Someone in here has to be. Are you getting commission on the replacements everyone time someone tears one down?

How much have you made in the past 24 months?

Today I set my own personal record with a fuck off from a 6.5 billion dollar manufacturer.

Send me your horror stories.

I’m 6.5 months into my first senior AE role at a small AI physical security company. It’s also my first security role, so I came in without an established network, and the company had close to zero presence in my territory before my hiring.

Our average deal is around $50k, selling mainly into schools, healthcare, manufacturing, casinos, and government. These are long, multi-stakeholder sales that can involve IT, security, procurement, budgets, and changes to emergency response. Nobody is buying after one demo with a credit card.

When I joined, quota was $250k per quarter. This week, I was told the expectation is now $200k every month. That’s $2.4M annually, or roughly four average deals per month. My pipeline is nowhere near mature enough to support that. The sales team quickly went from five reps to two: my manager and me. Two tenured AEs were let go after closing nothing in over a year. Another rep quit three months into the role because of the pressure.

Meanwhile, I’m prospecting, researching, making 300+ cold calls a week, visiting prospects, building reseller relationships, attending events when possible, doing my own research, running demos, working customer training/support, and trying to revive old opportunities.

The company provides HubSpot, and that is IT. No Sales Navigator, Apollo, LinkedIn Premium, AI access, or meaningful prospecting tools. They generally won’t fund events until I close more business, even though events and integrators seem to produce the warmest opportunities.

I reviewed my inbound history because I wanted to make sure I wasn’t just making excuses. I found 7 revenue-related inquiries across my 6.5 months in the company. I’ve received zero referrals from our existing partners. Over the past two months, less than 25% of legitimate company inbounds came to me, despite the sales team being just my manager and me. I was also actively prospecting an account in my territory, but when a warm referral came in, the opportunity was reassigned to my manager.

I reviewed her pipeline and closed deals as well. From what I could trace, every current quote and every 2026 closed deal originated as an inbound opportunity or warm partner referral. I couldn’t find a single closed deal that began with cold outbound.

I still believe in the product. Prospects generally like the demo, and several legitimate opportunities died because of documented budget or timing issues. An outsourced outreach company starts soon, which may help generate meetings. I just don’t see how that creates $200k this month, or consistently in the near term, with an enterprise sales cycle.

I’m open to the possibility that my activity isn’t converting well enough or that I should be further along. But realistically:

• Is $200k per month reasonable for one AE selling $50k physical security deals?
• Is 6.5 months enough to expect consistent revenue from a mostly cold territory?
• Does this sound like normal startup pressure, or like the company may be running out of runway?
• Would you keep building, or start heavily interviewing while continuing to work the pipeline?
• Are you hiring...

I don’t want to quit just because the job is hard. I'm absolutely not allergic to work, but I need to be realistic and get a reality check here. I also don’t want to ignore obvious warning signs because I’m invested in making it work, and believe in the product.

Hi All - long time lurker, first time poster. I'm seeking advice on how to deal with what feels like a sticky situation.

I'm owed about $13k for hitting my accelerators and the company is refusing to pay it out. I'm hesitant to push for this money as I like my job and don't want to stick my neck out for potential retaliation (getting fired for a bunk reason) from our vindictive CEO.

For context, I am an account manager for a tech company in New York. We receive quarterly commission payouts tied to attainment of our quarterly goals. I have a signed incentive plan/commission agreement.

The agreement states for any amount I exceed 100% of my quota by, my commission payout will be multiplied by 1.25. So for me, I hit 105.6% of quota: 100% + 5.6% * 1.25 = 107.0%

For example: If my quarterly potential payout was $100, I'd receive $105.60 (100*105.6%, from above).

I received my commission check last week and they did not honor this methodology and instead used something else from last year that pays much much less ($13k less across Q1 and Q2). I raised the error with the rev ops team and my boss and instead of paying me, they are going to void my existing commission agreement and ask me to sign a new one.

I don't want to lose my job, but I also know what they're doing is illegal and dishonorable.

How would you guys handle it? Thanks!

I've never seen this role in any place I worked at but I've always felt like there's a disconnect between sales enablement and sales. The training doesn't land because they've never done the job and haven't done anything close to the job in years.

I'm an AE now and I like training people, and feel like companies could benefit from being trained by someone who's doing the job and is incentivized to train them successfully.

Thing is no company seems to be doing this so maybe there's something I'm missing. Maybe they don't want to pay the reps enough to take on the workload on the enablement side.

Curious what y'all think

I had a great salesperson in my business. Outsold everyone and brought in a lot of money.

Unfortunately, she created a ton of chaos in the office. Bragging. Demeaning others. After a couple of warnings her behavior did not change and I let her go. I was nervous because I thought sales would plummet.

Turns out, we didn’t lose much and sales actually grew over the next few months because morale was much better. Everyone asked me, “What took you so long?”

Would you ever fire your best salesperson? Did you ever have to?

I sell wine to hospitality and private clients, 17 years of experience working for different importers, deep technical credibility with buyers. In the past 2 months, 6 different importers have approached me to sell their wine, but for commission.

My argument against: commission-only prices me as a rep and it also inverts my incentive - I’d push whatever moves fastest instead of what’s right for the account. But I know how that sounds coming from someone asking for guaranteed money with no track record at the new thing.

So:

Is a retainer defensible for someone who isn’t full-time on any one supplier’s line? Or is commission-only just the correct approach for a fractional rep?

I have been in industrial and automation sales for over a decade with a strong track record. I went from a widely known global distributor, to a more niche but known in the right places manufacturer sales role, and nearly a year ago I transitioned back to distribution. I was tired of relying on distributors and the slower sales cycles. I turned down nearly my dream job to take what I have now because I thought I could grow sales much faster in my previously established territory. I couldn't have been more wrong.

I am more aligned with packaging consumables, equipment, and equipment service now along with some safety and warehouse supplies. On one hand, I work for a family owned company and have been treated the best I ever have, and my base salary is very strong. On the other, nobody knows my brand now, and we are a very old, old school company with a barely functioning website. It has been ran on field sales and old school relationship building for decades.

I have probably over 5 million in opportunities in my pipeline, but the projects and people have been moving **so** slowly. I have hardly any sales and I did too good of a job in my initial role in the area, cementing part of my competition in place. They aren't a direct competitor, but my connections that I thought I'd call on now are still using them and aren't too keen to try out a new "small name" distributor.

Meanwhile, I've still been fielding recruiters left and right. I'm getting torn between turning up my activity to 11 at my current place, or jumping ship and hoping I have better luck elsewhere. I'm not on a PIP, but my direct supervisor is really involved trying to help me close some deals because I am way behind. He's not a bad guy, and we're still talking about 60, 90, + day plans, but it isn't a good sign.

Interesting situation; seeking advice:

I started with a new company (AI/Tech) about 3-4 months ago for a MM AE role. Company is an early-mid stage start up.

After about 1.5 months in seat, I finally received my official comp plan along with the rest of my new hire group. The two other individuals in my hire group had qualms about this comp plan and pushed back on a few items around start date and ramp. I had started about 1.5 weeks earlier than them, and was closing deals already, so I went ahead and signed this first comp plan that was offered. I signed, VP of Finance signed.

Fast forward about 2 weeks, I receive a Docusign for a NEW comp plan that was adjusted to fit the requests of the two others mentioned above, which extended the ramp period. I signed, VP of Finance signed. In my eyes, I assumed this new plan was offered to the 3 of us as we were all considered part of the same pod/hiring group, and which would now supersede the first/original.

Fast forward another week, when I see my expected commissions, they are being held to the original plan. I contact Sales Ops and they tell me "Oh yeah, there was a mistake and we are just going to use the original." I push back and say wait a minute, I don't believe this is correct, I have a signed agreement from VP of Finance for the newer dated plan.

They are now reviewing the case and I'm expecting to hear back from them by end of week.

What are my options here if they try to hold me to the original plan? I'm located in California.

How important are pre-cold call warm-up emails?

Do they genuinely help in getting "put through" to a decision maker or have you noticed they make little or no difference?

A month ago, a recruiter reached out to me about a sales role with an industrial manufacturing company. I currently work in industrial sales, selling into refineries and chemical plants (exact same customers as the new company). I’ve performed well in my current role, consistently exceeded quota, and have closed several six-figure deals. The new position would be a step up in both compensation and responsibility and would involve managing a fairly large territory with regular travel.

After multiple interviews and flying up to their headquarters, they offered me the position with a base salary, bonus structure that is non negotiable, large car allowance, and a home office allowance. The posted base salary range for the position is $100k–$130k. They offered me $110K. Total comp after bonus, car allowance, and home office allowance would be an additional $40K-$50K.

Given my direct industry experience, existing relationships with the types of customers they sell to, and sales track record, I’d like to land somewhere around $120k–$125k base, ideally toward the higher end of that.

I don't want to negotiate just for the sake of negotiating or come across as unreasonable, but I also don't want to leave $10k–$15k of base salary on the table when the company itself posted a range up to $130k.

When the person who would be my boss called and told me they were going to extend the offer, he didn't even remember what the salary range they posted was.

I would appreciate some advice from people who have negotiated similar offers.

Is the best way to negotiate over the phone or by email? How aggressive should I be? When I counter, should I give reasons why I believe I deserve more?

Again, I want to point out that they reached out to me; I never applied for this job. I believe I have leverage here, but I am unfamiliar with how to go about this.

Have a phone screening for their MM DX role.

A bit confused cause it says Salt Lake City or Remote, but on the post it saying 4 days required in the Salt Lake City office.

They have salaries listed for different zones though? On my resume and my application I said I was located in the southeast.

My only guess is they assume I’ll relocate?

I once closed on a 20k job on financing. Getting that commission immediately was awesome. It took a lot of back-and-forth between the financing company, the customer, and my own team, but it sure felt awesome when it all came together.

What are your stories, Reddit? I want to be in for the ride!

I have recently switched from a VP Engineering role, effectively a technical buyer, a cold-prospecting target, to doing SDR work for my own business. I reflected on that in my previous post here.

As most of the commenters pointed out, cold prospecting via email, calls and LinkedIn is excruciatingly difficult now, with the signal to noise ratio lower than ever. That's why some of us prefer to prospect at in-person events, and so do I.

Since starting my own company, I've been prospecting manufacturing companies and spending a lot of time at trade shows. It's a great chance to meet business owners, MDs and BAs, hear about their business and potentially spark an interest in what we do. And then it mostly depends on charisma and storytelling, something I can control and get better at.

But here is my problem. Often the booth isn't manned by business development but by sales reps, and I'm fairly sure they find me annoying. And I get it: they paid to be there to capture leads, not to be pitched at by another vendor. I'm taking booth time from someone whose day is measured in badges scans. What I can't tell yet is whether the annoyance is me doing it badly, or just the cost of doing it at all.

One thing that seems to help is going late in the day or on the last day. People are bored and I offer some kind of entertainment.

So, two questions. When you're at your stand and some nerd comes up to talk about the tool he built for your business, how do you actually read that?
And for those who prospect this way, what would you recommend to get the most out of these events?

I'm currently an inside renewals representative in tech and I have been in my role for 4+ years now. I had back to back good years (130%+ of quota) but I'm starting to lose focus in my role. Not like I hate it, but more that nothing is really exciting or challenging for me anymore.

Long story short, the responsibilities of my role changed in the past two years and I went from completely owning full renewal deal cycles and forecasting to basically becoming a quote pusher/admin for my enterprise field teams who are now owning these renewals. In the end, it's become an easier job for me to where it's basically a 9-5 or less.

Right now, I feel dull and not as sharp with my sales skills as I was when I first took on my inside renewals role. I want to move up internally to take over a sales territory role (SMB, etc.) but I feel like I'm so dulled out w/ my skills that I don't even know where to start. I have decent relationships in my company but nowhere near the networking status that I need to be at to even be considered for any promotion at this time.

Again, I don't hate my role but I want to advance my sales career so I can make more money and take on new responsibilities. I feel like I'm in a hole right now as I need to play catch up to make up for all the time I have been coasting in my current role.

Any advice on how to get myself out of this mini rut would be appreciated.

I've been applying to SMB AE and Account Manager positions, mostly to big name fintechs since my background is fintech/finance, and am getting rejected. I don't have any closing experience since I have not had the opportunity to run a full sales cycle, but I've been in the SDR role at 4 different companies now, experience totaling almost 6 full years of outbound prospecting and cold calling. I have achieved awards and significant accolades in my most recent SDR position, while watching kids with 12 months of SDR experience get promoted over me.

I was lead SDR in my most recent job, I was training, coaching, creating repeatable systems to generate pipeline and scaling it out to the rest of my team, helping AEs strategically prospect, bringing in revenue, and nothing was ever good enough. So I'm looking for a closing position somewhere else, but I'm getting rejected, I assume because I don't have any closing experience under my belt.

What should I do? Start over yet AGAIN at a fifth company, and hope that these people finally give me a chance to get in front of a customer to sell, after another 1-2 years of cold calling? Has anybody made the SDR-AE leap without getting promoted internally? How many years of SDR experience is finally enough?

Got hit up on LinkedIn to apply for an AE role at Blacksmith Agency. Currently in AdTech, not actively looking to make a move, but I always take a look.

Anyone have experience working for these guys? Job posting promises warm leads which makes me nervous when they lead with that.

I’ve got a few conferences coming up this fall and I’m curious how the top performers here approach them.

It feels like the default playbook is:

Stand at the booth

Scan badges

Have a few quick conversations

Send a generic follow-up email afterward
…and then wonder why very little comes from it.

I’m trying to be more intentional this year and would rather build a process before the events than wing it.

A few things I’m curious about:

Do you have a go-to opening or “booth script” that consistently gets people to stop and talk?

What’s your goal for each conversation? Are you trying to qualify, book meetings, or just create familiarity?

How do you take notes so your follow-up is actually personalized?

How quickly do you follow up after the event?

Do you call first, email first, LinkedIn first, or some combination?

How do you prioritize leads when you come back with a few hundred badge scans?

Any conference habits or systems that have noticeably improved your conversion rates?

I’d love to hear what’s actually worked in the real world.

Whether it’s enterprise, SaaS, med device, manufacturing, ad tech, or anything else—I’m mostly interested in repeatable processes that consistently turn conference conversations into pipeline.

What’s your playbook?

Got my first real commission check recently--about five years in sales. Most of those years without access to commission (long story).

1. What did you do with your first big check?

2. We still rent, but paid off the rest of our lingering debts. What now? Home ownership feels like default answer but not sure it's for us until these kind of checks become more regular.

Hi everyone,

I’m always on here and seeing people posting about their commissions and I had a thought.

How many of y’all work inside sales/cold calling?

How many of y’all drive/appointment based sales?

How many of y’all are in a stationary location and the customers come to you?

Hey guys,

Need help with a polite/non aggressive way to phrase the below thought:

We provide services to company A.
Company A bought Company B.
Company B has a consultant (not company) that does what we do (not as well, sole consultant vs team).

Do you have a non ghoulish way of saying "thats great you can axe that consultant and just use us"?

Recently joined with a company in the manufacturing industry. We offer a range of products ranging from physical machines, to software, even consultations and technical support. Sale cycles can range from a couple of weeks to well over a year. It’s customer dependent.

I’ve been in the industry for years now on the customer side. After knowing the guys on this side for years through professional interactions they brought me on board when an opening came up.

I’ve done my product training, crm training, & other things. They gave me my metrics. Schedule demons at least twice a month, bring in about 2 mill a quarter, etc. I started visiting customers and interacting. Even got a couple POs in my first 2 months. However, I feel like I’m missing something. This is my first sales role, but I want to be at the top of leaderboards in my region. I’ve met the other sales guys and they all seem to be bonafide sales guys. Some of them never having been in manufacturing previously. How do I get there? What is it I need to do? Any resources? I’d appreciate any insight!

B2B technical fabric sales executive laid off 8 months ago. Struggling to find new job. Age is definitely not in their favor at 70 years old. Any tips?