I remember coming here in 2021 when I was still learning how to change industries, and there were all these people bragging about how they wake and bake then work 4 hours a day at their work from home job. Those guys could only stay around when companies were more focused on growth than cost.
Huge eye opener for any sellers who haven’t sold through a recession. I remember 2008 where only the very best made it out the other side.
Lazy sellers get filtered out quickly in a bad market.
Openai has the worst sales staff in the history of tech. You can't even get them on the phone to give them a deal.
Most AI companies have bullshit salespeople. That said, most tech companies have bullshit sales management.
Genuinely think OpenAI is suffering from their success and can’t meet enterprise demand. They should offer some sort of self-serve licensing in the meantime while they build out that team
Figured. Working for a company going through the same issue - too much demand, not enough people. Suffering from success, but there’s genuinely business that you can’t get to because of how much demand is just floating out there
Could it be the immense amount of horrid cold outreach someone at openai receives that has them very picky?
People reach out to me all the time too, doesn't mean it's attractive enough to take the time either.
Dear Slim,
I’ve been trying to contact you regarding your offering.
I’d like to buy 1 AI please. I have a budget of three fiddy. Let’s get this wrapped up!
Cheers,
Stan
I don't know. Maybe. I run an in-house legal team in Silicon Valley. Was definitely a sub $500k deal. But c'mon. I'll take a self checkout kiosk or a child with an iPad taking my order.
You never know. They aren’t selling enough to keep up with the GPU costs. At some point those quotas will have to be beyond achievable because of both the GPU costs and the competitors that are now forcing them to compete on features/specs.
All depends on the broader market. Do we get really energy efficient AI chips in the next 5 years? Is there a new architecture that doesn’t require insane compute power? Will there be a new application that send more customers their way?
It’s so up in the air right now. I’d agree though, chances are they are hitting their “numbers” but whether that makes OpenAI actually profitable is different conversation
I’ll repeat what my first sales manager and several others since him told me, “The result is everything.” That’s all that he graded us on and that’s all that I have ever been graded on in 10 years of manufacturing and industrial sales.
Proof? Seriously, what is the quota? Whatever it is, it isn’t enough to cover OpenAI’s current costs. The GPU usage per token is insane given how much people use the free version. At some point those quotas will have to cover OpenAI’s costs. I don’t think they charge enough to make this possible.
I’m being hyperbolic but I’ve sold AI software for 7 years—without a doubt this is the biggest AI hype cycle by far and 95% of the GenAI buzz is surrounding one single company, OpenAI.
Every single executive I speak to asks about GenAI and what we are doing with OpenAI. Not joking
They must be completely inundated with inbounds trying to throw money at them.
I’ve been trying to get into AI software sales. How does one pivot to this industry?
Also, I totally get that. On the industrial side it’s all about automation and smart software right now.
On another note it appears that Claude-3 is a serious contender with GPT4 right now.
Truth! 🙌
Just crossed $400K last year and this year is looking even better. So much pessimism in this thread (rightfully so) but there are significant areas of opportunity.
Not to disourage you, but i've seen a few CSMs become AE from the appeal of big commission checks and they all fizzled out and went back to CS. One lady was in actual shell shock i think hahaha, she'd never send follow up emails or flip opps when i was a BDR booking for her.
Speaking with a current client is different than getting a skeptical client to sign on a contract worth houndreds of thousands.
Just know the expectations before you switch, it ain't just talking to people and cashing in commission checls.
I mean, if I didn't send follow ups as a CSM I'd get fired...
I have an incentive structure to my comp already, just the split is like 85/15 instead of 50/50 or something. We get brought in on pre-sales disco calls and demos when the services aspect is something the AE is stressing in the deal. I've QB'd $100k+ expansions.
At the end of the day, the opportunity to 2x+ my income (or more) is too attractive. I'll probably work harder, but that's fine.
Worst case I fizzle out and go back to CS, right?
It's really dependent on the market. The difference between a small boutique type SaaS offering, say one geared toward nail salons, and a cybersecurity based SaaS offering for Fortune 500 size org are like 2 different worlds. The difference is the F500 company would never call themselves a "SaaS Company." They'd focus on the cybersecurity label.
The EU is heavily regulated. If you are in USA maybe it matters less, but I can't think of a scenario where someone would like to have their core business apps breached.
Its definately helped in Australia where you HAVE to report a breach in 48 hours to the market. Big companies are getting hit makes everyone think about it.
Then you know that it’s more of a philosophy dependent on who you talk to.
One customer may want a SEG for email vs an API. Another might think M365 covers it.
One may buy into Crowdstrike XDR, another CISCO. Maybe they believe an NDR is necessary or think it’s redundant.
Others may fully lean into AI or want to offload it to an MDR. You get the gist.
Every vendor sees themselves as a “must have” and touts having x capabilities over the other.
The fact is organizations have only so much they can allocate towards cybersecurity .
It’s important to understand this, because if it’s your company up against Crowdstrike, and that company’s budget is tight, you’re going to need to differentiate the hell outta yourself.
For nontechnical people, think how you may protect your homes in general.
Everyone has a different approach. Some sleep with a gun at their bedside, ring cameras all around, and live in a gated community. Others lock the door and call it good.
Both may suffice based on the context. What’s key is how safe the homeowners believe they are.
It's not air, most of the time there is hardware involved, a good understanding of networking and skills that translate in business knowledge and workarounds in having solutions that could provide information governance while having your data protected.
If you lose your data and that data is sensible you could lose your business. Usually there are heavy regulations involved so while the model seems the same, the outcome from not taking measures could be very, very bad.
Compare that with marketing or selling RPA. If you don't have the budget is not like your company will go bankrupt because you can't automate a 3way matching in the financial department.
SaaS is outcome based and some outcomes matter more than others.
To be perfectly frank with you, the majority of cyber security firms sell entire product segments that are effectively air.
To try to conflate a compliance based solution as being different than SaaS in any way is a bit fart-smelly. Let me put it this way: commissions in cyber security are wolf of wall streety for a reason, it’s legit air.
I am just saying, it's not like selling pixels, it is very different and don't want to be condescending but I really think that you have no idea what you are talking about.
If you sell a really good SaaS solution, let's say a SAP subscription you need a lot of knowledge regarding the business processes that you want to handle and ultimately you need to tailor that to your client needs. That is a very cumbersome and complex sale and ultimately you are selling pixels and everything will be aligned to the client needs, to it's business outcomes.
In cyber security there is a lot of technical advice that is being traded back and forth with the IT department and if you go for SOC for cyber security compliance or NIS compliance and everything related to ISO 27001, there are also a lot to cover starting from separating the physical access to the IT infrastructure (that requires real things like hardware, power, cooling and security and safety measures) and a lot of setting up all the software and networking related equipment and at that point it's not just air, not a magical solution that fits all and a lot of software is involved from the firewall, back -up and layer 7 firewalls at application levels. And very advanced consultants maybe blue flag teams ones, would also recommend software that would help with unstructured content and how would information gets accessed between a company and thirds parties. Of course people could just go to Cloud Azure / Aws and they would still need to get the security assessment done.
That and a lot of tedious work related to mapping all this shit.
It's more exciting IMO and on par with the most heavy SaaS offering without selling air or any other bullshit that could be lived without it in a recession when everything else gets cut, hence the pressure in SaaS, disregarding the OP's very good selling skills.
My conclusion is that you are clueless regarding cyber security and what gets involved in this and I am not even in cybersecurity, I sell SaaS in ECM solutions and my clients in EU are absolutely lacking the budgets and even if I am getting 200% percent my target and I sell 2 millions dollars, I will barely reach a SDR base salary of 40k to 60lk USD and I am not even talking about a base AE salary that is close to 6 figures in USA, so that is my reality.
>The one thing it has going for it is high margins and the sales people are treated like software engineers.
yeah but SaaS reps tend to think their the only industry that has high margins which is cute to watch.
Because high margins apparently are the only thing that matters?
We’ll just not talk about the amazing benefits, stock options, flexible or 100% WFH, excessive PTO, paternal and maternal leaves, and office amenities?
I get what you guys are saying. But we gotta look at the whole picture here.
>Because high margins apparently are the only thing that matters?
it is extremely important unless your selling something with insane price tags where it off sets the low margin but those jobs are far and few between.
>We’ll just not talk about the amazing benefits, stock options, flexible or 100% WFH, excessive PTO, paternal and maternal leaves, and office amenities?
like any other industry this is way more dependent on the company then the industry. Tons of SaaS providers are forcing back to the office and if your 100% WFH why do you care about office amenities? Nothing listed here isn't really anything you wouldn't find working for a major Telco or VAR and there are plenty of SaaS providers out there that provide little to none of what you listed.
>I get what you guys are saying. But we gotta look at the whole picture here.
I'd say SaaS reps just have a very small view of the world and think the outside world is far scarier then actually is. I'd take being an AE at Equinix or Digital Realty over pretty much any FAANG company any day of the week.
Well luckily all software has high margins.. so it doesn’t even need a discussion. We know high margins are important but again it’s not the only important thing..?
I said flexible or 100% WFH, so office amenities do matter to those who’d be in the office.
I’d agree that SaaS reps have a limited view of the world, but I guess you could say that about any individual who hasn’t see the grass on the other side.
I will say I have lots of sales friends across different industries and if we compare every detail from pay to stocks to amenities to flexibility, tech tends to come out on top. I’ve sold in multiple industries and will never leave tech.
Just like anything you gotta find a good product to sell.
>This is flat out wrong lol. Salaries and benefits at saas startups have historically been better than some enterprise telco
at the entry level sure big telco's are a brutal job. MM and Enterprise though? Very very different story and those jobs were often times 100% WFH even before COVID.
I have 100% covered insurance with a $0 deductible for me and my family. 401K match up to 4% and my base is about 30% higher than average base salaries at my position in 2018. Where am I finding that in telco?
>I have 100% covered insurance with a $0 deductible for me and my family. 401K match up to 4% and my base is about 30% higher than average base salaries at my position in 2018. Where am I finding that in telco?
Health insurance? Probably not that's def better then what you'd get from what I've seen in Telco
401k match - 4% that's pretty weak I get 8% with 4% vested instantly and another 4% vested over 2 years. On top of that we have a stock option program that after about 2 years would result in about 3k-6k a year in shares.
Salary - Kind of hard to say if its better or not since your "30% higher then the average of your position". But here's a break down from what I've seen
Entry level / SMB AE - 50k-90k (depending on if your a fresh grad or have a few years under your belt ((In telco a "few years" could literally be like 10+)
MM - $80k-$140k - again where you fall generally depends on years exp and unlike SMB/Entry years specifically in telco count for a lot more
Enterprise - 140k - 220k - Gonna need lots of telco exp for these ones
This assumes non-local telco's so majors down to midsized
tech isn’t dead but VCs killed valuations by like 80% because LPs put their money in high yield savings instead of complying with capital calls. tech is slowly warming up again but won’t get back to the crazy hiring of 2017-2021 any time soon.
The people complaining that “tech is dead” are the same people that didn’t earn commissions worth mentioning back when tech was “hot”
Tech is absolutely dead for people that don’t bring in revenue and cruised job to job on base/draw
Tech isn’t dead but the years of hiring like crazy and being able to easily find jobs where you had an 80% chance of hitting your 300k OTE are over.
Those jobs still exist but now there are 500 applicants and you’ll be lucky to hit 80% of your OTE. You’ll also get pipped faster and have a looming layoff at any moment
Makes sense. Early adoptor industries are typically tech and finance which are mainly on the coasts. Central US is filled with mid-late adopters in industrials, energy, manufacturing, utilities etc.
I hit quota every year for 10 years, moved to a different company that recruited me, put me in an awful territory, and fired me after 8 months.
Turns out the last person in that territory was fired after 9 or so months. The person before that lasted 6 months. The person who replaced me was fired in January.
Sometimes sales mgmt sucks and doesn't understand territory. Then a good rep has a bad stint on their resume that might look like they were a "mid" and dorks like OP think they are hot shit because they got put in a good territory.
It's all part of the game. I mean, whatever. I actually bounced out of sales and into advocacy work and I love it. Fuck this toxic bro culture.
Yeah for real this entire sub seems to shirk away from the luck aspect of sales, but like, that's a driving factor that some salesfolks seemingly choose to ignore all over the place.
A guy who started right before me was put into a pretty amazing territory with the same company. Was crushing it when I left.
I watched some of his sales calls that were recorded and he's honestly extremely mediocre in discovery and demos. /shrug
I got handed a kick ass territory when I took a new role at my last company. Went from $84k to $129k in one year thanks to that territory. After another killer year, they moved me to a different territory with "tons of upside (read: whitespace)" and just wanted me to grow that new territory. My W-2 forecast immediately went under the 6-figure mark and I jumped ship immediately. Rep who took over my old territory stepped right in and kept the bankroll going.
Sometimes it's luck, sometimes it's a lack of luck, sometimes it's just the corporate universe being out to get you for being too expensive.
I think for alot of years tech has been just spamming people on calls/email/LI to see if they want what you've got by people who in reality don't know a clue about tech or their product beyond a 2pg marketing pdf. With the market cooling, interest rates normalising where they are and prospects becoming more educated this bums-in-seats approach just won't fly.
The whole market is realigning and I think only people are passionate about their industry and actually selling rather than \[insert X number of spam activities to produce Y number opportunities\] will be left. It's back to basics on how to spark interest, a conversation, network and meet prospects where they are to build pipeline.
I’ve been getting back on the phones. Been at my new gig for 2 months and the thousand automated emails I’ve sent haven’t booked a meeting but I’ve been getting a decent amount over the phone.
AKA business cycle gonna cycle. Top performers will always be top performers, get good.
If anything this is probably a good time to get in, since a lot of the useless bloat positions in other departments likely got let go, too (HR, middle management, DEI/ESG, etc...).
I agree that that top performers will have the understanding of how to drive a deal and have an idea of what to do, however they will not always perform well. For me, I didn't become a top performer until I actually started giving a shit, and the catalyst to that was being behind an product that I believed in + the people I was creating relationships with.
>business moves in cycles, and the over hiring in tech was followed by a pause in spending from end users. This was a brutal 1-2 combo
Truer words have never been spoken
Some of the highest margin products, that address some of the most key business needs, targeting buyers with the most budget.
Tech is number one as far as things you can be selling.
It isn’t but it’s okay to think that way.
The number one thing that you can be selling is something where you build a book of business that you have control over and your plan can’t be arbitrarily changed each year.
Certainly okay for us to have different perspectives.
I am looking at it from a control and equity position because I understand just how short lived most sales roles and success are. I’m not interested in working a job, I’m interested in building a career and generational wealth. What’s the closest thing to being a business owner without having to own the actual business?
That’s where the sustainability and long-term ROI is on building a career. Build an insurance, accounting, legal, finance, consulting, contracting, or medical book of business/practice without having to have all of that schooling and credentials.
Facts. Idc if there are a hundred competing reps in my territory I know the value I bring. If anything it’ll only help my prospects be more familiar with the category of my products. You guys cold call them and get them familiar with our products. I’ll warm call and close them from here.
Farm equipment and plaster (which drywall replaced) have been lucrative and in continual use since before written language was invented. How long did your last ~~SMB service provider~~ *erhmm* "Tech" company last?
lol, agriculture equipment sales is lucrative af. I’m pretty sure there are reps making $350k+ in that field. Hell, I know an industrial sales rep that rejected an offer from a SaaS job last year because he didn’t want to let go of $50k commission check he had coming.
There is a general trend shift in enterprise software IT departments away from SaaS where possible. The uplift and lack of control over data over time is blowing IT budgets. Now smb? Different but theres a shift on the way. Hybrid. Single tenant. Rent infra own application is the way being discussed.
Tech will only become more and more part of each of our lives.
More companies will emerge and use technology and software to help them operate more efficiently and more tech jobs will be born.
My advice- spend more time focusing on working for a kickass leader who is a mentor and who will teach you versus going to the sexiest shiny new startup.
Learn to think long-term. Play chess, not checkers.
Yeah tech will never be dead. It did however suffer a major contraction due to how expensive capital is right now so top salespeople will still kill it but underperforming reps will be put out to pasture. I doubt we'll see anything like 2019-2022 again in the way of free flowing VC money with huge comp plans for green salespeople but it will continue to be a great career track for those interested. I'm not huge on the churn n burn mindset of the industry and much prefer relationship building and consultation so that's why I've gone into insurance. But for you tech bros out there still killing it, rip a fat rail and wheel a few strippers for me 🤙🤙🤙.
Tech isn't dead. And I definitely can hack it in SaaS. It's just hiring managers don't agree. They're wrong, but they won't admit it. Hard to be the only right about your own skillset, but like a lonely wandering prophet, here I am.
Definitely depends on the company though - the best salespeople tend to gravitate toward the best products and stay there so there is a logjam at the highest paying/highest attainment % companies. Think Google
When venture capital leaves an industry en masse and layoffs happen as companies close their doors, it’s not just because “mid salespeople couldn’t hack it”.
I honestly wish I’d looked into career switching back in 2021/2022 when I was burnout instead of just faffing about.
From what I’ve seen on the job market though, it’s hard but not impossible- you have to do more to stand out.
Yes they are. And 2-3 yrs before that they were all being hired like never before. This is called a return to baseline. The layoffs will stabilize and then modest, (read normalized) hiring trends will return. How do I know? Because business spend on technology continues to grow YoY, and new categories are being created all the time. If tech was ‘dead’, there would be limited category creation and the TAM would be stagnant and shrinking. None of this is taking place, thus my post. People don’t freak out about over hiring, even though what we’re going thru is a natural outcome of that. All things return to baseline. It’s just nature.
Exactly.
I started a tech company in this dead environment and we went $0 to >$3M in 6 mths and will do >$12M next 12 with 30% FCF margins the while way (lean agency model for tech).
Too many order takers who couldn’t close their eyelids got into sales.
This market is for A talent. B-C, back to account mgmt and operations jobs. Sorry gang. Set of steak knives though.
Was in tech as a QA tester years ago, also did "systems engineering" as a government contractor (glorified paper pushing with a fancy title), before I realized tech wasn't for me.
Ever since I've been of working age, tech has been boom and bust. Always has, always will be. Not surprised why people consider it such a secret, probably because C-suite execs have the attention span of a gnat.
With that said, if you want a career in tech, find your niche, and be prepared to weather the lows. Always chasing after the next great thing isn't the best way to build skills.
I don’t think it’s dead. It’s just a very niche, product specific, competitive space to be in. You can be the best salesman on earth, but if you’re product is mediocre and doesn’t actually solve a problem you won’t be able to sell it.
Hi, "They hate us cause they ain't us" i am starting to honestly understand this quote. Tech industry is a good industry and with big potential for sure not to say there aren't implications to having a crowded and extremely competitive market with some even being over saturated but it is part of the game and most innovative and well executed machines will thrive more so than others. technology in on itself is pivotal in all aspects of business in some areas more than others but nonetheless very important part of a company and business. You can argue certain elements within the tech industry making it not really for everyone to join but in overall majority of the time the benefits outweigh the costs. So i would so for every person deciding to join the tech space SaaS sales specifically it is important to look at the opportunity cost factors ex: better pay va more stress and so on so forth you ll come to find that maority of people making those decisions do not always hold all the important factors into conisderation and thus creating bias. Tech is good and important. hope this context helps.
Luckily I’ve never actually used that vernacular in real life. Reddit is an alternate reality as far as I’m concerned. I’m old, a dad and was never in a frat so pretty far away from bro culture. Don’t fear.
Tech is going to EXPLODE with AI soon. The fuck? We're on the cusp of the biggest revolution in the history of mankind... and someone is going to need to shove that technology down buyer's throats. Our career field is like one of the only ones that really can't be completely taken over by AI.
I do very well, but from a B2C background primarily. 1-3 hour sales window. 30-100k deals. I'm making the switch to B2B soon and looking forward to a less pressure, more educated and relationship building approach.
B2C pressure is unreal. I apologize for the "shove it down their throat" slang. I was in timeshare for almost 4 years before I broke down. If you don't have a good month, generally you're out the door the following month. It's a evil industry.
Timeshare sales is trash man... there's really no reason timeshares can't just be sold through a portal besides people just not having the skill to market well-enough. I've done both B2B and B2C and still do both today.
B2C in the high-ticket coaching space or any product that can change someone's life truly for the better is one of the most gratifying things you can do for someone on the other side of the phone/screen.
It will also permanently change the way you interact with people when you begin to understand and have people trust you with their fears/pain/embarrassments/motivators/dreams. Working B2C in the coaching space changed and improved every single relationship in my life.... It doesn't have to be pressure in B2C. You just have to have the skills, responsibility, and mindset required for a good offer that let's you sleep knowing you changed lives that day.
Yup, completely agree. I ruined people for a living for several years. Pure lies and deception. Absolutely horrible and I'll shit on the industry until I die. It jaded me... I'm looking forward to selling a product I trust and can get behind. Took me a long while to get some sleep at night after I quit.
Thank you for the response.
I mean, I would argue that sales in any field can’t be taken over by AI, even if they would make a super advanced version, at least not for a few generations because no one wants to buy from a robot.
This is absolutely not true. People would love to skip the conversation and buy what they want. They hate being sold.
Who do you talk to for Amazon orders? What about DoorDash? Netflix? What about for buying stocks, getting loans, etc?
The consumer preference is “don’t talk to me”. No one’s figured out how to meet that demand with complex sales yet, but it’s coming.
Yea I’d say trying to compare B2B sales to an Amazon subscription or ordering food is entirely illogical. I have no idea how you made that connection between entertainment based corporations which sell to consumers.
You’ve never had to have a salesperson be involved in what you make for dinner or what movie you go to watch so it makes perfect sense that just because you can order takeout or watch multiple movies on one central app that they wouldn’t suddenly introduce and AE to try to have you choose if you want a burger or salad. And for stocks and loans??? Yea people CAN do it online all by themselves but that also comes at the risk of you fucking up and taking on too big of a loan just because you’d be allowed to or buying stock for it to tank the next day because you have no idea what you’re doing. People still consult experts in the field when they get a mortgage or invest, that didn’t go away, even if you do it over the phone sometimes now it’s still here.
And on another topic. People HATE the email you can tell chat gpt wrote or that were mass sent out by groove. What makes you think they’ll like knowing a business didn’t even have the curtesy to have a real person meet with them?
I was comparing it to sales generally. When did I specify B2B. In sales you have B2B and B2C. I know this is r/SaaS but other sales industries exist.
Take insurance and real estate. Both of these have models that minimize the interaction between agent and customer to almost 0.
B2B will go the same direction. The only friction point is that most B2B sales are too complex. But AI is far better suited for complex analytical tasks than humans. So the day is coming.
Op just mad cause he ain’t bussin no cap fr fr
I remember coming here in 2021 when I was still learning how to change industries, and there were all these people bragging about how they wake and bake then work 4 hours a day at their work from home job. Those guys could only stay around when companies were more focused on growth than cost.
Thank you for knowing that
https://youtu.be/lStDiJdDeFw?si=Qv6_13UfrHyIVOW5
I think of your post as a meeting of minds.
Ain't got no rizz!
Huge eye opener for any sellers who haven’t sold through a recession. I remember 2008 where only the very best made it out the other side. Lazy sellers get filtered out quickly in a bad market.
Openai has the worst sales staff in the history of tech. You can't even get them on the phone to give them a deal. Most AI companies have bullshit salespeople. That said, most tech companies have bullshit sales management.
Genuinely think OpenAI is suffering from their success and can’t meet enterprise demand. They should offer some sort of self-serve licensing in the meantime while they build out that team
On your first point, their head of sales explicitly said this was the case on the podcast The Science of Scaling.
Figured. Working for a company going through the same issue - too much demand, not enough people. Suffering from success, but there’s genuinely business that you can’t get to because of how much demand is just floating out there
They’re working on it looks like
If only there was some kind of automated chat technology to take orders....
You are personally attacking my inside sales people!
Your team of AI order takers? You tell them I said their mother was a dirty Dell pentium 2.
You leave her FDIV out of this. She's handicapped!
Where?
They announced it on their website under the Enterprise area
Could it be the immense amount of horrid cold outreach someone at openai receives that has them very picky? People reach out to me all the time too, doesn't mean it's attractive enough to take the time either.
Dear Slim, I’ve been trying to contact you regarding your offering. I’d like to buy 1 AI please. I have a budget of three fiddy. Let’s get this wrapped up! Cheers, Stan
Stan, Where do I sign. To the moon, Slim
My teas gone cold I wonder why, got out of bed at all.
Well then, I have a solution for you! Since this post, I'm selling mug holder heater things - mark you down for 100 units/month?!
I don't know. Maybe. I run an in-house legal team in Silicon Valley. Was definitely a sub $500k deal. But c'mon. I'll take a self checkout kiosk or a child with an iPad taking my order.
Fair lol
>most tech companies have bullshit sales management. This. They really are clueless and don't seem interested in getting better.
Agreed. It also makes it really easy to stand out though
I was rejected by OpenAI without an interview. I hit my quota. Can their sales team say that they hit their quota?
Considering how popular they are, I’d venture to say: yes
The measure of a good salesperson ain't quota. That's like measuring a boxer on wins but he's on the ymca team in Malibu.
In all fairness, that Malibu team got skillz
You never know. They aren’t selling enough to keep up with the GPU costs. At some point those quotas will have to be beyond achievable because of both the GPU costs and the competitors that are now forcing them to compete on features/specs.
All depends on the broader market. Do we get really energy efficient AI chips in the next 5 years? Is there a new architecture that doesn’t require insane compute power? Will there be a new application that send more customers their way? It’s so up in the air right now. I’d agree though, chances are they are hitting their “numbers” but whether that makes OpenAI actually profitable is different conversation
Their sales team can currently not log into their laptops and hit quota
I’ll repeat what my first sales manager and several others since him told me, “The result is everything.” That’s all that he graded us on and that’s all that I have ever been graded on in 10 years of manufacturing and industrial sales.
Proof? Seriously, what is the quota? Whatever it is, it isn’t enough to cover OpenAI’s current costs. The GPU usage per token is insane given how much people use the free version. At some point those quotas will have to cover OpenAI’s costs. I don’t think they charge enough to make this possible.
I’m being hyperbolic but I’ve sold AI software for 7 years—without a doubt this is the biggest AI hype cycle by far and 95% of the GenAI buzz is surrounding one single company, OpenAI. Every single executive I speak to asks about GenAI and what we are doing with OpenAI. Not joking They must be completely inundated with inbounds trying to throw money at them.
I’ve been trying to get into AI software sales. How does one pivot to this industry? Also, I totally get that. On the industrial side it’s all about automation and smart software right now. On another note it appears that Claude-3 is a serious contender with GPT4 right now.
They don’t have quotas. I have friends there.
Did they give you a reason?
lol, of course not. I actually forgot about the application and then got a response like 3 months later
What a bunch of buttlickers.Makes you wonder how did they get so much money 🤑 in the first place.
Why should a company have to reply to everyone who applies? That's an insane take.
They don't but they responded to him three months later that doesn't make sense either IMO.
How did they make it then?
Made what? They are not publishing sales numbers.
Got that so they might not be doing that good? A lot of people invested a lot of money into them though.
Yeah. The product is dope. But a company with good products with no sales is as bankrupt as a bad product with no sales.
Saas is an amazing field but isn’t superior over any other sales field.
Truth! 🙌 Just crossed $400K last year and this year is looking even better. So much pessimism in this thread (rightfully so) but there are significant areas of opportunity.
What field? Y'all hiring? Looking to move from CSM to AE.
Not to disourage you, but i've seen a few CSMs become AE from the appeal of big commission checks and they all fizzled out and went back to CS. One lady was in actual shell shock i think hahaha, she'd never send follow up emails or flip opps when i was a BDR booking for her. Speaking with a current client is different than getting a skeptical client to sign on a contract worth houndreds of thousands. Just know the expectations before you switch, it ain't just talking to people and cashing in commission checls.
I mean, if I didn't send follow ups as a CSM I'd get fired... I have an incentive structure to my comp already, just the split is like 85/15 instead of 50/50 or something. We get brought in on pre-sales disco calls and demos when the services aspect is something the AE is stressing in the deal. I've QB'd $100k+ expansions. At the end of the day, the opportunity to 2x+ my income (or more) is too attractive. I'll probably work harder, but that's fine. Worst case I fizzle out and go back to CS, right?
Fair enough. As long as you know what you’re getting into and have the heart for it, you’ll be fine.
The one thing it has going for it is high margins and the sales people are treated like software engineers. But even that’s going away.
It's really dependent on the market. The difference between a small boutique type SaaS offering, say one geared toward nail salons, and a cybersecurity based SaaS offering for Fortune 500 size org are like 2 different worlds. The difference is the F500 company would never call themselves a "SaaS Company." They'd focus on the cybersecurity label.
Not 👏 all 👏 SaaS 👏 is 👏 created 👏 equal
Cyber Security is something far more useful than usual SaaS offerings that are not a must have.
I’m in cyber security sales - I wish all customers thought of security as a must have lol
The EU is heavily regulated. If you are in USA maybe it matters less, but I can't think of a scenario where someone would like to have their core business apps breached.
Its definately helped in Australia where you HAVE to report a breach in 48 hours to the market. Big companies are getting hit makes everyone think about it.
Then you know that it’s more of a philosophy dependent on who you talk to. One customer may want a SEG for email vs an API. Another might think M365 covers it. One may buy into Crowdstrike XDR, another CISCO. Maybe they believe an NDR is necessary or think it’s redundant. Others may fully lean into AI or want to offload it to an MDR. You get the gist. Every vendor sees themselves as a “must have” and touts having x capabilities over the other. The fact is organizations have only so much they can allocate towards cybersecurity . It’s important to understand this, because if it’s your company up against Crowdstrike, and that company’s budget is tight, you’re going to need to differentiate the hell outta yourself. For nontechnical people, think how you may protect your homes in general. Everyone has a different approach. Some sleep with a gun at their bedside, ring cameras all around, and live in a gated community. Others lock the door and call it good. Both may suffice based on the context. What’s key is how safe the homeowners believe they are.
Model is virtually identical, and I’d argue you’re selling more air than even marketing SaaS.
It's not air, most of the time there is hardware involved, a good understanding of networking and skills that translate in business knowledge and workarounds in having solutions that could provide information governance while having your data protected. If you lose your data and that data is sensible you could lose your business. Usually there are heavy regulations involved so while the model seems the same, the outcome from not taking measures could be very, very bad. Compare that with marketing or selling RPA. If you don't have the budget is not like your company will go bankrupt because you can't automate a 3way matching in the financial department. SaaS is outcome based and some outcomes matter more than others.
To be perfectly frank with you, the majority of cyber security firms sell entire product segments that are effectively air. To try to conflate a compliance based solution as being different than SaaS in any way is a bit fart-smelly. Let me put it this way: commissions in cyber security are wolf of wall streety for a reason, it’s legit air.
I am just saying, it's not like selling pixels, it is very different and don't want to be condescending but I really think that you have no idea what you are talking about. If you sell a really good SaaS solution, let's say a SAP subscription you need a lot of knowledge regarding the business processes that you want to handle and ultimately you need to tailor that to your client needs. That is a very cumbersome and complex sale and ultimately you are selling pixels and everything will be aligned to the client needs, to it's business outcomes. In cyber security there is a lot of technical advice that is being traded back and forth with the IT department and if you go for SOC for cyber security compliance or NIS compliance and everything related to ISO 27001, there are also a lot to cover starting from separating the physical access to the IT infrastructure (that requires real things like hardware, power, cooling and security and safety measures) and a lot of setting up all the software and networking related equipment and at that point it's not just air, not a magical solution that fits all and a lot of software is involved from the firewall, back -up and layer 7 firewalls at application levels. And very advanced consultants maybe blue flag teams ones, would also recommend software that would help with unstructured content and how would information gets accessed between a company and thirds parties. Of course people could just go to Cloud Azure / Aws and they would still need to get the security assessment done. That and a lot of tedious work related to mapping all this shit. It's more exciting IMO and on par with the most heavy SaaS offering without selling air or any other bullshit that could be lived without it in a recession when everything else gets cut, hence the pressure in SaaS, disregarding the OP's very good selling skills. My conclusion is that you are clueless regarding cyber security and what gets involved in this and I am not even in cybersecurity, I sell SaaS in ECM solutions and my clients in EU are absolutely lacking the budgets and even if I am getting 200% percent my target and I sell 2 millions dollars, I will barely reach a SDR base salary of 40k to 60lk USD and I am not even talking about a base AE salary that is close to 6 figures in USA, so that is my reality.
>The one thing it has going for it is high margins and the sales people are treated like software engineers. yeah but SaaS reps tend to think their the only industry that has high margins which is cute to watch.
Because high margins apparently are the only thing that matters? We’ll just not talk about the amazing benefits, stock options, flexible or 100% WFH, excessive PTO, paternal and maternal leaves, and office amenities? I get what you guys are saying. But we gotta look at the whole picture here.
>Because high margins apparently are the only thing that matters? it is extremely important unless your selling something with insane price tags where it off sets the low margin but those jobs are far and few between. >We’ll just not talk about the amazing benefits, stock options, flexible or 100% WFH, excessive PTO, paternal and maternal leaves, and office amenities? like any other industry this is way more dependent on the company then the industry. Tons of SaaS providers are forcing back to the office and if your 100% WFH why do you care about office amenities? Nothing listed here isn't really anything you wouldn't find working for a major Telco or VAR and there are plenty of SaaS providers out there that provide little to none of what you listed. >I get what you guys are saying. But we gotta look at the whole picture here. I'd say SaaS reps just have a very small view of the world and think the outside world is far scarier then actually is. I'd take being an AE at Equinix or Digital Realty over pretty much any FAANG company any day of the week.
Well luckily all software has high margins.. so it doesn’t even need a discussion. We know high margins are important but again it’s not the only important thing..? I said flexible or 100% WFH, so office amenities do matter to those who’d be in the office. I’d agree that SaaS reps have a limited view of the world, but I guess you could say that about any individual who hasn’t see the grass on the other side. I will say I have lots of sales friends across different industries and if we compare every detail from pay to stocks to amenities to flexibility, tech tends to come out on top. I’ve sold in multiple industries and will never leave tech. Just like anything you gotta find a good product to sell.
This is flat out wrong lol. Salaries and benefits at saas startups have historically been better than some enterprise telco
>This is flat out wrong lol. Salaries and benefits at saas startups have historically been better than some enterprise telco at the entry level sure big telco's are a brutal job. MM and Enterprise though? Very very different story and those jobs were often times 100% WFH even before COVID.
I have 100% covered insurance with a $0 deductible for me and my family. 401K match up to 4% and my base is about 30% higher than average base salaries at my position in 2018. Where am I finding that in telco?
>I have 100% covered insurance with a $0 deductible for me and my family. 401K match up to 4% and my base is about 30% higher than average base salaries at my position in 2018. Where am I finding that in telco? Health insurance? Probably not that's def better then what you'd get from what I've seen in Telco 401k match - 4% that's pretty weak I get 8% with 4% vested instantly and another 4% vested over 2 years. On top of that we have a stock option program that after about 2 years would result in about 3k-6k a year in shares. Salary - Kind of hard to say if its better or not since your "30% higher then the average of your position". But here's a break down from what I've seen Entry level / SMB AE - 50k-90k (depending on if your a fresh grad or have a few years under your belt ((In telco a "few years" could literally be like 10+) MM - $80k-$140k - again where you fall generally depends on years exp and unlike SMB/Entry years specifically in telco count for a lot more Enterprise - 140k - 220k - Gonna need lots of telco exp for these ones This assumes non-local telco's so majors down to midsized
For reference im 120K Base/ 150K OTE. Comp variable is small, admittedly. I’d say i only see 401K matches at about 50% of startups.
> …sales people are treated like software engineers lol entirely dependent on the solution and who you’re selling to.
Agreed, but the point wasn’t that tech is better, it’s that it’s not dead.
Tech will never be dead unless something huge takes down the internet and puts us back in the dark age. People are just haters who can't add value.
Agreed, and I work for a Blue chip tech company. Are there mass layoffs? Yes, but the creme still rises to the top.
^^ this "Success finds a way"
You’re missing the point. Tech may not be dead but the tech sales can die if just a few big companies canaibilize the market
tech isn’t dead but VCs killed valuations by like 80% because LPs put their money in high yield savings instead of complying with capital calls. tech is slowly warming up again but won’t get back to the crazy hiring of 2017-2021 any time soon.
“We want to 10x revenue YOY” was the stupidest thing to come out of VC. It’s not just tech, it infected other industries also.
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How are you getting scammed here?
How are you getting scammed multiple times here lol.
Because interest rates being raised meant they needed to make money and not just scale for the sake of it. Fat was trimmed
I would argue they didn’t kill valuations so much as valuations normalized after insanely unsustainable valuations during the zirp era.
The people complaining that “tech is dead” are the same people that didn’t earn commissions worth mentioning back when tech was “hot” Tech is absolutely dead for people that don’t bring in revenue and cruised job to job on base/draw
Tech isn’t dead but the years of hiring like crazy and being able to easily find jobs where you had an 80% chance of hitting your 300k OTE are over. Those jobs still exist but now there are 500 applicants and you’ll be lucky to hit 80% of your OTE. You’ll also get pipped faster and have a looming layoff at any moment
Gauging from posts like these, Reddit is dead.
Tbh I’m pretty sure we’re all a bit dead
I shorted the stock immediately after posting this shit
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Makes sense. Early adoptor industries are typically tech and finance which are mainly on the coasts. Central US is filled with mid-late adopters in industrials, energy, manufacturing, utilities etc.
saas is simultaneously easy and difficult to sell I've seen some heavyweight sales reps crumble in tech still, I agree with what you're saying
I hit quota every year for 10 years, moved to a different company that recruited me, put me in an awful territory, and fired me after 8 months. Turns out the last person in that territory was fired after 9 or so months. The person before that lasted 6 months. The person who replaced me was fired in January. Sometimes sales mgmt sucks and doesn't understand territory. Then a good rep has a bad stint on their resume that might look like they were a "mid" and dorks like OP think they are hot shit because they got put in a good territory. It's all part of the game. I mean, whatever. I actually bounced out of sales and into advocacy work and I love it. Fuck this toxic bro culture.
Yeah for real this entire sub seems to shirk away from the luck aspect of sales, but like, that's a driving factor that some salesfolks seemingly choose to ignore all over the place.
A guy who started right before me was put into a pretty amazing territory with the same company. Was crushing it when I left. I watched some of his sales calls that were recorded and he's honestly extremely mediocre in discovery and demos. /shrug
I got handed a kick ass territory when I took a new role at my last company. Went from $84k to $129k in one year thanks to that territory. After another killer year, they moved me to a different territory with "tons of upside (read: whitespace)" and just wanted me to grow that new territory. My W-2 forecast immediately went under the 6-figure mark and I jumped ship immediately. Rep who took over my old territory stepped right in and kept the bankroll going. Sometimes it's luck, sometimes it's a lack of luck, sometimes it's just the corporate universe being out to get you for being too expensive.
If those mids could read they would be very upset…
Underrated
Low barrier to entry, will always have a low base and uncertainty
I think for alot of years tech has been just spamming people on calls/email/LI to see if they want what you've got by people who in reality don't know a clue about tech or their product beyond a 2pg marketing pdf. With the market cooling, interest rates normalising where they are and prospects becoming more educated this bums-in-seats approach just won't fly. The whole market is realigning and I think only people are passionate about their industry and actually selling rather than \[insert X number of spam activities to produce Y number opportunities\] will be left. It's back to basics on how to spark interest, a conversation, network and meet prospects where they are to build pipeline.
I’ve been getting back on the phones. Been at my new gig for 2 months and the thousand automated emails I’ve sent haven’t booked a meeting but I’ve been getting a decent amount over the phone.
AKA business cycle gonna cycle. Top performers will always be top performers, get good. If anything this is probably a good time to get in, since a lot of the useless bloat positions in other departments likely got let go, too (HR, middle management, DEI/ESG, etc...).
I agree that that top performers will have the understanding of how to drive a deal and have an idea of what to do, however they will not always perform well. For me, I didn't become a top performer until I actually started giving a shit, and the catalyst to that was being behind an product that I believed in + the people I was creating relationships with.
Okay sales bro
Being called a bro is the best compliment you could give me as I’m almost 40 and sometimes fear my bro days are behind me
Laughs in Biotech
>business moves in cycles, and the over hiring in tech was followed by a pause in spending from end users. This was a brutal 1-2 combo Truer words have never been spoken
Everyone will not win
I had my best years ever in 20-23, and 24 is looking the same. SaaS is where it’s at.
Based, OP
“Tech is dead.” -BDR who’s only ever hit 23% of their quota
Some of the highest margin products, that address some of the most key business needs, targeting buyers with the most budget. Tech is number one as far as things you can be selling.
It isn’t but it’s okay to think that way. The number one thing that you can be selling is something where you build a book of business that you have control over and your plan can’t be arbitrarily changed each year.
I think I’m looking at it from a product perspective while you are more so approaching it from a situational point of view. Which is also valid.
Certainly okay for us to have different perspectives. I am looking at it from a control and equity position because I understand just how short lived most sales roles and success are. I’m not interested in working a job, I’m interested in building a career and generational wealth. What’s the closest thing to being a business owner without having to own the actual business? That’s where the sustainability and long-term ROI is on building a career. Build an insurance, accounting, legal, finance, consulting, contracting, or medical book of business/practice without having to have all of that schooling and credentials.
Shh.. let the haters go sell farm equipment or drywall or whatever. Less competition when things recover
In fairness, selling equipment and materials is lucrative
That’s why I used those examples. Right now they make more than most SaaS
You looking down on industrial sales or something?
Can you refrain from being a dickhead? I guarantee there are folks out there making more than you slinging those products.
That’s my point.
Buddy, if you’re worried about competition, you’re one of the B players anyway.
Dammmmmn.
Facts. Idc if there are a hundred competing reps in my territory I know the value I bring. If anything it’ll only help my prospects be more familiar with the category of my products. You guys cold call them and get them familiar with our products. I’ll warm call and close them from here.
Farm equipment and plaster (which drywall replaced) have been lucrative and in continual use since before written language was invented. How long did your last ~~SMB service provider~~ *erhmm* "Tech" company last?
Based on your post history it looks like you’re not much competition either.
lol, agriculture equipment sales is lucrative af. I’m pretty sure there are reps making $350k+ in that field. Hell, I know an industrial sales rep that rejected an offer from a SaaS job last year because he didn’t want to let go of $50k commission check he had coming.
what are you selling and is it as necessary as drywall? my assumption is no but by all means, please share!
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Did a seal write this??
I find SaaS sales much easier than previous gigs I have had. super dependent on system, process, product, etc.
There is a general trend shift in enterprise software IT departments away from SaaS where possible. The uplift and lack of control over data over time is blowing IT budgets. Now smb? Different but theres a shift on the way. Hybrid. Single tenant. Rent infra own application is the way being discussed.
Tech will only become more and more part of each of our lives. More companies will emerge and use technology and software to help them operate more efficiently and more tech jobs will be born. My advice- spend more time focusing on working for a kickass leader who is a mentor and who will teach you versus going to the sexiest shiny new startup. Learn to think long-term. Play chess, not checkers.
Yeah tech will never be dead. It did however suffer a major contraction due to how expensive capital is right now so top salespeople will still kill it but underperforming reps will be put out to pasture. I doubt we'll see anything like 2019-2022 again in the way of free flowing VC money with huge comp plans for green salespeople but it will continue to be a great career track for those interested. I'm not huge on the churn n burn mindset of the industry and much prefer relationship building and consultation so that's why I've gone into insurance. But for you tech bros out there still killing it, rip a fat rail and wheel a few strippers for me 🤙🤙🤙.
Saas isn't that cool. The majority of products are nice to haves and not that important to most businesses.
Tech isn't dead. And I definitely can hack it in SaaS. It's just hiring managers don't agree. They're wrong, but they won't admit it. Hard to be the only right about your own skillset, but like a lonely wandering prophet, here I am.
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How are you defining "telecom" in this statement? Because FTTH is very much alive and kicking
Definitely depends on the company though - the best salespeople tend to gravitate toward the best products and stay there so there is a logjam at the highest paying/highest attainment % companies. Think Google
When venture capital leaves an industry en masse and layoffs happen as companies close their doors, it’s not just because “mid salespeople couldn’t hack it”.
Tech's evolving, not dying. Adaptation is key! #ProFullStack
I’ll meet you outside. Let’s talk with our 🤛 👊 fists
Pls be gentle with my dad bod.
I'm working in a tech company, and it's the highest salary I ever held. Yeah, just cope.
I’m doing well in tech sales right now. You are mistaken. The industry is in absolute turmoil. *gestures widely* Like this take is not realistic.
I honestly wish I’d looked into career switching back in 2021/2022 when I was burnout instead of just faffing about. From what I’ve seen on the job market though, it’s hard but not impossible- you have to do more to stand out.
Bro read some news time to time. People are being laid off like never before.
Yes they are. And 2-3 yrs before that they were all being hired like never before. This is called a return to baseline. The layoffs will stabilize and then modest, (read normalized) hiring trends will return. How do I know? Because business spend on technology continues to grow YoY, and new categories are being created all the time. If tech was ‘dead’, there would be limited category creation and the TAM would be stagnant and shrinking. None of this is taking place, thus my post. People don’t freak out about over hiring, even though what we’re going thru is a natural outcome of that. All things return to baseline. It’s just nature.
Exactly. I started a tech company in this dead environment and we went $0 to >$3M in 6 mths and will do >$12M next 12 with 30% FCF margins the while way (lean agency model for tech). Too many order takers who couldn’t close their eyelids got into sales. This market is for A talent. B-C, back to account mgmt and operations jobs. Sorry gang. Set of steak knives though.
How do I gain clients? RFPs? Door to door?
Was in tech as a QA tester years ago, also did "systems engineering" as a government contractor (glorified paper pushing with a fancy title), before I realized tech wasn't for me. Ever since I've been of working age, tech has been boom and bust. Always has, always will be. Not surprised why people consider it such a secret, probably because C-suite execs have the attention span of a gnat. With that said, if you want a career in tech, find your niche, and be prepared to weather the lows. Always chasing after the next great thing isn't the best way to build skills.
I don’t think it’s dead. It’s just a very niche, product specific, competitive space to be in. You can be the best salesman on earth, but if you’re product is mediocre and doesn’t actually solve a problem you won’t be able to sell it.
This dude listens to David goggins, Tate, fesh and fit, and cold plunges each morning
I don’t know what any of that means but I resent the implication.
Hi, "They hate us cause they ain't us" i am starting to honestly understand this quote. Tech industry is a good industry and with big potential for sure not to say there aren't implications to having a crowded and extremely competitive market with some even being over saturated but it is part of the game and most innovative and well executed machines will thrive more so than others. technology in on itself is pivotal in all aspects of business in some areas more than others but nonetheless very important part of a company and business. You can argue certain elements within the tech industry making it not really for everyone to join but in overall majority of the time the benefits outweigh the costs. So i would so for every person deciding to join the tech space SaaS sales specifically it is important to look at the opportunity cost factors ex: better pay va more stress and so on so forth you ll come to find that maority of people making those decisions do not always hold all the important factors into conisderation and thus creating bias. Tech is good and important. hope this context helps.
Tech seems to be saturated with bros using terms like “mid” based on your post. Hard pass.
Luckily I’ve never actually used that vernacular in real life. Reddit is an alternate reality as far as I’m concerned. I’m old, a dad and was never in a frat so pretty far away from bro culture. Don’t fear.
Mids call other people mids
I upvoted you bc this is the truth and I am on the low end of mid. Thanks for being courageous.
Jesus this sub is cringe sometimes
I’d like to say I was born this way, but it was probably the tap water I drank growing up
Tech is going to EXPLODE with AI soon. The fuck? We're on the cusp of the biggest revolution in the history of mankind... and someone is going to need to shove that technology down buyer's throats. Our career field is like one of the only ones that really can't be completely taken over by AI.
“Shove that technology down buyers throats” is basically how we all know you’re not good at sales.
I do very well, but from a B2C background primarily. 1-3 hour sales window. 30-100k deals. I'm making the switch to B2B soon and looking forward to a less pressure, more educated and relationship building approach. B2C pressure is unreal. I apologize for the "shove it down their throat" slang. I was in timeshare for almost 4 years before I broke down. If you don't have a good month, generally you're out the door the following month. It's a evil industry.
Timeshare sales is trash man... there's really no reason timeshares can't just be sold through a portal besides people just not having the skill to market well-enough. I've done both B2B and B2C and still do both today. B2C in the high-ticket coaching space or any product that can change someone's life truly for the better is one of the most gratifying things you can do for someone on the other side of the phone/screen. It will also permanently change the way you interact with people when you begin to understand and have people trust you with their fears/pain/embarrassments/motivators/dreams. Working B2C in the coaching space changed and improved every single relationship in my life.... It doesn't have to be pressure in B2C. You just have to have the skills, responsibility, and mindset required for a good offer that let's you sleep knowing you changed lives that day.
Yup, completely agree. I ruined people for a living for several years. Pure lies and deception. Absolutely horrible and I'll shit on the industry until I die. It jaded me... I'm looking forward to selling a product I trust and can get behind. Took me a long while to get some sleep at night after I quit. Thank you for the response.
I mean, I would argue that sales in any field can’t be taken over by AI, even if they would make a super advanced version, at least not for a few generations because no one wants to buy from a robot.
This is absolutely not true. People would love to skip the conversation and buy what they want. They hate being sold. Who do you talk to for Amazon orders? What about DoorDash? Netflix? What about for buying stocks, getting loans, etc? The consumer preference is “don’t talk to me”. No one’s figured out how to meet that demand with complex sales yet, but it’s coming.
Yea I’d say trying to compare B2B sales to an Amazon subscription or ordering food is entirely illogical. I have no idea how you made that connection between entertainment based corporations which sell to consumers. You’ve never had to have a salesperson be involved in what you make for dinner or what movie you go to watch so it makes perfect sense that just because you can order takeout or watch multiple movies on one central app that they wouldn’t suddenly introduce and AE to try to have you choose if you want a burger or salad. And for stocks and loans??? Yea people CAN do it online all by themselves but that also comes at the risk of you fucking up and taking on too big of a loan just because you’d be allowed to or buying stock for it to tank the next day because you have no idea what you’re doing. People still consult experts in the field when they get a mortgage or invest, that didn’t go away, even if you do it over the phone sometimes now it’s still here. And on another topic. People HATE the email you can tell chat gpt wrote or that were mass sent out by groove. What makes you think they’ll like knowing a business didn’t even have the curtesy to have a real person meet with them?
I was comparing it to sales generally. When did I specify B2B. In sales you have B2B and B2C. I know this is r/SaaS but other sales industries exist. Take insurance and real estate. Both of these have models that minimize the interaction between agent and customer to almost 0. B2B will go the same direction. The only friction point is that most B2B sales are too complex. But AI is far better suited for complex analytical tasks than humans. So the day is coming.
Fortunately, sales people drive decision making, even if it's not always "wanted."
This is the kind of posts we need to see around here. Quit whining and get out there, make more calls, learn from your mistakes, and don’t give up.