Our CEO, Ryan Walsh, took some time today to answer some of your sales related questions on Reddit. Below are some of the highlights.

If you are interested in checking out the whole thing, here is the link.

Okay, let’s jump right in to the first sales question:

What are some red flags to look for when considering a Series A as an AE?

“Yea, this is such a key thing here, and the number 1 area I’d dive into is the TAM (total addressable market). Get really granular in your research there, and understand how big it is, how many prospects does that translate to, how many deals, etc. And make sure those accounts are ‘reachable’. Once you do that you need to overlay the current team coverage vs. TAM – i.e. can the TAM support 50 reps?? If that’s the case, are you rep number 23? Awesome! Or rep number 59? Uh oh? Once the quota capacity and coverage is vastly outpacing the TAM, the company will slow down and folks will start missing quota. It happens EVERY TIME. Some companies can run to billions of dollars in revenue though while others will hit that tipping point at 10M, for example. Good luck!”

Is the party over in tech sales? Have the VC’s and MBA’s that live in their make believe world of excel sheets and simulations of unrealistic growth closed it down?

“It’s definitely not over. There were certainly some VERY overvalued later stage vc backed companies because money was too easy to get and the valuations were too high, but tech in general is here to stay and the best run orgs (tech included) will rise to the top. I think these VCs and spreadsheet jockeys have gotten a dose of reality though, which was a bit of a long time coming. Unfortunately many employees are bearing the brunt with layoffs, etc.”

What types of tech companies do you think are recession proof right now?

“Couple thoughts here:

We’ve seen good resiliency in cybersecurity as a sub-sector, but let me provide a kind of general thought for when you’re evaluating an opportunity and wondering if the recession may impact it: Who are the buyers?

what I mean is that are the buyers impacted? For example if the company’s core ideal customer profile includes a ton of VC backed companies, guess what, times are hard right now. You have to beware of the house of cards that’s VC backed selling to VC backed who they in turn also sell to VC backed. That’s the house of cards. So generally speaking those with broad, cross industry and cross sector buyers and customers will be more resilient because they’ve got a wide array of sources of new business. Not just venture backed ‘unicorns’ etc.”

What are some of the key things an SDR should do when starting at a new company to become successful?

“Well that’s a broad question BUT, a well run SDR team will have a playbook. You need to deeply understand that playbook, and run with it. It will have recommendations for how to best do almost every aspect of your role. This is the ‘science’ of selling. Understand it, and yes question it, but also follow it.

On the ‘art’ side of selling, listen to as many possible calls as you can wtih experienced SDRs and AEs, and try to pick up as much as possible. Be an expert on your prospect, on the industry, and on the product, even though you won’t be doing demos, etc. You’ll build credibility for when the science aspect of things gets you on the phone and you’re allowed to express the ART side of selling :)”

What’s harder? Being a CRO or startup founder?

“Oh boy that’s a tough one. I think being a startup founder is harder overall as you can’t ‘stay in your lane’, BUT as a CRO you’re very much at the will and whim of the big bosses the CEO and the board. My LinkedIn headline says ‘recovering CRO’ as it’s a very very challenging role, not because the work is hard but because you’re always on the hot seat. As a startup founder though the buck ALWAYS stops at me.”

If you have more questions you would like to be answered, reach out to info@repvue.com and we will do our best to answer them!

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