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Life and Death of a Salesman

Hollywood

By Hollywood
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Pescado_Rojo
Pescado_Rojo

I work for a HW company, but my stuff is mostly software. I can't tell you how sick I get of hardware guys slashing margin on my stuff to make 20 points on the hardware part of the deal. I sell to the

BearSchlong
BearSchlong

Accepted a verbal this afternoon from my new boss, with written letter/package to follow by Friday. And tomorrow night I have to have dinner with the old boss and a presentation to a client I've been

AUS-97HORN
AUS-97HORN

just received an absolute gutpunch today.  My outside rep,  who has been with the company for 15 years and I've been working with the last 3 years, collapsed in his kitchen on Fri night and passe

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9 minutes ago, T’Boo Ted Marshall said:

$30m deal just went poof. Both parties were popping champagne last week.

Baffled and stunned, but sales...on to the next one.

sorry man.   Those highs and lows make you feel alive both good and bad.  Sucks when you thought an agreement was made...only for it to crumble to shit.

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Pescado_Rojo

Pescado_Rojo 19558

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One of my Q3 deals that was "in procurement" last week went tits up today because the customer filed for BK due to covid. Large shopping mall, so their days were numbered anyway I guess. They were wrapping up a remodel when the lockdowns started, and never reopened. Wasn't a make or break deal for me, but would have been some nice upside. 

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BearSchlong

BearSchlong 8231

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Posted (edited)

How's it going, everyone?

Going from 100K headcount org to one with to less than 200 has been pretty interesting.  Literally building the truck while we're driving it.  PE play vs. F100, completely different structure.  Strategic recapitalization including $325MM in new financing.

This week I got my first verbal agreements, contracts sent out, just waiting for ink on some transactional Enterprise deals, which is timely because this month is my last ramp/draw payment.

The cool thing is that people who wouldn't even talk to me at my previous company are now excited about my offerings.  My sales VP and I were in meetings this week and a new flagship client even commented "glad we're finally doing business together."

There's a huge difference between legitimate stress due to economics and geography - you can't argue those things, they are facts - and stress due to organizational dysfunction - where management not only doesn't give a shit, but doesn't even answer emails or pick up the phone.

I love our management structure - it's basically ownership, CRO, Sales VP, and Director - and I've got daily dialogue with everyone.  It's really liberating and very interesting, intellectually inspiring.  Some very smart people.

Can't wait til the election is over though.

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HoffaJimmy

HoffaJimmy 316

Posted
Posted
34 minutes ago, BearSchlong said:

How's it going, everyone?

Going from 100K headcount org to one with to less than 200 has been pretty interesting.  Literally building the truck while we're driving it.  PE play vs. F100, completely different structure.  Strategic recapitalization including $325MM in new financing.

This week I got my first verbal agreements, contracts sent out, just waiting for ink on some transactional Enterprise deals, which is timely because this month is my last ramp/draw payment.

The cool thing is that people who wouldn't even talk to me at my previous company are now excited about my offerings.  My sales VP and I were in meetings this week and a new flagship client even commented "glad we're finally doing business together."

There's a huge difference between legitimate stress due to economics and geography - you can't argue those things, they are facts - and stress due to organizational dysfunction - where management not only doesn't give a shit, but doesn't even answer emails or pick up the phone.

I love our management structure - it's basically ownership, CRO, Sales VP, and Director - and I've got daily dialogue with everyone.  It's really liberating and very interesting, intellectually inspiring.  Some very smart people.

Can't wait til the election is over though.

Awesome update. Support from top to bottom makes a ton of difference. 

 

For me it's been throttle down the whole year, even in the heart of the lockdown I was getting calls left and right from people I had never heard from before. It's been a really odd year obviously but not sure if it gave decision makers more time to realize what was really important to them in their relationships or what but it has been good. 

Now it's managing my time better. That obviously can always be an issue but when you have the volume you want it's easy to just plateau instead of taking the steps to continue to take things higher. Obviously a good problem to n\have but still isn't easy to manage all of the time. 

I will say if you watch the news you wouldn't think that anybody is buying shit but I have to say in certain segments big deals are getting done all over the place, A LOT of business. 

 

 

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AUS-97HORN

AUS-97HORN 11991

Posted
Posted (edited)

Man, I havent even thought about posting... I am in a total "fuck it" funk. 

My only saving grace is I have a prelimary offer for a new position that would be a small promotion and at the same time, take me away from being a front line sales rep for the first time in 15 years. 

But I cant even accept the position until Feb 1.... and thats only if the absolute hard hiring freeze is finally allowed to re-open. 

I did finish the first half above 100%, but I had basically booked that the first 2 months of the half. Almost nothing sold since Apr.

I've only got 10 accounts to work with, NINE of them are in full shutdown. No purchasing unless its a dire emergency.

My management knew this yet those fucks dropped a 2nd half quota on me that was so outrageous I have refused to sign my quota letter.  Im still fighting with management. 

I havent missed being over 100% since 2014. We are finishing up the 3rd quarter and right now, the territory is basically on lockdown.  If I had accepted the quota I would be sitting at *14%*  and next quarter looks to be only slightly better.   

Management keeps talking to me about delivering my gap plan.  I've openly laughed at them.  Im not gonna find 15Million in the next 3 months. .  

Edited by AUS-97HORN
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ZB'Tejas

ZB'Tejas 597

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1 hour ago, Buzzrock said:

Anyone meeting with customers yet?

I sell into Retail and Tech and have not met anyone in person since March. I'm betting it's well into next year before we would be traveling to see customers again and bet many would not want to take on the liability of having vendors visit until a vaccine is in place.

That said. had a shitty Q2, hit quote in Q3 and poised to have a great Q4. Then might start looking around for something new in 2021.

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T’Boo Ted Marshall

T’Boo Ted Marshall 2779

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I received an offer from another advisory firm but the terms suck, they are brand new and only focused on tech. Not my main background or network.

My firm came back with a revised comp plan but it is light. One owner thinks it is very generous. The other privately said its light.

It would be nice to have a good option but maybe one is a placeholder for the time being.

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Reagan1k

Reagan1k 3040

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2 hours ago, Buzzrock said:

Anyone meeting with customers yet?

We are.  Construction distribution, engineering, and architecture.  The distribution folks are letting people in.  Engineering and architecture is case by case.  Big firms with a lot of bureaucracy are still mostly locked down but the smaller firms don't care.

Our manufacturers we represent are case by case - some are full speed ahead but a few are struggling - the "if you feel sick stay home" mandate is a license for production workers at big companies to hone their golf games or get ready for hunting season with PTO and their output is still way down.  Office personnel who are working from home have checked out and response times suck.  Lead times are 3x what they should be.

It is an absolute grind trying to get product from some, while others (mostly smaller,closely held companies) aren't missing a beat.

 

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next2naus

next2naus 439

Posted
Posted
On 7/31/2020 at 4:16 PM, Rougarou said:

 

Anyways, for all REAL salesguys, EOQ is today. Take your calendar year fiscal and go eat at the kiddie table, noobs.

Silly comment. The key reason for companies choosing different fiscal year-ends is the seasonal fluctuations of the business they operate in. By choosing their FY, they can limit the negative seasonal impact that happen within their specific industries.

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next2naus

next2naus 439

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On 10/21/2020 at 10:04 AM, BearSchlong said:

How's it going, everyone?

PE play vs. F100, completely different structure.  Strategic recapitalization including $325MM in new financing.

I love our management structure - it's basically ownership, CRO, Sales VP, and Director - and I've got daily dialogue with everyone.  It's really liberating and very interesting, intellectually inspiring.  Some very smart people.

 

I'm curious about how the company does it's overall comp plans, I find that PE backed shops tend to not have any golden handcuffs

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Incredulity

Incredulity 11861

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Posted
2 hours ago, Reagan1k said:

We are.  Construction distribution, engineering, and architecture.  The distribution folks are letting people in.  Engineering and architecture is case by case.  Big firms with a lot of bureaucracy are still mostly locked down but the smaller firms don't care.

Our manufacturers we represent are case by case - some are full speed ahead but a few are struggling - the "if you feel sick stay home" mandate is a license for production workers at big companies to hone their golf games or get ready for hunting season with PTO and their output is still way down.  Office personnel who are working from home have checked out and response times suck.  Lead times are 3x what they should be.

It is an absolute grind trying to get product from some, while others (mostly smaller,closely held companies) aren't missing a beat.

 

All of this.

I have been hearing a lot of buzz(nothing definitive) the last two weeks about projects getting put on hold due to second wave COVID.  Seems like the next 90 days will be critical for workload in 21.

 

who fucking knows.

 

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ZB'Tejas

ZB'Tejas 597

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18 minutes ago, Incredulity said:

All of this.

I have been hearing a lot of buzz(nothing definitive) the last two weeks about projects getting put on hold due to second wave COVID.  Seems like the next 90 days will be critical for workload in 21.

 

who fucking knows.

 

I've got 3 deals (2 Retail and 1 Travel) that I'm humping to get done in Nov... a new wave would crush those deals.

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5 minutes ago, next2naus said:

I'm having the best financial earnings year of my career, yet I know it's fleeting and as such, no joy in it. 

 

two comma club so far in 2020. looking like no quarterly accelerators in 2021 so it would be very difficult to repeat. 

You sell masks or ventilators?

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ZB'Tejas

ZB'Tejas 597

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34 minutes ago, next2naus said:

I'm having the best financial earnings year of my career, yet I know it's fleeting and as such, no joy in it. 

 

two comma club so far in 2020. looking like no quarterly accelerators in 2021 so it would be very difficult to repeat. 

Wow, congrats. Have yet to do that. New company that is recruiting me those said top Reps are doing that so I'm going to listen.

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Pescado_Rojo

Pescado_Rojo 19558

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Could be better, could be worse. The two largest deals in my pipeline have slipped several times because the customer's data centers are locked down and we can't get the delivery teams on site to start POCs. One deal will close by EOY regardless, as the software vendor offered up a $1MM concession to get it done this year, and it's just an upgrade and tech refresh. The other one is probably going to slip until next year because the end user customer has laid off 40% of their workforce, and there's literally no one to assist on site.

I'm an alliance manager covering the SI/SO/CSP space. The SIs and SOs are struggling, but the CSPs are actually doing pretty well. Smaller deals, but they're getting them closed. I've launched two global offerings this year with my largest SO and they've got some of the largest companies in the world in their respective verticals lined up for POCs (Transportation, MFG, hospitality & entertainment), but they've been start/stop affairs due to lock downs, layoffs, etc. Most of the transportation and logistics companies are too busy to mess with it. ("We've been 'Christmas busy' since February" is what one guy told me). I'm for sure going to miss my number, but I'll probably end up the tallest midget on my team of 5 sellers. If I can stay employed until 2H next year, I could have a great year. We'll see...

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BearSchlong

BearSchlong 8231

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23 hours ago, next2naus said:

I'm curious about how the company does it's overall comp plans, I find that PE backed shops tend to not have any golden handcuffs

It's essentially identical to my previous company's - but I can't leave voluntarily within the first year without paying back a substantial draw against commissions.  So I'm either going to make a mint or make them fire me.

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BearSchlong

BearSchlong 8231

Posted
Posted (edited)
25 minutes ago, StruggleBus said:

What are all of the field sales guys doing these days? Spamming phone calls like the inside guys have been doing for decades? 

Zoom calls replaced in-person meetings for probably 35% of meetings, otherwise on premise visits and lunches are still on.

Networking and referrals are more important than ever, but mainly just being very selective on pursuing deals and having lots of intel before engaging.

Deal flow is a trickle, though.

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next2naus

next2naus 439

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, BearSchlong said:

Zoom calls replaced in-person meetings for probably 35% of meetings, otherwise on premise visits and lunches are still on.

Networking and referrals are more important than ever, but mainly just being very selective on pursuing deals and having lots of intel before engaging.

Deal flow is a trickle, though.

I probably did 50% of work via phone & WebEx pre-covid, now it's 100%. I'm in NYC Metro so there are no on-premise meetings or lunchs. honestly...not much has changed. Qualify the fuck out of opps, keep that forecast frosty. I have been focused in '21 since August and building pipe. I have some additional Opps and BAU for Q4 but the focus is on next year. My Q1 tends to be light from pulling everything out in Q4 of the previous year and I try to make my bones in Q2 and Q3 so I'm ahead of the number rolling into Q4, which is my largest quota quarter. 

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Pescado_Rojo

Pescado_Rojo 19558

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Posted

100% Zoom. I haven't been on a plane in 7 months. I've set up some zoom happy hours and used Drizzly to deliver booze to customers, lunch meetings where I've had grub hub or door dash deliver food. Mostly it's been a never ending stream of Zoom calls and ever increasing management focus because everyone is bored out of their minds. 

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DonkeyCigars

DonkeyCigars 143

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Posted

In February of 2020 I never would have thought I'd say this, but... I just changed jobs this month. I sell enterprise software so you can imagine how many great people who are better sales people than me are out on the street and applying to every req the second it opens, so it was probably the most grueling interview processes (e.g. 7 rounds, 3 panels, 2 preso's and 1 lunch) I've ever had.

But whatever it takes to get to the $1mm W2 that our friend upthread was telling us about!

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ZB'Tejas

ZB'Tejas 597

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8 hours ago, DonkeyCigars said:

In February of 2020 I never would have thought I'd say this, but... I just changed jobs this month. I sell enterprise software so you can imagine how many great people who are better sales people than me are out on the street and applying to every req the second it opens, so it was probably the most grueling interview processes (e.g. 7 rounds, 3 panels, 2 preso's and 1 lunch) I've ever had.

But whatever it takes to get to the $1mm W2 that our friend upthread was telling us about!

For sure. Last interview I did was a marathon only to have all Reqs pulled in mid March because Covid.

I'm three conversations in with the new recruiting company. Need to hustle and bring all my Q4 deals in quick in case this progresses.

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DonkeyCigars

DonkeyCigars 143

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Posted
1 hour ago, T’Boo Ted Marshall said:

Good for you.

Never understood the need for an exhaustive process like that.

In hindsight I think a few steps were added due to the fact that everything is a zoom/virtual meeting. Which, by the way, is not a cake walk. Just because you don't have to fly to Chicago or NY for the in-person interview and can do it from your home office (which is awesome), the downside I found is that it is deceptively hard to be as magnetic and charismatic as it is in person. It's hard to really "shine" in these zoom meetings like you would face to face.

I think that is also why they had me go to a local lunch with some of the VP's; just to get eyes on me and make sure I wear deodorant, brush my teeth, actually own pants, etc.

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DonkeyCigars

DonkeyCigars 143

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3 minutes ago, ZB'Tejas said:

For sure. Last interview I did was a marathon only to have all Reqs pulled in mid March because Covid.

I'm three conversations in with the new recruiting company. Need to hustle and bring all my Q4 deals in quick in case this progresses.

That is a killer.

I told my wife if I didn't get this job after the 90 day marathon, I'm sticking it out for H1FY21 because I don't have the energy or desire to do it again anytime soon. It's a full time job getting ready for those interviews. Research, putting together decks, practicing, etc. on top of having a job that requires 50-60 hours a week. I was logging late nights in the run up to the final orals-- up to 3-4am-- working up to the deadline and weekends.

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DonkeyCigars

DonkeyCigars 143

Posted
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, next2naus said:

seems awesome till you look at your taxes, fortunately I go the estimated route so it's like a "pay'em as you earn it" model for me

I make a third of what you will make this year and I cry about taxes so I can only imagine what you are going through.

But your story here-- this is the reason I got into sales, for the potential and the dream to have the amazing year(s).

Edited by DonkeyCigars
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Incredulity

Incredulity 11861

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, DonkeyCigars said:

I make a third of what you will make this year and I cry about taxes so I can only imagine what you are going through.

But your story here-- this is the reason I got into sales, for the potential and the dream to have the amazing year(s).

Head on over to CR and explain it to the borg

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DonkeyCigars

DonkeyCigars 143

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Posted
9 hours ago, next2naus said:

there is no "woe is me" but the target on the back is both large and heavy and you have to find a way to make a "lather, rinse, repeat". My next year could suck, I could be in a new role or with what I would define as a untenable or lousy comp plan. 

Heavy is the head that wears the crown, Mr. Naus.

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BearSchlong

BearSchlong 8231

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Amen, Slorch.

Last time I've gone 4 months without closing a deal was. . .well, before I got into sales in 1996.

To refresh, left my safe, secure, soul-killing F100 job to join a <200 person firm.  Highly custom solution, but can crush the biggest players on price, capacity, service, and long-term relationship on the right deals which are needles in the haystack.

Just closed my first deal.  Flagship customer. Finances the infrastructure to go replicate the deal sans CAPX with another 5 customers.  And now I've got serious street cred in my territory.

Pending initial contract on my 2021 whale customer to sign his initial order to be followed up with 14 more over the next 6 months.

What a great day to be alive.

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riloh05

riloh05 107

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Posted
On 10/22/2020 at 1:06 PM, next2naus said:

I'm having the best financial earnings year of my career, yet I know it's fleeting and as such, no joy in it. 

 

two comma club so far in 2020. looking like no quarterly accelerators in 2021 so it would be very difficult to repeat. 

just joined you for 2020...will run it through 21. after that all gas no brakes.

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