The When Why and How of SDR to Enterprise AE Career Path
Opinions around the Entry-level SDR to Enterprise AE path abound. Horror stories, un-repeatable successes, and annec-data are everywhere. My team did some research on the topic. They reviewed 230+ LinkedIn profiles of current Enterprise Account Executives that contained a stint in Sales Development.
Note: a longer version of this piece was posted on The Bridge Group blog.
What does the path look like?
There are as many paths to an Enterprise AE role as they are routes into Sales itself. We found many reps don’t follow a linear SDR1, SDR2, AE1, AE2 path. Stints in the following roles aren’t uncommon:
- SDR Team Leads
- Customer Success
- Channel Sales Reps
- VP/Director of Sales
That being said, the most common career path looks more or less like this:
Inbound SDR → Outbound SDR → Senior SDR →Associate AE → Commercial AE → Enterprise AE
What does the comp look like?
A client (a high-growth SaaS company) allowed us to anonymously share their internal compensation and rough timing matrix.
That’s 3.5X’ing your OTE in roughly 5 years--putting you in the top 5% of the US individual income distribution.
How long does it really take?
In reality, the overwhelming majority of Enterprise AEs don’t make that full journey within a single company. Only 9% of our sample ran the table from entry-level to enterprise at the same company.
The data indicates:
- Median time since first SDR role: 6.25 years
- Median # of companies they’ve worked at: 3 companies
- Median # of steps along the way: 6 roles
Said another way, the median journey from SDR to Enterprise AE takes 6.25 years, 6 different roles, and typically 3 different companies.
Where do we go from here?
There are no easy answers. Telling SDRs to “just stay heads down” and “keeping paying their dues” is unhelpful--and often poorly received advice.
Yet, there’s some truth to it.
The grass is always greener (plus the comp is definitely greener) on the AE side of the fence. If you are telling new hires that your company is the one to offer that well designed career path, you better put up.
The reality is that for many companies, building a formal career path and sticking to timelines/promotion criteria can be massively challenging.
But if we want less attrition, longer tenure, and (mostly importantly) a positive impact on people’s careers, we have to do the heavy lifting. That means both hiring reps willing to put in the time and building a career path with real steps and criteria for them to advance.
Enterprise sales at AWS | MBA Candidate at UW Foster School of Business | 4X AWS certified l MEDDICC certified
4 年Great article Trish! Great call out the career path isn't always linear, and often times a rep has to move onto a different company to attain the AE role. Out of curiosity, do you think this has anything to do with a lack of training in an immature SDR organization or the expectation you are only supposed to be in the SDR role for 10 months?
Venture Builder | Advisor | Mentor | Entrepreneur | Founder
4 年Thank you Trish Bertuzzi! I'm glad to see this published! I would posit that providing a career path up front AND investing in the person's training and growth has a greater chance of retention. Thoughts??
Sales Development Consultant
4 年As a highly accomplished, thoughtful and creative SDR in search of a new opportunity, I am aghast at the low value assigned to this role, generally speaking as well as by start-ups and overseas companies trying to break into US market. I possess a well-honed but ever evolving playbook and a history of new business revenues that stand as a testament to my success. I thrive on the challenges associated with the role - prospecting, messaging, etc. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle whereby you must figure out how to put all the pieces together. Just as no two puzzles are the same, no two prospects are identical. Outreach must reflect this(ie. tactical personalization). Companies would be wise to rethink their prevailing views of SDRs as mainly entry level positions.
Award-winning Sales Leader & People Developer
4 年Amanda Ahlfeld McKenzie Marx Kirwen
Enterprise Account Executive at hireEZ
4 年The comp ranges definitely seem low, is this for the SF bay area??