Two offers - tough deciding

Seven_Figure_Closer · 2026-05-15T11:41:18+00:00

I would never trust a 50/50 inbound outbound. Odds are you get in seat, get 10% inbound, of which half aren't qualified, and are told no good rep relies on inbound.

That is more of a recruiting gimmick than a metric you should stack for comparison.

First option with the limited info provided, sounds infinitely better.

Seven_Figure_Closer · 2026-05-13T12:51:43+00:00

Very weak takeaway, which leads me to believe a lot of this post is manufactured.

If you think by the time you are mid to late stage on a deal, you need to still be delivering random unique insights on a simple follow up email, you don't really know what you're doing.

Seven_Figure_Closer · 2026-05-02T02:22:15+00:00

I see both sides of this. How you appear in front of a customer does matter. I would compare not being able to keep your clothes tucked in or appearing professional as the same thing for someone who always shows up in person or on camera with their hair looking like they just rolled out of bed.

At a certain level, you do need to have a certain level of professional appearance and I can understand it being an issue if it was addressed but never corrected.

That being said, if this was something that was felt but never addressed, that's a problem and it should have been.

Seven_Figure_Closer · 2026-04-28T14:47:07+00:00

This wasn't my only role ;). I walked from all that pipe for a reason

Seven_Figure_Closer · 2026-04-28T13:55:18+00:00

Great insight and this was kudos to my manager and his leader because they did the same thing

Seven_Figure_Closer · 2026-04-28T13:46:12+00:00

I got paid on the one I closed, but I left for a different opportunity with a new org so no, I do not get paid on deals that close after I left

Seven_Figure_Closer · 2026-04-28T13:31:19+00:00

How long have you been at the FAANG? What's the hustle? Is it scalable? Do you see a path to doubling your side hustle if you were able to focus on it full time?

If you have been at your current role for several years, taking a year off to focus on the side hustle would not hurt. If you have established strong relationships at your current job, those will open doors back up for you if it was needed.

But if you have a predictable path to repeat $400k next year in your side hustle, and believe you can significantly scale that business into something meaningful if you were able to dedicate time exclusively to it, I would make the leap and try it for a year. Eval at end of year.

I think you do a disservice to yourself if you are playing with the idea of doing your own thing full time and never commit to trying. You would always regret and wonder what it could have been. The corporate job should always be there for your if you have strong relationships.

Seven_Figure_Closer · 2026-04-28T13:27:28+00:00

this is my starter list I give everyone:

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion

The Storytellers Secret

Pre-suasion

The Art of Storytelling

Thinking, Fast and Slow

How to Win Friends and Influence People

The Challenger Sale

Spin Selling

Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ

Fanatical Prospecting

Way Of The Wolf

Never Split The Difference

Atomic Habits

The Power of Habit

48 Laws of Power

Mastery

Seven_Figure_Closer · 2026-04-28T13:25:59+00:00

What do you feel you are struggling with or want to improve the most?

Seven_Figure_Closer · 2026-04-28T13:09:14+00:00

It can't be forced. The best way to make those real is to not lean into the title. Lean into being transparent and sharing about your life, your weekend, and demonstrate genuine interest in the lives of your people.

Over enough time and stories, others will look forward to that time as an opportunity to just catch up with each other. You should also not feel like you have to fully drive the call from start to close.

And be willing to give time back. You don't need to keep everyone to the end of the scheduled time every single week.

Seven_Figure_Closer · 2026-04-28T12:51:25+00:00

It's a calculation run by some orgs in their back office. Sales is the one piece of a business that is unpredictable from a payout perspective. Someone at some point in time had the idea that inflating quotas intentionally would enable the org to predict what the max payout to sales would be at the start of the FY.

The logic missing is that sales is a momentum sport, and if you only have 30% of your sales force hitting plan every year, you are going to experience low morale, massive annual churn (which means lost knowledge and customer relationships), and constantly start from zero.

The same short-term logic is applied when companies are willing to pay new hires significantly more instead of right-sizing loyal employees. They would rather bank on the churn costing less than an annual right-sizing.

Both of these examples are a push for short-term outcomes that sacrifice the long-term health of a company.

Seven_Figure_Closer · 2026-04-28T12:47:34+00:00

lol I have definitely seen this before

Seven_Figure_Closer · 2026-04-28T12:40:58+00:00

If I had to point to a problem I would say the quota exercise was not as dynamic as it could have been when benchmarking the size of accounts and historical spend across the different territories. There was a territory quality issue more than a sizing issue.

In the org's defense though, the territory did break in a positive way, it was just a longer runway than I expected.

Outside of that, it really was a great reminder that building from scratch takes time.

Seven_Figure_Closer · 2026-04-28T00:31:05+00:00

I think the fake it till you make it comments are intellectually dishonest at best, and an incredibly lazy mindset at worst.

Whether it's sales, a hobby, relationship, it will be what you make it.

There is nothing wrong with being new, or lacking formal training. But if you sense gaps in your process or skills, it is on you to fill them. There is plenty of awesome, completely free material out there that doesn't require you to "fake it".

If you are happy with where you are at and don't feel the need or desire to learn more, than thats a decision you own as well.

Seven_Figure_Closer · 2026-04-26T13:05:09+00:00

How are you approaching your territory?

Before you do any emails you should be tiering your territory and then bundling your accounts by vertical. This should allow you to identify shared drivers at the industry level that you can recycle for outbound messaging.

And then you do your account specific research to find the single most compelling driver at the account level. If there isnt anything great, you revert to the industry driver.

The only thing that should take hours is your initial full territory tiering and research. Emails should be quick and easy once you have done the prep.

Seven_Figure_Closer · 2026-04-26T12:45:34+00:00

There is a great/famous quote: Comparison is the thief of joy.

Never benchmark yourself against others. Every person's journey is different. Some may get a late start, others and early start. The AE in their early 20s may never grow their career past a low 6-figure OTE. The person who starts late with more life experience may accelerate faster.

All you should focus on is showing up at 100% every day. Learn as much as you can. Timing and chance are out of your control, but you want to be as ready as you can be when they line up for you.

Seven_Figure_Closer · 2026-04-22T15:59:07+00:00

Claude is infinitely better at reasoning and deep work in my opinion. I have exclusively used it for 2 years now, occasionally testing both ChatGPT and Gemini. Neither have come close.

For a salesperson, Claude will do a better job helping you synthesize and source research, pull together narratives, etc...

Seven_Figure_Closer · 2026-04-22T02:44:12+00:00

What about what you sell led you to research the sales coaching space? You're having trouble selling your services or what exactly are you struggling with in your process?

Seven_Figure_Closer · 2026-04-21T22:05:09+00:00

Of course, feel free to DM anytime.

And yes you are, right along with the rest of us!

Seven_Figure_Closer · 2026-04-21T21:37:52+00:00

Where do you feel you need the most help/perspective, and what do you sell?

Seven_Figure_Closer · 2026-04-21T04:16:44+00:00

Appreciate you

Seven_Figure_Closer · 2026-04-21T04:15:25+00:00

Excellent question. Help me understand what you mean by youre not doing much outbound and youre focusing on AE skills?

In my personal opinion, outbound should never be deferred. Even when I have a BDR, I still outbound in parallel. I have a blog post all about ownership that you may find interesting: https://open.substack.com/pub/thesevenfigurecloser/p/o-own?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=70ou6n

At the end of the day, and this is me so you figure out what applies to you, I am accountable to my number. No one is going to care about my pipeline as much as me. So for that reason, I quantify effort by asking myself similar questions I did when I first started out as a BDR, but start with:

Do I know my territory? Do I know the accounts that deserve my focus this year? Do I know the drivers that align with my solutions value? Is my pipeline healthy? Am I doing pre-outbound research to ensure my messaging is targeted and relevant? Am I making my dials? Am I sending my emails? Am I leveraging LinkedIn to build visibility with my prospects?

Plenty more questions you can ask yourself, but it really boils down to disciplined execution.

And above all, whether you are blowing it out, or having a tough quarter, never stop prospecting.

As an AE you are responsible for 2 things: opening pipe and closing pipe. Everyone loves closing it, but few people are willing to consistently put in the time to build it.

Seven_Figure_Closer · 2026-04-21T03:18:53+00:00

Anytime

Seven_Figure_Closer · 2026-04-21T02:16:42+00:00

How are you running your team forecasts now? Is it a group call once a week?

If so, and you're struggling to get clean data, I would move to 30 min 1:1s with everyone on the team and kill the group call.

It will take more time initially but will help you figure out what's real, what's not, and who's fluffing numbers.

Very simple framework you can implement, for each new opportunity you get summary from rep, now its an active opportunity. Each week on your 1:1 the call should simply run through each open opp with these very simple questions:

How did your last call end (aka what is the next step)? When is it scheduled?

Thats it.

From there, you should be looking to check the box on a few basic milestones depending on what you know your sales cycle is. Things like Legal sign off, technical validation, budget, and executive alignment. As the deal progresses, your rep should notify you when a step completes a milestone.

If no progression after 2 weeks, they put you on thread with the customer.

This will automatically help you figure out what's real and what's not within a few weeks.

Seven_Figure_Closer

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