Right now, I am hearing this question regularly from SaaS sales professionals.

“Should I stay with my current company or leave for a new challenge?”

There is always an inherit risk and never has there been a more uncertain time to make a career move. Starting at a new company could be difficult, as you will not be able to have face-to-face induction and the necessary networking to set yourself up for success. Further anxiety comes with taking a leap of faith, as it could lead further down the line to a disastrous situation – ‘last in, first out’...

...So, how do we solve this dilemma?

Due diligence is key, yet procrastination is crippling. I have observed many SaaS sales professionals spend far too long worrying about the actual career decision, and far too little time on the post-decision execution. The decision itself is important, but having made it, you need to proceed with all the energy, focus and resourcefulness to optimise.

World-leading psychologist Gary Klein, is famous for his pioneering discoveries in the field of human decision-making. He says:

“The most valuable insight I have made about how people make decisions, is that when they become skilled, they don't have to make decisions…Instead, they can draw on experience and the patterns they have acquired to recognize what to do, ignoring other options.”

The message is clear; draw on the patterns where you have made good decisions previously and ignore the distractions. Decision-making, like any other skillset, improves with deliberate practice, feedback, and iteration.

One of their coaches threw them a challenge:

'What are you waiting for? You've got everything…just go and take it',"

They most certainly did – they beat the mighty All Blacks for the first time in their history, after 33 attempts! Their preparation could not have been more disrupted: they had not played a game in 13 months, they had been “isolated from their families and quarantined from their team-mates...net result of all this adversity? They were never behind during the game against the world’s most successful sporting team.

I urge you to move from FOMO to NOMO – from “Fear of missing out” to “Necessity of missing out”. To make successful decisions we cannot have it all – less is more and prioritisation is key.

How to make effective current choices in enterprise sales:

• Acknowledge this is a quality/first-rate problem you are facing.

• Define your career purpose – it is your North Star? Mine is to positively impact 20,000 careers.

• Confirm how each role fits into your ‘next’ and ‘next next’ career moves?

• Measure each opportunity against your key criteria:

Value proposition

Executive leadership team

Funding

Existing customer logos

Culture

Compensation

Role/Terrority

Calibre of line manager

Potential to overachieve…

• If an external move scores higher than your current role, have an honest conversation with yourself - if not now, when?

Have confidence in yourself to be able to handle the outcome of any decision made.

In order to reach better decisions, we all need someone to believe in us more than we believe in ourselves. I was humbled recently when one of my long-standing clients provided feedback tackling an important decision about a potential career move:

“I would not be where I am today without you, Adrian. You persuaded me to act and leave my former company. I would have done my normal thing and stayed put. Then you helped me secure the new role right through to gaining promotion. “

Sean Gregan, Sales Director, Oracle

Thank you, Sean, for your comments – much appreciated!

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If you want to take your career to the next level, as well as improve your skills in Enterprise Sales, please contact me at [email protected]