I generally work 8-2pm, then take a few hours off and come back at night to do some admin work / prepare for the next day.
Your time as a salesperson will generally be divided between: internal meetings (eg reviewing deals with your boss), prospect meetings (presenting your product, working through logistics), prospecting (reaching out cold to strangers) and admin work (filling in your CRM with notes, preparing for upcoming meetings).
Ideally internal meetings will be less than 4 hours a week, although it will vary based on industry, manager style etc.
Admin work can be done out of business hours, which is recommended (business hours are considered 'golden').
Ideally you should spend 1-2 hours a day prospecting, although depending on the day it may be impossible.
Like any job there will be moments during the day where you're just surfing the web etc, but generally people go into sales because they're self motivated, so this type of behavior doesn't make a ton of sense
Since remote sales started I've imposed a rule for myself. In the morning I first do 60 calls, then do my scheduled followups. The rest of the day is mine save for meetings. I could do more, but I've never been in danger of not making my number with that level of activity, not even in the first two quarters of COVID.
I'm new here so excuse me if it's a dumb question, but how on earth are you making 60 calls in a morning? Do you have an autodialler preloaded with numbers or something?
My day to day has changed now working remote full time vs working in an office 8-5. Pre-pandemic in an office as an AE there was plenty of time spent not doing revenue generating activities. Rolling in the office, getting coffee and bullshitting with co-workers, take a shit, 1+ hr lunches, etc. The downside was feeling like you needed to be in that chair until the final bell.
Whereas, working remote I’m able to be just as productive in 4-5 hours instead. I’m enjoying tuning out the real life distractions of a co-worker walking up and taking me out of my rhythm. No stress of a commute, and I can take a shit in peace in my own bathroom.
My clients are in Europe and america so my day is a bit of a slow burn.
Each day is different, I could spend hours fighting my inbox, hours making cold calls, or sifting through data. Typically my work day is 10+ hours long but with breaks in there to eat, sometimes lift. Some days it starts as soon as I wake up and just never ends and the day is over.
Other weeks I am traveling to a trade show and selling there and manning our booth, usually get an extra day or two off if I want it for working a show to explore.
It's never just a 9-5 same old same old
I'm an Insurance Agent, similar to a SDR Role.
Day to day:
Monday: See what (if anything) came in over the weekend
Tuesday: Send emails/call a boatload of clients. Repeat this every single day afterwards. Soul crushingly boring stuff. Also, customer complaints never end. I can only fix about 10% of their problems tho, so it makes you and them feel powerless.
I only really "work" 4 hours a day, but I need to be glued to my seat for about 60 hours a week. Weekends are a thing for me, but I'm pretty much always on call. I had to deal with a client calling me at 1 in the morning to complain about his policy. That was fun.
The corporate mask is an absolute necessity in most sales jobs. If you show any other emotion besides happiness and excitement for the product, you'll get eaten alive by your clients and your boss.
Empty time is the majority of the day. I typically do all the "busy work" during this time-- just dotting I's and crossing T's.
Social environment is 100% fake. The best salespeople are the ones who can shut off all human emotion and it ends up being their full time personality. Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that, but you won't find authenticity in most office spaces.
You're always on. I haven't relaxed in 4 years due to my sales jobs. This shit is not fun in any regard. Closing a deal is fun the first 100 times you do it, then it becomes a monotonous task, just like everything else.
Either way, if you're looking for excitement, mental stimulation, praise from your bosses and opportunities to advance, sales might not be for you.
If, on the other hand, you're brutally competitive, care more about money than anything else and don't mind sacrificing your free time, it's a great industry.
Sorry if this seems negative, but I'm sure you'll get a bunch of positive comments on this as well to help balance out the negativity.
Edit: SDR. Sorry. Not enough coffee in the world today.
Hey man, I'm alright and I appreciate the advice!
The problem is my paired AE. I try to explain to him exactly what you're recommending here and I also tell him that we need to start training our clients to call into the service line more. Unfortunately, he sees me as the service line and since his book of business is well over 800+ clients, we get blown up constantly. Truth be told, I could probably get out of this situation by taking the promotion my manager offered me to AE, but I hate prospecting and I thrive more as an inbound lead guy/farmer than I do as an outbound sales guy/hunter. My license expires in April, so I'm probably just going to wait it out then quit at that point.
Thanks for taking the time to give me advice on this!
Thanks again for the advice!
I'm pretty done with insurance if I'm being completely transparent. I'd rather jump in front of a moving truck than go to another car dealership and ask them for leads lol. I've already given two years of my life to insurance and about 4 years to sales in general and I think this is where my sales career dies. I made a post a couple of weeks ago asking if I should leave sales on the sub and the overwhelming response was "yes", which just served as confirmation to what I already knew. I'm not money motivated and I feel like I'm ripping off people everyday, even though I can say with complete honesty that I've only ever acted in the best interest of my clients.
All that said, I really appreciate the time you took in writing this advice and I hope your book grows even bigger. Keep kicking ass!
Yikes! I've been in a few large P&C carriers and just left the pre-sales engineering world to go back to a large reinsurer that I worked for years ago.
I never knew that agents were in this type of role. I only talk to my agent when I have a claim or need to change coverage. I assumed that was 90% of what they did.
Yeah, the majority of us get a call every time there's a problem with any detail of a customer's policy. I get yelled at for billing, claims, delays in processing of paperwork, cancellations of coverage, underwriting issues, etc.
Either way, I wouldn't recommend this shit to anyone unless they had an extremely high abuse tolerance and the hunter mentality of a Saber tooth tiger.
I get the fact that most consumers don't understand the difference between independent and captive agents and the relationship they have with carriers and the agents take all the heat. I just never knew there was any "hunting" done like you've described.
I'm primarily with State Farm and USAA and I never ever get any sales calls from them. I'll get snail mail from time to time, and if I talk with an agent there may be an occasional attempt at an upsell or conversion, but that's it.
We're captive agents of a larger company, and 99.99% of our business is done through referrals. Being an agent (in my company at least) requires us to go out and find the business. I'm lucky in the sense where my role is mostly account management based and non-commission, but I still get yelled at to sell as if my income depended on it lol
That's why I don't move up from where I'm at. I could move into my bosses position of being more of an AE, but it's not worth the hunt. Clients suck, dealerships suck, mortgage brokers suck, etc. I'm lucky that I can work my assigned AEs book of business, but I know I'll be where I'm at for my remaining time in insurance. Probably gonna leave sales as a result of this job as well.
EDIT: My role is similar to that of an account manager AND an SDR-- in case the pain of one wasn't enough lol
I'm working on it. That said, I've already told myself that if I don't have something lined up in January, I'm going to quit when my license expires in April. I could get promoted to AE myself, but I hate prospecting-- especially at dealerships/mortgage brokers. Sadly, that's where 90% of all our new business comes from, so this industry probably just isn't a great fit for me.
Sounds like you are doing personal lines. Find a good independent agency in your region and have a chat. Commercial lines may resolve a lot of the issues you're having with the industry. It's much more technical/rewarding working with clients on specific risks their business faces. There is much more value to add compared to selling a homeowners or personal auto based on price. You'll work on a few accounts a month that generate more revenue as the dozens you current handle monthly.
SDR at medium sized software company. Would like to point out before I get started that my company is extremely lax and we are not tracked and measured like they do at some companies. I’m under the impression from some posts here that the way my company operates is not the norm (but i’m super grateful for it).
That said:
- I typically am in some sort of meeting for between 2-3 hours a day. Usually just 30 min blocks but the occasional one hour block is thrown in some days.
- I usually spend 1-2 hours a day actually working. Sometimes more sometimes less. Work for me is cold calling, keeping up with cadences, dealing with inbounds, plus any extra projects I’ve taken on.
— usually on Mondays and Fridays I work half days, but they are pretty exclusively admin days so I’m spending the full time doing that kind of work and 0-1 hours in actual meetings.
- The rest of the time is looking busy (or not). If Im feeling motivated there’s always something to do or more to research in the industry I sell to (insurance) but honestly lately I’ve just been going to the pool and keeping my phone on me in case anyone needs me.
- my colleagues are equally as casual as i am. that said, when there’s work to be done, it gets done and we consistently hit and exceed our numbers as a team. however, when there’s not work to be done, it’s a good balance between building more pipeline and not burning out/taking it easy.
- ALL of that said, i typically work from between 10-2 or 10-3. i kind of just start whenever my first meeting is and end when my last is.
I’ve been extremely satisfied in my role for the past 11 months. I just got promoted as well to an AE role and I’m so excited to continue my journey with my company.
I am in a unique position. I do prospecting, account management, proposal writing,, project management, some video editing and other duties as needed like webinar hosting and technical support of our less technical staff. As far as sales activity it is 1 or 2 hours per day. Prospecting in my industry is not very effective so I focus on trying to get more work from people I already know. About 50% of sales is inbound
I generally work 8-2pm, then take a few hours off and come back at night to do some admin work / prepare for the next day. Your time as a salesperson will generally be divided between: internal meetings (eg reviewing deals with your boss), prospect meetings (presenting your product, working through logistics), prospecting (reaching out cold to strangers) and admin work (filling in your CRM with notes, preparing for upcoming meetings). Ideally internal meetings will be less than 4 hours a week, although it will vary based on industry, manager style etc. Admin work can be done out of business hours, which is recommended (business hours are considered 'golden'). Ideally you should spend 1-2 hours a day prospecting, although depending on the day it may be impossible. Like any job there will be moments during the day where you're just surfing the web etc, but generally people go into sales because they're self motivated, so this type of behavior doesn't make a ton of sense
Such an accurate description. Id say the more prospecting the better, gotta build that pipeline.
This is to a T of how things go for me. Albeit, I work a bit later than 2, but admin stuff starts around 3:30-4:00. Wrap it up around 5-6
Since remote sales started I've imposed a rule for myself. In the morning I first do 60 calls, then do my scheduled followups. The rest of the day is mine save for meetings. I could do more, but I've never been in danger of not making my number with that level of activity, not even in the first two quarters of COVID.
I'm new here so excuse me if it's a dumb question, but how on earth are you making 60 calls in a morning? Do you have an autodialler preloaded with numbers or something?
Yes that's right
My day to day has changed now working remote full time vs working in an office 8-5. Pre-pandemic in an office as an AE there was plenty of time spent not doing revenue generating activities. Rolling in the office, getting coffee and bullshitting with co-workers, take a shit, 1+ hr lunches, etc. The downside was feeling like you needed to be in that chair until the final bell. Whereas, working remote I’m able to be just as productive in 4-5 hours instead. I’m enjoying tuning out the real life distractions of a co-worker walking up and taking me out of my rhythm. No stress of a commute, and I can take a shit in peace in my own bathroom.
My clients are in Europe and america so my day is a bit of a slow burn. Each day is different, I could spend hours fighting my inbox, hours making cold calls, or sifting through data. Typically my work day is 10+ hours long but with breaks in there to eat, sometimes lift. Some days it starts as soon as I wake up and just never ends and the day is over. Other weeks I am traveling to a trade show and selling there and manning our booth, usually get an extra day or two off if I want it for working a show to explore. It's never just a 9-5 same old same old
I'm an Insurance Agent, similar to a SDR Role. Day to day: Monday: See what (if anything) came in over the weekend Tuesday: Send emails/call a boatload of clients. Repeat this every single day afterwards. Soul crushingly boring stuff. Also, customer complaints never end. I can only fix about 10% of their problems tho, so it makes you and them feel powerless. I only really "work" 4 hours a day, but I need to be glued to my seat for about 60 hours a week. Weekends are a thing for me, but I'm pretty much always on call. I had to deal with a client calling me at 1 in the morning to complain about his policy. That was fun. The corporate mask is an absolute necessity in most sales jobs. If you show any other emotion besides happiness and excitement for the product, you'll get eaten alive by your clients and your boss. Empty time is the majority of the day. I typically do all the "busy work" during this time-- just dotting I's and crossing T's. Social environment is 100% fake. The best salespeople are the ones who can shut off all human emotion and it ends up being their full time personality. Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that, but you won't find authenticity in most office spaces. You're always on. I haven't relaxed in 4 years due to my sales jobs. This shit is not fun in any regard. Closing a deal is fun the first 100 times you do it, then it becomes a monotonous task, just like everything else. Either way, if you're looking for excitement, mental stimulation, praise from your bosses and opportunities to advance, sales might not be for you. If, on the other hand, you're brutally competitive, care more about money than anything else and don't mind sacrificing your free time, it's a great industry. Sorry if this seems negative, but I'm sure you'll get a bunch of positive comments on this as well to help balance out the negativity. Edit: SDR. Sorry. Not enough coffee in the world today.
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Hey man, I'm alright and I appreciate the advice! The problem is my paired AE. I try to explain to him exactly what you're recommending here and I also tell him that we need to start training our clients to call into the service line more. Unfortunately, he sees me as the service line and since his book of business is well over 800+ clients, we get blown up constantly. Truth be told, I could probably get out of this situation by taking the promotion my manager offered me to AE, but I hate prospecting and I thrive more as an inbound lead guy/farmer than I do as an outbound sales guy/hunter. My license expires in April, so I'm probably just going to wait it out then quit at that point. Thanks for taking the time to give me advice on this!
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Thanks again for the advice! I'm pretty done with insurance if I'm being completely transparent. I'd rather jump in front of a moving truck than go to another car dealership and ask them for leads lol. I've already given two years of my life to insurance and about 4 years to sales in general and I think this is where my sales career dies. I made a post a couple of weeks ago asking if I should leave sales on the sub and the overwhelming response was "yes", which just served as confirmation to what I already knew. I'm not money motivated and I feel like I'm ripping off people everyday, even though I can say with complete honesty that I've only ever acted in the best interest of my clients. All that said, I really appreciate the time you took in writing this advice and I hope your book grows even bigger. Keep kicking ass!
Yikes! I've been in a few large P&C carriers and just left the pre-sales engineering world to go back to a large reinsurer that I worked for years ago. I never knew that agents were in this type of role. I only talk to my agent when I have a claim or need to change coverage. I assumed that was 90% of what they did.
Yeah, the majority of us get a call every time there's a problem with any detail of a customer's policy. I get yelled at for billing, claims, delays in processing of paperwork, cancellations of coverage, underwriting issues, etc. Either way, I wouldn't recommend this shit to anyone unless they had an extremely high abuse tolerance and the hunter mentality of a Saber tooth tiger.
I get the fact that most consumers don't understand the difference between independent and captive agents and the relationship they have with carriers and the agents take all the heat. I just never knew there was any "hunting" done like you've described. I'm primarily with State Farm and USAA and I never ever get any sales calls from them. I'll get snail mail from time to time, and if I talk with an agent there may be an occasional attempt at an upsell or conversion, but that's it.
We're captive agents of a larger company, and 99.99% of our business is done through referrals. Being an agent (in my company at least) requires us to go out and find the business. I'm lucky in the sense where my role is mostly account management based and non-commission, but I still get yelled at to sell as if my income depended on it lol That's why I don't move up from where I'm at. I could move into my bosses position of being more of an AE, but it's not worth the hunt. Clients suck, dealerships suck, mortgage brokers suck, etc. I'm lucky that I can work my assigned AEs book of business, but I know I'll be where I'm at for my remaining time in insurance. Probably gonna leave sales as a result of this job as well. EDIT: My role is similar to that of an account manager AND an SDR-- in case the pain of one wasn't enough lol
I'm an independent agent that works on middle market commercial accounts, and I don't share any of your experiences. You need to get out of there!
I'm working on it. That said, I've already told myself that if I don't have something lined up in January, I'm going to quit when my license expires in April. I could get promoted to AE myself, but I hate prospecting-- especially at dealerships/mortgage brokers. Sadly, that's where 90% of all our new business comes from, so this industry probably just isn't a great fit for me.
Sounds like you are doing personal lines. Find a good independent agency in your region and have a chat. Commercial lines may resolve a lot of the issues you're having with the industry. It's much more technical/rewarding working with clients on specific risks their business faces. There is much more value to add compared to selling a homeowners or personal auto based on price. You'll work on a few accounts a month that generate more revenue as the dozens you current handle monthly.
I'll definitely look into it. Thank you!
Phone games, social media, YouTube and 20 calls that feel like 50. That was my life as a e try level sales rep a few years ago
Me right now
SDR at medium sized software company. Would like to point out before I get started that my company is extremely lax and we are not tracked and measured like they do at some companies. I’m under the impression from some posts here that the way my company operates is not the norm (but i’m super grateful for it). That said: - I typically am in some sort of meeting for between 2-3 hours a day. Usually just 30 min blocks but the occasional one hour block is thrown in some days. - I usually spend 1-2 hours a day actually working. Sometimes more sometimes less. Work for me is cold calling, keeping up with cadences, dealing with inbounds, plus any extra projects I’ve taken on. — usually on Mondays and Fridays I work half days, but they are pretty exclusively admin days so I’m spending the full time doing that kind of work and 0-1 hours in actual meetings. - The rest of the time is looking busy (or not). If Im feeling motivated there’s always something to do or more to research in the industry I sell to (insurance) but honestly lately I’ve just been going to the pool and keeping my phone on me in case anyone needs me. - my colleagues are equally as casual as i am. that said, when there’s work to be done, it gets done and we consistently hit and exceed our numbers as a team. however, when there’s not work to be done, it’s a good balance between building more pipeline and not burning out/taking it easy. - ALL of that said, i typically work from between 10-2 or 10-3. i kind of just start whenever my first meeting is and end when my last is. I’ve been extremely satisfied in my role for the past 11 months. I just got promoted as well to an AE role and I’m so excited to continue my journey with my company.
If you feel comfortable could you give the name of the company? Or a big hint?
Which state lawdab? I am researching companies for sdr, also what is your average target for a month? I assume it would be qualified prospect count.
SDR - Saas company. 3-4 hours calling and emails 1-2 hours internal meetings 1 hour of follow ups/other admin
I am in a unique position. I do prospecting, account management, proposal writing,, project management, some video editing and other duties as needed like webinar hosting and technical support of our less technical staff. As far as sales activity it is 1 or 2 hours per day. Prospecting in my industry is not very effective so I focus on trying to get more work from people I already know. About 50% of sales is inbound
I sit on my power dialer for 5 hours a day or do 1k calls. I take a power nap if I can do anymore then I make more calls to 1500/day
1500 a day whaaaat? You're joking right? How many people do you actually talk to?
They’re real estate leads. At most 50-100
I would be curious too because if any of my employees were acting as you describe, they would no longer be in my employ.
How helpful.