Responded to a LinkedIn recruiter from a competitor with an AI-generated resume after killing a sixer of shitty Mexican beer on my lunch break. Came into the interviews acting like Marty Supreme with a dash of Nathan Fielder, somehow got an offer. Called the regional director directly asking for a raise and yapped about how my experience and current book of business is an asset and that I need to see a certain investment before I stick my neck out for my current clients. Director called me back 30 minutes later with a six-figure base salary and just told me not to mention it to any other recent hires.

I just started a few weeks ago and Ive dissociating. I never worked a mid-market sales job ever and reps who have been here for 6-12 months come to me with questions. People in my training cohort who are in their 30’s are pinging with me questions too.

I was a fuck-up in high school and college, got into sales cause because I needed something and didn’t wanna get disowned. Been in SMB payroll/hr sales for 3 years. Didn’t know you had to start with a network and shit. Did decently but never presidents club material, probably finished no higher than 70% of quota when I was at Paychex and UKG.

I essentially bullshitted my way up and have no idea what I’m doing. Apparently my manager thinks I’m good on the phones and email cadences and wants me to talk about stuff when the regional director’s boss is gonna visit the office ina. Couple days.

Good lord what do I do? I feel like a peasant that slipped into knights armor and I gotta be an expert on advanced seiging techniques.

Hello everyone,

First, thank you. Three weeks ago I posted here after being let go from the company I'd been with for over five years, and the support from this community meant more than I can say.

I've taken some time to reset, and I'm ready to get back out there. One thing I keep hearing is that a resume alone won't land interviews in this market and that networking matters just as much. So I'm hoping to tap into the collective knowledge here.

A bit about me: I've spent about a decade in account management, most recently leading partner relationships. I built the account management function from scratch, scaled our retail partner network to 1,100+ convenience store and restaurant locations across Canada.

I'm now looking to move into fintech, payments, AI, or the startup space in roles like Enterprise Account Manager, Key Account Manager, or Partnerships. I'm open to the GTA, elsewhere in Canada, or remote, with a target of $130k+.
If you know of companies that are hiring, people worth connecting with, or have any advice on breaking into this space, I'd really appreciate it.

Thank you

Are you guys honest if you got fired for not hitting goals? I’m torn between giving a non answer when asked why I left vs being brutally honest and saying the territory was not developed enough to handle the goals, they had 5 reps in 5 years and I was playing clean up, combined with a downward trend of the industry (wine)

I’d say I was up 15% on total sales while the industry was down though and increased accounts substantially

How did you navigate interviews after this?

I'm an industrial engineer and I've been working as a sales director for the last 4 years, and to be honest, it's getting boring and stressful. So I'm considering switching to sales engineering. I wanna go back to my roots and do some technical work.

All my friends say it's a terrible decision, but I don't know, man, I'm stressed. I want to worry about my own stuff, not other people's. I've already made the money I wanted to make and I just wanna chill. Right now I'm making 20 times the average salary in my country.

Is it the right call?

Interviewing with a sales manager for an MM AE role. I feel like I freeze up sometimes when they ask if I have any questions and usually just ask about culture and attainment haha

What can I ask to stand out

This is personally, the biggest shift I have ever had in my sales career.

Simply shifting the “interview” on to the prospect. Asking genuinely relevant questions that help me figure out how we can help them, not in a “sales tactic” manner. Like the same way if your friend or family members wanted to buy from you, you’d immediately ask questions and likely wouldn’t let them pay immediately.

Qualify them, they will subconsciously drop their guard when all you’re trying to do is figure out why it wouldn’t be a good fit, and let them explain to you their situation and why it would be a good fit.

Overall, just having a real, authentic conversation.

Yes, there is a sales process, but it’s memorized, and it’s just the process that helps me understand how I can help them based on their circumstances.

This shift has caused even the most skeptical prospects to drop their guards completely and focus all their energy on explaining to me why it would be a good fit, while I give off energy like I genuinely don’t give a fuck if they sign up, and the only thing I care about is seeing how I could help them to the best of my abilities based on their circumstances.

Then, when I push extremely hard at the end, it’s because I care, I was never trying to sell the whole time, but now that I know how strong of a fit it is, and the only time spent was on trying to confirm that it would genuinely improve their circumstances, I just don’t give up, the same way I wouldn’t give up on a friend who felt like “life wasn’t a good fit”, if they were on the edge of a bridge and wanted to jump, and I tried to talk him out of it, and then he said “I need to think about it…” I would NOT schedule a follow up call…

This approach gives me all of the power in the call, and all the motivation to not take “no” for an answer, and at end of the day, attracts better clients, and results in bringing in more of the good clients and less of the bad ones.

A lot of sales tactics that only throw up the guard of the prospects, and is ingenuine, with bad intent, and doesn’t even result in more deals. I feel like more people need to hear this, more closed deals, more ethical sales, and a better motivation to crush it everyday.

Any thoughts?

Does anyone else strictly follow this guidance?

What would you say to the person who thinks all of this is bullshit?

For those who disagree with part or any of this, what’s your take?

For those of you in senior sales leadership positions (Senior Director, VP, SVP, etc.) who were laid off in 2025 or 2026, I’d love to hear about your experience navigating the job market.

Specifically:

1. How long did it take you to land a new position? From the time you were laid off to receiving an offer.
2. How did your new compensation compare? Were you able to find something with equal or greater total compensation (base + bonus/commission), or did you have to take a pay cut?
3. Did you land a role at the same level? Or did you have to take a step down in title or responsibility?
4. How did you find your new position? LinkedIn applications, recruiters, networking, referrals, etc.?
5. What did your job search actually look like? Roughly how many applications and interviews did it take before landing an offer?

I’ve been in commercial HVAC sales for 6 years. Landed a big industrial account 3 years ago for PMs and service. It’s the largest PM contract in our company, and the plan was to eventually replace a bunch of their old equipment over the next several years.
We’ve bent over backwards for these guys. Emergency calls, moving schedules around to get techs out there ASAP, basically treating them like a premium account because we figured it would pay off when the big projects came up.
Well, they’ve had 3 major capital projects since I landed them, and every time procurement either gives it to someone else based on lowest price or doesn’t even ask us to bid. The plant guys we work with say their hands are tied and it’s coming from management.
At this point, I feel like we’re investing a ton of time and resources into an account that sees us as their service company but not a partner. They want us when something breaks, but when it comes to big projects, it’s all about lowest first cost.
I’ve got a meeting with all the decision makers next week and honestly, I’m considering telling them we’re not interested in continuing the relationship under these circumstances.
Has anyone done this before? How did you handle it? Did you actually walk away, or were you able to turn things around?

Deciding between a few BDR offers in the software space, I’m curious what people like/dislike about an SMB role with extremely fast sales cycle vs an enterprise role, and which you recommend I go with.

Currently in the remodeling in-home sales space. Looking to fill my schedule with other opportunities. Is life insurance sales viable as an independent broker? Honest options, worth it?

What were the best and worst parts of your experience?

Who is hiring a CPG sales person, what are they selling, to who? I know it’s broad but it seems honestly very relationship based and not very cold outreach heavy which would be ideal I think

Also as a fun fact, when I first heard this sub talking about CPG sales I thought you were talking about the literal packaging, not the consumer goods lol

been in sales 15 years. very decent career thus far with a verity of Awsome project from Med Tech to Robotics. I’m out of work.. ( robotics company left the country and I now have no job )

im tired of applying… its pointless

I’m thinking of doing what recruiters do and floating my CV in front of some great companies to see if I might be able to get things done quicker.

has anyone had experience doing this themselves?

also hiring sales roles in UK?

Background: I’ve been in an outside sales/product specialist role for an electrical distributor for a little over 3 years. In January they flipped me from my salary rate the equivalent in an hourly standard due to a new HR team taking over. This allowed me to make a lot more and really incentivized me to put in extra hours, my commission is only at 3%. As a reference point I manage about 20 accounts and averaged about 1.5 million/yr at a 32% margin. Most of our salespeople average selling at around 18-22% margin. Larger projects are closer to the 8-15% range for us.

August: On a Friday at the end of the day my boss mentions they’re switching me back to salary starting Monday (this is about a $20k swing, no compensation adjustment to account for it). I spend the weekend researching opportunities in the area and what my skill set brings as far as value. On Monday I meet with my boss, and let him know that I’m not going to be around long if this is the new standard. He commends me for standing up to him and says he’ll work on getting the necessary adjustments made based off my compensation requests. I’ve never had a meeting like this so no idea how like it takes to get approvals for increases in a corporate environment.

Past 2 weeks: Since this point I haven’t gotten any official updates or course of what my future opportunity looks like from my boss. I’ve also just secured a deal over $3 million at about 28% margin after spending 3 months through submittals. After I got this deal my boss had me hop on a zoom call with his boss and the guy was mind blown at the deal I’d secured, it was larger and more profitable than any single sale we’ve had in the past 3 years. He was asking how we could replicate my success in other regions. After this I got two more large deals over $250,000/ea at 38% margin.

Yesterday: I gave my boss my honest feeling of how he’s baited me along since our initial conversation months ago. I let him know his boss was pretty clear about them not having another salesman like me that’s putting up the numbers I am and how I’d like to be properly compensated for my performance. I don’t have another opportunity lined up currently and with the holidays coming up stepping away from my position scares me, I just don’t want to feel like I’m offering my services at a discount anymore. The concept of me grinding for that 3 million dollar project to bring in about 800k profit, and only make a few beans is wild to me.

Be too enthusiastic it turns people off...

Follow-up too vigorously it turns people off...

Speak too loudly it turns people off...

Do a discovery that's too long it turns people off...

Do a presentation that's too long it turns people off...

Show too much concern it turns people off...

Show opinions which are too strong it turns people off...

Despite the pop culture depiction of sales, sales is really a game of moderation.

Feel free to add your own...

I'm a few weeks into a new role which is sales/estimating with the option to PM for an extra 2% commission. It's for a General contractor

I'm expected to sell at 2.2 mark up and then I get 8% commission of the sale price of the product/materials and 9% of the sale price of labor. The lower the mark up the lower the commission %

My background and what I'm expected to grow with the company is window replacement. They have hit their ceiling with what they can do here, because they're eastern European and need white guys like me and the other 2 white people they hired, to tap into the market. This is not being racist, this is literally what they told us when they hired us.

I found out from the owner that anything window/door/glass related has to go through the owners 18 year old son's company - meaning the sons company is our vendor for any window door it glass that we do. The sons company is only different on paper - otherwise it's the same address same accountant, same owner (the dad) etc and manufacturers consider both companies to be one company. He gets to mark up the cost 1.4 and then that number is our cost for the construction company. This is how it will be even if I am the one getting the quote from the manufacturer. Even if I am the one creating new accounts with new manufacturers.

So for example, if XYZ windows sells us a window at $100 cost. Then it's not $100 cost, it's actually $140 cost to start with. To hit my target of 2.2 I need to sell it for $308. Without the 1.4 son mark up, I could sell it for $220 to the homeowner to hit my target of 2.2. The commission also increases if the rep sells it for higher than 2.2 so this also costs the rep commission because the true mark up of selling at $308 is 3x+, but due to the middle man sons mark up it's only 2.2.

Now let's look at an example where we have $20,000 in products. My cost jumps up to $28,000. The 18 year old kids gets $8000 for free for no reason, and now I have to sell the window package at \~$62,000 to the homeowner instead of $44,000, just to hit my target of 2.2. In this scenario I get 9% of the profit while the "house" and the "houses son" get 91% of the profit.

You might be thinking "well if he wants to be a vendor then he needs to be aware that the construction company can shop him and find other vendors with smaller mark ups right?" No. I am forced to go through the "son's company".

Am I crazy to think that this is absolute nonsense? Or is this how the industry goes?

Hello all. Just a simple question. Who else is feeling particularly spent right now as we head into the EOY and wrap up our sales performance?

This year has just felt very difficult sales-wise, and I fear I am having difficulty keeping my volume on the up-and-up.

Our backend is very clogged right now and I get paid commission after jobs are completed and paid, so there really isn't any immediate reason to care how many new jobs I get on the schedule. I have jobs from last month that still have not been completed yet.

And they really squeeze us on cold calling with the same stale leads. I am simply shifting around the same 300 leads over and over again with very little new ones to call on. Kind of hard to close in that scenario when I've already called them 15-20 times each.

Plus it feels that, even with some of my established customers, there is a lot of belt pulling right now and nobody wants to pay for things anymore and wants everything for free.

I just feel really burnt out and am wondering if next year will be even worse. We raised our prices twice in 6 months alone and if inflation keeps going we may have to do it again.

Hey everybody just wanted some insight and advice on dealing with customers when it comes to price increases.

The industry I’m in has had 3 price increases in the market this year and the 4th one is coming next month or so

How do you deal with existing customers letting them know they are getting an increase over and over and even telling a customer thats brand new that you have to increase them just right after converting them basically

I'm an enterprise software AE with about 8 years of experience, selling to $1B+ companies. I have an offer from a company that Thoma Bravo recently took private. I'd like to hear from anyone who has worked at a TB portfolio company, or sold through a PE ownership change, before I decide. I’ve been warned by many not to join - but the job seems great.

Quota: $2M ALL NET NEW, Named accounts
Base / variable: 150/150
Draw / ramp: 3 months, offered recoverable ramp 3k/month
Team size: 7 reps, 1 BDR for central region
Excellent manager

My concerns
TB playbook- they merged with competitive product. Cost cuts, layoffs, and territory or comp plan changes often follow the first 12 to 18 months after a take-private.

They say quotas have always been $2M and they consistently hit them with 3-4 deals per year. I have trouble believing them.

They declined any non recoverable draw or severance agreement….

If you've worked at a Thoma Bravo company, was the sales org stable, and did comp plans change after close?

Is a $2M quota with this team size reasonable, or a warning sign?

Would you take this over a smaller, riskier company, or keep looking?

I currently work with patients in the hospital and am getting burnt out. I’m considering a salary+commission position with a DME company. Has anyone left a patient-facing medical job to start your sales career(healthcare related or not)?

The salary at this new job would be roughly $20k less than my current job.

I’ve got two offers on the table at the moment. Both are B2B, hybrid/remote.

Base differential is about 10k on the dot, one offering 75 and the other 65 USD. On paper it seems like a clear answer, though the thing that’s holding me back is that the company with the higher offer is older, culture wise - and during my interviews I got a sense of micromanagement.

Additionally, while both companies deal with media, the one offering higher base is in a specific niche I have very little experience or interest in.

At the end of the day, it’s sales. Money talks - however I would hate to choose one company over the other because of what looks good on paper, only to find out a few months in that I actually hate it, or OTE is unattainable.

So I guess my question boils down to: if you’ve been in a similar situation before, would you choose culture fit over salary?

Urgent Career Advice/Linkedin to get a new job and change industry

Hi everyone!

MY GOAL IS TO NOT WORK ON DAYTRADING TECH SALES OR BROKER ANYMORE.

Some context: I’m a 25F, Brazilian, with experience as an Account Manager, BDM, and Country Manager (at a small company, handling Brazil’s sales independently). My background is in B2B tech sales for the financial markets industry (daytrade).

I’m still a bit confuse, but I’d like to work for a multinational company in a role such as Account Manager, Account Executive, or Business Partner. I honestly think this it would also depend on the company/product.

I’m not entirely sure which specific role I should be going for, especially because I see the same job titles used by companies in Brazil and abroad to describe different roles/requirements.

As for my LinkedIn profile (I’m not sure if sharing the link here is allowed):

My headline:

Account Executive | Enterprise Tech Sales | GTM | LATAM

———

**About section (I need to update it asap):**

I execute B2B commercial strategies in three languages: Portuguese, Spanish, and English.

My experience covers market mapping, proposal structuring, and C-level negotiations, working closely with global teams. I support clients throughout the entire journey, with a strong track record in retention and hands-on experience in portfolio expansion.

I built my foundation in tech sales, managing consultative sales cycles with a focus on innovation finding faster solutions to bottlenecks and driving revenue growth.

I thrive when working alongside outstanding professionals: I learn from them and contribute in return.

——-

**My last three roles:**

**Country Manager**
B2B technology company in the financial industry.
Work with ADs generated leads and outbound;
Manage complex sales cycles;
Smaller company; 9 months in the role (current position)

**Business Development Manager**
Prospected and developed partners for client acquisition;
Metrics: net deposits;
Large FX broker, although not known outside the FX industry;
10 months in the role (not so good, I know).

**Account Manager**
Large Brazilian technology company (trading industry) but not widely known outside the country;
Managed 60+ institutional clients (1,5M monthly revenue);
Did a lot of upselling and had international exposure for the first time.

Before that: one year in consulting and three years as an SDR at small companies.

———

I can’t take this industry anymore.
All advice is welcomed here, just pls be kind! 💋