The best cities for sales comp

Published: Wed, 10/18/23

October 18, 2023

TOGETHER WITH

Good morning. We haven’t shared many motivational quotes in this newsletter, but today, let’s indulge: “I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it.” — Thomas Jefferson. Does copying and pasting a motivational quote count as hard work? We’ll let you decide. For now, enjoy this week’s issue of The Quota!

NUMBER OF THE WEEK

The average number of sellers under a single manager.

Source: Mindtickle

SALES ROUNDUP

Here’s what’s happening in the sales world this week:

One of our favorite sales trainers, Ian Koniak, who was once a top Account Executive at Salesforce, recently shared his advice for how to build wealth in tech sales. The advice can actually apply to all manner of sales, not just tech. While not all points will work for everyone, they're all true. You can check out his LinkedIn post here.
A Texas salesman is in hot water after pleading guilty to stealing $1.5m from the family-owned company he worked for. The salesman had customers send him invoices directly, which he then inflated and billed to his employer, keeping the profits for himself. The salesman has been sentenced to a year and nine months in prison. You can read more about the scheme and how it worked here.

FEATURE

Here’s how much Account Executives and Sales Development Reps are making in each major U.S. City

Technology companies, as we all know, tend to spring up in major U.S. cities, acting as drivers of economic growth, and employing thousands of engineers, support staff, and, yes, sales representatives.

We were curious which major metropolitan areas pay the most, and how much sales reps can expect to make if they live in (or decide to move to) a particular area, so we reached out to our friends at RepVue to get the deets (that’s short for details — we are cool and edgy over here).

If you’re an AE or an SDR and are looking to make a move or to get an idea of whether you’re being compensated fairly, the following is a breakdown of base salary info by metro area. And if you want to see OTE, quota attainment, and more, click here.

(Data current as of 10/13/23)

Atlanta, GA

AE: 95k
SDR: 50k

Austin, TX

AE: 85k
SDR: 55k

Boston, MA

AE: 85k
SDR: 50k

Chicago, IL

AE: 80k
SDR: 55k

Los Angeles, CA

AE: 90k
SDR: 60k

San Francisco, CA

AE: 100k
SDR: 60k

San Jose, CA

AE: 105k
SDR: 57.5k

New York, NY

AE: 95k
SDR: 55k

Seattle, WA

AE: 110k
SDR: 60k

See salaries by job role, city, country and more here.

SAVE TIME WITH QWILR

Stats show that sales reps spend less than 30% of their time actually selling.

We’ve all heard about the efficiency gains that AI can offer, but has anyone actually had the time to figure out how time-poor sales reps can benefit?

Well, our friends at Qwilr have done the leg work for you, and in their new report, they’ve outlined three practical ways that sales reps can start using AI today. And it’s free! 🎉

Get practical guidance on how-to:

Respond in record time
Spend less time on admin
Prospect more efficiently

Don’t waste time - read the report and get time back today!

Read the free report!

MEME OF THE WEEK

Source: Instagram -- Sales Humor

LOOKING FOR A NEW ROLE?

Stuck with unrealistic quotas? A micromanaging sales manager?Microwaved fish in the break room?!

If you're looking to make a change, our friends at Cox Business are hiring! Cox offers:

Competitive salary plus top-notch bonus & incentive plans
Full benefits (including healthcare from day one)
Extra perks (like free home internet, cable and smart home automation)
Career advancement and professional development

Browse open sales roles from entry-level to leadership positions here.

Browse open roles!

QUIZ

According to predictions from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, overall employment in sales occupations will _____ from 2022 to 2023?

A. decline
B. increase
C. remain the same
D. fluctuate

SALES FAILS

Each week, we bring you the most cringe-worthy sales moments from across the web. To submit your sales fail story for consideration, click here. (Don't worry, you'll remain completely anonymous).

Back when I just graduated from college, I was interviewing for different sales jobs. I was excited to start making some money, and, at the time, I heard you could make a lot of money working in the mortgage industry.

I got a call back from a company that wanted me to come and interview with them. They were about a half hour away from my house. I put on a nice suit and put my resume into a folder and drove down to meet with them.

The company was in a small building that looked more like a multi-family house than an office, though it did have a big parking lot. One thing that caught my eye was that the cars in the parking lot were kind of crappy. I know it’s kind of a lame thing to notice, but they were all cheap and beat up-looking cars, which, from my experience interviewing with other companies, wasn’t what I’d expected from an industry that was booming.

So, I went inside and met the manager. He seemed nice enough, but I noticed that everybody there was dressed kind of schlubby. One guy was wearing a white t-shirt with a stain on it and everybody else was in jeans or even shorts. This was before the workplace got super-casual, so it was a pretty unusual thing to see.

The manager and I went into his office and he started asking me general interview questions. He told me his guys made a ton of money and basically made it seem like it was a no-brainer for me to come join. Then he asked if I had any questions. I thought about it, then asked him why, if everybody is making so much money, there aren’t any nice cars in the parking lot. He looked at me for a long time, then stood up, and said the opportunity was “not on the table anymore.” I guess I missed out on a small fortune…

Anonymous Location withheld

GRAPH OF THE WEEK

Source: LinkedIn Poll -- October 2023

WORTH A PEEK

Are you a sales leader or aspiring to become one? If so, there are some great books on sales management out there for you. Inc has a solid list called "5 books on sales every leader should read." You can check it out here.

ASK THE QUOTA

Want to submit a question and be featured in our advice column? Click here. (Don't worry, you'll remain completely anonymous).

Dear Quota Team

I sell to SMBs, so, needless to say, my job involves a lot of cold calling. I've worked here for just over a year and have been mostly in the middle-of-the-pack, but I'm still new to sales and have been pretty happy with my growth. I'm always trying to get better. A few months ago I got transferred to another team and have a new sales manager who keeps pushing me (and the entire team) to be extremely aggressive in our cold-calling and our follow-up with prospects who show even a tiny bit of interest.

I've been doing what I'm told, but it has led to me getting screamed at and cussed out by prospects A LOT. I'm selling basically the same product at the same company, just in a different segment. I wasn't getting anywhere near this much resistance from prospects in my previous role. Getting verbally abused on the phone every day sucks. I was able to suck it up for a while, but doing it day in and day out is starting to take a toll.

More importantly, I feel like these aggressive tactics are actually hurting my chances to close deals. I feel that by being so aggressive/pushy in my follow-ups, I'm losing deals I could have easily won. I also think that there's no way that this type of aggressive selling isn't hurting the overall company brand image. I want to bring this up to my manager but I don't know how. I don't want to seem weak or like a complainer. I also don't want him to think that I think I know better than he does. All I know is I can't keep this up much longer — for both my mental health and my wallet, as I'm not earning as much as I was before I got transferred. What should I do?

Frustrated in the Northeast

Dear Frustrated,

Two things:

1. Sales is hard. Rejection doesn’t feel good, neither does being treated rudely by prospects, but it’s all part of the game. It’s the reason why sales reps can make so much money — if it was easy, everybody would be making six figures in sales. Your current role just happens to be structured in such a way where there’s a high volume of outreach and (naturally) a high rejection rate. Short of leaving, there’s nothing you can do about that. Focus on what works, and try to do more of that, insomuch as you can given your company’s requirements.

2. The real issue seems to be that your sales manager is pushing you hard to do things that you think are actually making you lose winnable deals. You’re not the first rep this has happened to and you won’t be the last. Of course, you can try talking to him about it, perhaps even ask for a bit of leeway to try things your way for once. But before you do this, make sure you’re prepared to have a target on your back, lose your job, or to get laughed out of the room. And, of course, if things are that bad and you don’t see them getting any better, you can start looking for a new job. Good luck!

Quiz Answer: A — decline (you can read the source article here)

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How did you like today's story?

Today's email was written by Ken Kupchik, Erica Furgiuele, Steve Rado, and Emily Hill.

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