Why do I not get promoted to AE?

If you have read my earlier newsletter, Unstuck from SDRland, you would know that I spent a total of 4.5 years in various SDR roles at salesforce.com.

In the first 1.5 years, nobody ever mentioned what I needed to have in order to become an AE. I was diligently doing my inbound lead qualification calls, and I could do that really well. I had no problem hitting my monthly quota from month 6 onward. I thought, "OK, if I consistently hit my quota, and I’m the longest-serving SDR on the team, and I have the patience to wait, I should be in line for the next promotion, right?"

But that was not true. After some of my SDR teammates were promoted, the company began hiring outside AEs to fill AE positions rather than promoting from the SDR team.

That was when I first heard from management (including the AE team manager and VPs), "You are not thinking like an AE."

“So what does that mean?” I was puzzled.

Only when Shirley Tan became my SDR manager did she explain it to me. By then, Shirley had done 3 years of AE role at salesforce.com while working with SDRs, so she could share the AE/management perspective.

Lesson 1: "Think like an AE"

I remember that at the beginning of my inbound SDR role, I really thought, “My job is to filter through the large quantity of inbound leads, qualify them based on BANT, and then arrange the next call for the AE to speak with them.” My job ended after I sent the introduction email. (*see note at the bottom)

The mentality was, “OK, I got you the call/meeting; off I go.” Now, that is “thinking like an SDR.”

SDRs who “think like an AE” would be asking themselves:

“How is my AE going to take this deal further into the sales cycle in this next call?

What can I do to help my AE close this deal?”

Common Scenario 1:

The SDR sets the meeting because

“the prospect/lead wants to see a demo; I can’t do a demo, so I hand it over to the AE.” Or

“the prospect/lead has pricing questions; I can’t answer them, so I hand it over to the AE.”

In this scenario, it is easy to set the next call/meeting up for your AEs. And I’m not saying that, as an SDR, you should go ahead and do the demo or answer the pricing questions. But have you thought about "Have I given my AE enough qualification information so that my AE isn’t wasting their time just to do a demo or provide pricing information in that next call?"

The reason your AE or SDR manager may not want you to answer pricing questions could be because you don’t know the product well enough, and they are concerned you might provide incorrect pricing information. Proactively show them how you would handle pricing questions, and ask if you are doing it correctly. So that you can handle these questions for your AE in the future.

The reason SDRs don’t do demos is that it is a difficult skill to master. So, shadow your AE during demo sessions and learn from how they conduct the demo. Then proactively show your AEs or SDR manager your demo and ask if they feel comfortable for you to handle a demo with a less critical lead or prospect.

When I was at Salesforce.com, I built trust with my AEs to such an extent that they would let me do a demo while they stayed in the background during actual meetings. If I made any mistakes, they would step in and take over. That was how I built up these skills before I even got the AE job.

Common Scenario 2:

The SDR discovers in the first call that the lead/prospect is just a member of the project team gathering preliminary information and is definitely not the decision maker. However, the SDR fails to identify who the decision maker is during the call and simply arranges the next call for the AE, setting the expectation that the AE will provide all the information the lead/prospect has requested.

In most of these situations, after the AE provides the information, the deal often gets stuck and fails to move further into the sales cycle.

My AEs explained that this happened because they couldn't get access to the decision maker. They suggested that instead of just arranging a meeting with the information gatherer, I should try to involve the decision maker in the conversation. They taught me to say to the lead/prospect: “OK, I understand you are in the evaluation stage. Could you bring your boss/decision maker to the Demo session, and I will bring in my AE?”

Depending on the size of the company, I couldn’t always get the final decision maker to join the next meeting, but at least I could often involve the manager of the information gatherer, such as the IT manager or director, which was already a significant improvement. This experience was where I learned and practiced the “Give & Get” principle, which I later used as an AE to manage the sales cycle.

Common Scenario 3:

When I was in an outbound SDR role, my relationship with my AEs was even closer. I supported five AEs (focused on Mid-Market and Enterprise accounts) and had a direct impact on the health of their pipelines.

As an outbound SDR, I often worked on a particular account for six months or even a year before they were ready to have their first call or meeting with an AE. I built relationships with various people within these accounts, from analysts to CXOs.

As Sufi R. rightly mentioned, SDRs should not disengage the account after securing that first call or meeting. It’s advisable for SDRs to participate in these initial calls and do a warm handoff for the AE.

If your AE wants to keep you in the email loop and introduces you as part of the account team, it’s a sign that you’ve done well and that you have a supportive AE who wants to nurture your growth!

(P.S. Every AE may work a little differently, so maintain open communication with your AE about your plans. Always show respect by informing your AEs of what you are doing within the account.)

Here is Sufi's additional explanation (added Dec 2)

Lesson 2: Management will not promote you unless you SHOW them that you can already do an AE’s job.

I would say this is probably the most valuable thing Shirley taught me: to think from management’s perspective. And this is what many young SDRs lack.

To be promoted to AE, the key decision maker is the manager of that AE position. From their perspective, the biggest risk in hiring me versus an experienced outside AE is, “I haven’t done a closing role. Will I perform?”

A lot of young SDRs think, “Oh, I can go into the AE role and then learn on the job!”

Truth be told, the AE role is not a training ground, and the AE manager does not have the time to teach you all the basics. Sometimes, even when an AE manager hires an experienced outside AE, that person might not work out. So, if they decide to give me the AE role, they are taking a “leap of faith” with me.

To help them have confidence in me, I didn’t just show that I could do demos and presentations; I also closed some deals to demonstrate that I understood how to run a sales cycle. These were things I SHOWED management to prove that I understood the AE role and could already perform it.

Of course, having a manager who helps ensure SDR candidates get a fair chance at evaluation, combined with a company culture and senior leadership that values internal talent, will significantly increase your chances of being promoted.

Q: So when should I start accumulating these extra skills as an SDR?

I would say that once you are consistently hitting your monthly quota, that’s the time to start thinking about doing all the extra things, such as presentations and demos.

For some people, this could be as early as month 6. For others, like me, it might be around month 12. It varies from person to person, largely depending on your prior work experience.

However, the worst mistake a young SDR can make is to engage in these extra activities before even hitting their numbers. Remember, the pre-requisite for any promotion in a sales role is always exceeding 100% of your quota attainment.

*Note: this scope of my inbound SDR role was also confirmed by the then AE team's manager. She specifically said that she didn't want SDRs to continue talking to the prospect/lead after introducing the AE.

She said inbound SDR should be focusing on everyday's new incoming leads. Our SDR team's service-level-agreement with marketing and AE team is such that everyday's new incoming leads should be contacted within 24 hour.

Related articles

How I unstuck from SDRland

FAQ on how I unstuck from SDRland

My great manager series - Shirley Tan

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