I have improved alot by simply looking at success case studies before cold calling, It was really helpful I was alot more confident.

I'm curious how many of you have really strong conviction in the product/ service you sell. Thanks

I know companies will have lulls in performance… but this team I’m on is truly struggling.

We’re definitely not going to hit our annual goal. We’ve already performed a relatively large layoff a few months back, sales fundamentals are completely missing, shuffles in the team always occur at the bottom while those at the top stay in seats for years as financials continue to plummet, pipeline is in the gutter/nonexistent for the next 2-3 qtrs (not even exaggerating)

Our sales cycles are long and complicated… if we don’t have ANYTHING in the pipe for Q1 right now, there’s ZERO chance anything comes in the same qtr and closes. ZERO.

I like optimism… but my realistic side is starting to show.

I work in a niche industry where we work on contingency so commission calculations are a little bit wonky. Been grinding here for 2 years so far and because it is hard to calculate actual revenue per deal, my commissions checks have always been 12k or so per quarter before tax.

I just had my Q3 review and commission breakdown meeting and I was blown away. I’m gonna make 48k before taxes on commission alone and I’m flabbergasted.

This subreddit has been so awesome for me! I’ve been reading the subreddit weekly for advice on closing and boosting my numbers. My big takeaways really have been:

1. Know your industry as much as you possibly can. Constantly stay learning and bouncing ideas and strategies off your coworkers.
2. Keep outreach consistent but don’t be annoying or pushy. Building pipeline is everything. Never put your eggs in one basket. Just constantly try to grow your deal flow and never get emotionally invested.
3. If leadership is good, trust in them and lean on them. I’m very lucky in that my leadership team trusts me and wants me to do well. If you have that, then leverage it too it’s max.

Im just so grateful for all the advice on here and it’s genuinely been life changing. Keep at it everybody. After 10 years in sales, im finally hitting my stride. Tons of shitty gigs where I was making 70k max and after 10 years in my career I’m looking at 200k+ in OTE this year. It really just comes down to not quitting.

I run a small engineering company, and a friend of mine who's an industrial engineer asked if he could put on his résumé that he worked at my company for three years as a sales engineer or account executive, even though that's not true. He asked me because he's struggling to find a sales job and wants to lie about his work experience.

What do you guys think about this? He only has one year of sales experience and was a top performer at a call center, but lying about having 3 YOE as an AE seems like too much to me.

And unfortunately, you can eat shit as obviously didn't even begin to crack the top percentage, at all, not even close homie.

Just wanted to let you know, how many more very very qualified people other than you want this same job. Vast seA of extremely better people than you in all ways I am afraid! Hope this makes you feel better that there are so many people more qualified than you will ever be on earth.

Bye! sincerely, Random job opening response.

Random rant

Been rewatching Mad Men lately and curious if there are still sales roles or industries where wearing a suit, or at least traditional business attire, is the everyday expectation

Seems like most sales orgs have gone pretty casual, where polos/chinos or quarter-zips are basically the uniform in my office, even for people selling into larger accounts

For anyone who still regularly wears a suit or jacket and tie to work, what do you sell and what industry are you in?

Also is it actually required by your company or just part of the culture in your industry?

Not gonna lie, question caught me off guard, I just said "I've worked primarily in start ups, most of my time is spent not just selling but acting as CS, product, and wearing multiple hats so I can be a team player. If I had 100% dedication to just selling there's a higher change I'd hit 200%"

They didn't really accept the answer and kept digging, but even then, the vibe just felt so off. I get that companies are looking for top performers, but what a fuckin stupid question.

Rant over.

Hey all, I'm looking for Account Executive roles (base + commission) that are open to someone with a few years B2B sales development and a few years quota-carrying retail sales looking to grow and hungry to prove themselves.

If anyone has any openings or want to learn more about my background to see if I'd be a good fit, please message me, thank you!

Anyone here selling preventative commercial hvac contracts? Curious what the earning potential is.

Need some ideas for gifts to give out as a thank you for the year. Last year i did custom golf bags with our company logo on them to high level people within my dealers. Most of them use them weekly or biweekly and others within their organizations have asked for them. I dont want to give golf bags to the same people again and would like some ideas. No tumblers or polos or the usual stuff. What do you think a customer would actually use and not just throw in the closet with the rest of the stuff.

Completely hypothetical and in no way related to me whatsoever, given the choice between a PiP that ends at the end of the year vs. a severance package of base pay until the end of the year, which would you take?

My immediate thought was take the severance, but wondering if not technically being employed for those two months would effect chances of getting a new job.

Thoughts?

I had a revelation today.

I cannot tell you how many companies I've worked for at different stages from seed series startups to mature organizations and they all inflate, fictionalize or obfuscate numbers. It turned me off of corporate into consulting and working with startups and growing companies. But that was the same story between executives and shareholders when it come to scaling.

I hate to say this, but it's come to a point in this environment where so much of it is falsified and fictitious. I'll give you a concrete example. I worked with an underwriter on a financing deal to a company. He told me a story about two founders recently. One founder had strong revenues, perfect credit score, and couldn't qualified for a loan. Another had multiple bankruptcies on file, an existing credit line (which was overdue,) and still qualified for a loan to pay off his delinquent debt, which he ultimately defaulted on. When the underwriter asked him about it and what he intended to do, the founder responded, "I'll BK it and do it again."

This is literally the job market. This is literally the economy. It's so far off the rails.

I've been applying for work with gross performance numbers, not including attainment, because a lot of my roles were founding or consulting where no metrics existed so I established these against industry benchmarks. After applying for so many roles which I was perfectly fit or even overqualified for with limited results, a recruiter finally replied, "I don't see any metrics."

I kind of assumed they would understand gross revenues and the significance per industry, but they don't. They just want a tidy package to deliver to their client, and the client wants a tidy package with a story to justify the hiring case. So just invent numbers.

People say this all the time, and I never took it seriously, thinking the activities and performance would speak for itself (largest deal/transaction I worked on was $350M, largest net new logo was $120M account, $30M in pipeline generated one year, a lot of this done by my own namesake with no-name companies versus the revops, marketing, and support of a multi-national conglomerate, but it doesn't matter.) I assume most people are just kind of adrift in brain-rot and easy access. So just make it so simple they don't even have to ask.

I’m a newer in sales. I have around 28 meetings scheduled this month and have already exceeded my SQO quota. We are paid on qualified opps only.

Meanwhile, another newbie has booked nearly 50 meetings but isn’t even close to hitting SQO quota.

I was curious how she booked so many, so I listened to her calls to see what I could learn. I only read the transcript for a few of her bookings and she basically leaves a voicemail that says “Your AE wants to meet,” and books it. No discovery, no pain identified, nothing.
We’re specifically trained to qualify using BANT before booking. I’m not perfect with all four elements, but I always identify a need. I know she told me she likes to cheat to get ahead but I thought she was joking!

Is this really what happens in sales? Am I missing something or is this really an effective strategy?

Anyone else in here workin mortgage and getting absolutelt slaughtered? I work as a wholesale AE and am thinking about moving industries or even getting out of sales, has anyone else expereinced this?

The offer:
Role: Sales & Marketing (Growth) Intern

Company: Pre-launch AI wellness startup (stealth mode, launching Fall 2026)

Location: Remote

Hours: ~5 hrs/week, flexible

Duration: 2-month minimum

Pay: UNPAID

I am not considering the whether the pay is worth or not, bc ofc its not worth it if i think like that. but in general should I just do it? since its better than nothing.

Just left industrial sales earlier this year and have an opportunity to get back into it again as a manufacturer. I was only working in the industry for about 1.5 years previously so I have limited time there. I'm curious to see how everyone feels about the future of industrial sales and where it will be in the next few years. The company that gave me an offer mainly manufactures cables as their main product line. I'm 30 so I have at least 15 to 20years before I can retire.

Doing my MBA over in Paris as a British-Canadian, wanting to learn more about what it is like for you lot over in London. After years as a bartender and theatremaker, I realize I fucking love sales and communication more than most things, and want to capitalise on that.

Would love to hear about how you got started and what it was like for you, before applying for Spring/Summer Sales internships in London myself. Thanks a ton!

I’ve never experienced such a long period between jobs. 6 months…This post at this point is to vent.

Zero idea if others are also going through this, but I have over 9+ years of experience and nothing to show for it.

No idea why I can’t land a job. I getting some traction, networking, interviewing etc. But I haven’t landed anything.

It makes no sense. I got into tech sales thinking I’d eventually land a sweet job at a top tier company only to job hop every couple years between terrible startups.

I eventually want to start my own biz and just need the cash flow, this is ridiculous.

Genuinely keep any back handed comments out of the comments section “you’re not good at sales” or anything doom related.

I’m literally looking for a way back into the workforce.

This makes no sense at all.

Sales veteran here not yet looking to retire (35 years in the game).

But I have left working for an established company as being in my mid fifties am so done with management bullshit and the whole corporate game.

I’ve done an extensive business plan on starting my own business and cold called in person a handful of my target market, further validating the business model and opportunity available to me.

A supplier of the hardware I need is himself a relative startup and has spent some time educating me about the business and market I will be entering and added a lot of value. I have of course done my own due diligence and research as well, which has backed up the advice he’s supplied so far. The guy is a younger dude and not from a sales background.

However, when I have cut through all the haze and fluff, his AI generated proposal of the hardware supply of the machine I need, is at least 30% more than what I can get directly from the actual manufacturer. There had been a bit of intimation about the user support and ongoing help he gives to his customers, etc, so I thought that an extra bit of margin might be worth paying.

The guy I am dealing with mentioned he was a distributor but from what I can clearly see, he’s merely just buying the equipment, rebadging it and selling it on to me. A bit naive of course but as mentioned, he’s not really adding much value apart from personally delivering the product and ‘commissioning it’.

The manufacturer will do the same but via a pre recorded video, which they have said is not complicated at all and will do a live video call if necessary and will include all future support, etc.

So the dude is chasing me on my decision, I know the routine very well.

I have thought of offering him a consultation fee at least when I decline the offer, but part of me thinks I’m going a bit soft and generous in my older age!

Like, sales is a tough game and if you’re not offering any true value then you will not survive. Lost count of all the times I have spent educating the buyer only for them to go elsewhere, ultimately because I didn’t provide enough value to make them buy or failed to convince them of it…etc .

What are your thoughts about this? Decline and move on or decline and give the guy something for his time?

Literally what the title reads..

What is your life goal?

Are you in a sales role atm that you're using as a funnel for a side hustle?

Are you saving up to retire?

Are you a degen dr*g abuser?

I'm curious.. you might inspire somebody!

AE here with ~4 years of full cycle experience and ~2 as SDR/BDR. Seems like a very specific career path but am interested in learning more about potential opportunities. Any tips or potential folks willing to connect?

Actively looking for my next role while still in seat. TIA!

Any advice besides having high activity and working on your skill?

I know that PIP is often reffered to Paid Interview Period so I am looking for news sales jobs to apply for but with only 3 months auf experience the resume looks worse imo than if I would have zero experience.

Ist a PIP that early just as bad of a sign as for more expierenced sales reps with a longer time at the current company?

The current employer is hiring a lot of SDRs so they want to have a big SDR team and legally I could be fired on the spot so I think they really want to see if my results improve however the outcome goals I have been given are not likely to be reached by me, even most SDRs in the company don't hit theses numbers on avg atm.

Just struggling right now and want to get some feedback on how to proceed. Thanks!

I work in resi HVAC sales and I have to tell you, being one of the top guys has it's downsides. I get stuck with a lot of the new guys to train them, and now they are starting to ask me to chauffer these guys around because they bitch about driving their personal vehicles before getting put in their own truck.

I do not get paid any more to train these guys and most of them suck and don't make it in the short term even. In addition, it creates a weird dynamic on the call with the homeowner and I have lost sales as a result of them being there with me. I only make commission. I work 12-14 hour days, most days because they want me running as many leads as possible due to my close rate.

I am happy to train, but at least give me a spiff or something to train these people.

I am just venting. That is all.