You Received an Offer to Join the Sales Team, Now What?

By: Mark Israel
Director of Business Development, IQTalent Partners, Inc.

So, you're in the home stretch to receive an offer for a Senior Account Executive role that looks amazing. You’ve been forthcoming with any information that will help your potential future employer evaluate you as a member of their team. In the midst of mostly one-sided questioning, don’t forget that an interview process is an information exchange about a very important decision for both parties.

There are no guarantees. The information you get in an interview process before you accept an offer is like house shopping by looking through keyholes in the front door. Sure, the yard looks immaculate, neighbors seem nice, but its what's inside that will impact your day-to-day success.

Here are a few things to consider that may help open the door, so you can have a better look-see before you buy:

Check the Company’s References

With the excitement of a potential offer and the emotional decision to join a new employer, you may miss an opportunity to gather background information. Start with Glassdoor. Most employers are well aware of their Glassdoor reviews and strong employers will welcome questions about a spotty Glassdoor record during the interview process.

At first glance, Glassdoor reviews for any particular employer may seem bipolar. Glowing 5-star reviews mixed with scathing 1-star reviews. How could any two experiences at one employer be so different? As with most things, the truth is somewhere in the middle. Although you may encounter reviews on both ends, look for trends in the commentaries. For example, if you see that the best and worst reviews all mention “unrealistic expectations” as a negative aspect of that employer, there may be some truth to it. But, basing your decision to join a company solely on Glassdoor reviews is ill-advised.

A simple LinkedIn search of prior Sales employees who left the Company and their average tenure can be very revealing. Do you have anyone in your network of friends and professional colleagues who have worked at the company or know someone who worked at the company?

Ask your future manager for his/her references. Wait! I can do that? Well, you may need to judge their receptiveness, but good leaders shouldn’t have anything to hide and may be willing to share the names of one or two former direct reports.

What is the Sales Culture like?

Does your future employer have a Sales Culture? Ask yourself, is the leadership team focused on ensuring that the Sales team has the resources required to be successful?

Questions like:

• What’s the state of the inbound lead program?
• Is there an SDR team and a lead scoring methodology in place?
• If the product is more technical, are their Sales Engineers on the team?
• What Sales CRM and/or Sales Acceleration platforms are they using and have processes been developed around these systems?
• If you’re joining an earlier stage startup, you may want to ask about their plans to hire Marketing, SDR, and Sales Engineering people.

A strong sales culture provides the resources you need to focus on what you do best and removes obstacles to closing deals.

Are the Expectations Reasonable?

We know you’re being hired to close deals, but do the expectations seem unreasonably high for the product and price?

Questions like:

• What are the expectations 30-60-90 days into the position?
• What’s the average time from initial contact to close?
• What is the average deal size?
• What are the most common objections to the product?
• What is the quota and what percentage of the Sales team are on target to make quota for the year?
• What percentage of the Sales team achieved quota last year?

Managing expectations will be critical to your success. It only makes sense that you understand the expectations and the history of others in the same role meeting these expectations.

Congratulations!

Getting a job offer is ego-boosting; a validation of your career accomplishments. In many cases, you’ve invested yourself in the interview process and may make the emotional decision to join long before the actual decision. Before you take the leap, make sure you reserve time for due diligence. Although there are no guarantees, and your next move probably won’t be the last employer of your career, you can control the chances of making the right decision.

Let IQTalent Partners make it easy for you. We’re here to help!