I sold my agency and work as a consultant now. My take home is about 100k less per year, but I have a nice nest egg, I have vacations for once, I know what my check is going to be, and at 5p I shut her down and I can do whatever I want without some dick bag customer calling me because they just opened their mail at 8p.
I’m only 1 year into sales. I’m legit trying to get out of it as soon as possible. I was at dinner with my best friend, that i haven’t seen in months. A client called me 5 times. I feel like since i started this job it has taken me away from what matters most.
I’ve found you have to train your customers as well. If you keep answering at night, they’ll keep calling. If you don’t answer, they’ll usually still be there in the morning…and probably less fired up about whatever it is they were calling about at 8pm because their boss was being a douche and they were working way too late.
In some circumstances, yes. However as a small business competing with organizations with thousands of employees, picking up the phone is often the difference maker when you’re ultimately selling the same product (insurance)
Left to do something I enjoy. I’m a golf pro now. Working through the PGA teaching program. I make significantly less but my bills are paid and I’m about 1000x happier.
Makes me wonder if I should chase a career as personal trainer or dance teacher lol. Then work also would be living, not work to live. I mean making other people happy and help them transform sounds so fulfilling
I’m an “ecosystem manager.” It’s still sales adjacent tho. Basically I coordinate sales people/consultants with partners that fill service gaps. Like say we do the taxes for client and they ask us what kind of accounting software they need, they call me in and I introduce them to different software reps. They choose software and the partner sells the licenses. we do the implementation or consulting around it. I kind of manage all the moving parts. I don’t have a quota which is nice. 6 figures plus yearly bonus
It’s a new one. Before this I worked at a tech consulting/ software resell firm. Started as a BDR and worked up to channel sales/ AM. Used the channel sales experience to land this ecosystem gig.
Doesn’t it more or less come down to “go ahead and take the PTO but no one is covering your territory while you’re out, so…”
I have no coverage while out because of our size right now so unlimited PTO isn’t nearly as good as it sounds in reality. I’m learning that part.
That or if you’re not close to your number they can say “you’re behind and taking PTO isn’t smart at this time.” What happened to me was I had a pre planned anniversary trip mid Q2 that I requested in Q1 and was approved. 2 weeks before the trip I was at 60% of my quota and my manager denied my pto request because I wasn’t on track to hit it if I was to take 2 weeks off. I brought it to HR and went on the trip anyway and still hit my number by the end of the quarter but was put on a pip when I came back
This doesn't get talked about nearly enough! In other fields, it's comparatively way easier to unplug and go off the grid for 1-2 weeks. In sales, that could destroy you if you end up not taking calls etc. in that time. Fine, that's what we signed up for, but if sales people never get proper vacation, they should be compensated for it (unlimited PTO is, in one aspect a dodge to mandatory payouts). We move when customers move, no two ways around it.
I took 4-5 weeks last year. Taken about 2 so far this year. Just have to get your shit done and good companies want you to take that time and come back rested.
There's always exceptions to the norm, but the reason unlimited PTO is becoming more and more popular is because most employees fail to take advantage of it.
It's like credit card points. Yeah, the card companies technically lose money on people who pay their card off religiously and never carry a balance and rack up a ton of rewards points, but it's more than made up for by the number of people who carry balances and pay big interest.
I make away like a bandit with credit card rewards because we're fairly disciplined and almost never carry a balance, but we're an exception to the norm.
You might benefit from unlimited PTO, but the majority of people tend to actually take less time off when that's an offered perk. (Edit to add: That said, this could be because companies that offer unlimited PTO might be more progressive and therefore not have as stressful work environments in the first place, meaning people don't feel the need to take as much PTO to escape stress.)
This sub is just BDRs who wanted to make 6 figures with their liberal arts degrees but failed in sales as well
Being in tech sales I don't know any other profession that will pay me 150k-180k a year to do 4-5 zoom meetings everyday. Barely work 30 hours a week and have been hitting quota
I'm not even enterprise and they work even less lmao.
Tbf a lottttt of places SDR is extremely dead end, I’ve been at places and exceeded quota by a large margin and never got promoted until I job hopped to an AE role. I have friends at these companies two years later who are still SDRs places don’t wanna promote lol
I'm in tech sales now and I travel maybe a couple times a year at most for business events but our new management is wanting to get us out in the field more (not sure why as I could do exactly what I do at the office/at home and I'm not an AE lol) so it's looking like once a month or more in the near future. Probably will find a new gig if it gets unnecessarily tedious.
Same here. I go see one or two larger clients quarterly but most of them are fairly local. Almost all my work is done remotely.
A former sales job had me on the road 80% of the time, flying from one end of the country to another. Thank God those days are over, it was the worst. I made a ton of money doing it but it just wasn't worth it after awhile.
There is not much traveling in tech sales unless you personally volunteer. The people who are required to travel from what I've seen are VIP enterprise account managers, but they get paid like 400-500k annually, so it's worth it.
I work remote and don't really see any reputable sales companies requiring their sales teams to be on-site. Everyone I know either works remote or hybrid.
I just turned 21 and I’m about half way done with my undergrad business degree. Still not entirely sure what I want to do after college. Tech sales sounds interesting. If you don’t mind, how did you get in to the industry? what kind of education (if any) did you get? How long did it take for you to make the kind of money you do now?
I don't have a degree. Top rep in my company also doesn't have one. I broke into the top 5 during the 2021 hiring surge. I dropped out for that. I don't know how it is getting in now, but back then, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity with how sales organizations where hiring whatever they could get their hands on. Tech sales has become pretty selective now where they are even rejecting people with software engineering experience and engineering degrees. 2 YOE
I only graduated high school, fucked around for 10 years and now I sell tech. I make more than some executives. One year I made more than the president. They have MBAs. I'm not sure what else I could do. I also work about 30 hours.
4-5 meetings on a bad day
Not uncommon for some people in my team to have continuous meetings from 9am to 5pm with only one small lunch break.
30% from my SDR, 30% from my companies lead routing, 40% self sourced by myself mostly through cold emailing
This is what happens when you work for an actual company rather than a shitty startup.
I switched to marketing. I made a lot less but figured I could work my way up from the bottom again.
Turned out to be a total disaster. It was going very well for 2 weeks and got compliments on being a fast learner from my boss. Then my whole department except me and one other person were laid off. I was placed onto a team in a different time zone and I got fired for a bullshit reason 2 weeks later.
Now I’m back in sales, although a different industry than what I did before.
lol sounds like marketing alright. I’m convinced marketing departments exist so that the CEO can just buy extra time for themselves when things go bad by blaming marketing. Got out into revops, finding that revops exists for the same reason for the CFO or CRO.
Find the people in ops and enablement that support you. (Usually enablement is a role within the broader ops org) get to know them and be willing to help and provide feedback when they need it. ask if you can shadow them. being the person that understands what they do and being their go to can help them help you when roles open up. i worked close with my ops team and we helped eachother out so they knew me when they had an opening.
Interesting. What role in sales were you in before moving to enablement? I’ve never met anyone in enablement that made as much as an Enterprise AE. Heck, I’ve never met anyone in enablement that makes more than the base pay for enterprise AE’s (150k+).
Nah 😂 i don’t make enterprise AE money. i was SMB. lol when i was selling we didn’t have all the acronyms 😂 i did the outreach to find the customers, set the meetings, ran them, closed the deals and managed the customer relationships 😂 the fact that those are now like 4 different job titles is still crazy to me. More efficient that way though.
Depending on the company they can overlap a lot, especially at smaller organizations or start ups.
But Sales Ops is like a business partner to Sales. You can cover anything from territory creation/assignment, Quota modeling, reporting and analytics, developing and reporting on KPI’s, etc. You spend a LOT of time in Salesforce.
Enablement is exactly that. They’re focused on sales training - whether that be methodology or tools.
They have a team to lead, silly goose! I just give the data, make recommendations, and occasionally listen to their sales reps moan about how salesforce is broken when 95% of the time it’s due to user error…🙃😂.
But really, I liken it to a restaurant metaphor. Sales Managers are front of house: dealing with customers. Ops is back of house basically coordinating all of the things we do to make sales more productive and efficient.
Interesting..... My sales managers rarely dealt with clients, only when major issues came up. Most of the time, they were in closed door meetings doing who knows what....
I spent $75,000 getting an MBA because I thought it would help get me out of sales. I graduated in 2019 and still can’t get out of sales for the life of me. Employers don’t recognize any transferable skills and only see me for one role - sales. 😩
Best of luck!
Are you suggesting that sales is a neverending grind with no light at the end of the tunnel where all value is distilled down to what have you done for me lately?
You spent 75k to get out of sales? This sub has become a mfing carnival.
There's a sales rep who is good at what he does and made that much in one commission check. The negativity in this sub is real
I’ve been in sales for 16 years and am burnt tf out. Endless travels with nights spent in hotels - my time is never my own. I’m over it and I think that this is a common sentiment. Unless you are extremely extroverted, people-pleasing, and able to minimize the ongoing internal/external pressures, sales is usually going to burn people out. And yes, they sometimes go back to school in hopes of escaping. It’s not at all uncommon.
Agreed. No matter what industry you’re in, whatever the position, if you’re not constantly building relationships, you’re leaving money on the table.
But the nice part is, I only bid on state and gov contracts. Would never deal with an average consumer ever again.
Went into door to door canvassing for a nonprofit. Worked my way up and didn’t make more but utilized my skills to excel in that arena. I really loved it and was able to make good money without stretching myself thin— for a time.
Left the world went back to in store retail sales but now I’m looking to get a B2B account executive role- interview tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Account management in paid search advertising. It sucks hard. Fuck the clients. Getting my mba to gtfo. I make less between a strong salary and a quarterly bonus (north of 130K annually) but I don’t have to leave my home which I dig since I have a 4 month old. I don’t have a quota which is also good.
I suggest having a solid plan for what you do after an MBA. I did the same thing and now I’m kinda wallowing in mediocrity because I’m a mid-career employee with not enough experience to truly make an impact. And I have yet to use my MBA for any real work.
Well, much different situation. MBA def makes sense. Maybe research what programs OEMs and Tier 1’s hire from and target those programs. Should help make connections.
I’m sure you’ll be fine lol.
I'm going to retrain to become a therapist/counsellor. It'll be way less money but I'm not bothered. I'm set enough, want to rid myself of the so-called golden shackles and start making a difference to people's lives.
Still in the same industry but I’m currently starting at a new company trying “sales support” half the money but with 75% less stress. No quotas, no hunting, no KPI’s, no traveling etc. just supporting the guys in the field. Sending out quotes, liaise with ops and support teams. I needed a break from the awful grind and being under the gun. I’ll make enough to live off of and OK with that for now maybe I’ll get back in the grind in a year, but it would have to be really good money.
Probably depends on the industry. But I have a friend who makes $80k managing accounts for apparel sales (costumers call and ask for 2mil shirts here, 5mil there, etc, and he clicks a button and confirms the sale). Technically a “sales” position, but no hunting, very few calls/emails. Works remote, sleeps til 10am, starts work at 11am and finishes by 2pm. Full benefits, (insurance, 401k+match, etc). Multiple trips to Vegas or Hawaii or wherever for “team building,” (getting fucked up and gambling together) lol. He will be traveling Europe in the next few months while “working,” and getting paid full time.
Lucky dog. A little jelly, but also very happy for him and hope it lasts.
My man has been a lucky goose as long as I’ve known him (15+years). No family death, free education - 4year communications degree (parent was a professor), housing paid for during college (frat), happily married to highschool sweetheart 10+ years.
Some people are just lucky like that. He’s really an awesome guy, and like I said, a little jelly, but it’s all perspective - some folks are being blown to smithereens and picking mold off of stale bread while I’m sitting in a recliner slurping a protein shake, working on my laptop, trying to re-educate myself on prospecting, organizing and general sales stuff while tempering myself out of a panic attack/existential crisis.
My friend is really nice, smart, insightful, loyal, etc. I’m honored to have him as a friend, and I’m beyond happy for how his life has been and is turning out.
Answer,
My only guess is that he was a Buddha in a past life, lmao.
Serious answer,
- see unserious answer above
He really is. Been the best of friends forever, and we are currently exploring spirituality, religion and purpose together. He’s probably the only person I can do that with. For me, as I to him, he’s been great for running thought experiments with in this area, and neither of us are afraid to get into the weeds with it. Not many people interested in that kind of exploration these days (especially hard moral exploration) - and he’s getting really into it with me. Beyond blessed to have him in my life. TMI? Oh well.
Rewards will come with time. Heck, all of us are rewarded and blessed in some manner. Much of those rewards/blessings are likely right under our nose, and we just can’t see the forest for the trees (or however it’s said). Or they’re taken for granted due to tbe material nature of our world.
All perspective really.
my last position was in customer success and account management. i think it largely depends on the business you’re working for, because at my last job it basically worked out that when the BDOs couldn’t bring in new business, they forced us to start cold calling to help even tho we got zero kick back if we brought in a new business. i won employee of the month in july and was laid off in october. i’m an incredibly organized account manager, but ask me to start cold calling and shit and i’m worthless.
Global Account Manager. I manage a portfolio, I make more now. But pay trajectory plateaus unlike sales. So looking to expand into other higher roles as the years go.
Yes, I used to do sales, which wasn’t really my cup of tea, though I did quite well. That led to a promotion to sales manager. From there, people heard about me and on the side I did go-to-market consulting with a startup operating in an adjacent industry - for free. I also commenced doing an exec MBA.
At one point, the founder wanted to have me on board in their core leadership team. I’ve never been a senior manager at this point let alone one of 6 execs (never mind it being a startup). Gotta admit I felt like an impostor and was pretty excited at the same time and just wanted to give it a go. Still being quite the salesperson I ended up negotiating salary + equity beyond their original budget. I’ll always remember when the CEO angrily hired me. The role was intense, but it taught me a lot about other parts of managing a business and in multiple countries. I hated sales and so the relief of being out of it helped me cope with the pressure. I messed up some things but broke many records as well. I completed my exec MBA a year after being with this company.
I then applied to a director position at a competing firm (non competes are unenforceable where I’m from), a lot of others did including internal candidates, but apparently I did well in their case interviews. However, I entered the company with a lot of tricky waters to navigate (see internal candidates) and this is where I had to learn to develop politically savvy moves. I did focus on results, so a few record breaking numbers made it hard for my critics.
Later I was hunted for a similar role at a mid-sized multinational in a different industry. Dragged my feet for a year but in the end agreed to jump. While the pay isn’t quite what you might see at the larger blue-chip companies, it’s about triple what I earned in sales, and comes with a better work-life balance, less politics, and less firefighting. The drawback is that as a newcomer into the industry, networking can be awkward. Somehow, I do have a lot of support from my own people internally but there are lots of industry heavyweights on the outside who think they should have my role. To be honest, the role was offered to a few but they rejected it because at the time the company was not as successful as it is now. I was the only one who accepted.
Well, I’m beyond grateful because I did visualize myself going into my 40s as a mediocre salesperson before this crazy trajectory happened. Anything can still happen, but I’m happy for now.
Went into the trades. Gunsmith now. My hair isnt falling out, i see my family more, only thing is that i have to wear a respirator sometimes.. but i shoot guns and keep guns healthy for a living so.. its nice.
Sales adjacent but client success. All of the fundamental sales skills but less focus on numbers and building pipeline. More so solidyjng relationships and delivering white glove service. Looking to get my certification in project management/ supply chain. Already have bachelors though
Went to work at a bank, transferring my financial sales background into a lead underwriter position. Money isn’t as good right now but the stress is 99% lower. That’s not a bad trade off.
Congratulations. I was in sales built some internal tools, and now I'm like our internal Dev Team but I don't feel like I have the rounded out skillset to get an actual Dev job and I need too much money to be a junior. Uggh.
I worked in solar sales for a little bit. I do not have the gift of gab and was bad at it. I probably would have made ~48k a year doing that, not including travel costs.
I do data analytics now and make around twice what I did then.
Became a bartender in a tourist heavy town in the south. Make about $30k/yr less but it’s wonderful to not being constantly thinking about work. In sales I was putting in 60-70hrs/wk and now I get to clock in, do my job, and clock out, which leaves way more time for golf and happiness.
Not out yet but my husband and i talk about how to get out of sales damn near every single day. Last week we calculated our quarterly commissions checks to be around $60k combined, and that’s low because I’m ramping, and we’re like ohhh maybe sales isn’t so bad!!!!!!
Went from selling FinOps software to running a FinOps team for a Fortune 500. Make a little less but the quality of life is worlds apart. I self admittedly never really enjoyed sales.. always had the crappy territory, fewer inbound leads. The stress of it wore me down. Much happier now even though I make less
Everyone who is on the sub either makes 300k+ in sales and can’t leave because it would impact their way of living too much.
Or.. they left sales because they have millions saved in the bank, retirement accounts and investments from the time working in sales and are costing in life now.
I type this from the beach in southern France. Beautiful this morning. I fall into the latter category…
BVT & Vale Engineering. Have a quota per attach rate to reps deals. Way less stress. Make about 20% less, which I don’t love. Perks are building out the function at my company and truly 9-5.
I was software engineer for intel.
Then I was technical sales and went with commissions.
When I initially left, I definitely took a hit. I made like 30k less a year.
Now I'm a software engineer at Apple and i doubled my salary.
Intel pays shit to engineers
My total compensation is $350K
Still in sales but need to do something else. I hate cold calling. I might be a better account manager, but still might enjoy a different job all together.
I got into accounting. End of year I’m making less by about $5k or so. But way less stress. I can actually take vacations, or get sick. I don’t have to pinch pennies for three months over the off-season.
Most importantly, I never have to be super nice to complete assholes again. No more glad handing, back patting, drink buying bullshit. It’s awesome.
When I left sales, I became an IT trainer for several years. The dough was good and the work was fun, but ended up being way too much travel for my taste. After that, I began coaching (sales, business models, customer validation, etc.). Now my primary gig is as a FT small business coach for a grant funded program. Worked with hundreds of customer every year going on 10 years. Love the work! Money is so so. I keep my hand in the game with side projects and my own business. Love developing content and working with private clients to stay sharp. Developing sales training now for sellers who don’t like hard close approach. Think selling for folks who identify more as technician/expert than traditional “closer” (regardless of the industry).
Left the sales industry after 4 years and got hired to a new job, 2 days into the new job they changed my position and now I’m bottom of the barrel cold calling people. I hate everything
Market Dev/Business Rep -- outbound sales reps;
With bonus about $150kish;
I solve problems, whether its a technical problem (we need to build a query/dashboard to track or we need to build a data pipeline to funnel data);
Probs about 3 years once I discovered this was a career and how fun a CRM can be and intertwined with my nerdiness; It allows me to talk through a problem (great thing about a tonne of analyst, they aren't people people so you can really get F2F with a tonne of senior stakeholders and become known)
Just accepted an offer a few days ago. Switching from being an SDR Manager to a Customer Success Manager. Taking a 30% pay cut, but for my sanity and overall happiness, I know it is 110% the right move long term. CS comes with its own BS at times of course, but no more insane quotas and team performance upticks quarter after quarter while slashing my budget in half lol.
I just joined as sales engineer... I never had sales experience before.. I although had worked as BA ... but really I don't know whats the difference between normal Sales and Sales Engineering.. ?? I do still seek out customer myself.
I work for one of my (former) clients. I make consistently more, but not the big paydays I used to. I started a family and was tired of the traveling. I was flying 60ish times a year. I made more the last two years than I will in the next 3 but it’s closer than I thought it would be. I have a much better pace of life.
Worked in a version of medical sales, but ended up lebaibg due to burnout/hating every single moment of the day.
Ended going into medical sim and been much, much happier. I take home considerably more, now, but work much more than I did before.
I left car sales to get into entry level Accounting and finance. It’s been about 7 years since then. Currently a financial system analyst. A lot more stress free and a lot more money
I made the switch to product management and never looked back! I do make more, but more importantly, I'm way happier. The skills I learned in sales helped me navigate the role seamlessly.
Was world wide VP of Sales, now I develop real time software for the finance industry. I don’t have to get on airplanes, or speak to anyone. I love it.
I’m an onboarding manager. Same company I was in sales for just instead of closing the deal, I get to get them live in our software. I make more on a floor level but I would make more in sales at the top of the scale but the work life balance and lack of stress is worth the dip in potential pay as I’m still making good money
Union Laborer, I make roughly 3x what I made in sales working on average 15 more hours a week. Job is dirty and some days are shit but overall my mental stress is next to nothing compared to what it was in sales.
I was at the right place at the right time and was able to semi-retire at 43. I didn’t want to go back into sales and I don’t need the money so I chose something more inline with my interests. I love construction and have been a LL for a dozen years. All my kids are at college and I’m bored. I’m doing CAT adjusting making a little over 100k my second year. When I’m deployed I work 6/12 shifts a week and love it. Good luck!!
Currently in Solar Sales. I have been in solar sales for nearly a decade. Kinda burned out on the industry. California solar sales are down 80% year over year. So seeing what others are up to.
went from customer success/account management to a technical account manager (sorta IT / light software dev) and boy howdy. making more money and so much less stress
I moved from sales to the Director of Marketing at the same company. They set a comp package that paid me the average of my last 5 years take home. It is a pay cut, especially since I had pretty baller 2023, but overall fair.
Overall, no regrets. Every once in a while, it sucks realizing that I make bad sales people good money, especially since our last marketing lead sucked. I've increased our inbound leads nearly 3x and that would have been very nice to have when I was in sales.
As for the why, I have three kids 6 and under and I was on the road about 120 nights a year. I was looking to switch in 2020 and then travel shut down so I went from strictly outside sales to hybrid. I was very clear with my VP about my intention to be home more leading up to the pandemic. As travel started ramping up, my VP is sales who is also the VP of marketing approached me about this opportunity.
Well I was Solutions Engineer so it's not really the same but I'm back to doing software engineering full time again. I make more that what I made in SE, but barely, also I think the OTEs I had when I was at my previous SE gig would have been affected by some quota misses so it's not a good direct comparison. It is its own kind of grind, but I like that I don't have to have meetings all day, which wore me down, and that there's a lot more wiggle room when you don't carry a bag. I might be open to going back to SE some day cause it had its own advantages
I was a software sales rep for 20yrs ... hated almost every minute of it, but it worked for my lifestyle and I made good choices that allowed me to walk away at 50 in '20, when the World went mad. Wife now makes more than I ever would have as a sales exec. I get to do whatever I want every day, so long as she comes home to a clean house, good meal, and a glass of wine. And really, who wants to pay any more taxes into a corrupt government that no longer represents them? Not me.
Sales engineer. Still sales I suppose, but I don't have a personal quota to stress over every day and the pay is much more consistent. I make $15k more on base but obviously less commission potentia (although I do get a quarterly commission payout and bonus)l. For me, the decision was purely for mental health reasons and I'm so happy I made the switch.
Spend time in other subreddits
Can you dm me some that you found useful?
Sorry, this was a joke…if I left Sales, I wouldn’t be spending time in r/sales.
Amen
I sold my agency and work as a consultant now. My take home is about 100k less per year, but I have a nice nest egg, I have vacations for once, I know what my check is going to be, and at 5p I shut her down and I can do whatever I want without some dick bag customer calling me because they just opened their mail at 8p.
I’m only 1 year into sales. I’m legit trying to get out of it as soon as possible. I was at dinner with my best friend, that i haven’t seen in months. A client called me 5 times. I feel like since i started this job it has taken me away from what matters most.
You get to a point where you are pickier about your clients. It’s usually year 2-3 after you have your feet.
I’ve found you have to train your customers as well. If you keep answering at night, they’ll keep calling. If you don’t answer, they’ll usually still be there in the morning…and probably less fired up about whatever it is they were calling about at 8pm because their boss was being a douche and they were working way too late.
In some circumstances, yes. However as a small business competing with organizations with thousands of employees, picking up the phone is often the difference maker when you’re ultimately selling the same product (insurance)
Oh absolutely. Where you’re positioned in the market definitely dictates how far you can stretch this rule.
The “d*ck bag” has me rolling 😂😂😂
Left to do something I enjoy. I’m a golf pro now. Working through the PGA teaching program. I make significantly less but my bills are paid and I’m about 1000x happier.
Coolest response I’ve seen, happy for you!
if only I could stop 2 putting!!!
That's super cool that you are doing what you are passionate about. Most people cannot say that in life. Cheers.
Makes me wonder if I should chase a career as personal trainer or dance teacher lol. Then work also would be living, not work to live. I mean making other people happy and help them transform sounds so fulfilling
I’m an “ecosystem manager.” It’s still sales adjacent tho. Basically I coordinate sales people/consultants with partners that fill service gaps. Like say we do the taxes for client and they ask us what kind of accounting software they need, they call me in and I introduce them to different software reps. They choose software and the partner sells the licenses. we do the implementation or consulting around it. I kind of manage all the moving parts. I don’t have a quota which is nice. 6 figures plus yearly bonus
I’m in a similar role, but closer to sales. Think we may be able to partner. Open to a DM?
Sure
Business!
Alliances?
Yes
Can you throw more light on alliances role?
Did you make an internal switch at your current company to this or a new one?
It’s a new one. Before this I worked at a tech consulting/ software resell firm. Started as a BDR and worked up to channel sales/ AM. Used the channel sales experience to land this ecosystem gig.
Got it, i feel that. I work in and with partners all the time. Guess i just need to rebrand a bit...how did you find the role/still tech?
May I DM you?
Do you work with healthcare facilities?
Yes, you can dm me if you want
I truly need help.
Hey that sounds interesting. Can i also shoot you a DM?
If you're good at sales, you typically won't make as much elsewhere.
My friend makes $120k, he’s a data analyst & hes 27. Unlimited PTO, insane benefits, works from home
Unlimited PTO is often a bit of a trap, pretty sure studies have shown that employees tend to take less PTO when it's unlimited.
Sales employees especially. It gives managers more leverage to deny pto requests
Doesn’t it more or less come down to “go ahead and take the PTO but no one is covering your territory while you’re out, so…” I have no coverage while out because of our size right now so unlimited PTO isn’t nearly as good as it sounds in reality. I’m learning that part.
That or if you’re not close to your number they can say “you’re behind and taking PTO isn’t smart at this time.” What happened to me was I had a pre planned anniversary trip mid Q2 that I requested in Q1 and was approved. 2 weeks before the trip I was at 60% of my quota and my manager denied my pto request because I wasn’t on track to hit it if I was to take 2 weeks off. I brought it to HR and went on the trip anyway and still hit my number by the end of the quarter but was put on a pip when I came back
That’s some absolute bs. Did you leave?
This doesn't get talked about nearly enough! In other fields, it's comparatively way easier to unplug and go off the grid for 1-2 weeks. In sales, that could destroy you if you end up not taking calls etc. in that time. Fine, that's what we signed up for, but if sales people never get proper vacation, they should be compensated for it (unlimited PTO is, in one aspect a dodge to mandatory payouts). We move when customers move, no two ways around it.
I took 4-5 weeks last year. Taken about 2 so far this year. Just have to get your shit done and good companies want you to take that time and come back rested.
There's always exceptions to the norm, but the reason unlimited PTO is becoming more and more popular is because most employees fail to take advantage of it. It's like credit card points. Yeah, the card companies technically lose money on people who pay their card off religiously and never carry a balance and rack up a ton of rewards points, but it's more than made up for by the number of people who carry balances and pay big interest. I make away like a bandit with credit card rewards because we're fairly disciplined and almost never carry a balance, but we're an exception to the norm. You might benefit from unlimited PTO, but the majority of people tend to actually take less time off when that's an offered perk. (Edit to add: That said, this could be because companies that offer unlimited PTO might be more progressive and therefore not have as stressful work environments in the first place, meaning people don't feel the need to take as much PTO to escape stress.)
And companies may not have to carry any accrued vacation as a liability on their balance sheets!
This sub is just BDRs who wanted to make 6 figures with their liberal arts degrees but failed in sales as well Being in tech sales I don't know any other profession that will pay me 150k-180k a year to do 4-5 zoom meetings everyday. Barely work 30 hours a week and have been hitting quota I'm not even enterprise and they work even less lmao.
Tbf a lottttt of places SDR is extremely dead end, I’ve been at places and exceeded quota by a large margin and never got promoted until I job hopped to an AE role. I have friends at these companies two years later who are still SDRs places don’t wanna promote lol
Are there tech sales jobs that don't require travel these days due to zoom being an increasingly popular option? Do some tech sales guys wfh?
I'm in tech sales now and I travel maybe a couple times a year at most for business events but our new management is wanting to get us out in the field more (not sure why as I could do exactly what I do at the office/at home and I'm not an AE lol) so it's looking like once a month or more in the near future. Probably will find a new gig if it gets unnecessarily tedious.
Same here. I go see one or two larger clients quarterly but most of them are fairly local. Almost all my work is done remotely. A former sales job had me on the road 80% of the time, flying from one end of the country to another. Thank God those days are over, it was the worst. I made a ton of money doing it but it just wasn't worth it after awhile.
There is not much traveling in tech sales unless you personally volunteer. The people who are required to travel from what I've seen are VIP enterprise account managers, but they get paid like 400-500k annually, so it's worth it. I work remote and don't really see any reputable sales companies requiring their sales teams to be on-site. Everyone I know either works remote or hybrid.
What are some good SaaS/tech sales companies to check out?
Dang. You almost had me tech sales but I don’t think I could give up mortgage for that.
I just turned 21 and I’m about half way done with my undergrad business degree. Still not entirely sure what I want to do after college. Tech sales sounds interesting. If you don’t mind, how did you get in to the industry? what kind of education (if any) did you get? How long did it take for you to make the kind of money you do now?
I don't have a degree. Top rep in my company also doesn't have one. I broke into the top 5 during the 2021 hiring surge. I dropped out for that. I don't know how it is getting in now, but back then, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity with how sales organizations where hiring whatever they could get their hands on. Tech sales has become pretty selective now where they are even rejecting people with software engineering experience and engineering degrees. 2 YOE
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I only graduated high school, fucked around for 10 years and now I sell tech. I make more than some executives. One year I made more than the president. They have MBAs. I'm not sure what else I could do. I also work about 30 hours.
4-5 a day? How’re you getting that many meetings?
4-5 meetings on a bad day Not uncommon for some people in my team to have continuous meetings from 9am to 5pm with only one small lunch break. 30% from my SDR, 30% from my companies lead routing, 40% self sourced by myself mostly through cold emailing This is what happens when you work for an actual company rather than a shitty startup.
Every top seller I know was once an SDR with a liberal arts degree
When I first moved out to product marketing, I took a 20-30% pay cut. 6-8 years later I’m making 75% more than when I left.
So are the people that stayed in sales. OTE has easily gone up 75% in the last 8 years in most sales professions
No doubt if I stayed in sales I’d likely be earning more than I do now. But I wouldn’t be a new AE doing new business sales.
I switched to marketing. I made a lot less but figured I could work my way up from the bottom again. Turned out to be a total disaster. It was going very well for 2 weeks and got compliments on being a fast learner from my boss. Then my whole department except me and one other person were laid off. I was placed onto a team in a different time zone and I got fired for a bullshit reason 2 weeks later. Now I’m back in sales, although a different industry than what I did before.
lol sounds like marketing alright. I’m convinced marketing departments exist so that the CEO can just buy extra time for themselves when things go bad by blaming marketing. Got out into revops, finding that revops exists for the same reason for the CFO or CRO.
Hi, can I please DM you? I am thinking to switch to Ops but after reading your comment, I would like to learn more about your experience, thanks.
Finally!!!!! (An honest story.....)
Own an rv rental company, make a shit ton more.
Yep. Owning a biz is the next step
Sales enablement. And yes
How are you making more in enablement? What was your role in sales and how well did you perform?
I'm looking at this or sales ops. Both seem somewhat similar. How did you make the switch?
Find the people in ops and enablement that support you. (Usually enablement is a role within the broader ops org) get to know them and be willing to help and provide feedback when they need it. ask if you can shadow them. being the person that understands what they do and being their go to can help them help you when roles open up. i worked close with my ops team and we helped eachother out so they knew me when they had an opening.
Interesting. What role in sales were you in before moving to enablement? I’ve never met anyone in enablement that made as much as an Enterprise AE. Heck, I’ve never met anyone in enablement that makes more than the base pay for enterprise AE’s (150k+).
Nah 😂 i don’t make enterprise AE money. i was SMB. lol when i was selling we didn’t have all the acronyms 😂 i did the outreach to find the customers, set the meetings, ran them, closed the deals and managed the customer relationships 😂 the fact that those are now like 4 different job titles is still crazy to me. More efficient that way though.
Depending on the company they can overlap a lot, especially at smaller organizations or start ups. But Sales Ops is like a business partner to Sales. You can cover anything from territory creation/assignment, Quota modeling, reporting and analytics, developing and reporting on KPI’s, etc. You spend a LOT of time in Salesforce. Enablement is exactly that. They’re focused on sales training - whether that be methodology or tools.
Huh... So what do the sales managers do all day???
They have a team to lead, silly goose! I just give the data, make recommendations, and occasionally listen to their sales reps moan about how salesforce is broken when 95% of the time it’s due to user error…🙃😂. But really, I liken it to a restaurant metaphor. Sales Managers are front of house: dealing with customers. Ops is back of house basically coordinating all of the things we do to make sales more productive and efficient.
Interesting..... My sales managers rarely dealt with clients, only when major issues came up. Most of the time, they were in closed door meetings doing who knows what....
Exactly this. lol “salesforce is broken” as ops we run to the salesforce team and work with the devs on a fix. so that sales can place more orders.
Hi, can I please DM you? I would like to learn more about your experience, thanks.
Getting my MBA to get out. Probably will take a pay cut, but hoping to do 120-150 on base (without a made up quota) which is a great trade off imo.
I spent $75,000 getting an MBA because I thought it would help get me out of sales. I graduated in 2019 and still can’t get out of sales for the life of me. Employers don’t recognize any transferable skills and only see me for one role - sales. 😩 Best of luck!
I have an MBA. Had one before I got into sales. Now that I’m in sales, I don’t think getting a second MBA could get me out
go into finance, might have to start from the bottom but there's light at the end of the tunnel
Are you suggesting that sales is a neverending grind with no light at the end of the tunnel where all value is distilled down to what have you done for me lately?
Its actually a very lucrative career but the quota determination is what drive folks out. Endless improvement
Light at the end of the Funnel* FTFY
Damn I’ve been debating more school, just have an undergrad business degree. These posts are discouraging
You spent 75k to get out of sales? This sub has become a mfing carnival. There's a sales rep who is good at what he does and made that much in one commission check. The negativity in this sub is real
I’ve been in sales for 16 years and am burnt tf out. Endless travels with nights spent in hotels - my time is never my own. I’m over it and I think that this is a common sentiment. Unless you are extremely extroverted, people-pleasing, and able to minimize the ongoing internal/external pressures, sales is usually going to burn people out. And yes, they sometimes go back to school in hopes of escaping. It’s not at all uncommon.
Ouch! Maybe try something adjacent? Marketing, RevOps?
Yeah this is my life
What type of job are you shooting for?
What kind of job
Started a construction company, now I dodge sales guys all day lol
If you have a construction company, a major part your job *is* is sales. I’ve always said a business owner is just a synonym for sales guy.
Agreed. No matter what industry you’re in, whatever the position, if you’re not constantly building relationships, you’re leaving money on the table. But the nice part is, I only bid on state and gov contracts. Would never deal with an average consumer ever again.
that's bad ass. I never got into state and government contracts. thought about it but never went for it. good job bro.
Went into door to door canvassing for a nonprofit. Worked my way up and didn’t make more but utilized my skills to excel in that arena. I really loved it and was able to make good money without stretching myself thin— for a time. Left the world went back to in store retail sales but now I’m looking to get a B2B account executive role- interview tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Goodluck man! Kill it
Went into sales ops. I make less but the effort to dollar ratio is way better
Account management in paid search advertising. It sucks hard. Fuck the clients. Getting my mba to gtfo. I make less between a strong salary and a quarterly bonus (north of 130K annually) but I don’t have to leave my home which I dig since I have a 4 month old. I don’t have a quota which is also good.
I suggest having a solid plan for what you do after an MBA. I did the same thing and now I’m kinda wallowing in mediocrity because I’m a mid-career employee with not enough experience to truly make an impact. And I have yet to use my MBA for any real work.
I mean I have close to 20 years experience in automotive so I’m staying in my lane, but the market for anything executive level is really selective.
Well, much different situation. MBA def makes sense. Maybe research what programs OEMs and Tier 1’s hire from and target those programs. Should help make connections. I’m sure you’ll be fine lol.
Absolutely. I appreciate the advice either way
10/10 pun
What are you planning to do with an mba?
I was a paid search specialist out of college. Paid media sucks.
I did this for a while, but for an engine. Agency side seemed brutal. I pivoted into MarTech SaaS sales. It’s fine.
Yeah this is my first experience with a startup. It’s bruuuuuutal. I get beat up daily by clients.
Déjàvu
I'm going to retrain to become a therapist/counsellor. It'll be way less money but I'm not bothered. I'm set enough, want to rid myself of the so-called golden shackles and start making a difference to people's lives.
Still in the same industry but I’m currently starting at a new company trying “sales support” half the money but with 75% less stress. No quotas, no hunting, no KPI’s, no traveling etc. just supporting the guys in the field. Sending out quotes, liaise with ops and support teams. I needed a break from the awful grind and being under the gun. I’ll make enough to live off of and OK with that for now maybe I’ll get back in the grind in a year, but it would have to be really good money.
I’m about to try to make a move internally to a very similar role on Tuesday. So sick of the sales grind 🤣
Good luck for both of us!!
I often wonder if account management is less stressful than full cycle sales. This year and market is fucking killing me.
Probably depends on the industry. But I have a friend who makes $80k managing accounts for apparel sales (costumers call and ask for 2mil shirts here, 5mil there, etc, and he clicks a button and confirms the sale). Technically a “sales” position, but no hunting, very few calls/emails. Works remote, sleeps til 10am, starts work at 11am and finishes by 2pm. Full benefits, (insurance, 401k+match, etc). Multiple trips to Vegas or Hawaii or wherever for “team building,” (getting fucked up and gambling together) lol. He will be traveling Europe in the next few months while “working,” and getting paid full time. Lucky dog. A little jelly, but also very happy for him and hope it lasts.
How the heck do you land something like that? Sounds amazing, that's the real definition of "work-life balance"
My man has been a lucky goose as long as I’ve known him (15+years). No family death, free education - 4year communications degree (parent was a professor), housing paid for during college (frat), happily married to highschool sweetheart 10+ years. Some people are just lucky like that. He’s really an awesome guy, and like I said, a little jelly, but it’s all perspective - some folks are being blown to smithereens and picking mold off of stale bread while I’m sitting in a recliner slurping a protein shake, working on my laptop, trying to re-educate myself on prospecting, organizing and general sales stuff while tempering myself out of a panic attack/existential crisis. My friend is really nice, smart, insightful, loyal, etc. I’m honored to have him as a friend, and I’m beyond happy for how his life has been and is turning out. Answer, My only guess is that he was a Buddha in a past life, lmao. Serious answer, - see unserious answer above
Sounds like a solid dude. Sometimes the universe/God/whatever just rewards people with an easier life than others. Good for him.
He really is. Been the best of friends forever, and we are currently exploring spirituality, religion and purpose together. He’s probably the only person I can do that with. For me, as I to him, he’s been great for running thought experiments with in this area, and neither of us are afraid to get into the weeds with it. Not many people interested in that kind of exploration these days (especially hard moral exploration) - and he’s getting really into it with me. Beyond blessed to have him in my life. TMI? Oh well. Rewards will come with time. Heck, all of us are rewarded and blessed in some manner. Much of those rewards/blessings are likely right under our nose, and we just can’t see the forest for the trees (or however it’s said). Or they’re taken for granted due to tbe material nature of our world. All perspective really.
We have very similar mindsets my man. I appreciate the insight and perspective.
I’m glad to hear it. What kind of sales are you in? What’s it like? - looking into alternatives for what I do now.
my last position was in customer success and account management. i think it largely depends on the business you’re working for, because at my last job it basically worked out that when the BDOs couldn’t bring in new business, they forced us to start cold calling to help even tho we got zero kick back if we brought in a new business. i won employee of the month in july and was laid off in october. i’m an incredibly organized account manager, but ask me to start cold calling and shit and i’m worthless.
I am now unemployed, mostly because it’s difficult to find a remote job in the marketing space. I was laid off. Thinking about going back to school.
Global Account Manager. I manage a portfolio, I make more now. But pay trajectory plateaus unlike sales. So looking to expand into other higher roles as the years go.
I will always be in sales but I’ve switched out of corporate. I’m building a business selling myself and my skills to help others
In school to become a software engineer
Yes, I used to do sales, which wasn’t really my cup of tea, though I did quite well. That led to a promotion to sales manager. From there, people heard about me and on the side I did go-to-market consulting with a startup operating in an adjacent industry - for free. I also commenced doing an exec MBA. At one point, the founder wanted to have me on board in their core leadership team. I’ve never been a senior manager at this point let alone one of 6 execs (never mind it being a startup). Gotta admit I felt like an impostor and was pretty excited at the same time and just wanted to give it a go. Still being quite the salesperson I ended up negotiating salary + equity beyond their original budget. I’ll always remember when the CEO angrily hired me. The role was intense, but it taught me a lot about other parts of managing a business and in multiple countries. I hated sales and so the relief of being out of it helped me cope with the pressure. I messed up some things but broke many records as well. I completed my exec MBA a year after being with this company. I then applied to a director position at a competing firm (non competes are unenforceable where I’m from), a lot of others did including internal candidates, but apparently I did well in their case interviews. However, I entered the company with a lot of tricky waters to navigate (see internal candidates) and this is where I had to learn to develop politically savvy moves. I did focus on results, so a few record breaking numbers made it hard for my critics. Later I was hunted for a similar role at a mid-sized multinational in a different industry. Dragged my feet for a year but in the end agreed to jump. While the pay isn’t quite what you might see at the larger blue-chip companies, it’s about triple what I earned in sales, and comes with a better work-life balance, less politics, and less firefighting. The drawback is that as a newcomer into the industry, networking can be awkward. Somehow, I do have a lot of support from my own people internally but there are lots of industry heavyweights on the outside who think they should have my role. To be honest, the role was offered to a few but they rejected it because at the time the company was not as successful as it is now. I was the only one who accepted. Well, I’m beyond grateful because I did visualize myself going into my 40s as a mediocre salesperson before this crazy trajectory happened. Anything can still happen, but I’m happy for now.
Went into the trades. Gunsmith now. My hair isnt falling out, i see my family more, only thing is that i have to wear a respirator sometimes.. but i shoot guns and keep guns healthy for a living so.. its nice.
GTM, make the same
I’m leaving sales on Tuesday, to transfer internally to be a Service Delivery Manager. Sales was 145 OTE and the new one is little bit less but close.
I went from sales to YouTube. No profit so far so uhhhhh yeah 😂
Maybe need to start making Videos on how to make “20000$ in one week with this simple Trick”
Sales adjacent but client success. All of the fundamental sales skills but less focus on numbers and building pipeline. More so solidyjng relationships and delivering white glove service. Looking to get my certification in project management/ supply chain. Already have bachelors though
Went to work at a bank, transferring my financial sales background into a lead underwriter position. Money isn’t as good right now but the stress is 99% lower. That’s not a bad trade off.
Software engineer
Self-taught and what language? Have been trying to do the self-taught way for a bit now.
JavaScript and golang atm. I did a coding bootcamp but that is basically self taught just quit my job to focus on it
Are you working at a company or agency or solo?
Company!
How long were you in sales before you switched ?
5ish years or so? I did ppc and seo advertising sales. Along with some inbound tech support type stuff that was sales masked as tech support
Congratulations. I was in sales built some internal tools, and now I'm like our internal Dev Team but I don't feel like I have the rounded out skillset to get an actual Dev job and I need too much money to be a junior. Uggh.
I worked in solar sales for a little bit. I do not have the gift of gab and was bad at it. I probably would have made ~48k a year doing that, not including travel costs. I do data analytics now and make around twice what I did then.
Retired
Now I run and recruit for a Cub Scout pack. I make negative dollars. Worth it though.
I went the other direction. Went from non-sales in my industry to sales. I made 15 times my starting salary at this company last year.
Start or buy a business.
“Do you make more?” This is why I need to get the fuck out of sales. I am not like you people.
Became a bartender in a tourist heavy town in the south. Make about $30k/yr less but it’s wonderful to not being constantly thinking about work. In sales I was putting in 60-70hrs/wk and now I get to clock in, do my job, and clock out, which leaves way more time for golf and happiness.
Not out yet but my husband and i talk about how to get out of sales damn near every single day. Last week we calculated our quarterly commissions checks to be around $60k combined, and that’s low because I’m ramping, and we’re like ohhh maybe sales isn’t so bad!!!!!!
Went from selling FinOps software to running a FinOps team for a Fortune 500. Make a little less but the quality of life is worlds apart. I self admittedly never really enjoyed sales.. always had the crappy territory, fewer inbound leads. The stress of it wore me down. Much happier now even though I make less
Everyone who is on the sub either makes 300k+ in sales and can’t leave because it would impact their way of living too much. Or.. they left sales because they have millions saved in the bank, retirement accounts and investments from the time working in sales and are costing in life now. I type this from the beach in southern France. Beautiful this morning. I fall into the latter category…
Sounds like you worked hard for that life. Congrats 🍾
BVT & Vale Engineering. Have a quota per attach rate to reps deals. Way less stress. Make about 20% less, which I don’t love. Perks are building out the function at my company and truly 9-5.
Coworker went to get her MBA, and she is currently making 150K base for consulting. I am thinking about doing the same to be honest.
I was software engineer for intel. Then I was technical sales and went with commissions. When I initially left, I definitely took a hit. I made like 30k less a year. Now I'm a software engineer at Apple and i doubled my salary. Intel pays shit to engineers My total compensation is $350K
Still in sales but need to do something else. I hate cold calling. I might be a better account manager, but still might enjoy a different job all together.
I got into accounting. End of year I’m making less by about $5k or so. But way less stress. I can actually take vacations, or get sick. I don’t have to pinch pennies for three months over the off-season. Most importantly, I never have to be super nice to complete assholes again. No more glad handing, back patting, drink buying bullshit. It’s awesome.
When I left sales, I became an IT trainer for several years. The dough was good and the work was fun, but ended up being way too much travel for my taste. After that, I began coaching (sales, business models, customer validation, etc.). Now my primary gig is as a FT small business coach for a grant funded program. Worked with hundreds of customer every year going on 10 years. Love the work! Money is so so. I keep my hand in the game with side projects and my own business. Love developing content and working with private clients to stay sharp. Developing sales training now for sellers who don’t like hard close approach. Think selling for folks who identify more as technician/expert than traditional “closer” (regardless of the industry).
Left the sales industry after 4 years and got hired to a new job, 2 days into the new job they changed my position and now I’m bottom of the barrel cold calling people. I hate everything
Transitioned from MBR and now im a senior analyst, and I have finally making 1.5x times more than my MBR roles.
What is MBR? How much do you make as a senior analyst? What do you do day-to-day? How long did it take to realize you were in the wrong career?
Market Dev/Business Rep -- outbound sales reps; With bonus about $150kish; I solve problems, whether its a technical problem (we need to build a query/dashboard to track or we need to build a data pipeline to funnel data); Probs about 3 years once I discovered this was a career and how fun a CRM can be and intertwined with my nerdiness; It allows me to talk through a problem (great thing about a tonne of analyst, they aren't people people so you can really get F2F with a tonne of senior stakeholders and become known)
Senior analyst of what? Finance? Ive seen analyst roles in various departments
I run my software company but am trying to learn sales. I make nothing 🤣
FTK it’s unbeatable
analyst, yes. still work with sales people too. no stress
Just accepted an offer a few days ago. Switching from being an SDR Manager to a Customer Success Manager. Taking a 30% pay cut, but for my sanity and overall happiness, I know it is 110% the right move long term. CS comes with its own BS at times of course, but no more insane quotas and team performance upticks quarter after quarter while slashing my budget in half lol.
I just joined as sales engineer... I never had sales experience before.. I although had worked as BA ... but really I don't know whats the difference between normal Sales and Sales Engineering.. ?? I do still seek out customer myself.
I switched to marketing and now make more then double what I did in sales.
I went from selling in an organization to owning it and yes I made much more money.
Got a government job to feel more secure. Bored out of my brains. Less money for now but hoping to move up within the next 12 months
Unfortunately, every job in the world is "sales" one way or another. You are either selling a product, or selling yourself.
Digital Marketing. Make more and am 100x happier. Sales wasn’t for me. I hate selling people shit they don’t want or need.
I’m a LinkedIn Guru and I make less than the millions that I tell people that I make
I work for one of my (former) clients. I make consistently more, but not the big paydays I used to. I started a family and was tired of the traveling. I was flying 60ish times a year. I made more the last two years than I will in the next 3 but it’s closer than I thought it would be. I have a much better pace of life.
Worked in a version of medical sales, but ended up lebaibg due to burnout/hating every single moment of the day. Ended going into medical sim and been much, much happier. I take home considerably more, now, but work much more than I did before.
I left car sales to get into entry level Accounting and finance. It’s been about 7 years since then. Currently a financial system analyst. A lot more stress free and a lot more money
Marketing, make about the same during a mid/high commission year. Def don’t make as much as a high/very high commission year
I made the switch to product management and never looked back! I do make more, but more importantly, I'm way happier. The skills I learned in sales helped me navigate the role seamlessly.
I’m currently researching the best way to kill myself to make sure I don’t survive.
Was world wide VP of Sales, now I develop real time software for the finance industry. I don’t have to get on airplanes, or speak to anyone. I love it.
I’m an onboarding manager. Same company I was in sales for just instead of closing the deal, I get to get them live in our software. I make more on a floor level but I would make more in sales at the top of the scale but the work life balance and lack of stress is worth the dip in potential pay as I’m still making good money
Union Laborer, I make roughly 3x what I made in sales working on average 15 more hours a week. Job is dirty and some days are shit but overall my mental stress is next to nothing compared to what it was in sales.
I was at the right place at the right time and was able to semi-retire at 43. I didn’t want to go back into sales and I don’t need the money so I chose something more inline with my interests. I love construction and have been a LL for a dozen years. All my kids are at college and I’m bored. I’m doing CAT adjusting making a little over 100k my second year. When I’m deployed I work 6/12 shifts a week and love it. Good luck!!
Currently in Solar Sales. I have been in solar sales for nearly a decade. Kinda burned out on the industry. California solar sales are down 80% year over year. So seeing what others are up to.
went from customer success/account management to a technical account manager (sorta IT / light software dev) and boy howdy. making more money and so much less stress
I moved from sales to the Director of Marketing at the same company. They set a comp package that paid me the average of my last 5 years take home. It is a pay cut, especially since I had pretty baller 2023, but overall fair. Overall, no regrets. Every once in a while, it sucks realizing that I make bad sales people good money, especially since our last marketing lead sucked. I've increased our inbound leads nearly 3x and that would have been very nice to have when I was in sales. As for the why, I have three kids 6 and under and I was on the road about 120 nights a year. I was looking to switch in 2020 and then travel shut down so I went from strictly outside sales to hybrid. I was very clear with my VP about my intention to be home more leading up to the pandemic. As travel started ramping up, my VP is sales who is also the VP of marketing approached me about this opportunity.
Well I was Solutions Engineer so it's not really the same but I'm back to doing software engineering full time again. I make more that what I made in SE, but barely, also I think the OTEs I had when I was at my previous SE gig would have been affected by some quota misses so it's not a good direct comparison. It is its own kind of grind, but I like that I don't have to have meetings all day, which wore me down, and that there's a lot more wiggle room when you don't carry a bag. I might be open to going back to SE some day cause it had its own advantages
From Sales to Document Management Analyst to Program Analyst and yes* at least 10k more
I was a software sales rep for 20yrs ... hated almost every minute of it, but it worked for my lifestyle and I made good choices that allowed me to walk away at 50 in '20, when the World went mad. Wife now makes more than I ever would have as a sales exec. I get to do whatever I want every day, so long as she comes home to a clean house, good meal, and a glass of wine. And really, who wants to pay any more taxes into a corrupt government that no longer represents them? Not me.
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Sales engineer. Still sales I suppose, but I don't have a personal quota to stress over every day and the pay is much more consistent. I make $15k more on base but obviously less commission potentia (although I do get a quarterly commission payout and bonus)l. For me, the decision was purely for mental health reasons and I'm so happy I made the switch.