Every offer looks good on offer day. Here’s how to evaluate the role, the company, and the offer before you sign.
There’s no such thing as the perfect sales job, only flaws you can live with and flaws that will bury you. After placing salespeople for two decades, I can tell you the reps with great careers aren’t luckier. They evaluate harder before they say yes.
This page covers the whole decision: reading the role, vetting the company, and protecting the offer once you’ve earned it.
Evaluate the Role
Start with fit: how to know if a sales job is a bad fit before you take it, and the three requirements every next role must meet: comp you believe in, a leader you respect, a product that delivers.
Then read the market behind the role. The best SaaS roles sit where buyers have urgency and budget, and the posting itself will tip you off, because job descriptions reveal more than companies intend. Considering a hunting role? Here’s how to tell if a new logo role is worth taking.
Evaluate the Company
The deep dive is ten factors to weigh before your next tech sales job, from prospecting load to who’s really calling the shots. The quick version is four things to consider when evaluating a new sales job, and the warning signs are three red flags to spot early: the super-rep boss, the silent quota board, the undefined process.
Size matters too. Here’s why smaller companies can accelerate your career, and the five skills a startup teaches that established companies never will.
Offers and the Risk Stage
Once the offer is close, the game changes. Learn how to handle multiple offers without blowing up your search, and the big one: eleven ways candidates get offers rescinded, from over-negotiating to the background check form that returned 15 addresses.
Prepare the verification steps before they arrive: getting your references ready, passing background, reference, and credit checks, and what your non-compete actually restricts, in plain language.
And when your current employer counters, remember the ten reasons to never accept a counteroffer, including what your boss is really thinking when they make one.
Decide Like a Professional
Look past the shiny OTE, ask the questions on this page, and uncouple compensation promises from the real long-term value of the role. And once you’ve signed the right offer, exit the old job well: quit like a boss.
