After a successful 2020 (despite all of the headwinds), many SaaS sales professionals are now considering their options. The central dilemma they face is:

“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 a face-to-face induction or the necessary networking to set yourself up for success. More anxiety comes with taking a leap of faith, as it could lead further down the line to a disastrous situation of ‘last in, first out’.

Nobody wants to unwittingly make the wrong decision, leaving the security of your current company, where your personal brand reputation is strong and built over many years. Nagging ‘inner dialogue', comparison to others, and FOMO (Fear of missing out), are the modern day ‘the grass is greener on the other side’ scenario. People do not want to miss out or make a poor decision that could cost them dearly.

So, how do we solve this dilemma?

Due diligence is important but 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...Leicester City were 5,000/1 to win the Premier League at the beginning of the season in August of the previous year. Bookies Paddy Power thought it was more likely that Elvis, who died in 1977, was found alive and well in 2016 than Leicester City winning the Premier League…Paddy Power had the King's resurrection down at 2,000/1!

To bring things back to 2021, 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 – what 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 which should include:

Value proposition

Executive leadership team

Funding

Culture

Compensation

Role/Terrority

Calibre of line manager

Existing customer logos

Potential to overachieve…

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

Have the 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, like Ranieri and his football team. I myself 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 for your comments Sean – 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]