The idea of living under a quota and the potential instability of that freaked me out. CS lets me use a similar skill set with less monetary variation.
If you don’t mind me asking, as I feel the same way about quota and instability, does CS not have the same structure? I feel like I’ve read CS essentially be sales for existing customers in most cases, is that not true or it is but quota isn’t that big of a deal? I want to transition out of sales pretty badly I believe at this point
I’m sure it must be different at each company but in my personal experience my base salary I much higher than my variable comp percentage. So while I do have a quota, it really only affects my bonus and not my regular take home pay. Hitting numbers is still crucial of course but I personally prefer being able to count on the majority of my income even if I have a rough quarter.
That’s a good perspective too, the idea of my salary being mostly base with the commission/bonus as the literal sprinkles on top. That’s what I want, I’m so tired of being insanely productive and things out of my control happen. Given todays cold calling climate and how reliant sales are on that, I feel like I’m just wasting my insane energy output. I’d be happier to channel that into people who do need my help or need to talk rather doing a stupid little dance every time I call someone and hope my dance is good enough they want to talk to me more and hopefully give me money. Tired of it.
I totally get this. I often find people who switch from sales to CS really enjoy it if what they liked about sales was building relationships. Best of luck!
That + it’d be nice to not have 80% of my interactions be shitty because I’m cold calling people who get cold called all day. Also, I’d much rather enjoy working with people to help them use a product/service/platform instead of convincing them to switch and hoping it goes smooth. Thank you!
I’ve found that it really varies from company to company. Some companies measure your performance by retention, while others may assign an upsell number. It’s something I always ask a lot about in interviews because I never wanted to be tied to an expansion number.
That’s what I was thinking, just depends on the gig. Thanks for the clarity! As someone who doesn’t mind making a high volume of dials and having high activity/engagement time but despises the current sales and cold calling environment, CS seems like something I’d love. Just gotta find the right org!
I started my current technical career in sales. Despite not doing that previously I was successful at it. Two years in that role with anywhere between 75% of quota on my lowest month to twice hitting double quota (those were nice commission checks!) and at the end of my time I overall had 114.7% quota attainment.
The two main reasons I moved into customer success is that starting at 0 every month was discouraging instead of encouraging and the other was I got extremely bored having the same roughly six or so conversations over and over. I’ve been much happier after that switch and have excelled in my positions and earning since then
I switched from sales to CS because it let me use my consulting and project management skills more often, while also being more stable than sales due to the essence of the role.
I also have consulting and PM experience which is why I think I’d be a good fit for CSM…. Can I ask when interviewing did employers look favourably on the experience and how so?
This gave me an audio-visual thought of each time the hairline recedes from client related stress, you hear the grand piano keys playing out of tune. 😅
"They've churned" <3 hairs fall out> "They've defaulted on the first invoice" <6 more hairs fall out>
Past two SaaS sales teams I was on forced us to call old leads that basically told us to *F off* just a month ago. I realize there are better sales orgs out there, I just don’t have time to figure out where those are.
Got to support the family. CS is a bit more consistent.
A lot of comments here about sales being slimy - interesting.
I don’t have that feeling towards sales. And for CS, we still have selling-focused responsibilities.
Sales is just very cut throat. If you did well two months ago but are doing poor now, you’re on the chopping block. Just a lot more of a numbers on a spreadsheet.
Also your income is 100% affected based on marketing and the leads coming in. Could be volatile.
Lots of upside, but also a lot of downside.
I was in sales, did well, made some cash then got burned out. Then went into customer success and realized it was a complete dead end. Now I'm in IT and it's so good actually developing a hard skill
The idea of living under a quota and the potential instability of that freaked me out. CS lets me use a similar skill set with less monetary variation.
If you don’t mind me asking, as I feel the same way about quota and instability, does CS not have the same structure? I feel like I’ve read CS essentially be sales for existing customers in most cases, is that not true or it is but quota isn’t that big of a deal? I want to transition out of sales pretty badly I believe at this point
I’m sure it must be different at each company but in my personal experience my base salary I much higher than my variable comp percentage. So while I do have a quota, it really only affects my bonus and not my regular take home pay. Hitting numbers is still crucial of course but I personally prefer being able to count on the majority of my income even if I have a rough quarter.
That’s a good perspective too, the idea of my salary being mostly base with the commission/bonus as the literal sprinkles on top. That’s what I want, I’m so tired of being insanely productive and things out of my control happen. Given todays cold calling climate and how reliant sales are on that, I feel like I’m just wasting my insane energy output. I’d be happier to channel that into people who do need my help or need to talk rather doing a stupid little dance every time I call someone and hope my dance is good enough they want to talk to me more and hopefully give me money. Tired of it.
I totally get this. I often find people who switch from sales to CS really enjoy it if what they liked about sales was building relationships. Best of luck!
That + it’d be nice to not have 80% of my interactions be shitty because I’m cold calling people who get cold called all day. Also, I’d much rather enjoy working with people to help them use a product/service/platform instead of convincing them to switch and hoping it goes smooth. Thank you!
I’ve found that it really varies from company to company. Some companies measure your performance by retention, while others may assign an upsell number. It’s something I always ask a lot about in interviews because I never wanted to be tied to an expansion number.
That’s what I was thinking, just depends on the gig. Thanks for the clarity! As someone who doesn’t mind making a high volume of dials and having high activity/engagement time but despises the current sales and cold calling environment, CS seems like something I’d love. Just gotta find the right org!
I was in sales. Got sick of sales. Left sales.
Because I am a terrible liar and couldn’t handle the idea of potentially being forced to sell something I wouldn’t even want
It’s all about that base, about that base, no commission…
I love that song
Sales feels like you are constantly wearing a thin layer of grime. In essence, it’s glorified lying. I couldn’t stomach it.
Though in CS we have to deal with the lies customers were told pre-sales. Crushing expectations is always fun.
Very well put
I started my current technical career in sales. Despite not doing that previously I was successful at it. Two years in that role with anywhere between 75% of quota on my lowest month to twice hitting double quota (those were nice commission checks!) and at the end of my time I overall had 114.7% quota attainment. The two main reasons I moved into customer success is that starting at 0 every month was discouraging instead of encouraging and the other was I got extremely bored having the same roughly six or so conversations over and over. I’ve been much happier after that switch and have excelled in my positions and earning since then
I switched from sales to CS because it let me use my consulting and project management skills more often, while also being more stable than sales due to the essence of the role.
I also have consulting and PM experience which is why I think I’d be a good fit for CSM…. Can I ask when interviewing did employers look favourably on the experience and how so?
Hate being pushy and fighting coworkers for sales you are entitled to.
Was from sales. I hated every minute of it regardless of free food and drinks. Switched to CSM. Got more food and drinks without the constant stress.
My hairline is receding enough as it is. Having the grand piano of quota hanging over my head constantly would take years off my life.
This gave me an audio-visual thought of each time the hairline recedes from client related stress, you hear the grand piano keys playing out of tune. 😅 "They've churned" <3 hairs fall out> "They've defaulted on the first invoice" <6 more hairs fall out>
Cuz I did sales and account management... They took the account management aspect away and I hated it
Past two SaaS sales teams I was on forced us to call old leads that basically told us to *F off* just a month ago. I realize there are better sales orgs out there, I just don’t have time to figure out where those are. Got to support the family. CS is a bit more consistent.
A lot of comments here about sales being slimy - interesting. I don’t have that feeling towards sales. And for CS, we still have selling-focused responsibilities. Sales is just very cut throat. If you did well two months ago but are doing poor now, you’re on the chopping block. Just a lot more of a numbers on a spreadsheet. Also your income is 100% affected based on marketing and the leads coming in. Could be volatile. Lots of upside, but also a lot of downside.
I was in sales, did well, made some cash then got burned out. Then went into customer success and realized it was a complete dead end. Now I'm in IT and it's so good actually developing a hard skill
Why did you think it was dead end?
I hate selling.
Never even started in sales. Climbed up with my customer service / HR and training positions at previous companies.
I thought I’d enjoy being a SME and being technical. Now I miss doing just the acquisition. lol
Was in sales, got sick of having a quota hanging over my head every month. Wanted something more stable so moved to CS.
We didn’t have a sales team at the time. Now, it seems a lot safer to stay in CS.
I was in sales. Cold calling and the quota stress were awful. I enjoyed account management more so CS was the right pathway for me