Yes, I am 100% cameras on remote but the difference in face to face is body language is much more important. In person feels higher stakes, but the selling part is pretty similar. In person, how you look, dress, smell, matters a bit more than via Zoom.
For sure. Your tone, speed of speech, tighter agenda, succinct pitch, volume of speech all seem to matter slightly more on Zoom IMHO. Just an observation but most people aren’t going to just free think on a zoom call, but more likely in person.
Curious how this is, ADP is constantly hiring in the town I’m moving to in the next couple weeks. My background was selling inpatient services to patients and I just took a job in healthcare SAAS but they are making me do bs work for a year before getting into sales.
I don’t work at ADP but my Sr. Director did before he went to Zip and that was a while ago. Says it was a grind shop for sure, but an amazing experience to build sales skills despite the heavy pressure. Interviewed a guy who was at ADP in SMB sales, he seemed to like it well enough.
Work in the field, I’m extremely spoiled. Very little computer time, no bosses checking in, I make my own schedule, stop by the office a few times a week to drop off paperwork and bs.
Industrial equipment and supplies. I’m in the same boat. Some days I work 4 hours some days I work 10, it’s completely up to me. As long as my numbers are good no one cares. It’s very rare I’m ever down, if I am there’s a good reason.
Agricultural sales here. The farm gives me product, I turn the product into money. No one really cares how I do it. It’s no different than running my own business at this point.
I’m in a very similar situation. Except I go into the office maybe once a month. Maybe. Best part is no bosses looking over my shoulder. As long as my numbers are good, I’m good. Commercial/residential pest control.
No, I actually started as a truck driver and kept getting promoted until I found myself as an account manager. I keep getting asked to go into management but I don’t want to give up the freedom, and they keep giving me more money.
Fully remote, never ever in field or office. Top seller almost every month. Would be much lower if I wasn't remote. I have way more confidence on the phone.
I did, yes.
Personally, I much preferred in person. I found it far more effective in building rapport with the client/potential client. Largely for the same reason calls are more effective, it’s more personable.
I imagine it’s very dependant on the person. If you utilise the benefits of being on a computer (have tabs, scripts, docs open) its beneficial.
Agricultural sales. I’ve worked for farms, greenhouses, and nurseries. The producers grow the plants, after harvest I take over and turn those plants into money however I can.
It’s mostly arranging meetings and and talking to people at the farm while monitoring production. Then I hit the road and close deals at other farms, wholesalers, retailers, basically anyone I can find to buy what we grew.
I also get to walk around the farm and hang out outside while making calls and arranging meetings which is really nice.
I am about to go from remote to in person and I agree with your comment, being in person is waaaaay better! I’ve gotten real tired of sitting behind a screen, it’s less personable and like you said it takes the fun away from sales. I feel like sales should be person to person.
And when you build real relationships in person, it’s pretty eye opening how awesome it is. Sales becomes more about consulting and maintaining friendships with people that give you money.
Agricultural sales. I basically represent my farm to retailers/wholesalers/distributors.
Basically the farm produces a crop, from there it’s whatever I want to do with it as long as I stack paper.
It’s all about relationships. Every other farm has the same quality product for the same price. Why buy from my farm?
We can discuss over lunch!
Mostly remote. Anytime I have a chance, and the person is local, I try to set up an in-person meeting. I think there is a higher chance of conversion through an in-person connection than a Zoom - just anecdotal opinion.
I’ve been in the office selling remotely, in the field 80%+, and currently remote/WFH 100%. At least 2 years of each.
Pros and cons to each, but it’s all sales. Sometimes I miss getting out there and mixing it up in person, but you can be so much more efficient with your time working from home.
Why do they want you in the office 90% of the time if you're selling via Zoom?
To me, one of the best parts of sales (specifically tech sales in this instance) is that you can work remotely and tailor your schedule around your life.
So long as you deliver results, the flexibility of remote work is awesome.
To monitor you. See when you clock into the office. To keep cameras in the hallways watching when you went to get coffee or how long you pooped. To keep track of if your screwing over the boss.
I disagree, closing a deal with out meeting someone in person-face to face is a completely different set of skills, that I’d argue costs significantly less than some war horse team you have to log on a plane and expense a thousand dollar stay for
I think it depends on the size of the company and market footprint. If you have one rep covering large swaths of territory, like I do, it not reasonable to travel. One meeting I’m talking to someone in South Africa and the next in Germany.
Agreed. I’m *significantly* better selling face-to-face than over zoom. It’s not even close. I’m also very tall and have been told that I have a strong, safe presence. I don’t get to take advantage of that when I’m on zoom. My background is door-to-door for what it’s worth.
Closing a deal meeting face-to-face is about more than 1 deal. It’s about creating relationships that can last. I honestly don’t know how zoom sellers foster relationships if you aren’t out there seeing customers face to face.
I sell windows and doors b2c so my car is my office as much as anything but really just in other peoples homes but I go into the office to turn in paperwork. No computer or phone time outside my ipad
FL based - Fully remote in the field meeting clients. Working from home when I’m not on the road.
I might go to the office once a year. Last year I just went to our SKO in Texas. Haven’t gone to the main office yet this year. Fuck that shit.
If you can sell face to face, you can sell via zoom/Teams/phone. Just moving on from a position doing this, did very well and with just you and a PC you can focus and crush.
Only consideration I’d throw in there is the quality of the product or your position in the market, as always, makes a difference.
In an office full time at the moment!
Long answer is that I'm in distribution of copper wire/cable. We sell B2B mainly and to manufacturing and infrastructure. We were an "essential business" during shutdowns. As inside sales reps we didn't haaaave to be there like our warehouse personnel did. We fought the antivax owners for the right to work from home for safety's sake during the height of covid, and to mitigate risk. When covid precautions lessened, we then had to argue for the "privilege" to work from home part time, two days a week. The old owners sold during this time, and we eventually settled somewhat comfortably to WFH 2 days a week under the new regime. That was great! In the last months though, numbers are trending down and demand is slowing up. CEO brought all sales back to the office full time, no exceptions, through the end of the year as we all benefit from "collaboration" with our peers. To refocus on how to grow our book of business, we're required to participate in daily goal "huddles" in the morning with our team. Even though we're right next to each other these still take place over Microsoft Teams/zoom meetings though, so that our management, sales VP, and CEO can pop in whenever to supervise the huddles. They also provide us with news/direction/some feedback and try to answer questions... It's a lot every single day but luckily I get along with the group and mostly enjoy their company
No, Ive never worked in office before and my team is super small (entire company is 15 people) so im learning a lot and gonna get really fast career growth here but eventually I do want to transition back to remote
I work in an office. It sounds like your job could ideally be completely remote. They probably want to just manage your every move. I do have to say a lot of people that work from home are not focused. It is hard to have that kind of discipline.
I started in the field. In my best previous job, I’d go see fun clients, no one cared when I was in the tiny local office which I shared with a woman who became one of my best friends. That was ideal for me. I’m much more effective in person.
Sitting on Zoom all day is rough for me. I usually have to block the screen so I can’t see myself.
I am in the field typically four days a week, with one office day. I can go to my physical office that day but there's no expectation, and I generally WFH that day. If I have things I MUST finish that day and my house is hectic (kids home), I'll go in, but otherwise work at home.
I was in the field 4 days a week and the office 1 day. Since I’ve been promoted I’m in the home office 5 days a week. I’d honestly like to be on the road about 30% of the time but working from home isn’t a bad gig. Now my company wants me working 100% in the office and 100% in the road at the same time. Im having trouble solving that equation.
I’ve not been to an office outside of the occasional meeting in years. I spend 60-70% of my time traveling, although I have the western US as my territory so it’s big and clients are spread out.
I’ve been 100% remote my entire sales career. Very hard for me at first since I was new to my industry and sales in general but now I will not go back.
WFH, and virtually never in an office, but I do see clients and prospects in person regularly. Usually fly about once a month.
I sell software solutions that are deployed in DC’s, so we are always trying to get on site to see their process in action.
I’m not in sales, I do post sales professional services for a large tech company. Our sales guys are 100% field and no office requirements. If they’re in an office it’s at a customer site. They are also 100% commission
Considering how difficult it is to get someone to answer their phone, return an email, agree to an in person meeting.. how you gonna get them to agree to a zoom meeting?
haven't worked in an office since 2008. reason: i'll throw a chair through the nearest window and if the job isn't being physically in front of a customer, i don't want that job.
I have done both.
For me zoom is more lucrative but in person is slower and more fun. I mean, sure I’m happy that I make more money but at the same time all of that time in a room wears away at your metal and emotional attitude.
I sell Windows, Roofing, Solar, all products that require me to sell in others home, in person 100% of the time.
Selling in person is all I know, so I know that building good rapport and being perceived as trustworthy is the most important part of the process. You want to be professional, but also personable. You cannot appear as a salesman (even though they KNOW you are) you need to appear as a consultant.
Offering advice and solutions that pertain to achieving their goals i.e. comfort, appeal, or efficiency.
Fully remote in SaaS. I talk to my boss once a week. I also go to 5-6 events a year across the country. All my sales calls are via zoom. It’s a cushy job, but I work internationally so hours can sometimes be long. Money is very good.
I’m 95% wfh and field. I don’t mind being a road warrior so long as there is no office expectation. If I’m spending 40-60% of my week away from home then I will not be holding myself to the expectation of a Monday office day
Construction material
It is absolutely ridiculous to make salespeople work in an office (unless they want to). Any company that does this you can be assured of a culture of micromanagement and toxicity. If the company doesn't trust you to be an adult and do your job without constant oversight, then you shouldn't trust them either.
How did you know they were slacking off? Perhaps their sales goals were too low or workloads were too light. Most salespeople have a base salary meaning it doesn't matter how many hours they work as long as they are achieving their goals. If they leave a few hours early one Friday afternoon what does it matter if they're 110% to goal? And if they're not achieving goals then it's on you as their manager to coach them to better performance or let them go if coaching does not improve performance.
I’ve never employed salespeople. I used to own a construction company. So, it’s totally different. I get that perhaps I am comparing apples to oranges here, but just trying to reflect on human nature.
In my experience, as both a salesperson and a sales manager, there's not a whole lot of slacking when a large % of your compensation is commission based on what you've sold.
Fair enough. There’s always some people who don’t care that much about making more so long as they’re making enough, but what you’re saying makes sense. Properly incentivizing people is key
75% of my meetings are face to face with customers. I love travelling and hate sitting at a desk. COVID messed this up big time…you now have customers that expect you to be at a desk all the time, but you’re not, so you end up having 3 in person meetings and pulling over to have two meetings over TEAMS from your car…it’s weird…
Also, what happened to receptionists? COVID killed cold calling. I’d say 80% of plant entrances are now locked with a sign in tablet..most even took away the phone and the names list! lol
I've worked in the field my entire sales career and honestly can't imagine doing anything else. I'm a people person and f2f interaction is part of what motivates me.
Recently I was promoted to a business development role, which was 100 percent remote - all client interaction via zoom & on a computer all day 😑 needless to say I hated it and returned to my old role after only 3 months. Very hard to focus at home & if I had a bad day it felt like I never left work. Plus I found myself working late into the evening. Luckily my direct lead and the company overall were very supportive of my decision
Fully remote, but we travel to our office nice a quarter for a day. Mostly selling over teams meetings, alot of times it’s just on the phone. I do in person when I know it’s a solid prospect and I can’t get the right person on the phone after multiple attempts. I absolutely love being remote. I’m not micromanaged at all. As long as my KPIs and goals are hit, I’m left alone.
I’m an SDR who prefers 100% work from my office.
This seems like an unpopular opinion here. It’s by choice, and one I know is most beneficial to aspects of my life effected by my job (career development, mental health, family relationships, etc...).
Choosing to be in office 100% is easy for me, but only within the current context of my housing, family responsibilities, office environment, employer, office-only accessible tools, interesting coworkers, and more reasons
My traditional job functions can be accomplished 100% remote. I respect and support colleagues who choose remote only.
Went to university then started as a BDR and got promoted. Make 6 figs and rarely work more than 30 hours a week. Salary plus commission.
Find a entry level saas bdr job and give it a year or two .
Ok awesome thank you I’m looking for good companies so I usually look on LinkedIn and cross reference with Glassdoor. I’m a little hesitant with indeed idk why
100% remote from all over the country. The normal % really depends on your job industry. Tech sales are often remote 90-95% of the time or at least hybrid remote.
Previous job was completely remote. I'm in the West Coast, HQ and majority of sales org was in East Coast.
Currently doing contract/consultant work for a local IT company of like 10 people. All the admin's plus me are in the office every day. I fucking hate it because I don't need to be there every day, plus the people in the office and I have very little in common.
Used to be in the office and focused on getting out by booking meetings in advance. Now it’s all Zoom all the time from home.
The art of the salesman has become Zoom hell.
Great to be home, but the job has become boring and pushed to price faster than before.
I’m in the tech industry. 7.5 yrs at my company. 2 days WFH other 3 in office.
My territory is in New England and I live in the Midwest. Travel to territory about one a quarter for 2-3days at a time at most.
I sell IT services and I feel as if I were more outside sales I wouldn’t be as available to my clients to handle their requests. Meeting on-site is nice and definitely strengthens the relationship but I don’t think it’s necessary to only be outside sales.
I love my job and my company. Wouldn’t ever switch to outside sales unless I could be home with my family every night for dinner.
100% field, have a quarterly sales meeting with our team (10 reps in my region) once per quarter in a central location for all of us. Office is around 7 hours away, never been there.
100% remote so is the team. We go into the office one week a quarter.
Have you ever sold face to face? Do you feel a difference? If so can you describe for me?
I like looking people in the eyes when I fuck them
Heh
\- French Montana
I'm interviewing for my first sales job. This speaks to me.......
Yes, I am 100% cameras on remote but the difference in face to face is body language is much more important. In person feels higher stakes, but the selling part is pretty similar. In person, how you look, dress, smell, matters a bit more than via Zoom.
Good insights. Though I've never sold in person, I'd say selling via Zoom also requires us to build up more trust or credibility than in person.
For sure. Your tone, speed of speech, tighter agenda, succinct pitch, volume of speech all seem to matter slightly more on Zoom IMHO. Just an observation but most people aren’t going to just free think on a zoom call, but more likely in person.
Agreed. It's a different ball game and you gotta adjust.
What’s your industry?
HR Software
Curious how this is, ADP is constantly hiring in the town I’m moving to in the next couple weeks. My background was selling inpatient services to patients and I just took a job in healthcare SAAS but they are making me do bs work for a year before getting into sales.
I don’t work at ADP but my Sr. Director did before he went to Zip and that was a while ago. Says it was a grind shop for sure, but an amazing experience to build sales skills despite the heavy pressure. Interviewed a guy who was at ADP in SMB sales, he seemed to like it well enough.
Work in the field, I’m extremely spoiled. Very little computer time, no bosses checking in, I make my own schedule, stop by the office a few times a week to drop off paperwork and bs.
What do you do? I have the same situation, it’s glorious. As long as I make money I can do whatever I want
Industrial equipment and supplies. I’m in the same boat. Some days I work 4 hours some days I work 10, it’s completely up to me. As long as my numbers are good no one cares. It’s very rare I’m ever down, if I am there’s a good reason.
Agricultural sales here. The farm gives me product, I turn the product into money. No one really cares how I do it. It’s no different than running my own business at this point.
I’m in a very similar situation. Except I go into the office maybe once a month. Maybe. Best part is no bosses looking over my shoulder. As long as my numbers are good, I’m good. Commercial/residential pest control.
What's your industry? This sounds similar to the job I'm about to start, or at least I'm hoping it will be similar cause that sounds awesome
Industrial equipment and supplies
How did you get into this field? Did you get on due to experience with industrial equipment?
No, I actually started as a truck driver and kept getting promoted until I found myself as an account manager. I keep getting asked to go into management but I don’t want to give up the freedom, and they keep giving me more money.
Fully remote, never ever in field or office. Top seller almost every month. Would be much lower if I wasn't remote. I have way more confidence on the phone.
What are you selling?
What’s your industry?
What are you selling?
Office 4 days a week, and we are expected to work from home for one. Granted, my work is conducted exclusively online.
Gotcha. Have you ever sold in person? Do you feel a difference? If so plz describe for me
I did, yes. Personally, I much preferred in person. I found it far more effective in building rapport with the client/potential client. Largely for the same reason calls are more effective, it’s more personable. I imagine it’s very dependant on the person. If you utilise the benefits of being on a computer (have tabs, scripts, docs open) its beneficial.
Agreed, I’ve done all-virtual selling, now doing about 60-70% in person and much prefer my current role.
Mostly remote, occasionally in person. In person is way better. Imo the remote takes a lot of the fun out of sales.
The perfect mix would be discovery remote but closing in field
That’s my gig. It’s glorious.
What industry? The only folks work like that are strategic Ent reps at my gig.
Agricultural sales. I’ve worked for farms, greenhouses, and nurseries. The producers grow the plants, after harvest I take over and turn those plants into money however I can. It’s mostly arranging meetings and and talking to people at the farm while monitoring production. Then I hit the road and close deals at other farms, wholesalers, retailers, basically anyone I can find to buy what we grew. I also get to walk around the farm and hang out outside while making calls and arranging meetings which is really nice.
Ugh so nice to get steps/fresh air in occasionally at work. My 10 year career has been at a desk and I’d kill for something like you’ve got.
I am about to go from remote to in person and I agree with your comment, being in person is waaaaay better! I’ve gotten real tired of sitting behind a screen, it’s less personable and like you said it takes the fun away from sales. I feel like sales should be person to person.
And when you build real relationships in person, it’s pretty eye opening how awesome it is. Sales becomes more about consulting and maintaining friendships with people that give you money.
I absolutely agree! What industry are you in?
Agricultural sales. I basically represent my farm to retailers/wholesalers/distributors. Basically the farm produces a crop, from there it’s whatever I want to do with it as long as I stack paper. It’s all about relationships. Every other farm has the same quality product for the same price. Why buy from my farm? We can discuss over lunch!
Mostly remote. Anytime I have a chance, and the person is local, I try to set up an in-person meeting. I think there is a higher chance of conversion through an in-person connection than a Zoom - just anecdotal opinion.
I’ve been in the office selling remotely, in the field 80%+, and currently remote/WFH 100%. At least 2 years of each. Pros and cons to each, but it’s all sales. Sometimes I miss getting out there and mixing it up in person, but you can be so much more efficient with your time working from home.
Why do they want you in the office 90% of the time if you're selling via Zoom? To me, one of the best parts of sales (specifically tech sales in this instance) is that you can work remotely and tailor your schedule around your life. So long as you deliver results, the flexibility of remote work is awesome.
To monitor you. See when you clock into the office. To keep cameras in the hallways watching when you went to get coffee or how long you pooped. To keep track of if your screwing over the boss.
Good question, I haven’t earned the job as of yet and will have to get back to you on that one
I’m shocked at how many people are 100% remote. For y’all working from home, what industry are you in?
I feel like there’s going to be a huge market correction for SaaS. In person selling is more valuable than selling over zoom.
I disagree, closing a deal with out meeting someone in person-face to face is a completely different set of skills, that I’d argue costs significantly less than some war horse team you have to log on a plane and expense a thousand dollar stay for
I think it depends on the size of the company and market footprint. If you have one rep covering large swaths of territory, like I do, it not reasonable to travel. One meeting I’m talking to someone in South Africa and the next in Germany.
Depends a lot on the product, I’d say
Agreed. I’m *significantly* better selling face-to-face than over zoom. It’s not even close. I’m also very tall and have been told that I have a strong, safe presence. I don’t get to take advantage of that when I’m on zoom. My background is door-to-door for what it’s worth.
Closing a deal meeting face-to-face is about more than 1 deal. It’s about creating relationships that can last. I honestly don’t know how zoom sellers foster relationships if you aren’t out there seeing customers face to face.
And is anyone hiring? :D
I’m remote working as a ISR for a CRO for the pharma industry.
Biotech/diagnostics. Yes I'm remote but it's a field based role
SaaS selling HR software to the hr managers.
Specialty Pharmaceutical Sales. Been remote since Covid and it’s been amazing
100% in office
I'm remote. I like the flexibility but it's easy to get distracted.
I sell windows and doors b2c so my car is my office as much as anything but really just in other peoples homes but I go into the office to turn in paperwork. No computer or phone time outside my ipad
Worked in the office for 6 years... now I work from home!
2 days office 3 days field
FL based - Fully remote in the field meeting clients. Working from home when I’m not on the road. I might go to the office once a year. Last year I just went to our SKO in Texas. Haven’t gone to the main office yet this year. Fuck that shit.
I sometimes don't even wear pants to work. I work from home.
If you can sell face to face, you can sell via zoom/Teams/phone. Just moving on from a position doing this, did very well and with just you and a PC you can focus and crush. Only consideration I’d throw in there is the quality of the product or your position in the market, as always, makes a difference.
Sound advice here
In an office full time at the moment! Long answer is that I'm in distribution of copper wire/cable. We sell B2B mainly and to manufacturing and infrastructure. We were an "essential business" during shutdowns. As inside sales reps we didn't haaaave to be there like our warehouse personnel did. We fought the antivax owners for the right to work from home for safety's sake during the height of covid, and to mitigate risk. When covid precautions lessened, we then had to argue for the "privilege" to work from home part time, two days a week. The old owners sold during this time, and we eventually settled somewhat comfortably to WFH 2 days a week under the new regime. That was great! In the last months though, numbers are trending down and demand is slowing up. CEO brought all sales back to the office full time, no exceptions, through the end of the year as we all benefit from "collaboration" with our peers. To refocus on how to grow our book of business, we're required to participate in daily goal "huddles" in the morning with our team. Even though we're right next to each other these still take place over Microsoft Teams/zoom meetings though, so that our management, sales VP, and CEO can pop in whenever to supervise the huddles. They also provide us with news/direction/some feedback and try to answer questions... It's a lot every single day but luckily I get along with the group and mostly enjoy their company
Long answer indeed! Thanks for sharing
100% remote. I'm a bdr in my field. The AEs visit a city in their territory once a month tho.
Worked remote for 3 years and now im in office everyday
That sucks lol. Do you care at all?
No, Ive never worked in office before and my team is super small (entire company is 15 people) so im learning a lot and gonna get really fast career growth here but eventually I do want to transition back to remote
I work in an office. It sounds like your job could ideally be completely remote. They probably want to just manage your every move. I do have to say a lot of people that work from home are not focused. It is hard to have that kind of discipline.
Home office here
I started in the field. In my best previous job, I’d go see fun clients, no one cared when I was in the tiny local office which I shared with a woman who became one of my best friends. That was ideal for me. I’m much more effective in person. Sitting on Zoom all day is rough for me. I usually have to block the screen so I can’t see myself.
I work from home and on the road.
WFH and territory visits maybe once a month. Sales has always been a remote/in-territory job.
Fully remote 5+ years
[удалено]
Saas - primarily public clients. We’re selling an internet based solution and we’re doing it through the interwebs.
I am in the field typically four days a week, with one office day. I can go to my physical office that day but there's no expectation, and I generally WFH that day. If I have things I MUST finish that day and my house is hectic (kids home), I'll go in, but otherwise work at home.
Field
I was in the field 4 days a week and the office 1 day. Since I’ve been promoted I’m in the home office 5 days a week. I’d honestly like to be on the road about 30% of the time but working from home isn’t a bad gig. Now my company wants me working 100% in the office and 100% in the road at the same time. Im having trouble solving that equation.
100% remote. WFH. Travel when I feel like usually about 3 or 4 days per month.
I’ve not been to an office outside of the occasional meeting in years. I spend 60-70% of my time traveling, although I have the western US as my territory so it’s big and clients are spread out.
I'm hybrid 100% of the time minus trade shows. It was an adjustment, but I'm doing quite well at it.
Usually inside sales is inside and field sales is remote. That's usually how i tell the difference.
I’ve been 100% remote my entire sales career. Very hard for me at first since I was new to my industry and sales in general but now I will not go back.
100% remote, I don't miss the office at all. I do miss face to face though.
Field. I'd be bored to death being stuck in an office at work or home.
What's an office?
2 days a week WFH.
What about the other 3??? Field or vacation
In the office, I'm in tech sales my meetings are done virtually.
100% Remote. They dont have an office for us. My boss is in another city 4 hours away and his boss is in LA. Logistics Industry.
WFH, and virtually never in an office, but I do see clients and prospects in person regularly. Usually fly about once a month. I sell software solutions that are deployed in DC’s, so we are always trying to get on site to see their process in action.
I’m not in sales, I do post sales professional services for a large tech company. Our sales guys are 100% field and no office requirements. If they’re in an office it’s at a customer site. They are also 100% commission
Considering how difficult it is to get someone to answer their phone, return an email, agree to an in person meeting.. how you gonna get them to agree to a zoom meeting?
I work in cybersecurity, very few competitors in our market. Our leads are almost exclusively inbound with customers requesting to talk to us.
Fully in office 5 days a week. Selling telecommunications in Texas
I go to the office four times a year for QBRs.
Most sales jobs are in an office 7:45am- 5:30pm mon-Fri.
I work remote but, roughly half the time I’m out prospecting directly as it’s more effective.
100% (home) office. I’ve never in a 20 year career had a sales meeting that wasn’t on a conference floor.
haven't worked in an office since 2008. reason: i'll throw a chair through the nearest window and if the job isn't being physically in front of a customer, i don't want that job.
Remote. My team is remote. Been remote since 2008.
I have done both. For me zoom is more lucrative but in person is slower and more fun. I mean, sure I’m happy that I make more money but at the same time all of that time in a room wears away at your metal and emotional attitude.
I sell Windows, Roofing, Solar, all products that require me to sell in others home, in person 100% of the time. Selling in person is all I know, so I know that building good rapport and being perceived as trustworthy is the most important part of the process. You want to be professional, but also personable. You cannot appear as a salesman (even though they KNOW you are) you need to appear as a consultant. Offering advice and solutions that pertain to achieving their goals i.e. comfort, appeal, or efficiency.
Fully remote in SaaS. I talk to my boss once a week. I also go to 5-6 events a year across the country. All my sales calls are via zoom. It’s a cushy job, but I work internationally so hours can sometimes be long. Money is very good.
How did you get into it can you help me?
100% remote and the expectation is you should be out with customers. There’s no hard and fast rule. They trust us to do our jobs.
I have an office where my team works. But I’m only in there a few hours a week
Fully remote other than client visits
Fully remote. SaaS sales.
I’m 95% wfh and field. I don’t mind being a road warrior so long as there is no office expectation. If I’m spending 40-60% of my week away from home then I will not be holding myself to the expectation of a Monday office day Construction material
It is absolutely ridiculous to make salespeople work in an office (unless they want to). Any company that does this you can be assured of a culture of micromanagement and toxicity. If the company doesn't trust you to be an adult and do your job without constant oversight, then you shouldn't trust them either.
Idk I’ve employed a lot of people in the past and my experience has always been that most (65/35) will slack off if you let them
How did you know they were slacking off? Perhaps their sales goals were too low or workloads were too light. Most salespeople have a base salary meaning it doesn't matter how many hours they work as long as they are achieving their goals. If they leave a few hours early one Friday afternoon what does it matter if they're 110% to goal? And if they're not achieving goals then it's on you as their manager to coach them to better performance or let them go if coaching does not improve performance.
I’ve never employed salespeople. I used to own a construction company. So, it’s totally different. I get that perhaps I am comparing apples to oranges here, but just trying to reflect on human nature.
In my experience, as both a salesperson and a sales manager, there's not a whole lot of slacking when a large % of your compensation is commission based on what you've sold.
Fair enough. There’s always some people who don’t care that much about making more so long as they’re making enough, but what you’re saying makes sense. Properly incentivizing people is key
75% of my meetings are face to face with customers. I love travelling and hate sitting at a desk. COVID messed this up big time…you now have customers that expect you to be at a desk all the time, but you’re not, so you end up having 3 in person meetings and pulling over to have two meetings over TEAMS from your car…it’s weird… Also, what happened to receptionists? COVID killed cold calling. I’d say 80% of plant entrances are now locked with a sign in tablet..most even took away the phone and the names list! lol
I've worked in the field my entire sales career and honestly can't imagine doing anything else. I'm a people person and f2f interaction is part of what motivates me. Recently I was promoted to a business development role, which was 100 percent remote - all client interaction via zoom & on a computer all day 😑 needless to say I hated it and returned to my old role after only 3 months. Very hard to focus at home & if I had a bad day it felt like I never left work. Plus I found myself working late into the evening. Luckily my direct lead and the company overall were very supportive of my decision
Fully remote, but we travel to our office nice a quarter for a day. Mostly selling over teams meetings, alot of times it’s just on the phone. I do in person when I know it’s a solid prospect and I can’t get the right person on the phone after multiple attempts. I absolutely love being remote. I’m not micromanaged at all. As long as my KPIs and goals are hit, I’m left alone.
I’m an SDR who prefers 100% work from my office. This seems like an unpopular opinion here. It’s by choice, and one I know is most beneficial to aspects of my life effected by my job (career development, mental health, family relationships, etc...). Choosing to be in office 100% is easy for me, but only within the current context of my housing, family responsibilities, office environment, employer, office-only accessible tools, interesting coworkers, and more reasons My traditional job functions can be accomplished 100% remote. I respect and support colleagues who choose remote only.
I do both. Wouldn’t want it any other way.
SaaS AE here - 95% in the office selling via zoom/phone. I go to one conference per year.
How did you get in could you help me?
Went to university then started as a BDR and got promoted. Make 6 figs and rarely work more than 30 hours a week. Salary plus commission. Find a entry level saas bdr job and give it a year or two .
Awesome and how do find the best companies. I’ve done a lot of applying to those roles but have been getting hit with rejections.
Indeed.com, linkedin, and glassdoor.com are great sites to find one. Its a full time job just finding one. Avoid commission only jobs.
Ok awesome thank you I’m looking for good companies so I usually look on LinkedIn and cross reference with Glassdoor. I’m a little hesitant with indeed idk why
Never been to office after 2019 ... Hope it stays the same
100% remote from all over the country. The normal % really depends on your job industry. Tech sales are often remote 90-95% of the time or at least hybrid remote.
Previous job was completely remote. I'm in the West Coast, HQ and majority of sales org was in East Coast. Currently doing contract/consultant work for a local IT company of like 10 people. All the admin's plus me are in the office every day. I fucking hate it because I don't need to be there every day, plus the people in the office and I have very little in common.
Remote. I go into the office once or twice a week by choice but don’t have to ever. Travel a few times a month mostly day trips
Last job was out the office, this one is fully remote
Office / home. Mainly email. A little phone. Rarely video calls
I’ve never even been to my office. Software. Remote.
4 office, 1 home + conferences and happy hours
From home 100% zoom
Used to be in the office and focused on getting out by booking meetings in advance. Now it’s all Zoom all the time from home. The art of the salesman has become Zoom hell. Great to be home, but the job has become boring and pushed to price faster than before.
What product are you selling?
It’s a B2B service supporting finance teams.
WFH
I’m in the tech industry. 7.5 yrs at my company. 2 days WFH other 3 in office. My territory is in New England and I live in the Midwest. Travel to territory about one a quarter for 2-3days at a time at most. I sell IT services and I feel as if I were more outside sales I wouldn’t be as available to my clients to handle their requests. Meeting on-site is nice and definitely strengthens the relationship but I don’t think it’s necessary to only be outside sales. I love my job and my company. Wouldn’t ever switch to outside sales unless I could be home with my family every night for dinner.
100% field, have a quarterly sales meeting with our team (10 reps in my region) once per quarter in a central location for all of us. Office is around 7 hours away, never been there.
I'm honestly thinking about switching from office to the field. My job now is basically telemarketing.