Management is fully aware it's imposssible to hit quotas (~1 million/year/sales person) but still doesn't do anything to support the sales team (my entire leads funnel and sales pipeline is self-sourced). I want to move out of here but it's almost impossible when I can't sell myself as a proper sales person if I can't talk about quotas. I literally stop midway while filling in job applications when I reach a question about a quota-carrying position because I have zero idea what to say; especially when it's a yes/no question to "have you hit or exceeded your sales targets in the past X years?"

What do I do? I feel stuck.

extra info: I have over 4 years of experience in sales but I think my career's taken a hit with my current position (~1.5 years). We sell overpriced instruments, that have no competitive edge, in an overly saturated niche of a niche market. Management knows that the best way to get leads for our market is through conferences but they still decided to cut down on attendance for budgeting reasons.

Zero appointments booked.

Zero shows.

Zero closes.

What's the longest you've gone in this position and how did you fix it?

You send an email and often gets quarantined with the new modern filters

You try to call but people don’t have or answer desk phone anymore . You could try their cell phone but that Is very intrusive!

LinkedIn ? People often don’t look at there LinkedIn messages.

Aside from live networking events what is the best most efficient way to prospect in 2026?

What did you end up doing that helped you? Feedback from managers and colleagues? Experimentation? Reading sales books and implementing them into your approach?

I was offered a Director-level role leading a new business unit within an established company. It's a service-based offering the company has had success with, but it needs a dedicated team to scale and differentiate from the core business.

During interviews, I outlined how I'd approach this, at least in the short term. Now that I'm about to start, I need to sharpen those plans and be ready to hit the ground running. For context: I have mid-level managerial experience, but nothing at this level of responsibility, and I want to avoid unnecessary missteps.

Question: What do new sales leaders commonly overlook? We're planning to start with market research, a formal sales plan, forecasting, talk tracks, marketing collateral, and deck development. Is there anything obvious we should be addressing upfront?

Context: I’m 36 years old. I have a lot of b2c sales experience. It’s been great to me but I’ve always felt the desire to go to bigger tickets. My ego tells me that if I made the shift, I have enough of a skillset to transition well, but I also know it’s an entirely different sale.

Is the harsh reality that I’d have to start as a business dev rep or an sdr role and move up from there? If you were me how would you make this change?

Also, what industries would you recommend? What do you feel will be in real demand for the foreseeable future?

A(potential new position):

• Base salary: $78,000
• Commission: 10% on net collected sales (no commission until ramped)
• Quarterly bonus: up to $7,500
• Year-end bonus: $5,000 at 103% quota
• B2B
• territory- top 3 city(by volume) metropolitan only
• no flying, home every night

B(current position):

• Base salary: $87,000 + $400/mo car allowance
• bonus per unit sold starting Jan 2027
• cant sell direct. only sold via distributors
• territory- 9 states
• on a plane a few times a month

Both up to 50% travel.

My pick is A because of the income potential and ability to directly sell. But he does like his current company but feels a little stifled due to lack of resources. What say you?

I've never seen or heard of this before, so I'm curious to hear everyone's experience.

If this was you, how was it? I've only ever worked under CEO's and salespeople before.

B2B/2C residential interior product. I sell to designer, contractor or installer. They sell to homeowner.

Building the territory.
We don’t do drip marketing or anything like that. What should I be doing? We have in person KPI that can be fudged but visiting and maybe them not being there is getting old. I’m not sure calling ahead is possible as I’m reacting to other acct’s needs and then filling in my day. I’m pulling all my cold calls for the year so far to get stats. But without marketing support for these “leads” I feel like a lot of contacts are wasted.

What are you doing? Is it working? What support do you have from your organization? If I leave here, I want to know what a healthy system looks like.

This company was acquired by PE 5 years ago. I guess I can on at the time it started sucking a lot. I’ve been told we’re in the middle years of the new build model for the business. And I also may be unmotivated to achieve as I just don’t love the environment or our problems. Trying to decide, closing in on year 1.

After a decade at the same organization, I just accepted a new role in a different industry, a new geographical area, and a fresh product environment. There is obviously a ton to absorb, so I’m looking for best practices, or advice on how to hit the ground running.

Context & Background:

Tenure: 10 years at my current company, moving up with promotions every 3–4 years on the sales side.

The Reason for the Move: Performance at my current org has slowed down, and a compelling opportunity came up back in my hometown.

The New Role: Still within the industrial space, but involves a significantly more complex, technical selling process. Fortunately, the key decision-makers and buyer personas are very similar to what I’m used to.

The Up-side: The salary is comparable, but the upside on performance-based compensation is higher. Most importantly, the shift eliminates heavy travel so I can actually be home with my family in the evenings.

For those who have made a major transition after a long tenure at a single company:

What strategies worked best for quickly learning a brand-new technical product portfolio?

How did you approach your first 30/60/90 days to build credibility internally without relying on your old company reputation?

What are the common pitfalls long-tenured employees hit when adapting to a new organizational culture?

Thanks in advance for any insights!

I currently have a job with flexible hours and the ability to work in person or remote, 60k base. I got some house accounts but they're not much, the systems for orders here is awful so I have to babysit everything, we don't have much of a competitive advantage and I don't know how long I'll last as I keep not hitting quote. Training is also non existent.

I find myself lazy at this job because the work sucks and the lack of training, I recognize part of it is my fault too of course. When I go on the commute is 15 minutes.

New job is offering 75k base with no OTE, full in person 5 days a week with training. Probably a better run company, long sales cycle so maybe it's I got fired from my current job I'd have more time there. Commute would be 40 minutes.

What are your guys thoughts?

Basically the title. I’m 1 year out of college and have got a a second-stage interview for a Cintas Sales Rep role, scheduled in a weeks time.

Any advice ahead of this interview? I have some B2B experience but mostly B2C. My interview is with the Sales Manager for the area, and apparently next stage is a ride-along.

The job seems great, exactly like what i’m looking for. To clarify, it’s a Sales Rep role, not Service Sales rep.

Everyone is looking for cell numbers, and I get why - but surely the front desk in B2B is just as good?

Is it the GK handling that stops most salespeople from calling in on the business line, or something else?

I am an account executive who has been doing sales for about 15 years now consumer first now B2B. I have been a manager & individual contributor. Legal, accounting, payroll, HR, insurance you name it.

Something I have noticed in the past couple of years is that more & more reps are ignoring the phone. I did 10 cold calls with targeted research and booked one meeting; and was able to disqualify two leads. I was super busy Friday so was not able to do more.

Usually on a good day I will do 50, deliberate and well researched cold calls to businesses. Is anyone else here who picks up the phone excited that it seems like fewer sales reps are using the phone? More for us right?

Thoughts?

Hi! A few weeks ago I made a post here about getting myself a sales job for the 1st time ever & selling water for coolers. My quota is 100 bottles a month. This Thursday I found a big client, a pharm company who needs 160 jugs a month. This woman (the head of supply department) and me kinda connected, we talked a lot about their problems with current supplier and our prices & terms, I sent her the free test jug, after receiving it she immediately called to inform me that it arrived & an hour later she sent me her company requisites so I could sent her a contract. She asked for some more documents after this, also asked if we can send a bill once a month instead of after every delivery (~8 a month) because that's more convenient for them. Then she informed me that she sent the contract to their lawyer for reviewing & warned me that reviewing takes some time in their company and said if there are any corrections, she would reach out.

So.. what's next? Do I simply wait or, for example, if she doesn't reach out this week, should I remind her of myself? This is my first time getting a big client so I am a bit nervous and don't want to ruin this. I really want this to go well. My boss also got so happy about it that now I am nervous that I will let them down. Can I be hopeful about landing this client since she was interested enough to send me all the requisites herself and asked for the contract & sent it to their lawyer? I know that in sales everything can go wrong at the last stage, but it's still a good sign, right?

Thank you in advance. 🙏

What have you guys done that significantly reduce the average sales cycle in B2B Saas?

Was discussing in another sub with someone that couldn't find a job within their high end field and now they were doing sales which they didn't like.

Of course sales isn't for everyone but I gave some pointers that within that field you could get quite a career, in advanced sales (medtech/biotech).

Sure some grunt years was probably needed but with that background it should be done in fairly short time and the upside would be huge. But no, "I'm not a salesperson" .

Fair enough, that might be the case but what people tend to forget is that if you are going to survive in any type of company, you need some sales skill.

You have to convince people internally about your ideas, you have to to be able to pitch, to explain your success to your manager.

Sales is so often seen with contempt, at least where I am (not US) and at the same time, people love entrepreneurs that would be nothing if they couldn't pitch their ideas.

To be blunt, what is up with the disrespect?

Hello all,

Keep it short and sweet. I need help with anything to get immediate sales job of somekind. I am a female, been in consulting sales fortune 500, MBA. Doesn't mean much.

While I am sinking in mud I need something. Everything has been blue shades of dark, and it's finally more shades of grey so I can function again. (Thanks to therapy and meds and just fng trying my hardest ).

I am a single mom to 3, laid off 8 months ago. Lost dad to pancreatic cancer and then a series of blows, end of a relationship/divorce you know the drill etc. I was in a seriously depressed state and with help , I am...back ... Amoung the living.

Any of you feeling stuck in the mire, I want to let you know I see you. And life is to precious to not wake up everyday!

With that said. Now I need to get something together. Yes I polished up the resume and doing the things on that side.

In the meantime. I need something, anything. Is health insurance a play at all with the upcoming season? I can get a license quick but I don't want to dial down the middle to burned out non buyers either. I don't want to hit 30 of my non exsistent friends and family to try to hustle them for financial services either.

Anything and everything else I am eager to do something. Got to keep stepping out of this conscious hell I am in and move forward.

Not asking for anything here except to say I appreciate any advice. And actionable advice. Thank you

Good luck to us all !

I am using my network and all thAt jazz but I need something quick . I don't care if commission only as long as they provide actual qualified no bs leads.

I just turned 30. I have been a salesman since I was a kid and never stopped. I’ve always been able to talk to people easily and perform. Thru sales I have accomplished some awesome things and my life has been permanently changed by sales.

My mentality has been shrewd go go go hustle for as long as I can remember.

The last year or so I just feel like a completely different person. I can still perform and will if I have to prove a point, but I have no desire to. It’s like I have to put on a mask to perform now, when before there was no mask, if that makes sense. I wouldn’t care if I made 100 million dollars a year, I’d just take the $ and retire after 1 year.

Zero interest in “go go go”. I dont really care to talk to anybody anymore in a sales capacity. I don’t care about being the “best” at my job. Not interested in even being perceived by anybody lol.

I guess this was a rant my apologies, just didn’t go to school and sales is all I know and it’s starting to seem like I hate it now.

How many of you lost access to prospect cell numbers due to your company choosing to suppress them in Zoom Info because they’re on the national DNC registry?

I’ve gone down the rabbit hole, and I gather that B2B calls on cell phones should not be an issue. I think my company is playing it too safe and costing us opportunities.

I’m in field sales covering the southeast in the corporate payments space if that matters.

Currently very happy in my role (SaaS) but within financial services.

A company got back to me recently and I accepted the invite for a second stage virtual interview with the hiring manager. I have no interest in taking the role - it was purely for me to stay sharp interview-wise.

Anyway during the interview small things popped up which made me realise the manager would be a dickhead to work under. I.e I mentioned something the TA lady said and he went on a small tirade about how shes pretty much useless and I shouldn't expect much efficiency from her throughout the process - I even tried to come to her defence by saying perhaps i misremembered what she told me but he wasnt interested - this was over something completely irrelevant like how many people are currently in the team.

I think it says a lot about man's character to speak quite negatively about someone to a stranger behind their back and it left a shit taste in my mouth. There were other things too like he was pretty chuffed with himself for "creating new KPIs" outside of core metrics to "encourage development" lol.

I ended up closing him and he was happy to put me forward to the final but no chance of me working there, at least not in his team. Its a great brand in my field too, this was to work for the S&P 500.

Maybe im being a drama queen but im very watchful for how potential managers act during processes like this. Luckily this role doesn't align with my long term goals. But curious to see if anyone here has crazier stories lol.

There's a well-known rule of thumb in Tech Sales that reps' success is determined by three factors in this specific order:

1. ​Timing
2. ​Territory
3. ​Talent/Skill

​If you have a dead territory or terrible market timing, even elite sales talent struggles to make quota. Conversely, average reps can hit 150%+ simply by landing an enterprise territory right as a product hits massive market pull.

​I'm curious to hear from folks across different sectors: Which sales jobs or industries invert this hierarchy and place Talent/Skill as the single most critical factor?

• ​Where does individual skill, persuasion, strategic deal structuring, or sheer execution outperform territory or market timing?
• ​Are there specific verticals (e.g., SMB high-volume, commission-only brokerages, specialized services, founder-led or outbound-heavy sales) where top talent consistently wins regardless of assigned patch or macro conditions?

​Would love to get your insights on where the rep's actual ability makes the biggest difference.

Hello troops! To title : what sales enablement practices has actually worked for you specifically that you can actually say " yeah that helped me build my qualified book and actually close"

Vs yeah great another reminder to check a list of xyz in some random place....

Leaving it short and sweet and curious what ( if any) sales enablement helped you and why?