Hi all,

Just got hired at a startup as an Account Executive. During onboarding day 1, the founder (my direct manager) said "Oh, I saw online it looks like you create music!" and I explained that yeah I do music in my free time as a hobby, just for fun type of thing. He got a more serious tone, and said "You know this is a full time role, right?"

Now me, thinking he was joking, started laughing and said "Of course, this is more so a hobby it's not remotely close to something I do full time or during working hours," and his response was again serious: "I just wanna make sure you weren't going to be moonlighting as a musician"

This kind of rubbed me the wrong way because I made it clear it was a hobby and honestly thought he was joking, but I don't think he was based on his tone and facial expression.

There are other things too - not really listening to my suggestions/best practices, random meetings that always go over the allotted time, always needing to approve emails before they go out, etc.

I'm thinking I'm going to keep interviewing for other roles (I have a couple in the pipeline) because this doesn't seem like a fit for me at this point. But don't want to panic/jump ship too early.

Any thoughts here are appreciated. Thank you!

I’m a Sales Director with 17 years of experience. I currently manage two sales executives, oversee six lines of business including AI and manage our strategic alliances with multiple OEM partners.
Last year, I had an individual target of $8M and closed $10.7M around 134% of quota.
This year, I was given:
● A $10M individual target
● A $15M overall team target
So far, I’ve personally closed $8M. I also have a $7M pipeline, with roughly $3M expected to close before year-end. Based on the targets originally assigned to me, I’m performing well and remain on track.
Here’s where things went sideways.
Our CEO made several poor decisions involving existing strategic accounts, resulting in approximately $20M in lost deals. Those accounts and opportunities were under his direct oversightnot mine.
Instead of taking accountability, he has effectively moved those lost numbers onto my shoulders. He is now claiming that I have achieved only “30% of my target,” telling me to create significantly more pipeline and putting me under extreme pressure.
There have even been conversations about placing me on a PIP.
From where I’m sitting, it feels like the CEO created a misleading picture for the board and is now trying to protect his own position by making sales leadership the scapegoat. I don’t have access to the board, so I have no direct way to present the actual numbers, original targets, or account ownership.
That’s the part that bothers me most. This had been a genuinely good stint, and I wasn’t planning to leave. But after two successful years,and after exceeding quota last year and reaching 80% of my original individual target already this year I feel completely thrown under the bus.
So, after two years, I’m back on the market.

Also, before anyone says it: I used AI to clean up the grammar and structure of this post. I’m a real salesperson dealing with a very real situation,not a bot.

Company is flying me to their HQ's for a panel interview. Haven't worn a suit in years, not sure I own a tie. What is the current trend these days, suit and tie, just a suit jacket?

I sell fake grass on the in-home one call close model. I’m really good at it. It pays a lot. I fukn hate it. I have a graduate degree from one of the most highly regarded public universities in the US, I planned to be a full time academic, I’m a former business owner, I’m well travelled, insanely well read, I’m close to bilingual (close enough to be able to sell fake grass in Spanish), I’ve lived a full life with a diversity of experiences.

I have nothing in common either with the clients, other reps with whom I work, or with leadership. Yes, I’m amazing at faking commonality. But it’s exhausting.

I’m in my 50’s now and really want to get out of in-home sales. But I have no idea how. Where does a middle-aged salesperson with a background in academics begin? I enjoy selling, I’m really good at it, but I really wish I could sell something I care about to people I’d at least enjoy having lunch with.

Perhaps I complain too much. I get paid very well. But dammit I feel like there has to be an alternative where I don’t feel like I’m wasting my life. Any hints, tips, or suggestions (besides “stop bitching, and be thankful” which would be fair to say in the current economy)?

I’m 27, been at my company since I graduated college. Started as a recruiter, and promoted to sales at the year mark. This is an Allegis Subsidiary that sells Talent Services and Professional IT Services (Cloud modernization, App Modernization, advisory services, etc.) need some advice here as I think I’m reaching a breaking point but the potential growth over the next two year could be mouthwatering.

I sell into State Government and Higher Education.

2022 YTD - $96k
2023 YTD - 138k
2024 YTD - $170k
2025 YTD - 140k (missed a few metrics so my salary was cut from $90k to $80k
2026 YTD - on track for $130k

Not a bad stint by any means. Late 2025, we did some territory shifting and I inherited an account that has significant staffing and services potential. On top of that, the state agency is undergoing major modernization efforts for the next 4-6 years.

The new CIO is a CIO I supported before and we have a good relationship. I’ve built an incredible relationship with the deputy CIO that has led us to be positioned exclusively for a major piece of the modernization efforts that alone would be 2-3 years of work and 2-4 million dollars in revenue. On top of that, we will positioned to begin migrating various other workloads to the cloud.

With the positioning I believe I have and the work there, I believe I can get back to a point where I’m making close to or over $200k by the end of 2027.

Sounds great right? Well I’m fucking exhausted. Obviously a major part of the business is staffing, and staffing has become such a hamster wheel, our recruiting teams are younger and harder to work with. My manager sucks and drives me up a wall, he is very numbers focused and a company man.

I leave work stressed out, I get to work with major anxiety sometimes. I’m tired of being responsible for someone’s career and their pay, I’m tired of being in between my clients who have to be fiscally responsible, my contractors who are trying to put food on the table and my manager who just wants to see increased margins.

I have about $30k in company stock that won’t vest till 2028 and 2029.

Other leadership loves me, I like most of the people I work with and there is significant opportunity for income in front of me. But I hate all of it. Not to mention the office politics and all the bullshit that comes with it.

I’m not sure what to do. The idea of jumping scares me, because I am good at this. I would love to go down a pure services route but unfortunately staffing is a big part of what we do and our professional services wins don’t actually pay you as much as you’d think. (Sales partner sold a CRM and ServiceNow managed services to two agencies totaling 2.2million, he only sees $1,400 a month for those wins)

Happy to give more context or information. Not sure what I’m looking for here, maybe I just wanted to vent but I feel like I need to make a decision soon. I feel handcuffed.

EDIT: I should add that after the big year in 2024 I decided to buy a house, it was a bit of a rushed decision but I felt liked I needed to do something. In hindsight, not the smartest move. Mortgage is $3k. My role is definitely stable so jumping makes me nervous and the house adds to those nerves.

Hey everyone I got into tech sales at 21 and have been consistently a top performer from sdr to commercial at large and small organizations.

But since going up to mid market and now enterprise I feel like something has changed and I’m not sure what. My prospecting is great my process is okay but I seem to get ghosted more. I will feel like deals are healthy and signals behind that. But then I just lose them in a way seems out of no where and I’m really not sure what I’m doing wrong. It happens in between a next step usually. I’m not sure if it’s because I look really young and the people I’m selling to are double my age most the time and think of me as a kid. I’m sure that’s not the only problem but wanted to see anyways how I could garner more respect in a sales cycle. Thanks for any advice!

My last post got some killer responses, love that shit.

I asked the community here a question on how to land a job at a top company.

Long story short I come from a startup background 5 years plus, 8 years total in sales and I am getting tired of it. Chaos, bs quotas etc.

So I’ve been thinking, maybe a top corporation would hit better next for my goals of stability and better earning potential. I thought I’d throw out Salesforce as an example.

I didn’t think much of it, it’s just a large organization. People immediately latched onto it and said that is not where you want to work lol

So, I’m curious what companies would you target? Obviously there Open AI etc.

It seems like it’s a pure shitstorm trying to make a living slinging tech products so I’m curious where the silver linings at.

Also what’s your take on the job market? I’m 4 months between jobs and now really putting my head down and networking on LinkedIn.

For about I guess the last two years I've been sending Zoom/Google Meet invites for demo meetings. Now, let it be said that my demos don't require me to share my screen. I'm always on the lookout to increase my show-up rate and truth be told, it's always a bit embarrassing when I'm on the video meeting, and they don't show. How long am I supposed to wait. I always feel like a sucker.

Going through a lot of advice, I landed on "if a video meeting isn't required, make it a phone call." Lots of reasons prospects will no-show a video meet - tech challenged, simply don't want their face shown, feel too much obligation to buy. For me, I felt the video meet would be "if they see me and get to know me, it'll be easier to close the deal." Well, I ditched video demos a few weeks back, now just by phone, show-ups doubled.

8+ years sales experience. Very outgoing…pats back. And the market is rough. Is it me or the market?

Not new to B2B tech or enterprise sales, but new company and new product (telecom) for me.

I cannot for the life of me get a hold of anybody. I am between 20-40 dials per day plus emails. Ranging from CTO, Director of IT, and Network Admins.

I get almost no email response and if I get 1-2 phones to pick up that's a good week.

To everyone who receives prospecting emails and post's them on LinkedIn with complaints of AI slop, lack of effort etc.

Nobody cares. Get off your high horse and stop farming for impressions.

"Oooh look at me, I'm a budget holder and I have people chasing after my business". LOOL

99.9% of prospecting emails/LI messages are ignored. That's why it's a low effort, spray and pray game. Old news.

I could tell you exactly what your partner wants for Christmas and where to get it at half price and you would not respond. (Shit partner).

So spare us the fake desire for "custom, personalised outreach".

It's boring.

Will give as crisp of a download here as best I can. Writing this off the dome so forgive any grammatical errors.

I’m a director of a sales team covering multiple segments / geographies. Started the role at the new ELT that started before me 10x’d everyone’s quotas making mine let alone my people’s targets unacceptable and I achievable.

After plenty of campaigning and modeling, I was able to get them to reduce the targets rather significantly to match the true YoY growth + the true value the reps are driving monthly.

Since that has now flooded across the greater org and other sellers have had their comp shifted, I’m now involved in more ELT discussions but to the she-grin of my immediate executive leaders up the chain. It’s like they’ve boxed me out intentionally until know where I’ve been asked to be part of these sessions with other leaders / cross functional teams.

My immediate ELT started leaning in more with my people, they never did before the change in quotas, and my sellers are surprised at how warm they are to them, which gave them a bit of pause. A stark contrast compared to how they treated the IC’s across the majority of this year.

On the other side, they’ve always been cold to me even before I had to challenge the entire strategy from day 1. Hell they don’t even know my wife or kids name let alone ever expressed interested in anything about me.

Has anyone experienced this? I’ve been actively looking and vetting other roles but the entire dynamic is beyond me.

Would love any insights / perspectives leaders here have on how to navigate these types of situations.

What's your experience working for a startup? I've been in sales for over 10 years. I've typically worked for industry leaders/large corporations. I joined a startup three months ago and I'm already interviewing. In the past, as a member of the sales team, we were given everything we needed and pretty much whatever we wanted to make sure we were able to do our jobs. At this company, I feel like we're begging for the bare minimum and being shut down every time. I'm over it. Has anyone else left a startup b/c they expected you to turn water into wine with little to no resources?

Is the experience you get from an internship in sales at a tech startup (a good one) still worth it even if you don’t end up selling anything? Does it set you apart?

I’m still in uni and might be starting an internship in sales at a tech company and worried that if I don’t sell anything, there’s literally nothing to put on the resume and that if u don’t sell, it doesn’t matter to any future recruiters especially in technical industries

My plan is to break into a technical industry (where a degree, especially in STEM actually puts you ahead and gets you a role in sales others may not be able to) and sell there

On the other hand, if I do sell in the internship, that would be a big positive that would put me ahead and open up doors in sales at good positions in good industries?

Would love to get your advice

Hello everyone! I’m moving on to my 3rd interview with Stonhard as a Territory Manager . The interview has been great ! Today I learned about their compensations plans . I was under the impression it was 90k base with commission , but now I found not the 90k is the Draw from your future commission. Essentially you would sell more than your draw. Is that something that anyone is familiar with ? Or anybody currently working with Stonhard?

Per the interview on average reps are among $110k first year and about 130-150k after 2 years . Top reps are among 300k plus .

Would love any feedback or advice .

I am a Sales Manager, leading a team of 5. B2b software world in the UK.

I am fairly happy in my role and wasnt thinking of leaving proactively. I've been here 7 years and have it pretty good.

But I recently entertained an interview via a headhunter. My motovation was curiosity and to test myself - i havent interviewed in years. The scope of role is similar to now - same industry, similar size team, expectation, and company is at a similar maturity level.

Its gone well so far and I am the front runner.

Its starting to get real and I feel very conflicted about what to do. I hate wasting people's time but I truly am unsure of my next move.

I have 2 questions to the community here.

1. How could I use this as leverage for a pay rise internally? This is 1 factor - I know I am paid below market rate. This is risky and I have never tried this so id appreciate real world examples not generic chatgpt guesses!

2. What core criteria beyond "gut feeling" would you/have you assessed a potential move on?

Appreciate the advice here!

How do most people get jobs as an AE at top companies such as SF, Cisco, etc.

I’ve been an AE for 8 years. I started with insurance then moved to tech.

In tech I’ve been in for about 5 years working for various startups which has been chaotic.

The startup game is brutal unless you land at top one.

I have a bachelors, I’ve done well in this game, I’m sharp, time to try my hand in one of the large companies.

What do you recommend?

Edit: I hear you Salesforce isn't the big dawg anymore. That's besides the point, I just want a cushy remote mid market AE role at an established corporation not a scrappy startup that's beyond chaotic.

I've been consulting for a few years now and I just want to talk.

Omfg am I sick of people and companies who "built this amazing product" no one is buying because they're not selling it and also the product is shit 😂

I should be grateful because if they knew how to sell I wouldn't have any business, but it's exhausting.

I just rolled off a project with a small IT company, they built 2 stupid ass products. I did the research, set up the messaging, got cold callers and started to get some traction - but they "weren't ready to sell yet". I don't understand.

It's not my first rodeo, so I now only come in to build the sales part, test it and walk away - so they do the rest themselves SPECIFICALLY FOR THIS REASON. Imagine getting on a 1099 with a pos company like that, doing all the work at your own dime only to later discover "they're not ready to sell".

I'm just so buffled every time, yet they seek me out, they want help, they say they need clients. Clients arrive - oh we're not ready.

It's just so crazy to me

Working in adtech/martech sales, it’s very transactional, and every week I’m out for lunches, drinks, spas, gym classes with clients. It’s very campaign by campaign sales and quite fickle.

I’m thinking of moving to move tech based sales where it’s more akin to SaaS sales - however I wondered, does this sort of client ents translate to other industries?

Anyone else absolutely hate following up with prospects after you do a demo? I struggle with closing files after someone ghosts me so I have a big pipeline of ghosted prospects after pitching. Idk the line between due diligence for following up and actually giving up on the follow up.

Any advice on increasing close rate and a consistent follow up process that wouldn’t leave me with FOMO when letting go of a potential deal?

Hey everyone. Long story short, I’m currently getting pipped at my company. $130K OTE (50/50) split.

I do miss my previous employer since I was EXCELLENT at the job and still keep a lot of good connections. However, I’d have to drop my income again down to less than 60K OTE to build my book or business again. After 3-4 years, my income would return to my current level and I would be fully remote. After that, sky’s the limit.

When would a (substantial) drop in income make sense?

I have been in sales for a bit now. First started as a door knocker for a home improvement company and I loved that job, was the top performer, etc. Unfortunately they let us go. So I pivoted to inside Masonry/construction sales with a promise of becoming a territory/outside salesman in 6-8 months and, when that didn't materialize I moved back to home improvement. Was immediately closing deals, but was still in training and boss didn't like that I didn't sell things by lying, high pressure, and cussing at customers so I left that place. Now I sell sign repair and sign design.

Saying all this to say that this is the first sales job I feel I am majorly struggling at. The leads are photos of signs and it is almost purely cold outreach. Been here just over a year and the sales manager says I am doing a great job but lately it feels that it has gotten so difficult to even get someone to agree to a $600 repair.

I want to believe that it is not my fault but, honestly, I just have no idea what is going on. Just the last couple months before this one I was getting more jobs than now. This month it has been insanely difficult to book anything. I get pushback on super small orders now. Most of my "leads" are mom and pops, so maybe that is why. But it just feels brutal out there.

If you've been having success, what are you doing that I could implement. On-site visits are off-the-clock and discouraged, so I can't really do those.

Would love to connect about what’s it like, especially right after that acquisition with AutoDesk.

Reviews on RepVue seem to quite positive with a few people being concerned about quotas increasing but still doesn’t compare to just talking to someone about it in real time.

Additionally if anyone’s working in the RDU area for a company they’ve really loved, would enjoy hearing from you too!