get fired because they've finally goaled you to a point you just can't get there. I work for a big tech company, and it seems like they guys that consistently do well here are guys that have aligned themselves with a leader that moves around a lot within the company so they're never on the same account set long enough to get that revenge quota. 

This nails it pretty well. One thing I’m seeing is that the product service/delivery is getting much more complicated with the half ass customer support/workforce. These teams that are supposed to deliver the goods are under lots of pressure and may be bleeding with lots of turnover as well. It really does make the salesperson’s job much more difficult when you can’t be super confident in that tenured (or not so tenured) delivery team. With many businesses being remote now, there is less rapport building with support/implementation and sales teams, leading to more of the blame game. Not to mention, sales needing to ensure more aspects of the delivery on top of new biz dev & account management.

For reference, I changed companies in April for better pay/opportunity but stayed in the same industry. I sell HR services like payroll, benefits, etc. to SMBs.
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On 1/8/2022 at 7:14 PM, TurkeyChew said:

Well? Anyone get any new jobs and take advantage of the wage growth/inflation pressure? What’s the new norm like out there? Seems to be a severe buyers market for tenured sales reps.

ah...no. If you are looking for a new gig, you are "good", and you are tenured...you are in the drivers seat and command the comp plan.

 

Ex: I have bene in my current role for over 7yrs and I accepted a new job in Dec, my employer countered with more $ and promises to make some changes for me. So I stayed. I know the prospective new employer have not filled the role and is still interested in me, to the extent that the recruiter I was working with called me last night to see if I would reconsider and started that they would pay more to get me. 

The "great resignation" is a good thing if you are a qualified seller

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2 hours ago, next2naus said:

ah...no. If you are looking for a new gig, you are "good", and you are tenured...you are in the drivers seat and command the comp plan.

 

Ex: I have bene in my current role for over 7yrs and I accepted a new job in Dec, my employer countered with more $ and promises to make some changes for me. So I stayed. I know the prospective new employer have not filled the role and is still interested in me, to the extent that the recruiter I was working with called me last night to see if I would reconsider and started that they would pay more to get me. 

The "great resignation" is a good thing if you are a qualified seller

Looks like the median is a $350 (175/175) these days from an informal straw poll of a) talking to peers/friends who are interviewing b) asking linkedin recruiters when they send stuff and c) my own personal experience as I dipped toes in the water.

You would have told me 10 years ago that I could command a 175k base salary and potentially make 350k at plan and get $300k in RSUs as free money, I flat out wouldn't have believed you. And that's just table stakes stuff-- I have multiple friends and associates who have had multiple 7 figure years in the past four or five years. Anyone can get lucky with product/market fit or the perfect account at the perfect stage in the buy cycle and do it once, but to do it 3 out of 4 years or whatever is crazy to me.

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