Red Flags to Look for Before You Accept a Sales Job

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The sales job market is rough right now.

Some reps have been searching for months without getting a single offer. And when you've gone that long, it's easy to get desperate enough to take the first thing that comes along.

But taking a bad sales role can arguably be worse than having no role.

Especially if the comp plan is heavy on commission and the product sucks. On top of that, a failed 6 month stint in a bad role raises questions in every future interview you have and puts you right back where you started, except now you have to explain it.

So before you say yes to a new role, here's the red flags to watch out for:

Less than 50% of the team is hitting quota. This usually means the comp plan is unrealistic or there's not enough demand for the product. It obviously shouldn’t be 100% of reps hitting their number (unless it’s Anthropic, where the product sells itself). But you want a high percentage, because that's what tells you if the OTE is actually attainable. If most of the team can't hit it, I’d run.

No reps are exceeding quota. You want a team where top performers exist and a comp plan that rewards you for overperforming.

They talk badly about current or past reps. If management says their previous reps "just weren't good enough," that's usually a reflection of them, not the reps. They either hired wrong or they’re not a great manager. And when you eventually leave, you'll be the next rep they blame.

High turnover, especially in management. Some rep turnover is healthy. You want to work with A-players. But when half the team leaves in the first year, or there's been a new sales manager every six months, something is broken. Nobody has figured out how to make it work.

The team gets zero inbound leads. Your role might be purely outbound, and that's fine. But if the entire sales org gets nothing inbound, it usually means there's no strong pull or demand for the product. You'll be fighting a constant uphill battle.

They can't tell you their numbers. If the hiring manager doesn't know how many reps hit quota, what the average sales cycle looks like, or what the conversion rate is, that tells you that either: they don't track it (not good), or the numbers aren't great and they don't want to share them (very not good).

On the flip side, if you're a sales manager hiring reps, or you're a candidate who wants to know what the other side of the table is watching for, here are the signals that raise red flags in sales reps.

They didn't research the company. They don't know what you sell, who the competitors are, who the CEO is, or anything about the person interviewing them. Research and prospecting are a massive part of the job in sales. If they can't do it for their own interview, they're not going to do it for your prospects.

They've bounced from company to company. Moving to a new company for a better opportunity is fine. Six-month stints everywhere is bad. The most sought after reps on the market are the ones who worked somewhere long enough to build something and moved up while there.

They badmouth their last employer. This usually says more about the person than the company they're talking about. And when they eventually leave your team, they'll say the same things about you.

They don't have any questions. If they walk out of an interview without asking a single question, they either didn't prepare or they're not that invested. Half of sales is asking good questions. If they don’t ask any in the interview, it’s a bad sign.

This list isn't exhaustive. There are plenty of other signals on both sides of the table. But these are a few red flags I’ve personally seen throughout my career.

Give me another 10 years in sales, and this list likely gets longer. (:

Check out The Follow Up Guy on LinkedIn.