Is Enterprise Sales The Best Sales Job?

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In today’s Follow Up:

• Is Enterprise sales a dream job? 💰️ 

• Sales objection tip of the day 💡 

• Sales news around the internet 🖥️ 🗞️ 

• Sales jobs, LinkedIn & a meme 😂 

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Is Enterprise Sales The Dream Gig?

The bigger the deal, the bigger the commission check.

So, does that mean Enterprise sales should be every sales rep’s goal?

If a politician had to answer the questions, they’d probably say something like: ‘well, it depends’.

But in this case, it really does.

What Does Enterprise Sales Mean?

In basic terms, enterprise sales is the process of selling products or services to massive companies (aka, enterprises). Enterprises are companies with more than 1,000 employees, that generate over $1 billion in revenue per year.

While SMB reps focus on catching Salmon, enterprise reps go Whale hunting.

The Size and Timing ⏰ 

There’s no way around it… enterprise sales cycles are long.

Average enterprise sales cycles can range from a few months to over a year. But the size makes up for it…

Public SaaS companies that focus on enterprise deals tend to have an annual contract value of around $220K.

Assuming the average enterprise AE’s commission sits at 10%, you can see how those commission checks can add up.

The Moolah 🤑 

Along with bigger deals, they’re also given a bigger base salary.

Since it can take months to close the deals, companies will pay big base salaries to keep them paid in between.

But at the end of the day, every sales rep needs to be producing a positive ROI for the company. The more base salary and OTE you’re given, the more business you’re expected to bring in.

Opportunity & Prospecting 🔎 

There are an estimated 23,081 companies with over 1,000 employees, that could be considered enterprise-level customers.

Compare that to over 12 million companies that would be considered SMB or Mid Market. When an enterprise deal falls through, it’s not as easy to just ‘move on to the next’.

Identifying enterprise accounts is easy, but selling into them isn’t.

Every deal will require multiple decision-makers from multiple departments. It’s not uncommon for 10+ stakeholders to be involved in a deal, turning the sales cycle into a game of chess.

It’s a harder game, with a bigger reward.

The TLDR:

The Pros:

• Bigger deals = more money. Enterprise deals are more valuable to companies, they’re willing to pay up for reps who can sell them.

• The prestige. Selling to household names is great for the resume and comes with experience that few people have.

• Consolidated effort. More valuable deals means you’ll get to manage fewer deals, with larger deal sizes.

The Cons:

• Long buying cycles. These deals take a really long time, so patience and delayed gratification are required.

• Fewer potential customers. There aren’t an unlimited amount of massive enterprises. Your pool of potential customers is small.

• Complex deals. Expect to work with multiple stakeholders, and run into roadblocks that you didn’t even know existed.

• Hard to break into. These jobs aren’t being handed out to just anyone. They require years of experience, and typically a promotion from a Mid-market role.

Enterprise sales is a much different sales cycle compared to SMB or Mid-Market and can take years to break into. Some reps are built for it, but it’s not the right choice for everyone.

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Checking In On LinkedIn

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Sales Meme of the Day