Can you make 6 figures in your first year?

Published: Wed, 04/10/24

April 10, 2024

TOGETHER WITH

Welcome back to The Quota. This week, we’re giving away a pair of Airpods (to block out your manager’s voice) to the reader who refers the most new subscribers. More details below the fold. Enjoy the newsletter!

NUMBER OF THE WEEK

Sales reps can spend up to 40% of their time looking for somebody to call.

Source: Inside Sales

SALES ROUNDUP

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

The world’s oldest billionaire apparently got his start in door-to-door sales, according to a recent article about the centenarian. George Joseph, who founded Mercury General Corporation, was working as a systems analyst for a life insurance company when he began selling life insurance door-to-door in the evenings to make some extra money. From there, he got to work building his empire. You can read more about George’s storied life here.
A medical sales rep and a pain clinic owner in Alabama have been sentenced to years in prison for their roles in a long-running, $28 million fraud scheme. James E. Ray, 53, of Gadsden, Alabama, last week was sentenced to 40 months for conspiracy to commit health care fraud. He must also forfeit some $850,000 and attempt to pay more than $5 million in restitution, according to court records and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Northern Alabama. You can read more about the scheme here.

FEATURE

An interview with Jason Usdin, Regional Sales Director for an AWS consulting partner

Jason Usdin currently lives in Stamford Connecticut with his wife Allison (also in sales), daughter Zoe, and Bernedoodle Rusty. Outside of work he enjoys tennis, fitness, cooking, swimming class with his daughter, and music (piano and Sax player). Making the adjustment from NYC life to suburb life has been fun these past few months for Jason and his family.

You received your masters degree in special education. How and why did you make the decision to go into sales?

It's funny, I come from a family of salespeople. However, during college I really found that I enjoyed working with children, which led me to becoming a kindergarten special education teacher and receiving my masters right after undergrad. While teaching, I was running a tutoring business and fitness business on the side. In 2015, I looked at the back of one of the textbooks I was teaching, and I reached out to the company to see if they were hiring. Lo and behold, they were looking for a jr. rep to drive around door-to-door and sell textbooks to administrators in the state of NJ. I wanted to find a way to mesh my love for education and my passion for sales. I was always the kid who won the wrapping paper sales contest at school. Growing up, I would knock on every neighbor's door in my neighborhood until they bought something. It was a natural fit, and I was lucky that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt took a chance on a young scrappy teacher. I was still helping people, and learning sales at the same time, translating the patience I learned while teaching into a career in sales.

You sell professional services to help organizations with their AWS ecosystem (Amazon Web Services). Is it challenging for non-technical salespeople (non-developers) to sell technology to leaders/engineers? Any tips for other sellers who are in the same boat on how to overcome this?

From the outside looking in, it can definitely be intimidating. I was taking a course in Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2017 because textbooks were evolving into platforms built on AWS. It was definitely challenging at first, but I had great mentors. I was able to shadow many seasoned Account Executives and managers during my first few months at Onica (my first AWS partner role in 2019). In addition, a requirement for onboarding was to pass the Amazon Cloud Practitioner test, which guides you in learning all of the 200+ Amazon Web Services, as well as the business value of each. With the cloud services constantly changing and transforming, there are always courses available to continue to grow technical acumen. The biggest piece of advice I would give to anyone looking to go into a technical role with limited experience is to invest in the AWS cloud practitioner course and Amazon's free courses around the technical/business value of the cloud. And now, with GenAI being today's hottest topic, I would highly recommend familiarizing yourself in that space as well. I am lucky that Caylent (my current company) invests in its employees, and gives us access to plenty of professional development.

What’s the biggest issue in your sales organization right now? Leads? Long sales-cycles? How are you working to overcome it?

The biggest obstacle is actually not within my organization, but it's actually more in my personal life. I recently became a father for the first time, and it's very important to find that work-life balance, especially with a baby. Sales is a job where you are always on (nights/weekends — the hustle never stops). But after having a daughter, I've realized that even though speed matters and customers are always looking for that response right away, more often than not, they understand that family comes first. It's been an adjustment, but my customers and my colleagues have been very supportive. Sometimes that email that comes in at six or seven at night can wait — and it took me a while to learn that! Reading “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” with my daughter is much more important. I am lucky that my manager has been supportive and guided me through this as he is a father as well.

How can someone get into a tech-focused sales role like yours?

Invest in yourself. In my opinion, technical literacy is more important in today's society than any other skill. Continue to surround yourself with modern technology and do not stop learning. Don’t be afraid to take risks either. I recently built an entire music video using AWS GenAI services with no skills in engineering. I did it all through watching a free YouTube course. There are so many free courses, YouTube videos, and even paid courses in cloud technology, and just modern technology in general. However, with that said, I cannot do my job without my engineers and technical team. I have a great support system, and I learn from them every day. Shout out to James B!

What advice would you give to someone who is just starting out and is considering a career in sales?

The best piece of advice I ever got was don't come sprinting out of the gates. It's very hard for salespeople to have patience. We all want that first sale to come through the door the minute we start our job. I remember my first sales call. I wanted to show my boss that I learned the product line, so I pitched every single product to the superintendent (science books, math books, literacy books, etc.). It was a disaster. So I would say, even though you know what you’re selling or THINK you know what you're selling, learn your pitch, practice your pitch, but most importantly: understand your customer’s needs.

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MEME OF THE WEEK

Source: Instagram -- Sales Humor

QUIZ

What is the most expensive car ever sold?

A. Mercedes-Benz W196
B. Ferrari 250 GTO Tipo
C. 1992 Geo Storm
D. 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé

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).

My biggest Sales Fail is 100% my fault. Years ago, I used to sell furniture for a company that did a lot of advertising (still does) in the Northeast. I made really good money at the time, but since then, I’ve left retail and now work in B2B sales.

I had a couple come in to look at a bunch of furniture, including a couch, a bedroom set, and a desk. They didn’t buy anything, but they took notes and I honestly didn’t think I’d hear from them again. Well, a week or two later, the husband called me and wanted to place a really big order. I was pumped.

When we started talking about the desk, there were two size options. He wanted the shorter desk because there was a spot in their new house where a window frame or something like that would get in the way of the bigger desk and they wanted to be able to put it up against the wall.

I gave him the dimensions of the smaller desk. He asked me multiple times to confirm. “Are you sure that’s the size?” he asked, because he had looked at the manufacturer’s catalog and was seeing something different. I was measuring the desk with a tape measure and said yes multiple times. Finally, I kind of raised my voice a little and said, “Look, I’m literally staring at the desk right now. It’s the right size.” He apologized and said okay and placed the order.

The day of the delivery, I got a call from the customer. The desk he had ordered was bigger than the size I’d given him and did not fit. Turns out, I was measuring the completely wrong desk when I was on the phone with him. He was livid. He said he had taken a day off from work to take delivery and I had wasted his time. And since the desk he got didn’t fit, he no longer wanted the dressers that (sort of) matched. He ended up returning everything except the couch. Sales Fail!

Anonymous Location withheld

GRAPH OF THE WEEK

Source: LinkedIn Poll -- April 2024

WORTH A PEEK

Where can you make six figures in your first year in sales? This was the topic of a recent Reddit thread, and the answers ranged from medical device sales, to construction sales, to car sales. You can check the conversation 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’ve been with my company for just under three years. When I joined, things were pretty good. We only sell to people in our state, and at the time, we didn’t really have any competition and were able to pretty much get most of the business in our area.

But over the last year or two, things have changed. Interest rates have affected our business and there are new alternatives for our product. We’ve had a few layoffs but I am a pretty reliable producer so I’ve managed to keep my job. But honestly, it feels like it’s just a matter of time until this company shuts down or until they whittle the sales force again.

What do you think I should do? Is it worth sticking around and hoping things improve or should I move on? I don’t necessarily mind the job but my paychecks keep slowly decreasing and I feel like I’m on a sinking ship and it’s inevitable that this place will eventually collapse. What would you do? Would love to get your thoughts.

Wondering in the South

Dear Wondering,

What would we do? We’d probably look for another place to work, preferably somewhere that doesn’t feel like it’s on the verge of collapse. Markets ebb and flow, and products come and go, so it’s important to make sure you don’t get stuck on a sinking ship, as you put it.

Hope is not a strategy, and waiting for things to improve is futile if your company isn't making changes. Depending on your personal goals and circumstances, you might want to start looking for a job sooner than later. It’s easier to get hired when you’re already employed, and it's better than scrambling to find something when you don’t have money coming in. The sooner you start looking, the better off you’ll be. Good luck.

Quiz Answer: D. The most expensive car ever sold is the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé, for $135m — (you can read the source article here)

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

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