5 harsh realities I learned in my 1st SaaS sales role:
- Hard work does not equal success. I worked really hard trying to stay on top of my pipeline. But I almost always felt behind, scattered and reactive.
- I expected to get a lot of coaching from my manager. But our 1:1’s were pretty much pipeline reviews.
- Being told to align with C-suite priorities did not make me any good at doing it. I didn’t understand how to uncover executive pain/goals.
- Everything I didn’t know made my sales cycles difficult. My sales cycles were frustratingly long, and deals often slipped, pushed, or ghosted me.
- Lots of sales leaders talked about being “in control” of our deals. But very few leaders taught us reps concrete ways to lead so Buyers want to follow.
If you’re feeling any/all of these – you’re not alone.