The post here about the end of the golden years of tech sales and the general sentiment in the market got me thinking.
When I look at my current and former companies, there are still A-players out there who beat quota every quarter and bring home big cheques.
When I look at them, I don’t see them as experts in discovery (sure, they’re good, but nothing to preach about), they’re not masters of prospecting with a 6x pipeline, and they’re not relying on some AI shortcut or being great Clay maestros.
What I see is one thing: they have been with their company and in their industry for several years. I am talking about at least 5 years in the same company and maybe 10 years in the industry.
I think this idea of tenure is often overlooked. The successful salespeople I see survive long enough to actually benefit from their pipeline. They survive long enough to finally get that one good book of business. And, of course, they are able to build their accounts strategically and live off upsells and, importantly, referrals, because their clients know them well enough to be there for them.
Of course there are always salespeople who come in and get big deals straight away. But I think the simple idea of tenure is an aspect that is very often overlooked when we try to find a quick fix in our sales approach and look for the next silver bullet.
Survival is important.
Is the current trend of changing jobs every 2-3 years actually damaging our chances of having a shot at real success? What do you think?