My candid thoughts about being in tech sales

I was reflecting on this Bloomberg article about my previous company, Salesforce and the End of the Cushy Tech Sales Job

While the article is specifically about Salesforce, it also applies to other software companies.

I sent this to a friend and he responded:

“Great summary of what we also went through in the last couple of years. Honestly, I could just change the SFDC name to UiPath, and the story applies just as well😅.”

Many people joined Tech sales over the past few years. They were lured by the illusion of “easy money” and “good work life balance”.

The hype got so serious that some have became Tech Sales influencers while others have launched courses to teach people how to break into the industry.

At the same time, companies thought hiring more reps was the best way to grow fast. During a time of ‘free money’, several lowered their bar in hiring. It became much easier to become an Account Executive than pre-Covid days.

In the past 1.5 years, things have taken a down turn.

I’ve read a few earning calls transcripts of larger SaaS companies including Zscaler, Asana, Nutanix and Salesforce. The trends points to longer sales cycles, macro headwinds and increased scrutiny on budgets.

Many people got let go. Some had to settle for a lower paying job.

If you have friends thinking about joining or leaving the tech sales sector, I thought I’d share two myths, specifically around being an Account Executive.

Myth 1: Easy Money

There is a lot of survivorship bias in tech sales.

For every 1 success story of AE who crush quota quarter on quarter, there are thousands of people who fail. They only draw a bit more than their base salary per month.

In several companies, many do not meet their on-target-earnings or achieve their numbers. In my previous role, there were only two Account Executives out of 10 across EMEA and APAC exceeding their targets.

There have been low points for me too. In one year, I had to take a pay cut of 14%. This was in 2020 where the sector I looked after was heavily impacted by Covid.

Myth 2: Good work life balance

The nature of a job with monthly and quarterly targets is that the pressure is real.

You have a lot of ups and downs at work; it is an intense job and things move really fast. Despite being super optimized and disciplined about my time, I cannot avoid long hours at times. I also personally have never ever had a holiday in my life where I did not bring my laptop and was not working.

If you do not set up systems and learn to regulate your emotions super well, you can succumb to illness; lose your hair really quickly or end up with addictions.

Many professionals end up being dependent on alcohol to reduce stress. If you go to Suntec bars on a weekday evening, that is often what you’d see.

Having said that, the idea of worklife balance is all relative. Based on what I see from family and friends, in Investment Banking, Private Equity, Law, things are much more tiring and time intensive. However, on the bright side, society definitely thinks more highly of you.

My thoughts:

💰 If financial freedom and money is your main motivation, join the financial sector. You have a much higher chance to make more money in finance versus Tech Sales. The average finance person also makes way more than average SaaS worker. Tech sales only will pay well if you are the cream of the crop.

⭐ You don’t have to be an Account Executive. Not everyone should be. There are many other roles under the umbrella of tech sales. You will earn more than a vast majority of AEs who do not hit target. They typically come with less intensity and more free time: Sales development manager; partner manager; customer success manager.