How Do you Begin a Career In Sales? Understanding sales roles & career path

If you’re new to sales, it may seem extremely daunting and confusing where to start. There are a ton of acronyms, and abbreviations, and different roles - which all may seem to overlap and even compete with each other.?

However, there actually is a great deal of organization to the sales world, and a standard career track, with each position leading seamlessly (in an ideal world) into the next role.?

The goal of this article is to give you three things:?

1. The standard sales career progression
2. A look at the advantages/disadvantages of each (essentially “with more complexity & compensation, comes more responsibility”)
3. Details on each role and the skills/strengths required to be good at each

Here’s a look “Normal” Standard Sales Career Progression. I put “normal” in quotations because sales is also an extremely dynamic field, so it is possible to skip over certain roles or progress out of order.?

1. BDR (Business Development Rep)
2. Jr. AE (Junior Account Executive)
3. AE (Account Executive)
4. Sr. AE (Senior Account Executive)
5. Manager of Sales?
6. Director of Sales
7. VP of Sales
8. SVP - Sales
9. Chief Revenue Officer / Chief Executive Officer?

Descriptions of each role:

BDR/SDR also referred to as an “XDR” - this role is all about enerating Meetings and Building Pipeline?

Daily Activities of a BDR:?

• Cold calling & outreach?
• Qualifying the lead??
• Might be able to close smaller deals

How BDRs are Measured:?

• # of calls they make per day - 60 calls?
• Set appointments - # of meetings set with qualified deals?
• Pipeline $$$?
• Sometimes: Closing deals or running a few phone calls?

BDR Challenges:?

• It can be a grind/demoralizing - lots of rejection?
• Depending on the company, can get “stuck” in a BDR role - 2+ years. Most BDRs are looking to hone their craft for the first year or two of their career before moving on to an AE role?
• Good benchmark is to move on to an AE role in 12-18 months?

BDR Advantages:?

• EXCELLENT experience and training?
• Great opportunity to learn the ropes/learn from and shadow AEs & great salespeople?
• Great place to start in sales?

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Account Executive

The account executive is the primary sales role in a company. They are responsible for all revenue and deal closure in their “patch”. Serve as the lead negotiator and closer of business deals.

• Uncovering and discovering opportunities?
• Moving deals forward?
• Closing Deals on time - forecasting?
• Can be net new or existing biz?

How AEs are measured:?

• QUOTA? - Monthly/Quarterly/Annual (how much revenue have we brought in for the company)?
• Pipeline - the money we expect to bring in and when?
• Activity - Who are you calling, how many calls, etc. etc.?

AE Challenges:?

• Potentially lower base salary (this is usually coupled with very high commission, which is what makes it so attractive for most)?
• VERY Competitive & rigorous role
• There is a high expectation of constant performance?

AE Advantages:?

• Extremely well compensated?
• Huge growth opportunities?
• Getting attention and credit - think celebrating wins
• Bigger commission checks?

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Account Manager/Director:?

Account managers and directors are tasked with managing existing accounts, upselling additional products and services. This is a fantastic role for anyone who wants more consistency in their income with less rigor and “hunter” mentality as with the AE role. Often a role that tenured sales executives will choose, as an alternative to the management track, to remain an individual contributor.?

• Usually in charge of keeping customers successful?
• Have a set number of existing accounts
• Managing the strategy for the account?

How AMs and ADs are maeasured:

• Quota & Pipeline: Amount of revenue the roll is expected to close, and the prediction of when that revenue will come in.?
• Account health - renewals/upsells - customer satisfaction?

AM/AD Challenges:?

• Lower commission (higher base, lower bonuses)
• Wear many hats, have many roles, but only measured for one. AM’s and AD’s are often tasked with helping clients solve challenges with the tool,??
• May have many responsibilities supporting customers, making sure they are successful

AM/AD Advantages:?

• Much greater income stability can be 80% base 20% commission or 70/30
• Higher base salary than most sales roles?
• Ability to work with strategy, build long term relationships?
• Get to focus more on long-term goals

Sales Management (Sales Manager, VP of Sales)?

This is an entirely different topic and something that I won’t cover here as I’m focused on outlining the beginning (the first 10 or 20 years) of a sales career. The summary of this is moving into sales management brings its own struggles and challenges. Often you become “squeezed in the middle” between the expectations of company leadership (VP, CRO, CEO) and the realities of the field (from your sales reports).?

You’re also more removed from the field, from working with clients (which many miss, because it’s wonderful working on the front lines) and you also are entirely measured on things which you’re one or two levels removed from. Think: the difference between working on deals yourself and motivating and guiding others who will be responsible for negotiating and closing business.?

These roles are very rigorous. Often highly successful sales reps will move into these management positions only to realized that it’s an entirely different skillset and more work being a manager, and they’ll actually move back into a Sr. Account Executive or Account Director role - where they’ll earn much more and have less hassle. For some, the management track is their ideal outcome, and it opens to doors to more “moving up the company ranks” becoming a VP of Sales, a Chief Revenue Officer, and oftentimes a CEO.?

Revenue Leadership (Chief Revenue Officer, Chief Executive Officer)?

Think about the above, but amplified three or four levels. Completely focused on driving big picture business outcomes, sales strategy, processes, pricing and solutioning etc. Greater challenges and stress, but of course much greater compensation, influence, and trajectory opportunities.?

By the way, I include CEO in this article as the vast majority (estimated 70% of CEOs from large corporations started their career in sales).?

Skills and aptitudes required for each sales role:??

BDR - This is all about grit and activity. Repetition, persistence, ability to shrug things off and keep going.?

• Ability to get up each morning, hustle, deal with rejection, and keep pushing forward - these roles are very clearly measured by activity: calls, emails, meetings set

As a BDR, here’s how to position yourself for the “next role” (Account Executive):?

• Overachieve your metrics - that is a consistent theme needed for all sales role, master the job assigned first before looking at what comes next?
• Expand past the meeting - our first instinct might be to book a meeting, hand it off to the AE and then go chase the next meeting, but spend some time learning about the sales process as well. Shadow the discovery call, learn what differentiates a high probability sale from someone who might just be “kicking tires?

Account Executive - Deliver results, action oriented, attention to detail, pure grit and resilience?

• Overdeliver on quota, demonstrate excellent ability to forecast, deliver, organize, and stick to the revenue plan. Have an extremely clear idea of where each deal is, what the closing plan is, how you can ensure it moves forward on time and on pace?
• Coach other reps - demonstrate your ability to motivate & guide others?
• Organization - This will be extremely important for a sales management, time management, business (pipeline/deal) management, relationship management.?

Account Manager - Deliver results, thinking strategically, collaboration,?relationship management

• Delivering incredible customer service & success, strategic, negotiation?
• Ability to manage long-term sales cycles, to fit pitching and closing into relationship building
• "Farming mentality" ability to nurture relationships, build multi-year roadmaps and consistently execute towards them

Sales Management/Leadership

Moving on from a sales manager role is a topic for a more advanced article, the main point is, your ability to manage a team successfully will earn you the right to manage bigger and bigger teams and mobilize more diverse talent towards hitting an objective.?

Summary:

Hope you enjoyed this, if you’re on the fence, just dive in. Message me for any questions, or even help with getting into the field.?

My door is always open.?