AMA

I am 28 and hold a college degree. I dropped a 90hr/week, $170k/year job in investment banking to switch to working 50hr/week in enterprise software sales and make $300k+ a year. My OTE for this year is 365k.

AMA

Actually similar deal, except no IB experience but had a full commission loan office role for 2 years and went back to finish university recently. Hold a degree in finance and looking to get into banking software sales.

Any advice? Or any other avenues to look at? My sales skills are much better than the average person - obv not at the level of 300k OTE yet. I just want a break in point and it's definitely tough, even leveraging my universities alumni base so far. I'm surprised even with IB they took you in sales for that type of position but good on you man.

I don't sell banking software specifically although some of our clients are financial institutions.

My OP was a bit misleading. I took a Business Development Representative role at a software company after a year in IB. Major pay cut.

But most big software companies have a Business Development Rep, or Sales Development Rep role that you can start out in. That is your best shot at a break-in point. Usually it's a 6-18 month program and if you perform you can advance and become an Account Manager/Executive. That is where I am now.

You travel a lot?

What type of industry if you don't mind saying?

And if you don't want to state the company, can you state some competitors?

How did you get into sales

About 50% of the week I am away from home.

It is one of big companies, think Oracle Microsoft etc. - We sell solutions that cater to a wide variety of industries. You can make a lot of money selling huge enterprise bundles like me, or selling SaaS solutions that service specific individual needs. The SaaS model seems to be the future.

Spent 2 years knocking doors in high school/college selling home maintenance services.

IB was not sales.. when I left, I got an entry level position as a Business Development Rep and then got promoted.

Awesome man.

With a bigger name company, do you feel like a lot of it is over saturated now? Or otherwise - that you have plenty of room to grow.

Friend of mine does software sales and clears 350k just like yourself and I mean dude is living the life. Travels once a month, makes money like no ones business, just straight up balls.

And his outlook from here is only up too.

Yes there's room to grow. But once you reach the Account Executive role, tons of folks are happy staying there for their career. The size of your clients and deals may go up as you build a track record, but you are doing the same work. The other path is to move into management and try to become a VP etc.

If you're sticking as an Account Executive, there's always a job out there at a different company (if your company becomes obsolete or noncompetitive) if you have a track record of performance.

Yeah, gotta say, it's pretty great. I fought for years to establish myself at an elite firm in IB only to realize your life is shit. The prestige doesn't matter, your life is shit and there are better options out there if you just are open to considering different paths.

I know a number of lawyers and financiers with prestigious pedigrees who left their jobs to get into medical device sales or software sales. More money, less hours.