I already said software. I’ve worked with Optiv, CDW, Dell, HP, Microsoft, Palo Alto, Tenable, CrowdStrike, Qualys, Fortinet, VMWare, just the first few that come to mind. Literally zero decisions made because of “relationships”. Typically I spec it, they quote it; or would evaluate several solutions and select the best fit.

I know enterprise sales teams THINK they are doing what you say they do, but my experience has been they are generally pleasant people (or pretend to be) with enough knowledge about their solutions to highlight the strong points and that is about it. Anyone who is making a decision based on a relationship with the sales team doesn’t deserve to be making buying decisions. I have turned a lot of my friends down because they don’t have the hardware I want or their solution sucks. For commodity products I’m not going to pay more simply because I know someone selling them.

I will say for professional services I do think relationships matter, especially if a firm has invested time in understanding my business. I can buy software licenses anywhere.

Yeah I have NEVER seen a software sales team that works that way and I’ve been in the industry a long time and bought from almost all the big players. Most of them use VARS, with the “VA” being a very loose descriptor.

Thanks for explaining sales to me. I spend a lot of my day turning down meetings with people who call me up to show me this great “solution” to my problems. No thanks. If I need something, I’ll call you. Not the other way around.

The best part is most sales teams are too stupid to realize I’m consulting now and no longer have a large budget to spend. But I guess even blind squirrels get a nut every now and then.

Hope that helps!!!

That’s my point. What does IC mean to you?

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The way to switch out of sales is boycott these companies. I have been in cyber for going on 20 years and these sales reps ruin it for everyone. Their tools suck and/or they sell themselves. So why are they collecting a paycheck? Fuck capitalism.

Is presales engineering even a “job”? I have been on the purchasing end of a lot of software and 1) the sales teams are TERRIBLE, 2) they have only ever swayed my decision away from their product. I am super confused why any tech company hires sales teams if they have a good product.

Why is this sub OBSESSED with using IC to mean individual contributor? This is about SALARY. It should mean incentive compensation. That’s it. No one cares how many people you manage.