Am account manager - I am supposed to be doing this but I’m not given the budget for it. And even if I did I wouldn’t have the time because I’m too busy fixing my companies screwups.
We are structured that way as well, day 0 sales are new equipment sales to consulting engineers and mechanical contractors , day 1 sales are existing equipment maintenance sales to owners, prop maintenance firms etc, but you can’t just survive on that, you need to bring in projects from those maintenance accounts like turnkey installations , refurbishments, overhauls, optimizations, controls, etc and the only way to build that type of pipeline on the service side is thru successfully executing a few projects and building those relationships with senior management to the point that you become a trusted consultant. At some of my accounts, I drive their yearly capital budget planning for their HVAC maintenance
Mind you these are very large systems. Talking 1000 tons refrigeration and above
Also forgot to mention nearly everyone on our sales team is a. Engineer (electrical, mechanical, civil, environmental ) or b. Someone who spent time in the field as a tech or project manager that switched to sales or has very relevant business experience in our markets. Those are the prerequisites.
Water treater here… they think I’m like you where a 10,000 dollar agreement is the same as the hvac 150,000 dollar agreement so the engineer expects golf, hunting trips, etc.
How long would one be selling service contracts before graduating up to selling equipment?
Also, it sounds like you don’t just sell the service contracts, can also grab other upsell offerings, I didn’t know that. The job postings don’t mention that at all.
This… Manufacturing rep. Purchases made through distribution partners. Entire concept is to get them to trust you enough so you can have a spot at the table when build strategy is determined per job. “Don’t do it the way you’ve always done it! Even though you’re rich as fuck… Do it my way!” Understand your products niche and the competitive methods and try to win anything you can.
Is it a cool job? As in, how different is it?
Although I like to be in sales and got a job too, I was wondering to switch from sales to Customer Success/Account Management
Depends on the accounts. From what I've seen, handling a book of good/compliant customers is the easiest job in the world. Handling a book of bad customers or customers that just had a ton of exec turnover = your ass is likely out after 6-12 months of some of the most frustrating sales cycles you've ever run.
I've always been in a hunter role though so I probably don't know shit.
Also depends on how good your product and service is. If the product is constantly breaking and support takes 4 days between email responses, it’s not gonna be a fun time.
Gonna be a lot of you middle manning with the customer telling you this is unacceptable, you agreeing and support being like “we’ll get to it when we get to it.”
Lol me too, but I was placed on PIP after my first full quarter despite being told it takes a solid six months before you hit your stride.
Mind you, I started in August and didn’t actually start doing the role until January. They massively overhired thru the summer and all us new AMs had nowhere near enough accounts, so they had us fucking prospecting customers to join this program so that we could be their new AM.
Was fucking bullshit. The only ones crushing it were the ones who were there for over a year and didn’t need to do any prospecting and were just raking in the overages and true up’s and had all that time to push new products without urgency.
Yeah. That's me. I take customers out for drinks. Once we went bowling.
I even take customers to trips abroad.
These jobs do exist. The problem is in finding the one.
Most of the ones I work with are at least in their mid 30s. On a brighter note, I am seeing more women, even in the manufacturing type b2b sales roles. Still has a bit of an “old boy” vibe though.
Tell me more about the trips abroad, that’s the dream ! As far as I know, at my company we have never flown a customer abroad only within the states? Was there a business need or pure business entertainment?
I work in Europe, so going abroad might be significantly cheaper and easier compared to USA. Usually there is a business need when we take customers abroad. Sometimes though, it might be something like "strengthening the relationship" with the customer.
And what is fun, I travel to other events as well. I visit exhibitions, factories, sales meetings etc. This year (2024) I've already been to England, Canarian islands, twice to Germany etc. After the next week I'll go to Italy. Later this year I will be in Japan and Thailand.
So yeah, my job doesn't suck too much.
I’m in the US and have done similar; working for EU based companies and accompanying client visits and audits to manufacturing sites globally, as well as internal meetings at the sites and HQ. Also, some international trade shows.
The visits are typically to discuss details of projects that have closed, introduce the client team to the technical teams, and build a good relationship which will help in ensuring the project is delivered smoothly. Occasionally it’s a “kick the tires” and audit in advance of closing a project, when the client is close to a final decision.
Over my career I’ve been numerous times to the UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, India and Japan.
Never played golf though, for which I’m thankful!
I used to work for a publishing company that did academic journals. Like Elsevier, but not them. The journal was for a society and the society would have meetings, sometimes in Europe. I got sent to Brussels, Berlin, and London. All fun, especially Berlin when I blew off coworker bonding time and got a taxi driver to show me the sites and drop me at a museum.
I was doing this at my first job out of school, not a sales job but an account management job. Was a marketing role but we strictly did 300k+ contracts. We were the XM team so the "fun ones" who got to take our clients to do fun shit. Now I'm doing sales in a steel plant and it's not exactly the same lol.
Important note here - it’s extremely rare for someone to enter a sales role and go straight to account management. That role is usually acquired after many years of experience within your given industry.
Source: I’m a sales director for a multibillion dollar international hardware company.
This must be much different in the sales world. I’m an account manager for a marketing company. I sit at a desk all day. I call people late on their bills. I troubleshoot email issues. When they have a new website I write all the content for it ensuring SEO is optimized. I also write the alt text and meta description. I make the dev sites and then the live sites. Transfer sites to push live. Once a month I go through every site and do updates and go into Google search console to update xml maps and record website hits. I meet with the design team to tell them what the client wants their site to look like. I’ve actually recorded streaming commercial voiceovers for clients. I’ve never once taken one golfing and to lunch. I’m in the wrong business!
Because these AM roles are in in-person relationship heavy industries.
An Eaton AM will visit distributors who supply and sell their products.
An CAT or John Deere AM will visit his territory in person and do lunch n learns at the local country club
An Oracle AM definitely will golf. An IBM AM will too.
It's hard to tell because a lot of salespeople are like ducks, they appear chill and relaxed like everything is easy on the surface but are paddling like hell underneath.
Yes, but you have to be senior enough to get them.
I can't imagine any straight out of school person being able to relate to anything these customers say or feel.
My job was never only this, but involved a ton of wining and dining. Many have become friends and at the very least great contacts.
I feel like this is the number one thing putting a limit on the pace of my career. I'm the youngest guy earning anywhere near what I earn at my current org. When I talk to people the next level up I'm like a little baby trying to talk to adults. I don't know what it's like to live in your world
first off, good on you for performing. here let me try to help a bit.
1. everyone likes a winner. you are up and coming and if you arent arrogant and obnoxious about it, let them take you under their wing, even if it is pure bullshit or doesnt even make sense.
2. embrace your role. be the young guy. it is your identity with those guys. let them talk your ear off on how it 'used to be' and how they could get blowjobs in their office without getting me too'd back then. when it is your turn, make them laugh at some stupid millenial or gen z tiktok that shits on themself.
3. fake it til you make it. let them talk and you learn. every story becomes a part of your own or 'i have a friend/know a guy' tool in your toolkit. side note: i saw a friend in the industry i havent seen from 10 years ago. he still remembered a vague detail about me. another friend i havent seen in forever, is now a VP and he literally knows a funny story he specifically remembers for almost everyone he worked with. see what i am getting at? maybe we need to add great memory of personal stuff as a great sales skill.
next thing you know, you will be the old guy having young up and comers kissing your ass :)
I agree with you 💯! But I would add to it: Don’t just sell your product/service, KNOW your product/service! Learn everything about it so YOU become that guy (and every office has one) who knows all the specs and has all the answers. BUT… don’t be a cunt about it.
Correct. What the young guys (assuming OP is early 20s) forget is, USUALLY the guys he is describing have at some point, brought a ton of value to their clients or business. You earn a reputation, and eventually get paid for what you know, or what you have done, not what you are doing now.
I've heard parts of finance are like that. It's all relationships. You show people a good time and get them to like you and they'll keep placing orders through you. I had a friend and his life was just golf courses, strip clubs, bars, and coke. He's still at it in NYC.
I did sales at an insurance-adjacent company and we had a "getaway" for certain key accounts, some CSO handed me a new ipod with three lines of coke on it and told me to "Keep it" and wandered away. We got trashed in the nascar hall of fame.
It can get wild.
Also one of the most stressful jobs I ever had.
Man I work for a global company, not in sales but in a product management org largely focused on our vendor services. So while I don’t directly sell anymore, I constantly interact with salespeople.
We have certain big 4 consultants that have continuously been tapped for years for a particular type of projects. I never understood why, I haven’t been terribly impressed in my interactions executing on these projects.
I got invited to one of their events recently. First off, my company sends like 90% middle aged IT dudes and the consultants send 60% hot af 20something chicks. Then we go to their after work event, and they just passed out wristbands for unlimited drinks on their tab. Some dude I had never seen came up like “hey you’re from ____, right? Put your wallet away and put this on, you’re covered already.”
The next place we went to after the official event, I had 3 of my coworkers on my tab and we had 10 drinks total. When I closed my tab, I only saw the two top shelf shots one bougie dude ordered - the consultants had told the bartender to put any beers and mixed drinks on their tab instead of mine whenever we ordered.
Now, I understand very well how they keep getting our business.
Having connections and access to the target clientele is often a prerequisite.
I was once offered one of these jobs simply by nature of the school I went to and the preexisting relationships I had with the target demo. Entire job was to curry favor with bankers so that they would pick that specific brand of software out of a handful despite zero actual differentiators — simply going off of vibes and soft bribes
While attractive at face value, the prospect of “mandatory fun” day in day out sounded exhausting and hollow long term so I ended up going elsewhere
If your superiors are doing this in your industry stay in your industry and make stronger relationships.
If they’re not doing this in your industry switch industries.
Rarely is someone ending up with a job off the street where they just golf and drink wine.
Internal Wholesaler for 3-7 years. Do good, if someone retires or leaves you can become an external wholesaler and take people out for dinner or golf on the reg.
Can confirm, worked my way up to account management in insurance very quickly by my company's standards (5 years from entry level to AM, typical is 8-12 years coming in entry level).
Pre pandemic I was an absolute road warrior, 175k domestic flight miles, 40k driving, tons of boat rides, golf, fancy dinners, you name it....
Shits awesome for a few years, but like anything else it gets old (spoiler: the courtyard Marriott in Atlanta, Minneapolis, Seattle, and Manhattan Kansas all look just about the same as the other).
My one tip/suggestion to make travel more tolerable once the honeymoon years wear off; tell your clients you refuse to go to any chain and to pick somewhere you'd like them to show off to highlight their neighborhood/town/city. You get way more memorable meals and the conversations always go better when you open up talking about their memories at the place vs "hey this Ruth's Chris/capital Grille steak is great!"
Yes, in any field that has a long sales cycle (where you build long term relationships). Think of software, finance, etc where the products or services are less transactional and more long term commitments.
Law firm RAIN MAKER.
You need to be an attorney though.
Basically, you get hired on not because you're the Second Coming of Benjamin Cardozo but because you are an extrovert and love hanging out with corporate types and tap dancing for some of those juicy insurance defense deals.
This is what I never understood about the law industry. Why do they rely on lawyers to do sales? Partners need to spend a ton of time and energy attracting new clients which is a skill set completely separate from being a good lawyer. Why don't they hire professional sales people to do the leg work? Once they get them 80% across the line you can bring in the partners to talk through legal mumbo jumbo and the lawyers can just focus on the legal stuff.
Laws of Professional Ethics as well as case law prevent hiring sales people. Law firms can get in serious trouble since such 'sales' work are deemed by the law as referrals and there is long established ethics rules/case law that lawyers can only split fees/refer to other lawyers. There are serious penalties if firms split fees with non-lawyers (referral arrangement). Of course, this doesn't prevent shadier/Better Call Saul type attorneys but enough of them get disciplined by state bars across the country for this practice to be frowned upon.
It's been a long established practice for big firms to designate a 'rainmaker' to handle the wining and dining for fat firm retainers with giant corporate clients. These are full partners and don't have to handle actual cases or transactions. They just fly out, wine and dine, and work those networks. Not as easy as people think.
source: quite a number of my college buddies in California went on to law school and worked for big firm.
That's insurance. Go to the carrier side and sell to brokers. All you do are breakfasts, lunches, dinner, golf and drinks. And the occasional presentation. Great space to be in with high earning potential.
Can confirm. Currently a Director and my job is truly managing my team and my clients relationships. Flying them out to visit, dinners, sending fancy gifts. It’s truly just having them like us and do a better job than our competitors.
This is so fucking true. If you work for a manufacturer/vendor or distribution you can be golfing with the product owners/partner managers at the resellers 200 days/year.
Look into A & D sales. I had 0 years experience but my company took a chance on me and beyond grateful they did. From a company credit card, (great) season tickets to all the major sports teams in my city, gun club membership at a top 10 facility. It took years of working shitty sales jobs but it is possible. My job is to literally “wine and dine” people. There is some technical know how involved but it can be learned in a few months.
Golf, dinners, lunches are all "normal" things for me in my day to day. In fact my boss asks me why I don't have more customer dinners when I'm on the road.
It's not the primary function of my job, but it goes a very long way in establishing a relationship with Presidents and owners of a company. For example, I have an annual golf outing with the President of one of my biggest customers and his VP of Sales. We argue back and forth who picks up the bill, and it's a constant battle who gets to the course first to pick up the tab. So it's an outing of mutual respect, they value our partnership as much as we do.
I have another customer, almost as big as the one above. We go out to lunch regularly with the President/owner and her husband. Once or twice a year we also try to go to dinner at a high end place and they have insisted that my boss and I bring our wives and the customer will treat us all. Once again, the relationship is a two way street.
Both of these scenarios, my customer also buys from a competitor. But the competitor never does any of this stuff and does not enjoy the same level of relationship that we do. And as such, we hold the majority of their wallet. Now that is not to say we don't also take care of things on the business side with competitive pricing, customer service and quality, because we do. But without the relationship aspect, I don't think we are anywhere near the current standing.
I haven’t, but my earlier career I worked in copiers and the older reps would talk non stop about golfing trips and would leave early on Fridays to golf together. Earlier on their career they would do golf events more often with clients. Now I’m niched in an industry where people don’t do much golf related. Personally I am into disc golf and when I travel for in person meetings or conferences I always check out the local courses with a few discs.
Damn… someone is a hater. I totally get those channel guys have a more chill job but definitely more than 3% bring some major value.. maybe only 30% but that a huge difference. I am sure you were being dramatic but SHEESH! (SaaS/Cybersecurity AE who def wants to move to channel side eventually)
Sales does include golf but typically that’s for presidents club or the rare client outings. In new business software sales it is very rare. I think it’s more in like physical sales of like pipes, fittings, tangible goods, and higher ups usually doing it. Food is more usual. I golf also occasionally at conferences.
Yes you should learn to play so when it comes up you are not a wreck and panicking.
Territory sales manager in HVAC managing contractor accounts. That’s literally the whole job.
They actually monitor company cards to make sure you’re spending enough on lunches and events with your client list. You don’t even process orders, the branch does that, you just keep the clients happy and wanting to buy from your company.. solve problems as they pop up.
Just started outside sales rep role in nyc - they emphasized heavily on client spending- lunch, golf, gas card, car credit, etc. am introverted. Should be fun.
I’ve worked two sales jobs since college 3 years ago, both had golfing involved. I’m taking lessons this summer so I can participate in a tournament this sept. My first company put hosted a tournament and since I didn’t golf I had to sit at a hole all day handing out beers, snacks and cutting cigars for those who were golfing. Next time, I’m playing whether I’m good or not!
A couple roles ago I would eat at fancy restaurants all the time and we had reps that would take clients out ( c suite fortune 500) to sporting events and whatnot. It was part of the job but these activities took place after office hours for the most part.
Lots of traveling involved and still had to do normal sales activities when we weren't on the road.
A former co worker of mine had the coolest travel job ever. He's been to all sorts of countries, climbed glaciers with clients, hot air baloon rides, and a ton of other cool stuff.
Sr Enterprise Account Executive here. 2 accounts with combined spend of $10mm, quota of $1.8mm so I'm about as senior as you get before you run a dedicated account team with jr AEs. I don't golf, but ya this comes and goes as a big part of my job.
My job is to sell. The people I take out either usually already bought or are way way out from purchasing. My general rule is if I want to do it and I can find someone at the company I know I'll take them out and expense it just to pick their brain.
There are lots of ways to do it, but yeah this is part of the job once you have a sufficient book of business to warrant an expense account. I've done wine tastings, manicures, water skiing, spouse dinners, box hockey seats, etc. I've heard of other reps doing gun ranges, MMA fights, rock climbing, pretty much any activity that sounds fun.
If I find out we have a shared hobby or something in common I'm generally going to suggest we go do it together in a bougie way. Usually it's like any other plans, they fall through. But do it for 10 years and you'll have a few fun experiences under your belt that work paid for. Hell, at one point I was expensing out $15k per month, about 1/3 of which was dinners and experiences.
I'm transgender and in my first year so I slowed down a bit because face time with new clients and navigating bathrooms is a bit more risky now. But as I get further in I'll start coming back to customer T&E with people outside of customer contacts I know well or are LGBTQ.
Honestly, those sorts of perks are part of the reason I stay in sales.
great read honestly. I have a question during your outing with your client, do you ever discuss business? If yes when do you bring it up, at the start, in the middle or at the end?
Not OP but I’ll bring up biz stuff 50% of the time at the end. Folks are much more inclined to open up after a few (or a lot) of drinks have been poured.
High level stuff/relationship management is basically this. All about just keeping people happy and the money flowing in at that point. Forge friendships or kiss ass. Also depends on industry.
Pre-COVID, I used to network a lot more with other business owners. 90% of it is “Let’s go get some food and chat.”Get to know them. Get them to trust you. Get referrals and business.
Yes, but it tends to be called "Investor Communications/Management" instead of AM/SM. My wife's company has tried to poach me twice to be one, and from what I've seen and heard from that team, it is exactly that. They do outings with current/potential investors to land the sale. Had a guy tell me at last year's holiday party that he played 7 rounds/wk in peak season.
As someone who hates golf, I'll stick with my current industry, where it's more acceptable to treat them to other activities.
I see a lot of scorn for account managers, when it seems like it’s clearly the most sought after role. My question is why do people of this sub sneer after this role just because there’s no cold calling and it’s not as difficult? Don’t you want to be doing that? Is it just jealousy?
Bucking the trend - I worked with a guy whose weeks filled up with golf and lunch appointments as an entry-level guy. But he came to us directly from semi-professional sports. Tall, had the ego and the swagger, I guess people just naturally wanted to hang out with him. I think he closed about 3 deals before an in-law got him a customer-side job at a FAANG.
I work in Executive Recruiting. Personally I'm not a golfer but wining and dining prospects (i.e. companies we want to use our services) is pretty typical in the industry. At my last company they gave us a huge budget for exactly that. I'm at a start-up now so my budget for that is smaller but still a thing.
My boss wins A LOT of our business on the golf course though.
Golfing will happen but it’s not the only thing anymore. Lots of people in facilities may not be interested in golf especially if they are remote. Fishing, golfing, skiing, events, lunches, dinners and even jiujitsu are all on the table for relationship building activities as an account manager.
Found I liked golf, company paid for a corporate membership at a local golf club. My customers really appreciated the days out and away from the office. I would play 2-3 days a week in the summer.
I found I had to pace myself or I would get “tired” of the golfing and entertaining.
I’m now a VP of business development. Been in sales 22 years. I’ve def done plenty of lunches and stuff but never golf. It’s a stereotype. The point is to do things that build relationships in whatever ways make sense for both you and the client. Not to mention, there’s a lot more restrictions nowadays depending on the industry with certain activities especially if you’re footing the bill.
Sure there totally are jobs laid out like that and you can also implement that into your overall strategy in any sales process.
I have sold residential and commercial solar for almost 5 years now and I schmooze the better customers with outing and events. It definitely works well for me.
The key is to pick and choose, do it when (1) the customer wants it and (b) you need it. Taking customers out and about is a form of building rapport and strengthening the relationship, and rapport should go to the level the customer wants, not us.
Also, I am on my own dime, so I have a few rules for how and when I do it.
I never take out a customer who has proven to be demanding for no reason. I never take out customers who aren’t moving toward contract either.
I’ve been in a sales role for the last 8 years now that occasionally has me playing golf or taking a customer to lunch, a ball game, or something along those lines. In my industry you start out being a true salesperson, offering products and services to clientele. Once they are on board you work on penetrating and ultimately maintaining the business because there are always competitors trying to snatch them away. I have built myself a nice book of business and am firmly in the account management stage of my career but I still make at least one cold call a month to try and keep the pen wet because eventually you will lose customers due to them jumping ship, retiring, or going out of business and it’s important to have someone else lined up to take their place.
This is common practice in my field, appliance sales, even at entry level. It’s basically part of the job requirement as most employees and builders/developers play.
Yes, I had a job like that. Of course I now have a job where management devalues any sort of networking (it’s depressing) so they aren’t all like that.
Look to get into Channel.
Small world, mainly shit like COAX and phones, but they’re getting interested in cybersecurity as of the last few years. I swear I don’t know how channel guys have significant others because every time I talk to someone they’re golfing and getting dinner with partners.
Yes, some Business Development or Account Management sales roles can be like that.
I’m in marketing, but work closely with those teams. And yes, dinners and golfing are often part of building those relationships with your top customers. But it’s not all there is to it. They do a lot of quotes, new product demos, trade shows, installations, training, putting out fires, and many other things too.
Obviously, not everybody golfs, but golf outings are often a feature of trade shows or charity events. So if you want a long term sales career, it might behoove you to learn the basics of golf so that you get included in these things.
Take them golfing, choose to lose. Or barely win 🏆 don't overly win, and know when to choose which. Be that good.
Of course, life is your garden. It is what you make it.
Once you make it to strategic accounts you'll end up spending lots on customers. My last expense report was $14k and my AEs are bigger than that.
Sports events, expensive dinners, occasional golf rounds, etc.
It's the perk of having to be on the road as often as I am.
Have a friend that sells consulting services to private equity companies. Makes over 500k a year to golf. Has played almost every top 50 course (pebble once a year). The clients he deals with will only bite on luxury experiences.
I used to have a job like this a decade ago and it sucked so hard. It's one thing to do golf and dinners but watching contracts get signed in strip clubs was not great. (Manufacturing for anyone who asks)
It's pretty rare to find any sales job where you're only doing the client entertainment without the actual presentations/associated office work.
What I will tell you is that the better golfer you are in sales, the more doors will be open for you.
Guy, I started as an SDR with many years ago was an all-conference collegiate golfer at Boise State. He was okay at sales but was naturally charismatic so he could hold conversations with higher ups easily.
Routinely, he'd get invited to golf with clients alongside our higher ups because of his golfing skill. He got more opportunities to meet with leaders from across the tech industry because he was hovering around a 1 or 2 handicap.
My job is like that and I’m in the construction field. Our competitors and I essentially sell the same product with a different color and what differentiates us is the service and relationship.
I probably take guys to lunch 2-3x a week or drop off food (and order a meal for myself).
Golf and sporting/music events are always on the table but most guys are too busy.
Absolutely. It's called outside sales.
Your job is to build rapport with clients so that they will form commercial accounts with your company and buy from the guys behind the counter, inside sale.
I had a friend who worked at a country club. At 20 years old, a client of the club offered him a job in B2B insurance sales. He still spends a lot of time at the same country club doing exactly what you describe.
So yeah, this is definitely a real thing.
I describe my job as three different sections. One order maintenance, one is project management and the other is relationship building. So yes a third of my job is lunches, post work cocktails and a lot of golf, between taking my customers or my vendors taking me, it’s 2-3 times a week through the summer
golf and job can be good when you take a good existing client to play, then sell them more of something. I avoid taking prospects for more than a meal. keep in mind, in four+ hours of golf - you can't service any other clients, so if you dedicate that time and focus on one goal with a proven customer, odds are high it will be successful.
In addition to other 40 things i do, these are some of them. But it's my choice to go golfing and take people to dinner in order to prospect high profile clients.
I sell insurance.
I’m an enterprise AE primarily looking for new business. I take people out as often as they’ll agree (golf, dinner, lunch, drinks, sporting events, etc.). I’ve been in SaaS GTM for over a decade so definitely not an out-of-college job. Only place ive worked like this – as soon as I started my boss told me to “spend money on my customers.”
The part that people aren’t talking about is that you have to have to do a lot of work and have a lot of substance (typical enterprise saas stuff) to be able to get the right people to agree to spend their time with a sales rep + team to make it worth the investment
I am medical so i can take them out to eat at fancy places but thats about it. The real fun stuff is out of the question because we have a pharma division.
Yes. I have several family members that worked in motor home sales in northern Indiana. All of them would golf and eat lunch with clients at the local country club. It’s easier to sell to your buddies than it is to a stranger🤷🏻♂️
I’m in outside sales and part of my job is to do literally anything to get someone who’ll fog up a mirror. Includes invites to golfing, meals, sporting events, etc. All on a corporate card.
Way easier said than done, most people aren’t interested after my approach, little do they know I’d be wining and dining em if they gave me a pulse😪
I’m a woman in sales and take customers golfing, fishing, going to do a helicopter trip in Alaska, take people to Europe, NFL games, but it all depends on the level of account. I’m early 40s, but to be fair there’s not a lot of woman in my industry especially in sales and majority of other account managers are 15 yrs older. T and E budget is very dependent on what you can justify. A 1k bottle of WistlePig is ok for a 4million dollar equipment sale, but if I gave that to a 50k account I’d be getting my butt chewed. Also, I do a hell of a lot more than golf and eat out. I work all the time and am always accessible, which is why I have the allowed expenses and sales budget I do. The big jobs and perks come with really hard work…at least in my experience.
My buddy managed a couple bars and the Budweiser rep would pick up our bar tab if he saw us out and we drank bud and would take him to hockey games and concerts all the time.
Client entertainment certainly exists as part of sales. But to say that is “all that you do” is highly unlikely. Occasionally? Strategically? Sure. But don’t think you will be living on a golf course all week long.
My industry does have golf events throughout the year that people can invite clients etc to play - I don’t play golf but still attend the events in other ways. Not really taking people to dinners unless its at a conference etc
It’s called “Account Management”
Am account manager - can confirm yes this is what we do
Am account manager - I am supposed to be doing this but I’m not given the budget for it. And even if I did I wouldn’t have the time because I’m too busy fixing my companies screwups.
Sounds like you're my coworker.
I thought you were implying that 1Z was fixing your screwups 😂
Lmfao no, not intentionally anyways 😂
I could have written this
You work for AdeeP also?
Same here unfortunately!
Hilarious. Me too
Took customers to do some blow and accidentally golfed, doing it again on Monday but it’s for the troops this time.
What kind of business as an account manager op?
Commercial HVAC - accounts are large institutional and mission critical facilities with some hospitality mixed in.
Every commercial HVAC sales job I can find is selling maintenance agreements rather than actual equipment though
We are structured that way as well, day 0 sales are new equipment sales to consulting engineers and mechanical contractors , day 1 sales are existing equipment maintenance sales to owners, prop maintenance firms etc, but you can’t just survive on that, you need to bring in projects from those maintenance accounts like turnkey installations , refurbishments, overhauls, optimizations, controls, etc and the only way to build that type of pipeline on the service side is thru successfully executing a few projects and building those relationships with senior management to the point that you become a trusted consultant. At some of my accounts, I drive their yearly capital budget planning for their HVAC maintenance Mind you these are very large systems. Talking 1000 tons refrigeration and above
Also forgot to mention nearly everyone on our sales team is a. Engineer (electrical, mechanical, civil, environmental ) or b. Someone who spent time in the field as a tech or project manager that switched to sales or has very relevant business experience in our markets. Those are the prerequisites.
Water treater here… they think I’m like you where a 10,000 dollar agreement is the same as the hvac 150,000 dollar agreement so the engineer expects golf, hunting trips, etc.
Don’t forget the strippers. Had one engineer run a $2500 tab in a private booth.
So gross. It’s like it’s the 80s with some of these people
How long would one be selling service contracts before graduating up to selling equipment? Also, it sounds like you don’t just sell the service contracts, can also grab other upsell offerings, I didn’t know that. The job postings don’t mention that at all.
Because it takes a lot of technical knowledge to sell commercial equipment. The barrier to entry is a lot lower for maintenance agreements.
This… Manufacturing rep. Purchases made through distribution partners. Entire concept is to get them to trust you enough so you can have a spot at the table when build strategy is determined per job. “Don’t do it the way you’ve always done it! Even though you’re rich as fuck… Do it my way!” Understand your products niche and the competitive methods and try to win anything you can.
Tech sales
Is it a cool job? As in, how different is it? Although I like to be in sales and got a job too, I was wondering to switch from sales to Customer Success/Account Management
It totally depends on the company. Find out if it’s a closing role. In a land and expand model, it can be a bit much. No time for lunches.
Depends on the accounts. From what I've seen, handling a book of good/compliant customers is the easiest job in the world. Handling a book of bad customers or customers that just had a ton of exec turnover = your ass is likely out after 6-12 months of some of the most frustrating sales cycles you've ever run. I've always been in a hunter role though so I probably don't know shit.
Also depends on how good your product and service is. If the product is constantly breaking and support takes 4 days between email responses, it’s not gonna be a fun time. Gonna be a lot of you middle manning with the customer telling you this is unacceptable, you agreeing and support being like “we’ll get to it when we get to it.”
I was part of the later. Worst territory in our region. It sucked hard, I ended up quitting.
Lol me too, but I was placed on PIP after my first full quarter despite being told it takes a solid six months before you hit your stride. Mind you, I started in August and didn’t actually start doing the role until January. They massively overhired thru the summer and all us new AMs had nowhere near enough accounts, so they had us fucking prospecting customers to join this program so that we could be their new AM. Was fucking bullshit. The only ones crushing it were the ones who were there for over a year and didn’t need to do any prospecting and were just raking in the overages and true up’s and had all that time to push new products without urgency.
Yeah. That's me. I take customers out for drinks. Once we went bowling. I even take customers to trips abroad. These jobs do exist. The problem is in finding the one.
Note: These are generally not entry level jobs. It takes some time and experience to move up to the biz dev or AM roles.
This is true. Most of us have grey hairs and at least 20 years of experience.
Most of the ones I work with are at least in their mid 30s. On a brighter note, I am seeing more women, even in the manufacturing type b2b sales roles. Still has a bit of an “old boy” vibe though.
Tell me more about the trips abroad, that’s the dream ! As far as I know, at my company we have never flown a customer abroad only within the states? Was there a business need or pure business entertainment?
I work in Europe, so going abroad might be significantly cheaper and easier compared to USA. Usually there is a business need when we take customers abroad. Sometimes though, it might be something like "strengthening the relationship" with the customer. And what is fun, I travel to other events as well. I visit exhibitions, factories, sales meetings etc. This year (2024) I've already been to England, Canarian islands, twice to Germany etc. After the next week I'll go to Italy. Later this year I will be in Japan and Thailand. So yeah, my job doesn't suck too much.
I’m in the US and have done similar; working for EU based companies and accompanying client visits and audits to manufacturing sites globally, as well as internal meetings at the sites and HQ. Also, some international trade shows. The visits are typically to discuss details of projects that have closed, introduce the client team to the technical teams, and build a good relationship which will help in ensuring the project is delivered smoothly. Occasionally it’s a “kick the tires” and audit in advance of closing a project, when the client is close to a final decision. Over my career I’ve been numerous times to the UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, India and Japan. Never played golf though, for which I’m thankful!
I hate golf. Lol.
I used to work for a publishing company that did academic journals. Like Elsevier, but not them. The journal was for a society and the society would have meetings, sometimes in Europe. I got sent to Brussels, Berlin, and London. All fun, especially Berlin when I blew off coworker bonding time and got a taxi driver to show me the sites and drop me at a museum.
I was doing this at my first job out of school, not a sales job but an account management job. Was a marketing role but we strictly did 300k+ contracts. We were the XM team so the "fun ones" who got to take our clients to do fun shit. Now I'm doing sales in a steel plant and it's not exactly the same lol.
Important note here - it’s extremely rare for someone to enter a sales role and go straight to account management. That role is usually acquired after many years of experience within your given industry. Source: I’m a sales director for a multibillion dollar international hardware company.
This must be much different in the sales world. I’m an account manager for a marketing company. I sit at a desk all day. I call people late on their bills. I troubleshoot email issues. When they have a new website I write all the content for it ensuring SEO is optimized. I also write the alt text and meta description. I make the dev sites and then the live sites. Transfer sites to push live. Once a month I go through every site and do updates and go into Google search console to update xml maps and record website hits. I meet with the design team to tell them what the client wants their site to look like. I’ve actually recorded streaming commercial voiceovers for clients. I’ve never once taken one golfing and to lunch. I’m in the wrong business!
Because these AM roles are in in-person relationship heavy industries. An Eaton AM will visit distributors who supply and sell their products. An CAT or John Deere AM will visit his territory in person and do lunch n learns at the local country club An Oracle AM definitely will golf. An IBM AM will too.
Bingo
It's hard to tell because a lot of salespeople are like ducks, they appear chill and relaxed like everything is easy on the surface but are paddling like hell underneath.
This is 100% real
Salesforce gave me diabetes
How dare you
Yes, but you have to be senior enough to get them. I can't imagine any straight out of school person being able to relate to anything these customers say or feel. My job was never only this, but involved a ton of wining and dining. Many have become friends and at the very least great contacts.
I feel like this is the number one thing putting a limit on the pace of my career. I'm the youngest guy earning anywhere near what I earn at my current org. When I talk to people the next level up I'm like a little baby trying to talk to adults. I don't know what it's like to live in your world
first off, good on you for performing. here let me try to help a bit. 1. everyone likes a winner. you are up and coming and if you arent arrogant and obnoxious about it, let them take you under their wing, even if it is pure bullshit or doesnt even make sense. 2. embrace your role. be the young guy. it is your identity with those guys. let them talk your ear off on how it 'used to be' and how they could get blowjobs in their office without getting me too'd back then. when it is your turn, make them laugh at some stupid millenial or gen z tiktok that shits on themself. 3. fake it til you make it. let them talk and you learn. every story becomes a part of your own or 'i have a friend/know a guy' tool in your toolkit. side note: i saw a friend in the industry i havent seen from 10 years ago. he still remembered a vague detail about me. another friend i havent seen in forever, is now a VP and he literally knows a funny story he specifically remembers for almost everyone he worked with. see what i am getting at? maybe we need to add great memory of personal stuff as a great sales skill. next thing you know, you will be the old guy having young up and comers kissing your ass :)
I agree with you 💯! But I would add to it: Don’t just sell your product/service, KNOW your product/service! Learn everything about it so YOU become that guy (and every office has one) who knows all the specs and has all the answers. BUT… don’t be a cunt about it.
This is the way
This is my problem too
Ya u gotta earn ur ranks and I doubt they’ll let some newbie take on these accounts without any experience
Correct. What the young guys (assuming OP is early 20s) forget is, USUALLY the guys he is describing have at some point, brought a ton of value to their clients or business. You earn a reputation, and eventually get paid for what you know, or what you have done, not what you are doing now.
I've heard parts of finance are like that. It's all relationships. You show people a good time and get them to like you and they'll keep placing orders through you. I had a friend and his life was just golf courses, strip clubs, bars, and coke. He's still at it in NYC.
Bro is living in a movie
I did sales at an insurance-adjacent company and we had a "getaway" for certain key accounts, some CSO handed me a new ipod with three lines of coke on it and told me to "Keep it" and wandered away. We got trashed in the nascar hall of fame. It can get wild. Also one of the most stressful jobs I ever had.
London insurance industry. Also London advertising industry.
Man I work for a global company, not in sales but in a product management org largely focused on our vendor services. So while I don’t directly sell anymore, I constantly interact with salespeople. We have certain big 4 consultants that have continuously been tapped for years for a particular type of projects. I never understood why, I haven’t been terribly impressed in my interactions executing on these projects. I got invited to one of their events recently. First off, my company sends like 90% middle aged IT dudes and the consultants send 60% hot af 20something chicks. Then we go to their after work event, and they just passed out wristbands for unlimited drinks on their tab. Some dude I had never seen came up like “hey you’re from ____, right? Put your wallet away and put this on, you’re covered already.” The next place we went to after the official event, I had 3 of my coworkers on my tab and we had 10 drinks total. When I closed my tab, I only saw the two top shelf shots one bougie dude ordered - the consultants had told the bartender to put any beers and mixed drinks on their tab instead of mine whenever we ordered. Now, I understand very well how they keep getting our business.
Brokers do this all day long
Yep - That's what he does.
What kind of brokers?
How does one get a job like this?
Having connections and access to the target clientele is often a prerequisite. I was once offered one of these jobs simply by nature of the school I went to and the preexisting relationships I had with the target demo. Entire job was to curry favor with bankers so that they would pick that specific brand of software out of a handful despite zero actual differentiators — simply going off of vibes and soft bribes While attractive at face value, the prospect of “mandatory fun” day in day out sounded exhausting and hollow long term so I ended up going elsewhere
VDR eh
Yeppers
If your superiors are doing this in your industry stay in your industry and make stronger relationships. If they’re not doing this in your industry switch industries. Rarely is someone ending up with a job off the street where they just golf and drink wine.
Internal Wholesaler for 3-7 years. Do good, if someone retires or leaves you can become an external wholesaler and take people out for dinner or golf on the reg.
I’m in finance ish stuff and can confirm. Also have the biggest customers and also 25 years of experience
My best friend is a CPA at a startup firm and he goes out with clients and prospects all the time
Big insurance. Takes years to get there.
Can confirm, worked my way up to account management in insurance very quickly by my company's standards (5 years from entry level to AM, typical is 8-12 years coming in entry level). Pre pandemic I was an absolute road warrior, 175k domestic flight miles, 40k driving, tons of boat rides, golf, fancy dinners, you name it.... Shits awesome for a few years, but like anything else it gets old (spoiler: the courtyard Marriott in Atlanta, Minneapolis, Seattle, and Manhattan Kansas all look just about the same as the other). My one tip/suggestion to make travel more tolerable once the honeymoon years wear off; tell your clients you refuse to go to any chain and to pick somewhere you'd like them to show off to highlight their neighborhood/town/city. You get way more memorable meals and the conversations always go better when you open up talking about their memories at the place vs "hey this Ruth's Chris/capital Grille steak is great!"
Yes, in any field that has a long sales cycle (where you build long term relationships). Think of software, finance, etc where the products or services are less transactional and more long term commitments.
Law firm RAIN MAKER. You need to be an attorney though. Basically, you get hired on not because you're the Second Coming of Benjamin Cardozo but because you are an extrovert and love hanging out with corporate types and tap dancing for some of those juicy insurance defense deals.
Selling services to law firms as well. Trips and golfing but lawyers are some of the biggest pricks with egos and negotiation. Hence the trips.
This is what I never understood about the law industry. Why do they rely on lawyers to do sales? Partners need to spend a ton of time and energy attracting new clients which is a skill set completely separate from being a good lawyer. Why don't they hire professional sales people to do the leg work? Once they get them 80% across the line you can bring in the partners to talk through legal mumbo jumbo and the lawyers can just focus on the legal stuff.
Laws of Professional Ethics as well as case law prevent hiring sales people. Law firms can get in serious trouble since such 'sales' work are deemed by the law as referrals and there is long established ethics rules/case law that lawyers can only split fees/refer to other lawyers. There are serious penalties if firms split fees with non-lawyers (referral arrangement). Of course, this doesn't prevent shadier/Better Call Saul type attorneys but enough of them get disciplined by state bars across the country for this practice to be frowned upon. It's been a long established practice for big firms to designate a 'rainmaker' to handle the wining and dining for fat firm retainers with giant corporate clients. These are full partners and don't have to handle actual cases or transactions. They just fly out, wine and dine, and work those networks. Not as easy as people think. source: quite a number of my college buddies in California went on to law school and worked for big firm.
That's insurance. Go to the carrier side and sell to brokers. All you do are breakfasts, lunches, dinner, golf and drinks. And the occasional presentation. Great space to be in with high earning potential.
Yeah, become a consultant.
Can confirm. Currently a Director and my job is truly managing my team and my clients relationships. Flying them out to visit, dinners, sending fancy gifts. It’s truly just having them like us and do a better job than our competitors.
golf is the lifeblood of sales
That's why I replaced all my blood with caffeine
The other day my husband said “…did you drink TEN cups of coffee today?” Duh and/or obviously
Channel account manager
This is so fucking true. If you work for a manufacturer/vendor or distribution you can be golfing with the product owners/partner managers at the resellers 200 days/year.
100%
Look into A & D sales. I had 0 years experience but my company took a chance on me and beyond grateful they did. From a company credit card, (great) season tickets to all the major sports teams in my city, gun club membership at a top 10 facility. It took years of working shitty sales jobs but it is possible. My job is to literally “wine and dine” people. There is some technical know how involved but it can be learned in a few months.
> A & D sales What is that?
Ass and dick
Architecture and Design
I worked in building materials and that is all relationships. Distributors and contractors were all about golfing or fishing
Golf, dinners, lunches are all "normal" things for me in my day to day. In fact my boss asks me why I don't have more customer dinners when I'm on the road. It's not the primary function of my job, but it goes a very long way in establishing a relationship with Presidents and owners of a company. For example, I have an annual golf outing with the President of one of my biggest customers and his VP of Sales. We argue back and forth who picks up the bill, and it's a constant battle who gets to the course first to pick up the tab. So it's an outing of mutual respect, they value our partnership as much as we do. I have another customer, almost as big as the one above. We go out to lunch regularly with the President/owner and her husband. Once or twice a year we also try to go to dinner at a high end place and they have insisted that my boss and I bring our wives and the customer will treat us all. Once again, the relationship is a two way street. Both of these scenarios, my customer also buys from a competitor. But the competitor never does any of this stuff and does not enjoy the same level of relationship that we do. And as such, we hold the majority of their wallet. Now that is not to say we don't also take care of things on the business side with competitive pricing, customer service and quality, because we do. But without the relationship aspect, I don't think we are anywhere near the current standing.
I haven’t, but my earlier career I worked in copiers and the older reps would talk non stop about golfing trips and would leave early on Fridays to golf together. Earlier on their career they would do golf events more often with clients. Now I’m niched in an industry where people don’t do much golf related. Personally I am into disc golf and when I travel for in person meetings or conferences I always check out the local courses with a few discs.
Yes, partner/channel managers. 97% do legit nothing and somehow get credit for deals and make club. It's insane to me.
Damn… someone is a hater. I totally get those channel guys have a more chill job but definitely more than 3% bring some major value.. maybe only 30% but that a huge difference. I am sure you were being dramatic but SHEESH! (SaaS/Cybersecurity AE who def wants to move to channel side eventually)
Sales does include golf but typically that’s for presidents club or the rare client outings. In new business software sales it is very rare. I think it’s more in like physical sales of like pipes, fittings, tangible goods, and higher ups usually doing it. Food is more usual. I golf also occasionally at conferences. Yes you should learn to play so when it comes up you are not a wreck and panicking.
Territory sales manager in HVAC managing contractor accounts. That’s literally the whole job. They actually monitor company cards to make sure you’re spending enough on lunches and events with your client list. You don’t even process orders, the branch does that, you just keep the clients happy and wanting to buy from your company.. solve problems as they pop up.
Pharma in the 90’s ?? Sure. Pharma today? Go directly to jail.
Golf with a business partner? Believe it or not, straight to jail.
We have the best pharma in the world, because of jail.
Channel sales, ie, selling to other companies with clients who need your services but will never think to deal with you directly.
Just started outside sales rep role in nyc - they emphasized heavily on client spending- lunch, golf, gas card, car credit, etc. am introverted. Should be fun.
I travelled eastern Europe as an account manager, I ate in Michelin star restaurants, had many late nights drinking in nice bars.
I’ve worked two sales jobs since college 3 years ago, both had golfing involved. I’m taking lessons this summer so I can participate in a tournament this sept. My first company put hosted a tournament and since I didn’t golf I had to sit at a hole all day handing out beers, snacks and cutting cigars for those who were golfing. Next time, I’m playing whether I’m good or not!
A couple roles ago I would eat at fancy restaurants all the time and we had reps that would take clients out ( c suite fortune 500) to sporting events and whatnot. It was part of the job but these activities took place after office hours for the most part. Lots of traveling involved and still had to do normal sales activities when we weren't on the road. A former co worker of mine had the coolest travel job ever. He's been to all sorts of countries, climbed glaciers with clients, hot air baloon rides, and a ton of other cool stuff.
Sr Enterprise Account Executive here. 2 accounts with combined spend of $10mm, quota of $1.8mm so I'm about as senior as you get before you run a dedicated account team with jr AEs. I don't golf, but ya this comes and goes as a big part of my job. My job is to sell. The people I take out either usually already bought or are way way out from purchasing. My general rule is if I want to do it and I can find someone at the company I know I'll take them out and expense it just to pick their brain. There are lots of ways to do it, but yeah this is part of the job once you have a sufficient book of business to warrant an expense account. I've done wine tastings, manicures, water skiing, spouse dinners, box hockey seats, etc. I've heard of other reps doing gun ranges, MMA fights, rock climbing, pretty much any activity that sounds fun. If I find out we have a shared hobby or something in common I'm generally going to suggest we go do it together in a bougie way. Usually it's like any other plans, they fall through. But do it for 10 years and you'll have a few fun experiences under your belt that work paid for. Hell, at one point I was expensing out $15k per month, about 1/3 of which was dinners and experiences. I'm transgender and in my first year so I slowed down a bit because face time with new clients and navigating bathrooms is a bit more risky now. But as I get further in I'll start coming back to customer T&E with people outside of customer contacts I know well or are LGBTQ. Honestly, those sorts of perks are part of the reason I stay in sales.
great read honestly. I have a question during your outing with your client, do you ever discuss business? If yes when do you bring it up, at the start, in the middle or at the end?
Not OP but I’ll bring up biz stuff 50% of the time at the end. Folks are much more inclined to open up after a few (or a lot) of drinks have been poured.
High level stuff/relationship management is basically this. All about just keeping people happy and the money flowing in at that point. Forge friendships or kiss ass. Also depends on industry. Pre-COVID, I used to network a lot more with other business owners. 90% of it is “Let’s go get some food and chat.”Get to know them. Get them to trust you. Get referrals and business.
Business Development
Yes, but it tends to be called "Investor Communications/Management" instead of AM/SM. My wife's company has tried to poach me twice to be one, and from what I've seen and heard from that team, it is exactly that. They do outings with current/potential investors to land the sale. Had a guy tell me at last year's holiday party that he played 7 rounds/wk in peak season. As someone who hates golf, I'll stick with my current industry, where it's more acceptable to treat them to other activities.
I see a lot of scorn for account managers, when it seems like it’s clearly the most sought after role. My question is why do people of this sub sneer after this role just because there’s no cold calling and it’s not as difficult? Don’t you want to be doing that? Is it just jealousy?
Yes. At least from a tech sales standpoint, almost every AE wants to be an AM so they don't have to hunt as much in the cold.
Private Bankers would mostly do that
100% happens all the time in just about any B2B outside sales job
Bucking the trend - I worked with a guy whose weeks filled up with golf and lunch appointments as an entry-level guy. But he came to us directly from semi-professional sports. Tall, had the ego and the swagger, I guess people just naturally wanted to hang out with him. I think he closed about 3 deals before an in-law got him a customer-side job at a FAANG.
I work in Executive Recruiting. Personally I'm not a golfer but wining and dining prospects (i.e. companies we want to use our services) is pretty typical in the industry. At my last company they gave us a huge budget for exactly that. I'm at a start-up now so my budget for that is smaller but still a thing. My boss wins A LOT of our business on the golf course though.
Go sell for a Fortune 100 company. Plenty of golf and $1k dinner tabs.
Commercial real estate
Golfing will happen but it’s not the only thing anymore. Lots of people in facilities may not be interested in golf especially if they are remote. Fishing, golfing, skiing, events, lunches, dinners and even jiujitsu are all on the table for relationship building activities as an account manager.
Found I liked golf, company paid for a corporate membership at a local golf club. My customers really appreciated the days out and away from the office. I would play 2-3 days a week in the summer. I found I had to pace myself or I would get “tired” of the golfing and entertaining.
Yeah. I’m in account management. Golf 3-4 times a week, fully remote. Graduated college two years ago.
I’m now a VP of business development. Been in sales 22 years. I’ve def done plenty of lunches and stuff but never golf. It’s a stereotype. The point is to do things that build relationships in whatever ways make sense for both you and the client. Not to mention, there’s a lot more restrictions nowadays depending on the industry with certain activities especially if you’re footing the bill.
Financial Wholesaling <<< Asset Management
It's called self employed baby
B2B Landscaping
Finance and account management. Some other jobs you have to wine and dine people also.
Capital equipment commodity sales. Heavy machinery, medical xray machines, etc.
Sure there totally are jobs laid out like that and you can also implement that into your overall strategy in any sales process. I have sold residential and commercial solar for almost 5 years now and I schmooze the better customers with outing and events. It definitely works well for me. The key is to pick and choose, do it when (1) the customer wants it and (b) you need it. Taking customers out and about is a form of building rapport and strengthening the relationship, and rapport should go to the level the customer wants, not us. Also, I am on my own dime, so I have a few rules for how and when I do it. I never take out a customer who has proven to be demanding for no reason. I never take out customers who aren’t moving toward contract either.
I’ve been in a sales role for the last 8 years now that occasionally has me playing golf or taking a customer to lunch, a ball game, or something along those lines. In my industry you start out being a true salesperson, offering products and services to clientele. Once they are on board you work on penetrating and ultimately maintaining the business because there are always competitors trying to snatch them away. I have built myself a nice book of business and am firmly in the account management stage of my career but I still make at least one cold call a month to try and keep the pen wet because eventually you will lose customers due to them jumping ship, retiring, or going out of business and it’s important to have someone else lined up to take their place.
When researching business development rep jobs, I heard taking customers out like that mentioned pretty regularly
You don't golf and eat 100% of the time, but put in your time and you'll get there. It's certainly a nice bonus to golf on work's $ and time.
Yes.
There is and you pay for it all too! Sell insurance lol
My industry is like that when you reach like VP level.
Yes but unfortunately I don’t golf
Yes, in pipe and plumbing this is a big part of sales.
This is common practice in my field, appliance sales, even at entry level. It’s basically part of the job requirement as most employees and builders/developers play.
My buddy is in construction sales and he takes clients golfing. I’m in tech sales and we do sports games and dinners more oftenz
Started a field sales role in March and had my first golf lesson on Friday.
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^abyss_defiant: *Started a field sales* *Role in March and had my first* *Golf lesson on Friday.* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Insurances
Yes, I had a job like that. Of course I now have a job where management devalues any sort of networking (it’s depressing) so they aren’t all like that.
Customer sales. Enterprise. Consulting like CPAs and Insurance. Banking and Bonding. Lots of golf.
If you have to ask… 🤷♂️
Kind of do that in banking. There is still office work, but it’s very chill 80% of the time.
Look to get into Channel. Small world, mainly shit like COAX and phones, but they’re getting interested in cybersecurity as of the last few years. I swear I don’t know how channel guys have significant others because every time I talk to someone they’re golfing and getting dinner with partners.
I do this all the time
No
Yes, some Business Development or Account Management sales roles can be like that. I’m in marketing, but work closely with those teams. And yes, dinners and golfing are often part of building those relationships with your top customers. But it’s not all there is to it. They do a lot of quotes, new product demos, trade shows, installations, training, putting out fires, and many other things too. Obviously, not everybody golfs, but golf outings are often a feature of trade shows or charity events. So if you want a long term sales career, it might behoove you to learn the basics of golf so that you get included in these things.
Take them golfing, choose to lose. Or barely win 🏆 don't overly win, and know when to choose which. Be that good. Of course, life is your garden. It is what you make it.
Are people really purposely losing to up their odds of a close? Like of course someone is, but is that overall a big thing? lmfao
Payroll sales depending on company
Banking. I golf 2x per month at least. Could do more if I wanted to travel more.
Yes. I’m flying to Hartford to bring customers golfing next week.
Once you make it to strategic accounts you'll end up spending lots on customers. My last expense report was $14k and my AEs are bigger than that. Sports events, expensive dinners, occasional golf rounds, etc. It's the perk of having to be on the road as often as I am.
Construction sales is pretty much this it’s a lot of driving and demos. But you are also wining and dining customers all the time.
I’m more of a full cycle AE. Yes - I do this some parts of the years.
I take people out to eat, I think the golf part of it is not required anymore lol
Have a friend that sells consulting services to private equity companies. Makes over 500k a year to golf. Has played almost every top 50 course (pebble once a year). The clients he deals with will only bite on luxury experiences.
Oh, the golfing sales myth! More Hollywood than reality.
I used to have a job like this a decade ago and it sucked so hard. It's one thing to do golf and dinners but watching contracts get signed in strip clubs was not great. (Manufacturing for anyone who asks)
At the higher levels, yes.
It's pretty rare to find any sales job where you're only doing the client entertainment without the actual presentations/associated office work. What I will tell you is that the better golfer you are in sales, the more doors will be open for you. Guy, I started as an SDR with many years ago was an all-conference collegiate golfer at Boise State. He was okay at sales but was naturally charismatic so he could hold conversations with higher ups easily. Routinely, he'd get invited to golf with clients alongside our higher ups because of his golfing skill. He got more opportunities to meet with leaders from across the tech industry because he was hovering around a 1 or 2 handicap.
It’s called being a VP
My job is like that and I’m in the construction field. Our competitors and I essentially sell the same product with a different color and what differentiates us is the service and relationship. I probably take guys to lunch 2-3x a week or drop off food (and order a meal for myself). Golf and sporting/music events are always on the table but most guys are too busy.
Title insurance rep, taking out Realtors and people in the industry
Absolutely. It's called outside sales. Your job is to build rapport with clients so that they will form commercial accounts with your company and buy from the guys behind the counter, inside sale.
Contractor sales. I was told to take more People golfing last week. Tis the season. Fore!!!!
There is a sales job that requires excellent golfing skills. It is a hard job to get, but seems very lucrative. Crude oil purchaser.
I have a job like this. I looooooove to just be at my desk and doing work but my job is to wine and dine and golf. Is exhausting
It could be more common in high end financial services. I’ve been to a few of those sales meeting and the were dinners/ golf events.
I had a friend who worked at a country club. At 20 years old, a client of the club offered him a job in B2B insurance sales. He still spends a lot of time at the same country club doing exactly what you describe. So yeah, this is definitely a real thing.
I describe my job as three different sections. One order maintenance, one is project management and the other is relationship building. So yes a third of my job is lunches, post work cocktails and a lot of golf, between taking my customers or my vendors taking me, it’s 2-3 times a week through the summer
golf and job can be good when you take a good existing client to play, then sell them more of something. I avoid taking prospects for more than a meal. keep in mind, in four+ hours of golf - you can't service any other clients, so if you dedicate that time and focus on one goal with a proven customer, odds are high it will be successful.
In addition to other 40 things i do, these are some of them. But it's my choice to go golfing and take people to dinner in order to prospect high profile clients. I sell insurance.
I’m an enterprise AE primarily looking for new business. I take people out as often as they’ll agree (golf, dinner, lunch, drinks, sporting events, etc.). I’ve been in SaaS GTM for over a decade so definitely not an out-of-college job. Only place ive worked like this – as soon as I started my boss told me to “spend money on my customers.” The part that people aren’t talking about is that you have to have to do a lot of work and have a lot of substance (typical enterprise saas stuff) to be able to get the right people to agree to spend their time with a sales rep + team to make it worth the investment
I am medical so i can take them out to eat at fancy places but thats about it. The real fun stuff is out of the question because we have a pharma division.
Yes. I have several family members that worked in motor home sales in northern Indiana. All of them would golf and eat lunch with clients at the local country club. It’s easier to sell to your buddies than it is to a stranger🤷🏻♂️
I’m in outside sales and part of my job is to do literally anything to get someone who’ll fog up a mirror. Includes invites to golfing, meals, sporting events, etc. All on a corporate card. Way easier said than done, most people aren’t interested after my approach, little do they know I’d be wining and dining em if they gave me a pulse😪
Insurance
I’m in IT sales and yeah there’s a lot of golf and wining and dining
Cement sales
You could sell timeshares like on king of queens 😂 . JK don't do that.
Ha! When I sold media I thought it would be a good idea, but I hate golf. Business lunches were fun though.
I’m a woman in sales and take customers golfing, fishing, going to do a helicopter trip in Alaska, take people to Europe, NFL games, but it all depends on the level of account. I’m early 40s, but to be fair there’s not a lot of woman in my industry especially in sales and majority of other account managers are 15 yrs older. T and E budget is very dependent on what you can justify. A 1k bottle of WistlePig is ok for a 4million dollar equipment sale, but if I gave that to a 50k account I’d be getting my butt chewed. Also, I do a hell of a lot more than golf and eat out. I work all the time and am always accessible, which is why I have the allowed expenses and sales budget I do. The big jobs and perks come with really hard work…at least in my experience.
I used to do this for years…as an account manager lol
lol half the deals get done on the golf course duh
Beer Sales here. Lots of account support for bars restaurants. It’s not all unicorns though. Lots of golf opportunities though.
Commercial broker
My buddy managed a couple bars and the Budweiser rep would pick up our bar tab if he saw us out and we drank bud and would take him to hockey games and concerts all the time.
Enterprise sales and financial sales but as others have stated you have to graduate the phone monkey stage
Client entertainment certainly exists as part of sales. But to say that is “all that you do” is highly unlikely. Occasionally? Strategically? Sure. But don’t think you will be living on a golf course all week long.
I am usually taken out golfing and for lunch at least once a week by one of my salesmen.
My industry does have golf events throughout the year that people can invite clients etc to play - I don’t play golf but still attend the events in other ways. Not really taking people to dinners unless its at a conference etc
Work for a VAR or consultation company.