I'm currently a Senior Account Executive. I was reached out to on LinkedIn about an Enterprise account executive role. I did an interview but the interviewer didn't like how I only had experience with SMB and that the deal sizes were much smaller. How do I get experience in an Enterprise role when they don't want to hire without it?
My current company has an Enterprise/Midmarket team but it is extremely small and they've hired outside of the org the last time they any 2 positions open. I guess I just need to keep applying to places until I find a company that is willing to teach me then.
Depends how big the deal size jump is. Like 5k to 100k is a big jump but as others said, if you're going from $15k smb deals to $50k enterprise deals (people call whatever they want enterprise lol) that's really not a massive difference. I always recommend when you change sales jobs, particularly in tech, try to make sure the next role has a higher deal size, even if pay or whatever else feels lateral.
At what point in my careers is it worth looking into other sales jobs/positions? I've been at my current job/role for 2 1/2 years now and there is 0 room for career growth here.
It’s all about how you position and market yourself. Great hiring managers aren’t just looking at your past accomplishments, they’re focused on what you can do for them and their teams. For instance, when I made the leap into software sales, I transitioned from a territory manager selling hardware to an Enterprise Solution Specialist at one of the largest ERP vendors. Despite interviewing with four different VPs, and having no direct software sales or specific Enterprise experience, I secured the role by clearly demonstrating how my existing skills and drive perfectly aligned with their vision and addressed their business needs. The result? I achieved 115% of quota in my first full year. Think of your job search as a sales engagement, with yourself as the product. Identify the hiring manager's pain points and show exactly how you solve them. Leverage every sales technique you've learned to sell your value and proactively counter objections. Specifics like deal-size acumen can be taught; what truly matters is your motivation, adaptability, and relentless drive to overachieve.
lol I literally had this same convo with a hiring manager before. “you don’t have enterprise experience” -- bro you emailed ME??? it’s all vibes anyway. enterprise means diff things to diff teams. find a hiring manager who actually wants to coach instead of gatekeep. they exist. you just gotta keep at it.
facts
Right! This company had reached out to me and were asking me interview. They said a way to break into it is to start off as a bdr for them and then transition into Enterprise. This didn't make any sense to me because how is a bdr more qualified to move into that role than I am where I'm already doing sales.
I would suggest looking at Commercial or Mid-Market roles as a stepping stone to build into Enterprise. Every company segments SMB vs. MM vs. ENT in different ways. Take the time to gain the experience with closing larger deals in larger accounts with more complex sales processes as it will prepare you for Enterprise sales. It's a tough transition going from 1-3 month sales cycles in SMB/Commercial to 9-18 months for Enterprise.
Does your company have an Enterprise Associate Director role (role names may vary) which support Enterprise AEs? That would be a good stepping stone to moving into an Ent AE role as what companies will be looking for is exposure to enterprise companies, enterprise sales motions and overcoming the types of challenges enterprises encounter. If your company doesn’t have such a role, look for those types of roles outside of your company. Ent can sometimes be hard to break into but once you do, it can be lucrative.