Currently an SMB AE and a well known SaaS company. Education is in engineering, enjoy sales. Comp over the last 5 years has look like the following, all at the same company.
Year 1 (SDR): 55k
Year 2 (Associate AE): 82k
Year 3 (SMB AE): 122k
Year 4 (SMB AE): 220k
Current Year (SMB AE): 150k, on track for 270k.
With 5 years experience I get weekly emails for jobs that offer 200k plus equity at startups with full remote option.
For anyone looking to get into tech sales, there is a website called RepVue (I am in no way affiliated and it's also a free resource) that gives you a breakdown of various sales organizations with scores that are aggregated anonymously based on ratings from reps that work there. It's like a Glassdoor type website but exclusively for salespeople.
You can see the percentage of reps that hit quota, average base salary, average OTE, top performer ceiling, inbound to outbound ratio, quality of training / enablement, product market fit and a whole bunch of other valuable pieces of information to help you make an informed decision.
Each organization is then given an overall rating and ranked relative to others. This puts a lot of the power back into the hands of sellers and gives you the insight to determine which sales organization is the best fit for you.
This is huge because if, according to RepVue, 70% or more of sellers at a certain company are hitting their quotas, the product market fit is solid, you get a good amount of inbound leads and the training is on point, then you know you have a 70% chance of making great money (as long as your experience aligns with the requirements for the role).
By the way, they have breakdowns by role too, so you can see SDR as well as AE data, and it's also broken down by market segment - SMB, Mid Market and Enterprise.
1) Move to high-profile tech company if possible. Even SDR role is fine. Better for literally everything.
2) Territory is king. Sure, there are exceptions but generally you want to make sure your territory is good before you start. Even the best sales reps get burnt out if their accounts are shit.
Best combination is good fucking product + good fucking territory.
3) Degree etc. doesn't matter in sales. If no degree, get into SDR role at startup. Hop to enterprise by prospecting the hiring managers (treat it like booking a meeting) after 6m. After that, you just need the jump to AE - and then you're golden.
4) At least in my country, most sales reps have either somehow landed in the role or are lazy. You'll stand out if you go into the role on purpose + work hard.
5) Amount of social skills you learn is unfathomable.
6) Politics matter. A lot.
Ego of sales managers is through the roof as well (generally, everyone in sales has a high AF ego)
If someone wants to do sales in Europe, do this (if desperate):
1) Move to Dublin and get entry job at high-profile Tech company. Yeah it sucks, weather is shitty, girls are fat - but eating shit is part of it.
2) Stay 1-2yrs and try jump to AE.
3) Move back to home country and always be the guy from "XYZ company".
4) Get recruiting messages everyday for remote positions
I went the coder->technical sales route. Spent 10+ years as a developer and stumbled into sales engineering because I wanted to get more face time with people. Best accident I ever had.
Don’t be like me, make a plan and hit it without all the mucking about in stagnant coding positions (minimal upside earnings).
thank you! The type of sales I am in right now is more so consultative selling various RE services, its kinda cool but I do want something different I think.
don’t know comp at these firms. Take a look at glassdoor for that and ask ppl in linkedin. personally believe these will be displaced soon by Amazon/DoorDash. if not sure, focus efforts in tech space.
Try looking for big F500 corps with a "sales academy". No personal experience with it but have seen a few out there. Also look at Okta, saw a post a while back about them starting to hire SDRs from nontraditional sales backgrounds, which you would fit the bill for.
Look at Tech Qualled, a sales training program for vets. Also Shift has multiple programs to help explore and connect with tech-related careers, and recently started a Biz Dev apprenticeship program.
Reach out to vets on Linkedin that have already made it to your target career, most will be happy to help out a fellow vet once you indicate you are putting in the work
This has been a fantastic read. But does anyone have any advice for someone who's been out of the workforce for a couple of years over the pandemic? Would be much appreciated.
I've been in Corp FP&A at SaaS companies for the past 4 years. It's stable but low leverage with a really boring career trajectory unless you jump on to a rocketship at the right time. Been thinking about pivoting into Sales for a while now. Seems like the main (only) route is to get an SDR role and then move your way up. Does that check out? Should I just be scoping SDR gigs on LinkedIn and putting my name out there?
Pure Sales role just seems to intimidating. Yes Sales is needed in everything. But a pure sales role of just cold calling and talking all the time, just sounds like hell. A Tech role in process design or customer experience or something in between (synthesizer) seems much more rewarding.
My default is introverted, the guys who absolutely smash these SDR type roles that I have met are more often you're typical extroverted types.
You can strike a balance for sure… look into solutions consulting/technical sales roles where you still leverage technical expertise to make a sale.
You’re not wrong that a large portion of reps are very extroverted, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find a good role that still allows you to make a commission as a part of the sales cycle.
I think I am following this path but did so unconsciously.
I am in sales at a startup with a base of 40 and uncapped commissions OTE this year will be somewhere around 60-70.
What would you consider "major progression" in the business? here are some things happening in the company:
- Prop Tech industry is growing very quickly
-headcount doubled since COVID
- Revenue is up and to the right
-recent salary increase
- office was planning on reopening but because of varient no plan in site to open
Lately I have bene thinking about going and doing a bootcamp for UI/UX design because it is more aligned with what it is I want i guess. I am a high performer for the the org I am with and have equity being vested.
Don't know enough about the space so probably best to ask one of the sales guys. If you're at a growing company it's a lot easier to move up and make more, also a lot easier to start a side business as you can grow revenues without killing yourself
Any chance for a non-US citizen living in Europe to get a well paid, fully remote position in tech/software sales at a US company? Have several years of B2C sales experience as top 1% closer at my previous company. Wondering if US companies hire talent from abroad or local only.
I followed this path to a point a few years ago.
Pissed away my twenty's in accounting & alcohol. Discovered WSP and decided to stop wasting my life away.
First: SDR role at a start-up in Paris
Second : SDR Role at FANG level company in Ireland
Third : SMB AE at High Growth Tech company selling all over Europe @90k
All in 2 years.
Then started programming to understand tech better and discovered I was so much better at tech than sales it wasn't even funny.
Fast forward 3 years and I'm an independent developer @140k
Great work!
Currently an SMB AE and a well known SaaS company. Education is in engineering, enjoy sales. Comp over the last 5 years has look like the following, all at the same company.
Year 1 (SDR): 55k
Year 2 (Associate AE): 82k
Year 3 (SMB AE): 122k
Year 4 (SMB AE): 220k
Current Year (SMB AE): 150k, on track for 270k.
With 5 years experience I get weekly emails for jobs that offer 200k plus equity at startups with full remote option.
Well done ser. Now wen side biz...
Can’t wait to see those numbers when you’ll be tackling ENT accounts 🦍
ENT accounts?
Enterprise Accounts
For anyone looking to get into tech sales, there is a website called RepVue (I am in no way affiliated and it's also a free resource) that gives you a breakdown of various sales organizations with scores that are aggregated anonymously based on ratings from reps that work there. It's like a Glassdoor type website but exclusively for salespeople.
You can see the percentage of reps that hit quota, average base salary, average OTE, top performer ceiling, inbound to outbound ratio, quality of training / enablement, product market fit and a whole bunch of other valuable pieces of information to help you make an informed decision.
Each organization is then given an overall rating and ranked relative to others. This puts a lot of the power back into the hands of sellers and gives you the insight to determine which sales organization is the best fit for you.
This is huge because if, according to RepVue, 70% or more of sellers at a certain company are hitting their quotas, the product market fit is solid, you get a good amount of inbound leads and the training is on point, then you know you have a 70% chance of making great money (as long as your experience aligns with the requirements for the role).
By the way, they have breakdowns by role too, so you can see SDR as well as AE data, and it's also broken down by market segment - SMB, Mid Market and Enterprise.
My addendums:
1) Move to high-profile tech company if possible. Even SDR role is fine. Better for literally everything.
2) Territory is king. Sure, there are exceptions but generally you want to make sure your territory is good before you start. Even the best sales reps get burnt out if their accounts are shit.
Best combination is good fucking product + good fucking territory.
3) Degree etc. doesn't matter in sales. If no degree, get into SDR role at startup. Hop to enterprise by prospecting the hiring managers (treat it like booking a meeting) after 6m. After that, you just need the jump to AE - and then you're golden.
4) At least in my country, most sales reps have either somehow landed in the role or are lazy. You'll stand out if you go into the role on purpose + work hard.
5) Amount of social skills you learn is unfathomable.
6) Politics matter. A lot.
Ego of sales managers is through the roof as well (generally, everyone in sales has a high AF ego)
If someone wants to do sales in Europe, do this (if desperate):
1) Move to Dublin and get entry job at high-profile Tech company. Yeah it sucks, weather is shitty, girls are fat - but eating shit is part of it.
2) Stay 1-2yrs and try jump to AE.
3) Move back to home country and always be the guy from "XYZ company".
4) Get recruiting messages everyday for remote positions
Thanks for this. Just curious, why Dublin lol
most tech orgz have based their European HQ in Dublin for tax reasons. That’s also where their sales team are based off.
Helpful, thank you!
+1
This is rock solid.
I went the coder->technical sales route. Spent 10+ years as a developer and stumbled into sales engineering because I wanted to get more face time with people. Best accident I ever had.
Don’t be like me, make a plan and hit it without all the mucking about in stagnant coding positions (minimal upside earnings).
Whatever you do don't go into mutual fund/annuity wholesaling. Made that mistake out of college and it set me back ~3y. Software sales is the way.
thank you! The type of sales I am in right now is more so consultative selling various RE services, its kinda cool but I do want something different I think.
a
Thanks this post is a goldmine.
What's your assessment of being an AE (field sales, yet now mostly remote work with online meetings) in a firm like FedEx/UPS?
don’t know comp at these firms. Take a look at glassdoor for that and ask ppl in linkedin. personally believe these will be displaced soon by Amazon/DoorDash. if not sure, focus efforts in tech space.
thanks man for giving some direction.
What is the best way to get ahold of the referenced E-book?
Send me an email about it at bowtiedcocoon@gmail.com and will send it to you.
Anything you would change or add for a 40 year old retiring from the military?
Try looking for big F500 corps with a "sales academy". No personal experience with it but have seen a few out there. Also look at Okta, saw a post a while back about them starting to hire SDRs from nontraditional sales backgrounds, which you would fit the bill for.
Thanks brah, I’ll check it out!
Look at Tech Qualled, a sales training program for vets. Also Shift has multiple programs to help explore and connect with tech-related careers, and recently started a Biz Dev apprenticeship program.
Reach out to vets on Linkedin that have already made it to your target career, most will be happy to help out a fellow vet once you indicate you are putting in the work
You are a moon among men, thank you
This has been a fantastic read. But does anyone have any advice for someone who's been out of the workforce for a couple of years over the pandemic? Would be much appreciated.
I've been in Corp FP&A at SaaS companies for the past 4 years. It's stable but low leverage with a really boring career trajectory unless you jump on to a rocketship at the right time. Been thinking about pivoting into Sales for a while now. Seems like the main (only) route is to get an SDR role and then move your way up. Does that check out? Should I just be scoping SDR gigs on LinkedIn and putting my name out there?
Pure Sales role just seems to intimidating. Yes Sales is needed in everything. But a pure sales role of just cold calling and talking all the time, just sounds like hell. A Tech role in process design or customer experience or something in between (synthesizer) seems much more rewarding.
My default is introverted, the guys who absolutely smash these SDR type roles that I have met are more often you're typical extroverted types.
You can strike a balance for sure… look into solutions consulting/technical sales roles where you still leverage technical expertise to make a sale.
You’re not wrong that a large portion of reps are very extroverted, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find a good role that still allows you to make a commission as a part of the sales cycle.
I think I am following this path but did so unconsciously.
I am in sales at a startup with a base of 40 and uncapped commissions OTE this year will be somewhere around 60-70.
What would you consider "major progression" in the business? here are some things happening in the company:
- Prop Tech industry is growing very quickly
-headcount doubled since COVID
- Revenue is up and to the right
-recent salary increase
- office was planning on reopening but because of varient no plan in site to open
Lately I have bene thinking about going and doing a bootcamp for UI/UX design because it is more aligned with what it is I want i guess. I am a high performer for the the org I am with and have equity being vested.
Don't know enough about the space so probably best to ask one of the sales guys. If you're at a growing company it's a lot easier to move up and make more, also a lot easier to start a side business as you can grow revenues without killing yourself
thank you! I sent my resume to the email attached to this. Hoping to hear from him on this. Another great post, thank you BTB!
Any chance for a non-US citizen living in Europe to get a well paid, fully remote position in tech/software sales at a US company? Have several years of B2C sales experience as top 1% closer at my previous company. Wondering if US companies hire talent from abroad or local only.
Move to Dublin for 1-2yrs. Join high-profile tech company and then move back to home country.
Yes, but only in Dublin, London. Maybe Berlin, and Amsterdam.